By Miri -
Since their forced
displacement from Palestine in 1948, the scattered Palestinian
refugee community has been severely affected by pretty much all of the major
conflicts that have been shaking the region, many times leading them
to flee their newly established homes yet another time. Escaping the
violence in their host countries, be it Kuwait or Lebanon, many of
those refugees resettled in Syria, which, compared to other Arab states, was viewed as
one of the most stable, and most sympathetic states towards the
Palestinian refugees - until recently.
Manifold Odysseys to
Syria
 |
Palestinian refugee camp 1948 (UNRWA Archive) |
In 1948 an estimated
number of 85,000-90,000 Palestinians, mostly from northern cities and
towns, such as Safad, Haifa, Acre, Tiberias, and Nazareth fled to
Syria. After concentrating along the border area with Israel, and
hoping to return to their homes, the refugees were later moved to live in
deserted military barracks in Sweida, Aleppo, Homs and Hama.
During
the Six Day War in 1967, the Black September in Jordan in 1970,
and Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the Palestinian community
in Syria grew considerably and by now constitutes of nearly half a
million registered refugees, equalling just over two percent of the
overall Syrian population. Most of these refugees live in one of
the 14 refugee camps in Syria,
half of which are located in and
around Damascus
.
In 1956 the Syrian
government adopted Law No. 260, which states that
Palestinians
residing in Syria as of the date of the publication of this law are
to be considered as originally Syrian in all things covered by the
law and legally valid regulations connected with the right to
employment, commerce, and national service, while preserving their
original nationality.
The law thus basically implies that the
Syrian government officially opposes the permanent
re-settlement of Palestinian refugees on Syrian soil, and instead
insists that the only acceptable solution is constituted by the return to
their homeland. The Syrian government was thereafter celebrated as
having “gradually paved the way for [the refugees'] thorough
integration into the socioeconomic structure while preserving their
separate Palestinian identity”.
Notwithstanding the
relatively fair approach towards the refugees, previous long-term
president Hafez al-Assad, is said to have systematically used the
Palestinian resistance as a political tool and, in order to not
challenge his own hegemonic position within the area, to have
prevented the emergence of a Palestinian power centre. In pursuance
of furthering Syrian control over the Palestinian leadership, the
former president allegedly “instigated divisions and created his
own Palestinian proxies” and even backed assaults on Palestinian
refugee camps in Lebanon during the civil war.
Historically Palestinian activism in
Syria was limited to themes and events directly relating to
their own national cause, yet with the start of the uprising in March
2011, more and more Palestinians increasingly abandoned their neutral
stance towards the despotic Assad regime, and instead started identifying with the Syrian
cause.
Palestinians and the
Syrian Uprising
During the first year of
the Syrian uprising the Palestinian communities were only indirectly
affected, and mainly suffered collateral damages from the invasions
of the cities in which the refugee camps are situated. Considering
themselves as “guests” of Syria, they still abstained from openly engaging with
the ongoing conflict, yet from the beginning of the revolution,
Palestinian camps allegedly served as safe havens for the
wounded and displaced Syrians.
Similarly, the Palestinian
leadership in the West Bank and Gaza tried to officially stay neutral
in order not to harm the communities trapped in Syria. Hamas left
their Syrian headquarters in early 2012, reportedly silently protesting against the Syrian
regime's violent response to the uprising.
However with an
intensification of the fighting, especially young Palestinians felt more and more drawn to the side of the opposition and
increasingly started clashing with the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP -GC), a splinter
group of the older PFLP which has been acting as an extension of the
Assad regime inside the refugee camps.
 |
Yarmouk Camp, Damascus, 2013 |
In December 2012, fighting
between the Free Syrian Army, supported by one of their Palestinian
subsections, the Liwa al-Asifah (the Storm Brigade), and the PFLP-GC
ensued in the Yarmouk refugee camp. Yarmouk is one of the unofficial
refugee camps in the south of Damascus, and until the uprising, used
to be the home of the largest Palestinian community in Syria.
In response to the
fighting, the Syrian army for the first time started directly
targeting a refugee camp, with army jets bombing Yarmouk and killing
at least 23 civilians. Those air strikes are said to have finally
“shattered what was left of the Syrian government’s claim to be a
champion and protector of Palestinians“.
 |
Solidarity protest in Ramallah, 2014 |
With the camp coming under
the control of the Free Syrian Army and its allies, the Syrian regime
placed Yarmouk under total siege. Except for one food parcel, which
was recently allowed to enter the camp in January 2014, all humanitarian aid, including the delivery of food and medicine was blocked since July 2013. According
to the UN at least 43 residents of Yarmouk camp have died of
starvation; Palestinians sources who managed to sneak out of the besieged camp speak
of more than 100 deaths.
As of October 2013,
120,000 of the 140,000 Palestinian residents of Yarmouk have escaped the fighting in the camp.
A total number of 235,000
Palestinians have been displaced in Syria itself and 60,000,
alongside 2.2 million Syrians, have fled the country.
According to the
Working Group for Palestinians in Syria 1597
Palestinians were killed, with 74 of those deaths being caused by severe
torture in Syrian prisons.
Another 651
Palestinians are said to be imprisoned or to have “disappeared“.
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