A
Lot Of Uninvited Guests
By Dahr Jamail
19 April, 2007
Inter
Press Service
DAMASCUS, Apr 18
(IPS) - The massive influx of Iraqi refugees into Syria has
brought rising prices and overcrowding, but most Syrians seem to have
accepted more than a million of the refugees happily enough.
"I'm looking at it this
way," 35-year-old Amri Alaby told IPS. "There are more people
who can now consume, money circulation has increased, and it is good
for the economy."
Alaby, who owns a sweets
shop in the Souq al-Hamidiyya area downtown admitted that prices have
increased somewhat as a result of the influx of about 1.5 million Iraqis.
That is one reason that not all Syrians are as accommodating towards
their new guests.
"The prices are going
up, everything is going up because of the Iraqis coming here,"
said Adel al-Jabbah, 74-year-old owner of a spice shop in the Bab Touma
area of Damascus. "A house that was 15 million Syrian pounds is
now 40 million Syrian pounds."
Al-Jabbah believes that Iraqi
refugees are rich, because they pay the asking price to Syrian landlords,
real estate agents and business owners.
"They are people who
are going to buy," he said. "Any price you want, you are going
to get it from them."
Al-Jabbah was unwittingly
describing the escalating problem of Syrian landlords and businesses
extorting money from Iraqis desperate enough to pay anything for a secure
place to live.
The refugee crisis continues
to escalate every day. Suburban trucks commonly hired by Iraqis fleeing
from Baghdad to Syria line many streets in neighbourhoods of Damascus
where Iraqis are congregating.
Adhem Mardini, a public information
assistant with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
office in Damascus says the UNHCR is working alongside the government
of Syria, the Red Crescent and other groups to bring relief to the rising
number of refugees.
Mardini told IPS that at
least a thousand Iraqis enter Syria every day, and that the UNHCR is
short of staff and funding.
"We have an emergency
conference in Geneva Apr. 17-18," Mardini told IPS. "And we
are praying that we will obtain more help from it because the Iraqis
are suffering so much. The Iraqis coming here are completely desperate,
and we need all the help we can get."
In a commentary on the situation
of Iraqis in Syria, government daily al-Baath called the situation "a
real crisis", and complained of soaring food and rent prices as
a result of the huge influx. Iraqi refugees now comprise roughly 8 percent
of the Syrian population of about 18 million.
But while many Syrians complain
about rising prices and other difficulties as a result of the influx,
they are sympathetic towards the refugees, and blame the U.S. government
rather than the refugees themselves.
"Bush is responsible
for all of this," Adnan, a 51-year-old merchant in the Bab Touma
district of Damascus told IPS. "He burnt the Middle East and caused
this suffering. We support the Iraqis here, but he is ultimately at
fault."
Many other Syrians expressed
solidarity with their neighbours from the south.
"We are with the Iraqis,
they are our brothers and we believe in one Arabic nation, so they are
having no negative impact on the Syrian people," said Abdel Aziz,
30-year-old owner of a stationery store. "We are giving all we
can just for the resistance of the Iraqis to withstand this unjust occupation
crisis."
Azizi added, "No matter
what pressure comes to the Syrians from this situation, they will do
their best for their neighbours."
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