By At one of the border points between Syria and Iraq, reached after a four hour drive across the stony desert from Damascus, the road is barred to all vehicles and travellers by a checkpoint. Those allowed through drive on. This is the road to Baghdad, where armies have marched, peace-makers have travelled and refugees have fled. Beside it, where the huge lorries lumber up to speed, are the refugee tents covered in standard-issue UN High Commission plastic, makeshift roads and bored kids wandering about.
These are the refugees who have left Iraq but have not yet been allowed into Syria. Their stories are heart rending. I meet many families and am moved by so many tales of the endless search for a place of security and hope, always dashed.
I sit in a tent - carpeted and clean, but still a tent - with a couple and their children. Both are Palestinians born in Baghdad, whose parents lived and thrived as children in Haifa until the state of Israel was founded and they were driven out as unwanted residents from a land given to somebody else. They joined the hundreds of thousands who fled. Many went to Iraq, others to Jordan, Gaza and all over the region - and indeed the world.
In Iraq they had identity and recognition as Palestinians and held onto the dream of returning to their homes. But life was never easy and they worked hard until the invasion of 2003. In the chaos of the ungoverned post-Saddam Iraq, the Shia crowds turned on the Palestinians and accused them of being Saddam stooges and supporters of the Sunnis. Death threats followed and some were assassinated.
Fearing the worst, many families either went into hiding, fled to other parts of Iraq or tried their luck in neighbouring countries. Despite all the pro-Palestinian rhetoric of most countries in the Middle East, only Jordan and Syria have taken in Palestinians. The border camp at alTanf is home to hundreds of people as they await their fate.
The family explain how their lives consist of daily bread and basic food deliveries from the UN and a primary school in the camp. It is bitterly cold at night and they are fearful of snakes, scorpions and fires which can set tents ablaze during cooking.
But these families do not criticise their treatment by Syria or the UN but by Iraq and the big powers.
In the midst of such apparent hopelessness, the children are an inspiration for the future. A bright 12-year-old girl tells me of her ambitions to be a doctor and her family proudly listen. All have one aim: to get out of the camp.
Other camps house Palestinians as the UN bears their food and living costs, waiting for decisions on where they will go.
These Palestinians are the children of the survivors of the "nakba" of 1948, when huge numbers were displaced from their homeland, along with the victims of the "liberation" of Iraq who now await the outcome of complex negotiations as to their ultimate destination.
Meanwhile, the weather worsens and conditions deteriorate. Four hours down the road there are more Palestinian camps, or rather Palestinian towns that happen to be in Syria.
On Monday - Balfour Day, when Arthur Balfour gave his infamous declaration of support for a Jewish state of Israel - I sit in a crowded room with a group of Palestinians who describe their lives and their dreams. Clearly well aware of all aspects of their history, they roundly condemn Britain and the US for their plight and take a keen interest interest in the putative talks for a settlement of the conflict.
Their lives forever blighted by the war and loss of nationhood, it seems appropriate that another big disappointment awaits on Balfour Day. Once again the Israeli tail wags the US dog as Hillary Clinton drops demands to even halt new settlements as the Netanyahu government pushes to continue its dismemberment of the West Bank. Barely a week has passed since the British and US did not vote at the UN Human Rights Council on the reference of the Goldstone Report on the Gaza war to the security council.
Just how many more illegal acts does Israel have to commit before it is condemned?
Israel's argument about living space convinces some that they have the "right" to continue to take Palestinian land and water. Yet across the region and the world, six million Palestinians wonder what happened to their rights.
Wars always leave a trail of human suffering that goes on and on. Those freezing on this isolated border - victims of the power politics of the 1940s and the absurd and dishonest assertions of Bush in 2003 - are but one tragic example of this incontrevertible truth.
Jeremy Corbyn is Labour MP for Islington North. This article was formerly published in the Morning Star.
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If but a tiny amount of the famous 'arab brotherhood' that we all hear about was expended on the displaced Palestinians by their so-called brethren, the refugee problem would have been settled by 1955.
Greece and Turkey both experienced greater forced population exchanges. The difference being that both Greece and Turkey truly cared for own their people.
Meanwhile over 60 years have gone by and the Palestinians and Arabs still seek to blame the Jews (aka Israelis).
I would be interested to know what you think the solutions are?
Much respect to you for your work in campaigning against war. But what is the solution now for the Palestinans - bearing in mind that we cannot turn the clock back, much as we would all like to?
You write very well but your sense of history is distorted to the point of lies. I'll put a few facts to you.
"until the state of Israel was founded and they were driven out as unwanted residents"
No, Jeremy. They started war and when they lost they ran away. There's a big difference.
"In Iraq they had identity and recognition as Palestinians."
I'm not denying it, Jeremy. They loved Sadaam. They danced in the streets when he invaded Kuwait and as a result all the Palestinians got kicked out of Kuwait. Think about it.
"Arthur Balfour gave his infamous declaration of support for a Jewish state of Israel."
No Jeremy. The Balfour declaration was boycotted by the Palestinians along with every committe the British set up. The same goes for the UN partition, or are you going to argue that the UN is a pro-Israeli institution as well?
It's a shame you're so inclined to twist the facts to meet your own prejudice, Jeremy. Like I say, you write well, but it's ruined by being historically incorrect.
Throughtout the whole of the last century these people have persistently engaged in violence and refused to engage in dialogue. Each time, it ends in disaster for them. Now, no other country wants them, yet they always play the part of the victim, and there's always a mug like you who wants to present them in such a light.
I am aware that these people need to be found a home, Jeremy. All I'm saying is let's not pretend they are innocent in the causes of their own predicament. There's a reason a wall was built across Israel; 1,000 people who died from 200 suicide bombers. Or was the 2nd Intifada another example of their victimhood?
I agree that pro-palistinian does not automatically mean anti-semetic, however anti-semetics tend to be pro-palistinan, a subtle but important distiction. Where supporters of the palistinian cause go wrong (in my opinion) is to believe that sharing an overal cause (such as the creation of palistinian state) is more important than the other politics of certain pro-palistinian groups.
There's your problem right there, 'pro-palestinian' is not 'anti-semitic' as you are hinting. But you're right its not the Israelis doing, its ours of course going back to Churchill and Balfour. This has to be resolved before we can have stability in the ME, I would favour part of the west bank from Israel, part of the east bank from Jordan for a palestinian homeland (single state solution will never work) and then a bit more of Saudi Arabia to Jordan like they did in the sixties. But then no-one asks me, they have Tony Blair The Ironic Peace Envoy working on it as we speak (haha).
Jeremy - whilst I agree that the plight of these refugees is terrible and the actions of Isreal towards the Palistinian's is often tyrannical, I feel that you have used your experiences to 'Isreal-bash'. It was Not Isreali's who drove these people from their homes.
Like too many of the left you have appear to see the world from a simple 'pro-palistinian/anti-Isreal' perspective. Be careful as if I am right in my assessment you share the road with some dark forces!
Chilling peice and well written , Our actions in the middle east have not only damaged our reputation but also took our eye of the ball in afghanistan which has left more young lives are being lost .
Lets hope that we learn from the blind faith in the US and generations after us never repeat this shameful act
ricki