Palestinians, Lebanese ‘forced’ to leave UAE

Palestinian officials say many Palestinians have been forced to leave the United Arab Emirates in recent months, but there were conflicting reports on whether the reason for the exodus was political. Hussam Ahmad, head of the Refugee Affairs Department in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Islamist group Hamas, said hundreds of Palestinians had been dismissed from their jobs for purported security reasons.

“[This is] an operation of mass displacement of Palestinians in the UAE, especially those of Gaza origins, without known reasons other than security pretexts,” he said in a statement issued in Gaza on Thursday, citing the UAE town of al-Ain. He said many did not have passports and Arab states would not accept them with the travel documents they have.

According to arrangements with Israel, diaspora Palestinians are usually not eligible for a travel document issued by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in Ramallah that is recognized as a passport by many governments around the world.

Palestinians seeking an independent state and an end to Israeli occupation have been split between the Palestinian Authority run by Fatah under Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza since fighting erupted in 2007.

Western-allied Arab governments blamed Hamas for a three-week Israeli war in December and January on Gaza, an enclave of 1.5 million Palestinians under blockade.

During the conflict approximately 1400 Palestinians were killed, over a third of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis were killed, three of them civilians.

The war raised tension in the region between US-allied Arab states and opposition groups supported by Iran, including Hamas and Lebanese Shiite group Hizbullah.

In phone calls to the UAE Nationality and Residency Department in Dubai, officials denied Palestinians had been asked to leave. An Interior Ministry spokesman in Abu Dhabi said he was not aware of the matter.

Khairy al-Aridi, the Palestinian ambassador to the UAE, was quoted by the Ramallah-based official Palestinian news agency Wafa on Thursday as denying a deliberate policy of expulsion.

But he said Palestinians and other foreigners had lost jobs as teachers through the UAE government replacing posts occupied by expatriate professionals with UAE citizens.

“The charitable policy of the UAE toward Palestinians has not changed,” he said in the comments which were carried on the front page of UAE Arabic newspapers on Friday. Aridi did not say how many Palestinians left the UAE or where they had gone.

Ismail Haniyya, Hamas government head in Gaza, said he was seeking clarification about the issue. “I have received official reports from there and I have urged some Palestinian leaders outside to intervene,” he told reporters in Gaza on Wednesday.

Security authorities in the United Arab Emirates have also expelled in the past two months more than 45 Lebanese businessmen and employees allegedly for security reasons.

Al-Akhbar daily said Friday that most of those expelled are Shiites and had received offers to work for the UAE’s security services to gather information on the Lebanese community in the country and Hizbullah in Lebanon.

The newspaper added that the move by UAE authorities intensified following the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah and reached its climax last year.

President Michel Sleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri have discussed the issue and the head of state sent an envoy mid-August to discuss with UAE authorities the reason for expelling the Lebanese men.