Released Gitmo detainees are going to the island of Palau, a “balmy island nation [which] will likely seem like an alien planet, with bikini-clad women on white sand beaches, meals of fresh saltwater fish and people snorkeling with dolphins in clear blue water.” And the residents are a bit concerned as to how the released jihadis will react.
“Chinese Muslims face culture shock in Palau,” from the Associated Press, June 12:
KOROR, Palau (AP) “” They came from a land of scorching deserts, snowcapped mountains, camels and mosques. Now after several miserable years imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, 13 Muslims from China will try to resettle on the tiny Pacific nation of Palau “” a land of lush beach resorts.
Some residents said Friday they are afraid of the former prisoners, while others worried they won’t adjust to life here.
“It’s good to be humanitarian and all, but still these people to me are scary,” said Natalia Baulis, 30, a mother of two, in Palau’s laid-back capital, Koror.
The detainees were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001, but the Pentagon determined last year that they were not “enemy combatants.”
They were just sightseeing in the jihadi beltway.
They have been treated like global untouchables since the U.S. decided to free them, saying they weren’t a danger to the country. No nation agreed to take the 13 men until Palau “” a former U.S. trust territory “” welcomed them to the tropical tourist getaway, about 500 miles east of the Philippines.[…]
Palau will be tough for them because there aren’t many Muslims in the predominantly Christian nation of 20,000 people, he said.
“They are going to have a very difficult time of it for sure,” said Gladney, a professor at the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College in California.
When the Uighurs arrive, this balmy island nation will likely seem like an alien planet, with bikini-clad women on white sand beaches, meals of fresh saltwater fish and people snorkeling with dolphins in clear blue water.
Back in the Uighurs’ desert home, camels haul cargo across dusty deserts, cold winds blow off snowy mountains, and women usually cover up with head scarves. Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most remote city from any sea in the world.
Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Germany-based World Uighur Congress, a pro-independence group, was also worried about the detainees’ ability to adapt.
“I’m concerned about their mental health,” Raxit said by phone from Sweden. “They have been detained for a long time and they will need the help of psychologists. I hope the Palau government can provide the counseling and other help they need.”…