Update on Palestinian refugees who are facing deportation from Canada and a new detailed report

by Rabie Masri

Montreal April 5, 2004 - As most of you may know, there are Palestinian refugees who are facing deportation from Canada. Two of the refugees from Jenin and Nablus in occupied Palestine are being deported this month.

On of them risks being deported to the United States if he cannot leave on his own. The problem is that his travel document (Jordanian passport issued to West Bank residents) is expired and is in the possession of immigration officials who are refusing to give it to him in order to renew it. Therefore, since he cannot renew his passport and leave to Palestine via Jordan, they will most likely deport him to the United States where he will end up most likely in a County Jail for days and possibly months. He hopes that they will stay his deportation or at the least allow him to renew his passport in order to go see his children and wife he left behind.

The other refugee is from jenin and was detained for 10 days in Montreal. We were able to get him released a month ago. He is being deported but they are having a problem deporting him as he requires a Visa from jordan on his Palestinian Authority passport. There are also over 9 people who are currently living underground and as you can imagine they are going through extremely difficult times. All of the Palestinian refugees who are living in these difficult situations are also the main source of income for their families back in the refugee camps in Lebanon and in Palestine.

I am sending you a document we have worked hard on in the past few weeks which explains in detail the case of the Palestinian refugees in Canada. This document has been sent to over 80 MPs and we will continue distributing thousands of copies of this document in the hopes of raising people's awareness and stopping these deportations.

READ THE DETAILED DOCUMENT HERE: http://www.montrealmuslimnews.net/statelessanddeported.pdf

Thank you for all the support you have shown for the plight of the Palestinian refugees currently in Montreal and Canada.

Rabie Masri  is a spokeperson for the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees. He can be reached at: Tel. (514) 591-3171 or Email: refugees@riseup.net

See also Stop The Deportations (Fiona Becker)