Iraqi Palestinians squeezed by security crackdown

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07560218.htm

BAGHDAD, June 8 (Reuters) - Palestinian refugee Thaier Noureddine never wanted to leave Iraq, even if he could return to the land his family fled after the 1948 Middle East war.

But he's been desperate for a way out since Iraqi security forces arrested his brother Ghazwaan and three other Palestinians in a crackdown on foreign fighters from Arab countries and Iraqi guerrillas suspected of "terrorist" attacks.

"He did nothing wrong. Is being a Palestinian a crime?" Noureddine asked.

Iraq -- with its history of dictatorship and war -- has been the only home some Palestinian refugees have known since their families settled here after the violent birth of Israel in 1948.