Sunday, February 16, 2014

The Economist has a fair account of Yarmuk refugee camp in Syria

"When Syria’s civil war erupted, Yarmouk was neutral, but staying above the fray soon proved impossible. Rebels saw it as a southern gateway into Damascus, whereas government forces deemed it a bulwark. Both treated Palestinian civilians as unwanted guests occupying their battleground.  As the rebels poured in, the regime put Yarmouk under siege, erecting checkpoints around it. Later they sealed Yarmouk’s gates altogether, pounding rebel positions. As the rebels got desperate, suspected collaborators with the regime were hanged at the behest of sharia courts. Most camp residents fled, but the 18,000 with nowhere to go burned their furniture to cook cats, dogs and donkeys, a practice that a local imam licensed for want of alternative food.  After a year of siege, the government and the rebels have agreed to a tentative ceasefire. In part brokered by officials under the aegis of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-controlled West Bank, the agreement provides for all sides to withdraw forces and to let a committee representing a spectrum of Palestinian factions fill the vacuum. Fatah, the largest group, is now celebrating its official resumption of responsibilities in Syria after an absence of 30 years, since the Assad presidencies of father and son previously supported Hamas, the Palestinians’ main Islamist movement, which opposes Fatah."