A Feb. 4 article said that about roughly a third of Jordan's population of 5.9 million are Palestinian refugees. The proportion includes Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
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War in Iraq Propelling A Massive Migration
Iraqis in growing numbers are fleeing the war at home, creating the largest refugee crisis in the Middle East in almost 60 years. Many, like Hussein Ghani, live as refugees in Amman, Jordan, and fear deportation.
(By Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)
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"I feel psychologically relieved. You can see it is very safe," said Ajrami, waving his hands at the cars flowing by. "But I have left my family, friends, my neighbors, my memories back in Baghdad. The first day there is security, I will go back."
Then he declared he would find a job the next day. "From the border to here, we felt like we had entered paradise," he said.
Widad Shakur, 53, said that when she arrived in Amman in October, she felt the same way. A Shiite Muslim, she fled after Sunni extremists threatened to behead her daughter, a teacher. But Iraq's chaos is never far away. A week ago, Shakur learned that a Sunni family had occupied her house. Now, she cannot sleep at night.
And she cannot afford to return to Iraq. Her daughter, a saleswoman, earns barely $300 a month, half of which goes to their rent. "I wish I was a bird and I could fly back to my house," said Shakur, as tears welled in her eyes.
"Who expected it would turn out like this -- Sunni against Shia?" she continued. "We were like brothers. Why is this happening?"
She has a more pressing problem. Her legs hurt, she said. But she cannot afford a doctor. She worries that seeking help at a Jordanian hospital might lead to deportation, even though she has a three-month residency permit.
"I don't know whether we have the right to go to it or not," said Shakur, who wore a black, sequined head scarf. "I am afraid to go there."
At the Royal Association for Iraq Immigrants, Salah al-Samarai had 28 pink and yellow folders stacked on his desk. They belonged to Iraqis in need of surgeries.
"I don't know what to do," said Samarai, the head of the nonprofit that helps Iraqis, as visitors waited outside his door.
In front of him sat Waad Abdul Rahim, a solemn Iraqi professor dressed in a tweed jacket. His 14-year-old daughter, Mina, needed an intestinal operation. It cost $5,000. For the past month and a half, he has visited Samarai's office.
"I come every day, and then I go back to suffer," Rahim said. "Her life is in danger. The longer it takes, the more dangerous it is going to be."
Samarai nodded in sympathy and said, "We have four or five more-serious cases."
