Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=3/17/2003

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE= IRAQ / PALESTINIAN REFUGEES

NUMBER=5-53254

BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN

DATELINE= BAQA'A CAMP, JORDAN

CONTENT=

INTRO: In Jordan, Palestinian refugees worry about the consequences of a war in Iraq on the peace process, despite U-S and British promises to push the process forward. V-O-A Correspondent Laurie Kassman talked with Palestinians in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Amman and filed this report.

TEXT /// SOUNDS OF CHILDREN AND FADE ///

Palestinian children playing in a schoolyard near the center of Baqa'a refugee camp appear oblivious to the prospect of another war in the Middle East.

But some parents, like Amira, say their children are very aware of the dangers that surround them.

/// AMIRA IN ARABIC AND TRANSLATOR ///

The children are already frightened. When I left the house to go shopping, my four-year-old daughter said mommy please be careful. There might be a war. Don't stay away too long.

///END ACTUALITY

Amira says her other child, who is 10 years old, mixes up talk about a war in Iraq with what he hears and sees about the violence in the Palestinian territories. He thinks the violence will come to him in Jordan, too.

Unlike the last Gulf War, few Palestinians here voice any real support for Saddam Hussein. But they criticize the U-S-led effort to wage war against him.

In the crowded market street of this refugee camp, an elderly woman in black veils sits on the curb, selling fruit from a basket at her feet. Asked about the prospect of a war against Iraq, she calls it a war against Muslims, although U-S and British officials have repeatedly said it is not.

/// WOMAN IN ARABIC AND TRANSLATOR ///

We're Arabs. Iraq is an Arab country. We don't want a war against Iraq. We want peace. Why don't they pick on Israel.

///END ACTUALITY

Twenty-eight year old Emad reflects a spreading anger and frustration over the prospect of war in Iraq at a time when the peace process appears to be in shambles.

/// EMAD IN ARABIC AND TRANSLATOR ///

We see TV pictures of Palestinians being killed or injured by Israel. The United States should force Israel to stop.

///END ACTUALITY///

Emad complains that a war in Iraq only diverts attention from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and his dream of a Palestinian homeland.

Emad is one of about 100-thousand Palestinian refugees living in the Baqa'a Camp. They, or their parents and grandparents, fled their homes in the 1948 and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars. The dispute over their right to return has been one of the key hurdles to achieving a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace agreement.

President Bush has publicly called for a peace agreement that envisions a two state solution with Israel and a Palestinian state existing side-by-side.

Many Palestinians remain skeptical.

///ARABIC SONG IN FULL AND UNDER///

A new antiwar song by Egyptian singer Shaban Abdel Rahim talks of Western double standards. The song has become a hit in the refugee camp and elsewhere in the region.

/// ARABIC SONG UP AND UNDER//

Enough, enough, he sings. They want to disarm Iraq. That's okay. But, the song goes on, why don't they disarm Israel too.

/// SHOP OWNER IN ARABIC ESTAB AND UNDER //

The music shop owner says he is resigned to a war in Iraq and will not be sorry to see Saddam Hussein go. But, he worries about the spillover into Jordan. He says Jordan's economy is still recovering from the 1991 Gulf War and he complains that many young people in the camp are out of work. Life is hard enough already, he says, and a war will only make it worse. (Signed)

/// ARABIC SONG UP AND OUT///

NEB/LMK/AWP/KBK/FC