Israel announced its decision to allow 41 Palestinian refugees stranded at the Iraqi-Syrian border to enter the country and reunite with their families in the West Bank. Ten others who requested to be reunited with their families in the Gaza Strip were denied. While the request for these Palestinians – stranded at the border since the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003 – was made before by the representative of the UN High Commission on Refugees in Israel, Michael Bavli, two and a half years ago, it was denied by the Israeli government on “security grounds.”

However, official Israeli sources have confirmed that the government agreed to this repeated request – made this time by newly appointed minister Riyad Malki and Jamal Zaqout, a reported confidant of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad – as a “goodwill gesture” to the new Palestinian government.

Israel has made it clear, however, that the move was not a precedent for the return of the Palestinian refugees in general who seek to return to their former homes in Israel or even to the West Bank. To further drive this point home, Israeli conditions for the return of these stranded Palestinians include that they are registered as ordinary citizens under the Palestinian Authority as opposed to being granted refugee status. They must also undergo a “thorough” security check to ensure that none of those entering the country are involved in “terrorist activities.”

There is an approximate 30,000-strong Palestinian community in Iraq, which suffered a severe blow following the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime because of their perceived allegiance to the former Iraqi leader. While some Palestinians were able to escape to Jordan, the majority were trapped in makeshift refugee camps along the Iraqi borders. Most of the Palestinian refugees who fled to Iraq after the 1948 expulsion are originally from the Haifa area.