Hundreds of Palestinian refugees live in difficult circumstances during the winter season in light of the rundown of services provided to them in the neighborhood of al-Baladiyyat in Iraq’s capital Baghdad.
An activist in the neighborhood told the PIC that the neighborhood which is located east of the Al-Jaish canal has not witnessed any improvement in the services since 2009.
“The sewage system and the road drainage system are deteriorating” the activist who wished to remain anonymous said adding that the neighborhood has turned into a landfill full of insects.
For his part Jamal Abu Khalifa a Palestinian refugee living in the neighborhood stressed that Palestinian refugees in the neighborhood are marginalized at all levels adding that services are not improved even when the activists renew their calls on the concerned governmental institutions.
To justify such negligence the municipality of Al-Ghadeer which is responsible for the Balidiyyat neighborhood claims that the construction of shops and new houses resulted in changing the organizational structure of the neighborhood.
In the middle of last March the municipality demolished a series of shops and houses in the neighborhood as part of a campaign to demolish the buildings that distorts the organizational structure.
After officials of the neighborhood in addition to Iraqi activists appealed against the campaign the municipality stopped it. However it did not improve the services provided to the residents of the neighborhood.
3500 Palestinian refugees currently live in Iraq mostly in the al-Baladiyyat neighborhood. Palestinians of Iraq are not recognized as Palestinian refugees according to UNRWA and they don’t receive any services or assistance from it.
