Published : 21-01-2015
Samee Sulaiman
Yarmouk Camp is an “unofficial” refugee camp formerly hosting the largest Palestinian refugee community in Syria. Until recently, over a 100,000 Palestinians lived in the camp, which was built in 1957 for Palestinian refugees from the 1947-1948 Arab-Israeli war. After the war, Palestinian refugees were not allowed to return to their homes in the newly formed state of Israel. Palestinians refer to this historical event as “al-Nakba” or “the catastrophe.” Their homes were expropriated by Israel through “absentee laws,” and Palestinians who attempted to return over the new borders were shot on site.
Some sixty-years later in the midst of the Syrian civil war, Yarmouk camp became the site of intense fighting between the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (loyal to the Syrian regime), and the Free Syrian Army. Even as the fighting began most of the population in the camp simply wanted to maintain the stable status quo before the war. Soon the Syrian regime surrounded the camp itself, and has since the summer of 2013 been cut-off from the rest of the world as part of the Syrian regime’s cruel siege starvation tactic. The situation reached such a desperate point that Muslim leaders in the area declared that the eating of rats and mules would be allowed, and grass became a source of nourishment.
While most of the camp has been abandoned, some 18,000 people are left living under siege and slowly starving away despite the best efforts of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to provide food and medical supplies. A deeply haunting photograph from the camp was released showing a food aid line in a veritable wasteland.
Worst yet, nations such as Lebanon and Jordan, which have accepted massive numbers of Syrian refugees, have worked hard to keep Palestinian refugees from entering, leaving most with no where to escape except for other parts of Syria. Palestinian refugees have since the 1948 war been seen as a demographic threat to stability in Israel and Arab countries alike.
If you would like to help, please donate here to UNRWA, which distributes food parcels and medical supplies to Yarmouk camp when it is safe to.
Via unrwa.org
Samee Sulaiman
Yarmouk Camp is an “unofficial” refugee camp formerly hosting the largest Palestinian refugee community in Syria. Until recently, over a 100,000 Palestinians lived in the camp, which was built in 1957 for Palestinian refugees from the 1947-1948 Arab-Israeli war. After the war, Palestinian refugees were not allowed to return to their homes in the newly formed state of Israel. Palestinians refer to this historical event as “al-Nakba” or “the catastrophe.” Their homes were expropriated by Israel through “absentee laws,” and Palestinians who attempted to return over the new borders were shot on site.
Some sixty-years later in the midst of the Syrian civil war, Yarmouk camp became the site of intense fighting between the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (loyal to the Syrian regime), and the Free Syrian Army. Even as the fighting began most of the population in the camp simply wanted to maintain the stable status quo before the war. Soon the Syrian regime surrounded the camp itself, and has since the summer of 2013 been cut-off from the rest of the world as part of the Syrian regime’s cruel siege starvation tactic. The situation reached such a desperate point that Muslim leaders in the area declared that the eating of rats and mules would be allowed, and grass became a source of nourishment.
While most of the camp has been abandoned, some 18,000 people are left living under siege and slowly starving away despite the best efforts of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to provide food and medical supplies. A deeply haunting photograph from the camp was released showing a food aid line in a veritable wasteland.
Worst yet, nations such as Lebanon and Jordan, which have accepted massive numbers of Syrian refugees, have worked hard to keep Palestinian refugees from entering, leaving most with no where to escape except for other parts of Syria. Palestinian refugees have since the 1948 war been seen as a demographic threat to stability in Israel and Arab countries alike.
If you would like to help, please donate here to UNRWA, which distributes food parcels and medical supplies to Yarmouk camp when it is safe to.
Via unrwa.org
