"The United Arab Emirates will deport hundreds of Palestinians living within its territory by the end of September, the Al-Quds al-Arabi daily reported on Friday.
The UAE government gave no official reason for its decision, but said that senior state officials have approved the expulsion.
Palestinian lawmaker Aataf Adwan called the decision a campaign against both Palestinians and those of other nationalities born in the UAE.
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According to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Aakhbar, the UAE is also planning to deport dozens of Shi'ite Lebanese citizens. Forty-five Lebanese businessmen and clerks have already been expelled, said the report.
None of those deported were given an explanation, according to the report, other than being told the decision was security related.
Some Palestinians have already been deported for giving financial aid to family members in Gaza, said an official in the Strip's ruling Hamas movement. Hamas has asked the Arab League to intervene, fearing other Gulf state may follow suit.
More than 100,000 Palestinians currently live in the United Arab Emirates."
05 September, 2009
Report: UAE to deport hundreds of Palestinians by month's end
Lirun has posted an interesting link in the comments section...
Labels:
deportation,
palestine,
visa
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58 comments:
If it's security-related, then it's security-related, there is no lying or manipulativeness about it.
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/General/10346432.html
I hope the government explain their action ....
i wonder where they will be sent to.. who will take responsibility for their welfare and safety..
i also wonder what happened to initiate this action..
Well done, UAE! There's nothing like expressing a bit of solidarity for your down-trodden cousins, is there?
I suppose the Afghans, the Iranians, and the Iraqis will be next - after all, they must be 'security threats', surely?!
BEst news ever. A "Stateless" person should have never been able to enter the country in the 1st place. I applaud the UAE for finally doing this and hope that in the near future, those 100K will be zero.
lirun: who will take responsibility for their welfare and safety..
surely we can count on the israelis for that?
finally!!
hemlock
obviously not..
i wonder how they will even obtain travel documents.. my understanding is that the PA issues passports only to residents of the west bank..
now that you have enlightened me - perhaps you can answer the second question
Well,we live in a injustice world btw,but what can we expect from some ungrateful Bedouins who the Palestinians educated them to read and write a long time ago
....
ok..willingly or unwillingly, the ungrateful Bediouns now are you lords and can sell and buy you a hundred times!
Al-ain Rose said...
Good to know the ungrateful ppl will be deported.
Agreed.
Al-ain Rose
You will be slaves one day,
For everything bad you do to mankind you will pay the price,for every sweat of every slave you got is cursing you day and night.
I bet the slave at your place is spitting in your meal when you aren't looking.
so happy fasting :)
Stark contrast with the cancellation of new year celebration to support our "Palestinian brothers".
wow! that's overwhelming, not the news itself (coz the news might be untrue, as i hope) but the comments especially by people full of BS like alain-ass and the coward anon who didn't use his/her name...anyways, Palestinians have proven themselves in work places wherever they go and it's not down to the UAE to make their lives better..they are well educated people who have already survived the worst.
Thank you Proud Emirati: it's people like you who make us, Palestinians, more in love with the UAE.
It's a shame to see the other offensive comments here... Palestinians have proven themselves in work places wherever they go and we have survived the worst so far..so another chapter in our lives won't put us down.
I didn't pass such a judgment on them randomly, what I said is based on experience. I've encountered many of them all through my life, I'm nice and I've always looked for an exception among them in the hope to dismiss this cynical idea from my mind, but heck, I almost couldn't! I don't like to generalize, absolutely there are the good and bad in all nationalities, but when it comes to those, I DO.
They taught us how to write and read huh? Oh don't make me laugh,
1. All what I learned from the so called Palestinians teachers was their filthy curse words, curious to know what they are? Well, the least offensive was "YA YAHOOD!! Haha.
2. The first smack I got was from a Palestinian teacher's hand when I was 5 in KG! and I was about to lose my consciousness, it was damn strong. lol
3. I had a Palestinian teacher or rather, a torturer who used to sharper a pencil with a pencil sharper to make sure it's painful enough to POKE (& I mean POKE) the students' hands with it.
4. I had been treated badly in my high school I attended that involved mostly Palestinians teachers as well as students (90% were Palestinians and a few Emiraties), I got through crap in that school. My worst days in my life.
5. The worst Muslims.
So what kind of education you're talking about, smarty? Let the UAE deport them!!!!! I've been waiting for this since I got my first smack, I will be able to breathe easily from now on once it's applied.
If you would talk about gratefulness, I would choose to be grateful to Egyptians & Sudanese; at least they have what we call in our own lang. "Themmah & thameer" , & dignity which are qualities the Palestinian themselves lack, they're obsessed about their own advantages only at the expense of others, even worse, at the expense of their religion. They incredibly carry a WORLD of hate inside their chests, & they don't reserve any harsh judgment on this country and its people, as if we are responsible for their misery and their land being occupied by the Israelis. And unfortunately, I have met those of them who even own the uae citizenship, enjoy all the privileges of being citizens, and yet still curse and bitch about this country, I feel so sorry for the UAE, the more this country does for them, the more disthankful they become. And we have nothing to do about it.
No one could cope them for their bad qualities, no one, except for Jewish maybe… Due to the fact that they have some qualities in common with them, so they can really stand each other.
And please, for the million times, refrain us from the absurdity of this "education story", it's old & I'm sick of it and ,in fact, we are the ones who're educating you now, well, this is the life!! Rounds!
At the end of the day, as much I'm hopeless, I am still willing to dismiss this idea and continue my journey of looking for a "good pal-estinian"!
Hey, you see where your hatred comes from. Girl (if you are) you need to be lying on a psychiatrist's couch and letting it all out!! all your childhood sufferings have been from Palestinians..well, tough luck! but this is all from one perspective...now i feel you're a 13 year old kid ranting about what his/her teachers did to him..poor you...i was about to hate you AAR but now i only pity you.. the funny part was the 'i don't like to generalize'one..haha yeah good one.. damn right.
originally when i raised the topic on another post i was hoping someone might have some directly relevant information to the topic of the rumoured deportation..
i see that the subject has busted open a little flood gate instead.. all i can say is that as an israeli i know many very kind and decent palestinians.. some of whom are very close friends.. i know others that i dislike.. in each case im sure it has almost nothing to do with the fact that they are palestinians..
people are people..
Lirun... Can you please run for office in Israel?
Eman, you go run for the same in Gaza...
Then sit around and talk things out.
It's heartwarming to see that the Australians and Israelis are worried about the plight of the Palestinians in the UAE.
These reports are not confirmed, and in fact the Palestinian Ambassador in the UAE has called them false rumors and pointed the finger at Iran.
So were will the Palestinians go then? Would they be welcome in Australia? Or perhaps their native Palestine vis-a-vis Israel, the country with the only democracy in the middle east?
Al-Ain Rose, it's worrying to read your comments. There must be some personal reasons for this. However Palestinians come in good and bad types, just as any other type of people. In fact Sheikh Zayed used to hire the good ones as is reported here:
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090906/LIFE/709059970/1188/enewsletter
I would like to see some facts and less fiction on this issue.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is just a rumour. The source obviously is a long time enemy of the Emiratis and Palestinians.
Well educated? lol. That made me laugh out and spit pepsi all over my desk.
...
hahaha! goodness! that's why I alwayz think that there should be a warrning on the blog that says:
CAUTION: Don't hold HOT beverages while reading the blog, you may luagh your head off.
haha
There shouldn't be room for parasites in UAE, can't we just learn from the horrible Kuwaiti experience ?
Beside, to be fair to the 'land' of Palestine, there should be millions of Palestenians taking care of their damaged land; re-establishing social reforms and establishing their own nation from the scratch. For sure this cannot be done in lands far away from home.
I'm quoting Ted Kennedy ( as seen on CNN these days ) " don't ask what your country has done for you; ask yourself what you've done for your country "
And yes I'm another one who was repititively abused by my Palestenian teachers.. hatred is all I could remember emanating from them. At any rate, dear 'educated' Pals, your country is in need of you !
One last thing here; if you put those retarded work places in UAE under close scrutiny; you'll find out that one of the main causes of being so retarded is those 'educated' Palestenians. I mean it.
Thanks for all the people who is taking this in an objective manner.
Eman, don't be sad for what you are hearing as your people have prevailed over what is worse and will always do.
As for the very emotional ones who calim they are Emiratis but know well that they are not, lets see if all your problems be it breathing, commanding good jobs, getting real (not web claimed) UAE passport etc, can be sloved if and after the Palestinians are being deported.
Fact is Palestinians where hosted and accepted by Sheikh Zayed (Allah yirhama) and now by the Sheikhs who rule this country and follow on his foot steps. Irrespective of why you think they are doing this (education, pitty etc,) it is them you have to address with your comments and objections. Now go and do it - or probably you have to wait to get a citizenship first before you do.
How pathetic. Go do something useful in your sorry life.
So Lirun,
As a Zionist, why are you so interested in knowing why they are being deported? Does the fact that the UAE is (ALLEGEDLY) deporting couple of hundreds Palestinians makes all the Zionist crimes against them more palatable?
Or is it a case of false empathy? Zionists suddenly feeling guilty for making these people homeless from the first place?
Yes Dubai Jazz, this is why I say that Lirun is not as innocent as he claim.
dubai jazz
your sarcasm is wasted on me.. it doesnt bother me - sorry dude..
in connection with the source of my interest - i owe you no explanations.. if you want to analyse my motives then i suggest you read my blog on a daily basis.. its very open - youre bound to satisfy your own curiousity..
proud emirati
i never claimed to be anything.. if you want to prejudge me - be my guest..
its a shame youre highjacking a post and turning it into something about me..
the attention is flattering but unnecessary..
Do we have to go back to 1990 and see what have the palestinians did when Kuwait gave them almost everything ?
This could happen in the UAE too if Iran wants to start a riot and promise the palestinians a new land with hezbollah being the mediator.
God left the Jews alone for few decades on this planet for a good reason.
Proud Emirati,
Yes, we all appreciate humane gesture. Only they'd have to be genuine!
Lirun,
I visited your blog once or twice before; I'd still have the questions unanswered: why are you so interested in this story which has no official value whatsoever?
What does it have to do with you?
How does it relate to your grandiose goal of brining peace to the east midetteranian?
Suppose, for the heck of it, that the story is true and that these people are being deported for security reasons; how will that piece of information be of any use to YOU?
Good Lord!
I am not from the UAE, nor am I am Arab, or Israeli.
But any one from the UAE can see that a story according to which some people who make up the expat heavy fabric of the UAE may leave in droves, is of interest to the UAE community blog.
Sometime ago it was the story on Pakistani not being given visas - I am not one, but it was interesting.
Maybe it is not true and someone will point that out. But in any case, it's interesting to know about stereotypes about yet another community here.
Why bash up a poster and look for a conspiracy!?
Paranoia
there's no smoke without fire, if it's hasn't been discussed yet, then it's surely on the table.
In fact Sheikh Zayed used to hire the good ones as is reported here:
...
What's so new?
Yes he was the only Arab ruler who accepted them. He was so noble, and Palestinians will never ever see his like again, he hired them and put his trust on them, he gave them the opportunity to better lives when they had been rejected by the all Arabs... and what was the result? what did he get in return?
more rancor feelings towards his country & his ppl. .
The source obviously is a long time enemy of the Emiratis and Palestinians.
...
Iran?... if something bad once happened to the UAE from whatever side, our Palestinian friends would do exactly what they already did to KUWATIS 1990. They turned against them & betrayed the country that hosted them, they cheered for Saddam & the invasion and join the Iraqi army its crimes. & Kuwait will never forget that.
So why don't we just learn from other ppl's mistakes?
look at them themselves, instead of fighting against the occupation, they are killing each others
the prophet(pbuh) said ,"as how you are like, you will be ruled by""
كَـمَـا تَـكُـونُـوا يُـولَّـى عَـلَـيْـكُـم
no wonder they are ruled by the Israelis.
As for the very emotional ones who calim they are Emiratis but know well that they are not.
....
want to know my full name??
:)
anonymous: lol.
The source for this the Al-Quds al Arabi newspaper. This report is UNCONFIRMED RUMOR.
Brothers and sisters, do not let the zionist scum on this board cause fitna between you.
@AAR, 23.13
Oooh, we are all quaking in our boots. Reveal yourself, o Czarina.
everyone here sounds like a 13 years.
..
Mashalla 3ala 3aglich. so mature.
lol!
anonymous, Al-ain rose etc:
"Listing information considered private is against the rules; inciting other users to do anything similar, discussing it (even if it is meant to be in a light hearted manner) is prohibited."
zionist scum?
Rose, what happened to the Kuwaitis in 1990? Let's get the facts straight.
Saddam invaded and Arafat supported him. This was very stupid. Firstly Arafat was not elected by any Palestinians (he was self appointed obviously) and I am not aware of Palestinian civilians supporting the stupid invasion of Kuwait.
Palestinians were yet again kicked out of an Arabic country (i.e. Kuwait) and paid the price for what Arafat did without consulting them.
Now they are blamed again.
Honestly it's a waste of my time to talk about this to people who can't even get the facts correct let alone discuss opinions openly.
العين روز الى اي مدا انت في درجة من الغباء كما انتم يولى عليكم هذه العبارة تقال عندما يختار الانسان من يولى عليه وليس عندما يكون تحت احتلال, ربما تحتاجين لمعلم فلسطيني ليعلمك . انا لن اكون لعبة في هذا الموضوع ولكن نحن الفلسطنين تعودنا على الغدر وعلى الخيانة من شعوب عربة" جنسية فقط" كثيرة ولم ننكسر بل بلعكس اصبحنا اقوى, فهاتوا ما عندكم فنحن لها ان شاء الله.
BuJassem,
Arafat was not self appointed. Arafat was appointed Chairman of the PLO by the Palestinian National Council in Egypt February 1969.
The PLO is sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
Now, I am not justifying this report about the "deportation of Palestinains," but I was in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion, I was born there, and I was 14 at that time. I have personally seen first hand regular Palestinians involvement and support to the invasion.
History does play a big role here for some people to be judging the Palestinians , does "Black Septemeber" 1970 in Jordan ring a bell? the PLO was expelled from Jordan,
PLO decide to set up shop in Lebanon now, Israel Invaded Lebanon because the PLO "the sole representative of the Palestinian people" decided to wage it's war on Lebanese land. Now I know this is an Arab issue - but when Israel Invaded Lebanon in 1982 - Arafat was convinced the Arabs would come to aid his war. No one came, only Sharon came.
Arafat the chairman of the PLO "the sole represantative of the Palestinian people" supported the invasion of Kuwait - but that still does not justify this report,
I am Lebanese, I have a Palestinian friend that I consider my brother, I have a Syrian friend that I consider my brother, I hold no grudges - If a Palestinian teacher slapped me when I was 5 - I would hate that teacher as a person and not as a Palestinian,
As for Lirun here, everyone acts like he has a neon sign flashing on top of his head that says "Jew, Jew, This man Jew" I don't know why he is interested in this report to be honest, I don't know why anyone would be interested in this report - it reeks of BS - I personally think it should be removed until the facts are straight.
Back to the subject, Arafat is no longer here - so we cannot judge any Palestinian because of his behaviour in the past -
If this is true - I am sure the UAE government has it's reasons - maybe its security maybe its fraud related etc. etc. I don't know.
But for some people here saying this is "excellent news" and justifying it because of the Iraqi Invasion, or some Palestinian teachers slap during school is just sheer ignorance.
I know this post on this blog will have the comments rolling - but the comments here are useless - it's just personal attacks - that is why I posted the link up there as the second comment, as far as I know this report is false and should be removed until all the facts are staight.
Keeping it going will just keep the personal attacks in the comments section going.
Sam, 17.37: Seriously? Does this apply to information about yourself? I would have thought this rule would cover not 'outing' others or inciting others to reveal personal information about other people. What purpose? What if someone posts on their own name?
My apologies AAR, it just that the comment sounded really pompous, like we have filmstar here and we don't know it.
anonymous: No, obviously someone can post under their name if they want to, however there have been issues in the past with people joking around about this kind of stuff and people feeling threatened that their names may be revealed which is why their should be no discussion about it here.
Al Ain Rose said...
The youngest child in my family's worth your whole family tree to the 100 grandfather.
Are you American?
HE
it was fairly heavily publicised.. im guessing it may be less than true given the silence surrounding the issue in the media..
i do find it bizarre that the report was made..
not sure why i need to substantiate my "interest" over and over..
i have stated on many occasions why this blog interests me.. i wont bother digging into the topic again now..
if you have the time - read this comment thread from way back.. :)
nostalgia
Hello HE,
As a Lebanese, I respect what you said and I will follow up as follows.
I'm not biased enough against Palestinos or Israelis to forget what the PLO did in various Arab countries. What Arafat did in Lebanon was wrong. No wonder the Pals are treated so badly in Lebanon. What he did in Jordan as you mentioned is equally wrong. He was also kicked out of Tunis if I remember my history lessons correctly.
We're probably the same age, and I was in Dubai when the Kuwait invasion happened. If you've witnessed Palestinians supporting Saddam can you please elaborate on that? Do you mean they were actively fighting the Kuwaitis? The same people the lived with for years?
I actually saw many of the deported Palestinos in the UAE and they seemed ordinary to me. Doctors, engineers, bankers, even teachers. People incapable of much in terms of military action.
I don't know if your quoting the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people is sarcastic, but I believe it is. So if I were a Palestinian living in Brazil, Sweden or a Lebanese refugee camp, what can I do to support the PLO? What can I do to support alternatives to the PLO? In all practical cases, not very much I am afraid.
Thus I do not consider the PLO as a representative of anyone except itself. It fights for its own survival rather than for a Palestinian state. Corruption reigns supreme.
I'm happy to debate ideas in a respectful way like you've done, but taking it down to a schoolchild level is a waste of time. Would you suggest disabling comments on this post?
I've probably just seen 2 or 3 people who actually give meaningful comments (you're one of them), but the rest are just weird angry people who hide behind anonymous names.
BuJassem,
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, whether supportive or otherwise, just like you choose to write in favor of the Palestinians.
Moreover, blog owner/admin allow anonymous comments here. So until such a time, they decide to take away our anonymous right to express our opinion, might I suggest you get used to it!
To address the issue at hand about Palestinians. First-off, I'm neither Arab, nor Moslem. Neither am I a Jew. Second, I have my own share of Palestinian friends that have been directly affected i.e. simply terminated and given a 30-day period to leave the country. These friends that have been in the country for the past +20 years, are now stuck at the border (go figure which one!) living in miserable conditions. But it's a fact, something is not what it seems, as-is always the case in this part of the world.
Now, you may choose to deny - let's call it (selective-banishment) - in your usual cosmetically modified nationalistic banter but what's happening under wraps is a fact, the afore-mentioned selective-banishment, per se!
Bujassem,
Cannot debate with you as I agree with what you have said.
You are absolutely right about the PLO being a representative of itself – I’m sorry if I sounded sarcastic, but that was not the intention. I should have chosen my words more clearly – I was just disturbed with some of the personal attacks and I let it get to me, I do not think it is right that people resort to insults rather than having a clear conscious debate that enlightens everyone here. I thank you for your commonsense and rational argument, I have learned and I have understood where you are coming from.
Back to the topic at hand, my personal accounts of Palestinians support during the Iraqi invasion is very minimal – and I should have also been clearer on that – It wasn’t so much as them carrying a weapon and fighting, although I am sure some did but not to the extent that you can say “all” Palestinians are guilty – a handful were supportive though, acting as “scouts” and pointing out the houses of government officials – my father knew of a Palestinian who embedded himself with the Iraqi soldiers going from house to house – he would point out who is “ok” and who isn’t, as in government official / employee or not – This Palestinian was a regular bloke working as a PRO for a private company, and he had some insight – therefore, he chose to side with the invasion – it was a time of war, instincts kick in, it becomes purely “survival of the fittest”, therefore he might have done this to save his own skin. This was common practice for some Palestinians (and I am sure a handful of other nationalities were involved) – but this practice is what got the idea rooted in everyone’s head that all the Palestinians are involved. Everyone convinced themselves that the Palestinians were supportive. This of course was a myth. However, I think nowadays people understand that that is not the case.
Lirun, this is in no way a personal attack, but I still do not understand your interest in this. No, this report was not heavily publicized. I will not criticize you as you have stated your opinion and have mentioned you know of many decent Palestinians. But your question about “where will they be sent to” is what caught most people’s attention.
How about they are sent to the state of Palestine? That’s an idea. I haven’t seen you mention a Palestinian Nation, only “Palestinians”. The Israeli myth that there is no such thing as a legitimate Palestinian state, no particular cultural, historical, or ethnic identity linked to the land of Palestine is still running hard. Israelis have convinced themselves. It is a necessary myth. To convince Jews to pick up and leave their homes in New York, Moscow, London, Montreal in the early 20th century, this myth was a necessity. If Jews around the world were told, “We want you to come to Palestine. But you better understand that there is another legitimate nation there, the Palestinians, who claim it as theirs and will fight you to death,” many Jews might never have come. The old Jewish saying “a people without a land” coming to a “land without a people” is still believed in Israel.
Don’t you think?, it would be nice to prove me wrong, and you as an Israeli tell me that – yes, Palestine was a nation claimed by the Palestinians before the State of Israel.
i can appreciate that you want that..
some declarations and some admissions..
and thats nice..
it would make it easy if we could wrap things up in a few sentences..
unfortunately its not like that..
the conflict is not just about land and certainly not about money (because there is none) and its not even just about religion.. more than anything the conflict is about identity..
but few recognise that and so a whole bunch of misleading questions float all the time.. i call them misleading not because they're asked necessarily by bad people.. but because they dont lead you to the source of the problem or the root of the solution..
and im happy to discuss this with you elsewhere like my blog for example..
back to the topic? i have long been fascinated by:
a - relations between majority segments and minorities within them in arab countries - my family has been in this situation and it s relevant for the future of my country and whichever country the palestinians are ultimately given
b - i am specifically interested in what happens in the UAE because it represents an extreme threshold.. much of the happenings in the arab world are often explained away/excused based on the demographic attributes of arab society.. the uae represents to me what happens in an arab society that has prospered.. and that in many ways has been loyal to western emulation and at the same time worked very hard to preserve elements of its own heritage with a combination of degrees of success.. arabs in my country face similar issues.. their issues are my issues..
c - most media around the world define the relationship between the arab world and the palestinians with close reference to the israeli arab conflict and we rarely hear about interactions that are separate from our war.. i grew up not knowing about black september and the damour massacre for example as well as many other events.. i also had no idea that palestinians could not work in many dozens of key professions in lebanon let alone study such.. i had no idea how poor the palestinians living in north egypt were until the gazans bought everything that moved when they busted through the border not to long ago..
i am not seeking to recruit people that dislike palestinians.. im not hunting for arguments against them.. im not seeking to blame them for anything although i am sick and tired of people talking about them like feathers in the wind who have no responsibility at all for anything ever that has ever happened to them because the refugee jewish nerds from arab and european countries who came empty handed were just sooo powerful..
im tired of everyone filtering history and i am on a personal quest to at least be aware of the present..
i read a lot and engage in a lot of dialog with people from this region.. for a while i was a member of this blog and would sometimes post directly.. these days i mostly just read and every now and then make a specific request and sometimes am lucky enough to have someone follow through..
despite all the noise that this post has made i do thank people for having also included some relevant information..
its hard to focus on the topic when some people are so committed to defending the world in the face of the huge threat that i apparently pose but thanks in any event..
lastly - in terms of where will they go.. thats an important question.. they probably wont be allowed back to the west bank unless they have appropriate documentation.. some wont even hold travel documents.. how will they even travel.. these are humane concerns and have nothing to do with perceived entitlement..
i think if people harnessed their knowledge or thoughts to discuss this topic rather than attack participants a really interesting discussion could follow..
maybe next time..
here is another discussion about the article involving a palestinian who had lived in the uae.. http://nizos.blogspot.com/2009/09/oh-ali-sell-camel.html
Talk about horrible PR.
ok - as a side note - turns out many thousands of palestinians who were expelled from kuwait were actually absorbed into the west bank.. so said a soldier who was posted at the allenby bridge at that time..
Arabs, gotta love their sense of humor
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