1948 refugee dies as result of negligence at Iraqi camp

Posted at DFLP website on July 7, 2009:

"An elderly Palestinian died of a heart attack at an Iraqi refugee camp on Sunday, according to the Palestinians of Iraq Association.

The refugee, Shehad Mohammad Issa Abu Hamad, was born in 1948 in the village of Ein Gazala near Haifa, but was expelled with his family the same year by pre-Israel Zionist forces shortly following the UN's partition of Palestine.

Since then, Abu Hamad had resided in the Al-Walid Refugee Camp in the Al-Anbar Al-Iraqia Desert in Iraq's western Anbar province.

In a statement, the Palestinians of Iraq Association warned of the deteriorating humanitarian conditions at the refugee camp, including lack of basic health services and other life necessities, in addition to the refugees' plight as displaced persons for decades.

The association renewed its call for an end to the suffering of more than 1,400 Palestinian refugees at the Al-Walid camp, who the organization said have become totally marginalized from humanitarian resources and institutions.

However, the United Kingdom, United States, Romania and Sudan have recently agreed to host a number of them, the association said."