September 2003 - 13 min 40 sec
00:01
The general public has not yet heard of this refugee camp in the no-mans land between Jordan and Iraq. No one has ever filmed here. For three months Palestinians expelled from Iraq have been living here. The Iraqis blame them for the war. They were allowed to live in Iraq by Saddam Hussein - sufficient grounds now for expulsion and lynch-mob justice.
00:22
The Iraqi border crossing in the East
00:25
.and behind this tent, to the West, the border with Jordan
00:29
In the desert it is so hot even at night that many refugees sleep in the open.
00:36
Morning toilet at the water tank. There is, quite literally, nothing left.
00:41
Palestinian Abu Nawaf comes from Haifa and was expelled from there during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948.He fled to Iraq and managed to forge a successful career as a writer. He has not unusually amongst Moslems 2 wives, 5 sons and a daughter. His second wife is 7 months pregnant. The remaining members of his large family are scattered across camps in Jordan and Baghdad.
01:10
Refugee Nawaf grants these cats asylum in his tent.
01:17 Voice over (translation) Insert: Abu Nawaf, Writer
The current situation in Iraq is very serious. There is no order and you could be murdered at any time on the streets. Nothing is as it was and everything is sinking into chaos. I myself can no longer go back to Iraq. My life would be in danger.
01:44
Why?
01:48
Today anyone can hire someone to kill me for a hundred pounds or dollars. There are many extremists who say, he is a Palestinian and was supported by Saddam Hussein.
02:09
We arranged to visit Nawafs sons in Baghdad the next day in order to build up a picture of the situation for Palestinians in Iraq. Nawaf gave us a letter to give to his sons.
02:19
New refugees arrive at the camp ..
02:22
..and have to be fed.
02:26
The water bottles are wrapped in wet sacking. The evaporation takes the heat, coolings the contents.
02:32
For three months the camps inmates have consumed nothing but corned beef and tinned beans.
02:38
Finally dusk after a hot day.
02:43
In the tent they are celebrating al Nemsauwi, the Austrian, who had come finally - to document their situation on camera. They have pinned a lot of hope on these pictures probably too much.
03:02
We are travelling on the motorway towards Baghdad. 550 kilometres of desert with a village and two petrol stations.
03:11
We stop at the first just in case. 2 ½ hours long wait.
03:17
The fact that the man at the petrol pump is calmly smoking a cigarette doesnt bode well. He informs us that there is no petrol.
03:25
Here even intensive praying does not help.
03:30
We drive, like many others, off the motorway to look further for a petrol station.
03:36
Maybe Allah heard the prayers in any case we found an antiquated pump and filled all our Jerry cans.
03:45
With a 100 litters in the tank, canisters and bottles we drive on the 15 hours to Baghdad.
03:52
At first sight the town does not appear as destroyed as the usual television pictures would lead you to believe.
04:00
There is no electricity. The air rings with the ear-splitting sound of emergency generators.
04:08
Water, which doesnt reach any of the houses, floods the streets from bullet-ridden water pipes.
04:15
We visit Nawafs sons house. Khalid Nawaf, who studied management and is currently a cook, plays with his children in the room. They are not allowed to play in the street. Too dangerous.
04:30
Voice Over (translation) Insert:Khalid Nawaf, Cook
I hope to be able to leave this country soon. There is no security here. As Palestinians we are always in danger.
04:43
And where do you want to go?
04:46
Anywhere as long as we can live in safety. The best would be Palestine. I would like to see Palestine.
04:55
The brothers run a snack bar on the corner. The neighbours like them and so far nothing of incident has happened. The existence of 20 family members depends on the little shop.
05:12
The menu is modest. There are only two dishes, both cooked fresh. Today falafel is being prepared. The chickpeas balls are popular in England too. Only here they cost 50 cents each for the price of one at home we could buy a whole sack full in Iraq.
05:33
They are cooked with Propane gas, which is also slowly becoming scarce. It takes about an hour until the falafel are ready.
05:49
And always present: the Palestinian conflict.
05:53
Voice over (translation Insert:Khalid Nawaf, Cook
My Grandfather came to Baghdad, my father went to Syria, then to Kuwait, then to Egypt, then to Libya. 06:06 I, his oldest son, was born in Baghdad; my brother here in Kuwait, this brother in Syria; and I have another two brothers, who were also born in Kuwait and Syria a cocktail of Arab countries.
06:22
Khalid drives us to the Palestinian district in the middle of Baghdad
06:38 Voice over (translation) Insert Khalid Nawaf, Cook
In this part of Baghdad the Palestinians live in relative safety; they have organised a night-watch service.
07:05
Khalid shows us a banner on the camp wall. Already someone has been shot. This time a doctor was hit.
07:21
Behind this wall on one of Baghdads sports grounds the UNHCR has set up a camp for those fleeing their own country.
07:33
Khalid takes us to his friend Akram Asaf. With his whole family he has found refuge in this tent. His fate is typical of Palestinians in post-war Iraq.
07:50 Voice over (translation) Insert: Akram, Asaf, Refugee
I have lived here in Baghdad for 37 years. Our landlord came suddenly and told me: Go, together with your family, and leave my house! Why, I dont know. We are suffering here in the heat and because we can not work. There is too much sorrow for my wife and son. In the night we always hear shooting.
08:18
Akram has come out of things relatively well, as a visit to the next tent shows. This woman gave birth 5 days ago. Her husband disappeared with out a trace during the war.
08:30
A Palestinian life often begins in a camp and often ends in a camp.
08:39
The Palestinians have a joke about this: What does God do when a Palestinian goes to Heaven? He immediately sets up a camp.
08:50
Khalid meets Mahmud al Shaier, who has a big problem: a lot of money, $136,000 which he earned as a crude oil chemist in Kuwait and has deposited in the wrong bank.
09:04 Voice Over (translation) Insert: Mahmud al Shaier, Crude oil chemist
My money is in a bank in Jordan, in the Arab bank in the centre of Amman. Since the war, the Jordanian government will not allow me to go to Jordan to collect my money because I only have Egyptian travel documents for Palestinians. No one with such documents is allowed to travel there. That is the law.
09:38
Before we travel back new letters are written. They are for the family members in the desert camps.
09:50
We quickly stock up on petrol from a black marketer, at 10 times the normal price the petrol station opposite is dry.
09:58
The only ones who seem to have no problem getting petrol are the Americans, who we repeatedly meet on the motorway.
10:07
Maybe this is why they dont like it when they are filmed.
10:12
Once again we have to stop at a petrol station.
10:17
The people gather full of hope at the petrol pump. Unfortunately it is no use. It is not empty but broken.
10:26
The repair man makes a start.
10:29
We are also doing repairs. Our cooling system has sprung a leak. We patch it up with a T-shirt and old car tyres.
10:43
After all the repairs are successfully completed we see vigorous trading in American oil at the station shop however it is salad oil.
10:57
Finally after a sweat-soaked drive through the desert we reach Abu Nawaf and his cats again.
11:07
On the camcorder we show him and his second wife the recordings of his son in Baghdad.
11:22 Voice Over (translation) Abu, Nawaf, Writer
I am happy and sad at the same time. Happy to see my son; sad to be so far from him, his wife and their children. But that is life.
11:40
The last station in our virtual family reunion: Au Rashid, the refugee camp inside Jordan, where Nawafs first wife, his daughter and one of his sons live.
11:57
Here too filming and photography is strictly forbidden.
12:05
The son Walid Nawaf first reads out the letters we have brought with us.
12:23
Then naturally we show them all the videos from Baghdad.
12:47 Voice over (translation) Muntoha Mufleh, 1st wife of Abu Nawaf
I would like to live together with my children. It doesnt matter where. We want to live in peace, that is the only thing we want from God. I swear, it doesnt matter where God sends us, we will go, but never back to Iraq. We are afraid, because there Palestinians are persecuted.
13:10
While on one hand dreaming of leaving, on the other they are adapting to the unavoidable. This refugee is counting on a long stay. As a precaution she has started a kitchen garden.
Report and Camera: Paul Flieder
Editor: Elisabeth Madjera
(Ref: 1932)
00:01
The general public has not yet heard of this refugee camp in the no-mans land between Jordan and Iraq. No one has ever filmed here. For three months Palestinians expelled from Iraq have been living here. The Iraqis blame them for the war. They were allowed to live in Iraq by Saddam Hussein - sufficient grounds now for expulsion and lynch-mob justice.
00:22
The Iraqi border crossing in the East
00:25
.and behind this tent, to the West, the border with Jordan
00:29
In the desert it is so hot even at night that many refugees sleep in the open.
00:36
Morning toilet at the water tank. There is, quite literally, nothing left.
00:41
Palestinian Abu Nawaf comes from Haifa and was expelled from there during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948.He fled to Iraq and managed to forge a successful career as a writer. He has not unusually amongst Moslems 2 wives, 5 sons and a daughter. His second wife is 7 months pregnant. The remaining members of his large family are scattered across camps in Jordan and Baghdad.
01:10
Refugee Nawaf grants these cats asylum in his tent.
01:17 Voice over (translation) Insert: Abu Nawaf, Writer
The current situation in Iraq is very serious. There is no order and you could be murdered at any time on the streets. Nothing is as it was and everything is sinking into chaos. I myself can no longer go back to Iraq. My life would be in danger.
01:44
Why?
01:48
Today anyone can hire someone to kill me for a hundred pounds or dollars. There are many extremists who say, he is a Palestinian and was supported by Saddam Hussein.
02:09
We arranged to visit Nawafs sons in Baghdad the next day in order to build up a picture of the situation for Palestinians in Iraq. Nawaf gave us a letter to give to his sons.
02:19
New refugees arrive at the camp ..
02:22
..and have to be fed.
02:26
The water bottles are wrapped in wet sacking. The evaporation takes the heat, coolings the contents.
02:32
For three months the camps inmates have consumed nothing but corned beef and tinned beans.
02:38
Finally dusk after a hot day.
02:43
In the tent they are celebrating al Nemsauwi, the Austrian, who had come finally - to document their situation on camera. They have pinned a lot of hope on these pictures probably too much.
03:02
We are travelling on the motorway towards Baghdad. 550 kilometres of desert with a village and two petrol stations.
03:11
We stop at the first just in case. 2 ½ hours long wait.
03:17
The fact that the man at the petrol pump is calmly smoking a cigarette doesnt bode well. He informs us that there is no petrol.
03:25
Here even intensive praying does not help.
03:30
We drive, like many others, off the motorway to look further for a petrol station.
03:36
Maybe Allah heard the prayers in any case we found an antiquated pump and filled all our Jerry cans.
03:45
With a 100 litters in the tank, canisters and bottles we drive on the 15 hours to Baghdad.
03:52
At first sight the town does not appear as destroyed as the usual television pictures would lead you to believe.
04:00
There is no electricity. The air rings with the ear-splitting sound of emergency generators.
04:08
Water, which doesnt reach any of the houses, floods the streets from bullet-ridden water pipes.
04:15
We visit Nawafs sons house. Khalid Nawaf, who studied management and is currently a cook, plays with his children in the room. They are not allowed to play in the street. Too dangerous.
04:30
Voice Over (translation) Insert:Khalid Nawaf, Cook
I hope to be able to leave this country soon. There is no security here. As Palestinians we are always in danger.
04:43
And where do you want to go?
04:46
Anywhere as long as we can live in safety. The best would be Palestine. I would like to see Palestine.
04:55
The brothers run a snack bar on the corner. The neighbours like them and so far nothing of incident has happened. The existence of 20 family members depends on the little shop.
05:12
The menu is modest. There are only two dishes, both cooked fresh. Today falafel is being prepared. The chickpeas balls are popular in England too. Only here they cost 50 cents each for the price of one at home we could buy a whole sack full in Iraq.
05:33
They are cooked with Propane gas, which is also slowly becoming scarce. It takes about an hour until the falafel are ready.
05:49
And always present: the Palestinian conflict.
05:53
Voice over (translation Insert:Khalid Nawaf, Cook
My Grandfather came to Baghdad, my father went to Syria, then to Kuwait, then to Egypt, then to Libya. 06:06 I, his oldest son, was born in Baghdad; my brother here in Kuwait, this brother in Syria; and I have another two brothers, who were also born in Kuwait and Syria a cocktail of Arab countries.
06:22
Khalid drives us to the Palestinian district in the middle of Baghdad
06:38 Voice over (translation) Insert Khalid Nawaf, Cook
In this part of Baghdad the Palestinians live in relative safety; they have organised a night-watch service.
07:05
Khalid shows us a banner on the camp wall. Already someone has been shot. This time a doctor was hit.
07:21
Behind this wall on one of Baghdads sports grounds the UNHCR has set up a camp for those fleeing their own country.
07:33
Khalid takes us to his friend Akram Asaf. With his whole family he has found refuge in this tent. His fate is typical of Palestinians in post-war Iraq.
07:50 Voice over (translation) Insert: Akram, Asaf, Refugee
I have lived here in Baghdad for 37 years. Our landlord came suddenly and told me: Go, together with your family, and leave my house! Why, I dont know. We are suffering here in the heat and because we can not work. There is too much sorrow for my wife and son. In the night we always hear shooting.
08:18
Akram has come out of things relatively well, as a visit to the next tent shows. This woman gave birth 5 days ago. Her husband disappeared with out a trace during the war.
08:30
A Palestinian life often begins in a camp and often ends in a camp.
08:39
The Palestinians have a joke about this: What does God do when a Palestinian goes to Heaven? He immediately sets up a camp.
08:50
Khalid meets Mahmud al Shaier, who has a big problem: a lot of money, $136,000 which he earned as a crude oil chemist in Kuwait and has deposited in the wrong bank.
09:04 Voice Over (translation) Insert: Mahmud al Shaier, Crude oil chemist
My money is in a bank in Jordan, in the Arab bank in the centre of Amman. Since the war, the Jordanian government will not allow me to go to Jordan to collect my money because I only have Egyptian travel documents for Palestinians. No one with such documents is allowed to travel there. That is the law.
09:38
Before we travel back new letters are written. They are for the family members in the desert camps.
09:50
We quickly stock up on petrol from a black marketer, at 10 times the normal price the petrol station opposite is dry.
09:58
The only ones who seem to have no problem getting petrol are the Americans, who we repeatedly meet on the motorway.
10:07
Maybe this is why they dont like it when they are filmed.
10:12
Once again we have to stop at a petrol station.
10:17
The people gather full of hope at the petrol pump. Unfortunately it is no use. It is not empty but broken.
10:26
The repair man makes a start.
10:29
We are also doing repairs. Our cooling system has sprung a leak. We patch it up with a T-shirt and old car tyres.
10:43
After all the repairs are successfully completed we see vigorous trading in American oil at the station shop however it is salad oil.
10:57
Finally after a sweat-soaked drive through the desert we reach Abu Nawaf and his cats again.
11:07
On the camcorder we show him and his second wife the recordings of his son in Baghdad.
11:22 Voice Over (translation) Abu, Nawaf, Writer
I am happy and sad at the same time. Happy to see my son; sad to be so far from him, his wife and their children. But that is life.
11:40
The last station in our virtual family reunion: Au Rashid, the refugee camp inside Jordan, where Nawafs first wife, his daughter and one of his sons live.
11:57
Here too filming and photography is strictly forbidden.
12:05
The son Walid Nawaf first reads out the letters we have brought with us.
12:23
Then naturally we show them all the videos from Baghdad.
12:47 Voice over (translation) Muntoha Mufleh, 1st wife of Abu Nawaf
I would like to live together with my children. It doesnt matter where. We want to live in peace, that is the only thing we want from God. I swear, it doesnt matter where God sends us, we will go, but never back to Iraq. We are afraid, because there Palestinians are persecuted.
13:10
While on one hand dreaming of leaving, on the other they are adapting to the unavoidable. This refugee is counting on a long stay. As a precaution she has started a kitchen garden.
Report and Camera: Paul Flieder
Editor: Elisabeth Madjera
(Ref: 1932)