Newsday.com - Rough Exit From Iraq "I was kicked out [of Palestine] with my mother and father 55 years ago - now I've been kicked out [of Iraq] with my wife and children," said Ahmed Kadoura, 60, sitting in the shade of one of many tents pitched on a soccer field in Baghdad.
Like hundreds of other Palestinians in Iraq, Kadoura is facing the wrath of an Iraqi population that sees the Palestinians in Iraq as collaborators with the regime of Saddam Hussein.
"We're going in circles," said Kadoura, whose neighbor stabbed him twice with a long knife to encourage him to leave his Baghdad home. "It's pointless to stay in an Arab country."
Hussein created a militia devoted to liberating Jerusalem for the Arabs. He sent thousands of dollars to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, allowed Palestinian militant groups to operate training camps in Iraq and recruited many for his security services, and he gave many ordinary Palestinians in Iraq free housing while paying their unwilling Iraqi landlords as little as $5 per year in compensatory rent. As the only Arab head of state to attack Israel in recent decades - in 1991 - he was a hero to many Palestinians. The moment Hussein fell from power, the Palestinians lost one of their most important and influential allies.
Like hundreds of other Palestinians in Iraq, Kadoura is facing the wrath of an Iraqi population that sees the Palestinians in Iraq as collaborators with the regime of Saddam Hussein.
"We're going in circles," said Kadoura, whose neighbor stabbed him twice with a long knife to encourage him to leave his Baghdad home. "It's pointless to stay in an Arab country."
Hussein created a militia devoted to liberating Jerusalem for the Arabs. He sent thousands of dollars to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, allowed Palestinian militant groups to operate training camps in Iraq and recruited many for his security services, and he gave many ordinary Palestinians in Iraq free housing while paying their unwilling Iraqi landlords as little as $5 per year in compensatory rent. As the only Arab head of state to attack Israel in recent decades - in 1991 - he was a hero to many Palestinians. The moment Hussein fell from power, the Palestinians lost one of their most important and influential allies.
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