Behind the bombs and bloodshed that is post-US invasion Iraq, there is another tragedy being played out. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that the region is facing its worst refugee crisis since the Palestinian expulsions of 1948. Up to two million Iraqis have already fled to neighboring countries. More are abandoning their homes, according to UN estimates, at the rate of 50,000 a month and the number of those leaving is increasing.
There are in addition 30,000 Palestinians who have fled the shelter in Iraq given them in Saddam’s day. Over and above the dangers from the daily litany of violence, to be a non-Iraqi Arab in the country today is to invite immediate suspicion from the Americans and the authorities of associations with Al-Qaeda.
Jordan, which already had a large population of Palestinian exiles, has attracted international attention for becoming a place of refuge for large numbers of Iraqis, the wealthier of whom are living in Amman’s hotels. However the UNCHR makes it clear that Syria has also given refuge to a very large number of Iraqis. It estimates that both countries currently have between half a million and a million Iraqi refugees. For Syria, which already shelters 432,000 Palestinians, this new influx of frightened families who have left their homes and businesses behind in Iraq is naturally responsible for a considerable economic strain. There is simply not enough work or social resources to allow these refugees to sustain themselves or be sustained.
Washington of course wishes to paint Damascus in the worst possible light as a fosterer of the insurgency in Iraq. It is good, however, that an objective body such as the UN should conclude that the Syrians have been the most welcoming to Iraqi, despite the challenges for the Syrian people that this generosity has created.
It is of course deeply regrettable that so many Iraqis, among whom are almost certainly some of the country’s best and brightest, should feel that they have to abandon everything and flee. It is at the same time wrong for people living in stable and peaceful societies to be judgmental. That so many people have already decided to quit their homeland is an indication of the horrors they could no longer face. For most, this retreat is temporary. They fully intend to return when the bloodshed ends and stability is restored. There is nonetheless no telling when that time may come.
There is no doubt that the Arab world must do what it can, financially and physically to support the rising tide of Iraqi refugees. Nevertheless, the greatest contribution to the crisis will come from those who can help to bring about a cessation of the savage violence in Iraq. As America makes its final attempt to end an insurgency that its own wrong policies created, the region must be thinking about how it can help bring about an end to the conflict and set Iraq back on its feet.
