[5] Currently, several hundred Palestinians from Iraq are living in border camps, after being refused entry to neighbouring Jordan and Syria.

[8] In addition, some Palestinian villagers had been forcibly drafted by the invading Iraqi army, and they and their families were allowed to resettle in Iraq.

[14] Under the newly elected Iraqi government, Palestinians were stripped of their residency permits and made to register at the Ministry of the Interior each month.

[citation needed] This has proven extremely dangerous, and the fear of being shot upon entering or leaving the ministry has deterred many Palestinians from obtaining their right to residency in Iraq.

[citation needed] In addition, Human Rights Watch reported that Ministry of Interior officials have arbitrarily arrested, beaten, tortured, and in a few cases, forcibly disappeared Palestinian refugees.

[8] After the bombing of the Shia Muslim Al-Askari Mosque in the city of Samarra, the circumstances of those Palestinians living in Iraq worsened considerably as they became scapegoats, synonymous with "terrorists" and "insurgents".

[citation needed] Human Rights Watch reported that in mid-March, an unknown militia group calling itself the "Judgment Day Brigades" distributed leaflets in Palestinian neighborhoods, accusing the Palestinians of collaborating with the insurgents and stating the following: "We warn that we will eliminate you all if you do not leave this area for good within ten days."

However, the mass killings and death threats put the Palestinian community in a "state of shock" and forced thousands to leave the country, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In 2007, UNHCR published ‘Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Iraqi Asylum-Seekers’, which stated that many Arab refugees (including Palestinians) “...do not hold valid documentation, limiting their freedom of movement, access to services and putting them at risk of detention and possibly refoulement.

[18] The regime has followed the principles of Arab hospitality and brotherhood by opening its doors to thousands of Iraqis; yet its policies towards them with regard to provision of basic services have been less clear.

Moreover, it has preferred to use ‘visitor’ or ‘guest’ when referring to Iraqis, avoiding the socially and politically loaded term ‘refugee’ and the subsequent need to establish more permanent arrangements, services and solutions that would strain Jordanian infrastructure.

[22] Living conditions in the camp were extremely difficult, with soaring temperatures during the summer months, and storms during the harsh winters.

[25] Later, in November that year, the remaining residents (all of whom were Palestinian) were resettled in the states of São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.

There, they were promised rented accommodation, furniture and material aid for up to two years, as moral support from volunteers in the communities, who were to help them with local integration.

[30] The Syrian Ministry of Social Affairs also shares a Memorandum of Understanding with UNHCR, allowing for assistance and cooperation with local organizations to provide aid to refugees.

[33] Numbers within the camp continued to increase, as those Palestinians from Iraq arriving in Syria using forged documents were discovered by the Syrian authorities.

[33] Outbreaks of fire were also a common occurrence in Al Tanf and other camps, due to the highly flammable canvas tents.

[6] Al Hol remains open to this day, and is located in the north-eastern province of Hassakeh around 55 km from the city of Deir ez-Zor.,[6] close to the border with Iraq.

Children of the camp attend school with Syrian children in the nearby village of Al Hol, men grow crops to provide additional food, the UNHCR provides basic education, health and recreational facilities within the camp;[36] and vocational training schemes for women have been established by the International Organization of Migration in partnership with the European Union.

[37] Resettlement continues to evade thousands of Iraqi-Palestinians, living as IDPs in Iraq or refugees in squalid border camps.

[6] In 2009, the United States also allowed more than a thousand Iraqi Palestinians from camps inside Iraq to be resettled within its borders.