GAZA (PIC)– PA refugees’ affairs minister Dr. Atef Odwan has affirmed that conditions of Palestinian refugees in Iraq were sharply deteriorating and that his ministry suggested allowing them entry into the PA-run lands.
He added that the suggestion was to be tabled before the PLC to officially decide on it favorably; however he acknowledged that the matter needs more than a political step.
In a press statement he issued Wednesday Odwan explained that the PA government needs a back up from a third party in order to convince the Israeli occupation government into allowing those refugees into the Palestinian territories.
The infamous US-sponsored crossing deal agreement that former PA minister and current Fatah MP Mohammed Dahalan signed with Israel late 2005 denied entry of Palestinian citizens without IDs duly issued by the IOA into the PA-run territories.
The ill-famed agreement that Hamas Movement deprecated on the day it was signed deprived hundreds of thousands of Palestinians abroad of visiting their relatives in Palestine.
In this context Odwan pointed out that he sent two letters to PA chief Mahmoud Abbas urging him to exploit his “wide political relations” to first alleviate suffering of those refugees while in Iraq and second to pave the way before them to return to Palestine.
According to Odwan PA premier Ismael Haneyya was and still is very much concerned over the miserable condition of Palestinian refugees in Iraq adding that his ministry was closely monitoring the worsening condition of those refugees on daily basis.
Around 25000 Palestinian refugees are still in Iraq but thousands others had already fled the country over fears on their lives.
Armed Iraqi militias believed to be sanctioned by the American occupation forces the Mossad (Israel’s external intelligence apparatus) and fanatic sectarian groups in the country killed hundreds of Palestinian refugees and jailed hundreds others since US-led forces invaded that country in 2003.
