BAGHDAD - Ineffectual Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sought to repair relations between Palestinians and the Iraqi government and find solutions for Palestinian refugees stranded in camps during his first visit to the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The visit Sunday is significant because it marks a major step in improving ties between the Shiite-led government of Iraq and the Palestinian leadership, which had warm relations with the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein.
| And the rest of Iraq noticed that. |
Iraqi spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the Iraqi government would affirm its support for the Palestinians and the creation of a Palestinian state during Abbas talks with President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
| That's just boilerplate ... |
Palestinian exiles who fled to Iraq after the establishment of the state of Israel enjoyed a privileged status during Saddams rule, but that privilege ended when the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam and paved the way for his Shiite opponents to take power.
| They didn't 'flee', they were recruited. A fair number of them served in Saddam's Feyadeen both in Kuwait and in Iraq. They worked as thug-boys. And the rest of Iraq remembers ... |
About 11,000 Palestinians still live in Iraq, mostly in Baghdads Shiite district of Baladiyat. Hundreds of Palestinians, overwhelmingly Sunni, were slaughtered during the sectarian violence of a few years ago in Iraq.
| Precisely because the Shi'a remember what the Paleo thugs did to their families ... |
Several thousand remain stranded at refugee camps along the Iraqi-Syrian border where they fled the sectarian massacres.
| Because their brother Syrians won't take them in. The Syrians, it seems, paid attention when the Paleos alienated the Jordanians, Lebanese, Tunisians, Egyptians, Mauritanians, Kuwaitis, and Iraqis. |
Abbas aide, Saeb Erekat, said a main reason for Abbas visit was to discuss the legal situation of the Palestinians in those camps. But al-Dabbagh asserted the situation has improved. 'The Iraqi government has dealt with and overcome this issue, al-Dabbagh said. 'It is no more a problem, and now Palestinians in Iraq are sharing a normal life with Iraqis.
| Thus taking their treatment, whatever it is, off the table. |
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