It is but rarely that the Russian media recall the existence of our compatriots, past and present, on the territory of the Palestinian Authority (PA). This is unfair if only because for the last 18 months they have been living in the line of fire
There are no accurate statistics on how many FSU citizens live in the PA. According to some sources, there may be up to 1,500 of them. These are mainly women married to Palestinians who used to study in the Soviet Union. Most of them have a university degree. Some have lived in Palestine for more than 20 years while some arrived three to four years ago. Before the intifada, almost all of them worked at schools or local ministries doing jobs they had been trained for in the Soviet Union. All have learned Arabic. In the course of my business trips to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, I often met these people, invariably embittered that Russia had forgotten about them. This bitterness comes not of a vain desire to show off: There are some matters on which support from their native country is of paramount importance to them.
The main issue - documents - is extremely sensitive to many. Women who had retained citizenship of a post-Soviet state, told me before the intifada that if a husband, after five years of study, returned home immediately, he kept his PA residence permit. Yet if he had for some reason stayed longer, his papers were automatically canceled, and so were the papers of his spouse and children. All they could do was wait until the Palestinian's parents secured a three-month invitation for them. But if afterwards a Russian or, say, Ukrainian woman wanted to travel to Moscow or Kharkov or Tver to visit with her parents, her chances of subsequently getting a residence permit in the PA were virtually zero.
True, before the intifada, there was still hope of getting the necessary papers: These matters were handled by special Palestinian-Israeli commissions. Now the commissions have been abolished, and our compatriots have nowhere to turn to.
Generally, after the intifada began (September 2000), a lot of these people ended up in a critical situation. Many became all but illegal aliens. The fact is that Israeli authorities are reluctant to grant them residence permits or extend their visas: As a result, a person finds it easier to leave the country. Should you choose to return after all, I was told, your presence in the PA becomes illegal. Knowing that, the Israelis, at the start of Operation Defensive Wall, announced they would deport all those they would detain in the PA without the necessary papers.
Recently I got in touch on the phone with Tatyana al-Khatib, our former compatriot who now lives with her family in Ramallah. Her husband, Saadi al-Khatib, a Russian university alumnus, is now the PA first deputy information minister. They said that during the first ten days of the operation, power and water supplies were cut off and telephones were not working throughout the city. Ramallah, divided into sectors, is under a round-the-clock curfew. People can only occasionally leave their homes: Once they go out, it is touch and go whether they manage to return the same day. In some areas people are even forbidden to look out the window. Shopping is allowed once every three to four days. But, Saadi said, 60 percent of families have already run out of money.
True, people themselves are reluctant to go out, what with snipers everywhere. Tatyana spoke of an incident after which the city became deserted. Despite the curfew, a Palestinian woman ventured to go to the hospital to have her plaster cast removed. On leaving the hospital, she was killed by a sniper's bullet. In other instances, ambulances were not let through, so those who were not badly injured had to carry their seriously wounded friends or relatives to a checkpoint, where the ambulance had to wait.
Russian interests in the PA are represented by Sergei Peskov, an RF envoy to the Palestinian Authority. He defines the main task of our small diplomatic corps, comprised of only five officers, as "deepening Russian-Palestinian interaction with a view to expediting a Middle East settlement." The situation today, however, is such that in addition to their basic functions, diplomats have to provide assistance to Russian nationals living in the PA. This is not easy since our "diplomatic rearguard" in Gaza is not authorized to provide consular services. Nonetheless, amid an ongoing blockade of Palestinian territory, when ordinary citizens are simply unable to move about freely, Russian diplomats have assumed courier functions, delivering documents to Tel Aviv, where our embassy and consulate are based, and back. Asked how many Russian nationals currently live in the PA, Peskov said: Approximately 550; many have expired documents.
The Russian representative pointed out that not even the diplomats can move about without hindrance. At checkpoints, scattered throughout the region, they have to witness mini-shows put on for their benefit: Hours spent to establish identity and various little tricks to exert psychological pressure are commonplace. Sometimes diplomats get in the line of fire.