"or a Premature Obituary?
The Death of Yarmouk Palestinian Camp
Franklin Lamb
Yarmouk Palestinian camp, Damascus
This observer does not write these words casually.
And he is no huge fan of some of the intellectually lazy quick spun internet conspiracy theories, too many of which appear given to flights from reality when facts get complicated and dispositive information is obscure.
However,
after months of studying the political, social, military, and economic
situation in Yarmouk camp, and based on insightful meetings with former camp
residents and PLO stalwarts who have been active in the Palestinian cause going
back to the 1980's, or earlier, Yarmouk's survival prospects appear fatally
bleak. If one allows oneself some basic deductions about the last three years
and the ongoing upheaval, it is difficult to escape the conclusion,
increasingly heard from Palestinians themselves, that Yarmouk, as with four
other Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, is deeply wounded by the war being
waged, that it is unlikely to survive the crisis, whether the latter ends in
months or continues for decades, as many regional and western intelligence analysts
are concluding.
In part, Yarmouk's curse and current fate is due to its location. This is a
triangular-sliced area of land pointing straight into central downtown
Damascus, a strategic last piece in the mosaic necessary for a strong rebel
advance on the capital. Its relative isolation from the conflict was shattered
in mid-December 2012, when armed groups first entered the camp. The government
surrounded the area; clashes ensued. UNRWA's 28 schools and three clinics
ceased operation, and the armed gangs also occupied homes and looted hospitals
and stores. Camp residents who did not manage to flee, or did not want to, got
caught in a tight stranglehold that continues today.
UNRWA's HQ in Damascus estimates that more than 70 percent of the Palestinian
refugees in Syria are in need of emergency humanitarian assistance immediately,
while more than 50 percent are internally displaced. In Yarmouk alone, 142
people have died from hunger and lack of medical care just since June of 2013.
Yet attempting to flee does not afford one copious or abundant opportunities
either. As of last week, more than 11,000 Palestinians refugees fleeing Syria
had sought support from UNRWA in Jordan. Yet even if they can somehow gain
entry to the country, the Kingdom's policy is to deport them back to Syria, in
essence robbing them of their right to survival.
UNRWA expects the numbers of Palestinians seeking safety in Jordan to exceed
20,000 by the end of 2014. Slamming the gates or deporting them all would be
unconscionable. Even the White House reminded Jordan's King Hussein that such a
policy violates the international law principle of non-refoulement, a UN protocol
protecting refugees from being sent back to places where their lives or
freedoms could be threatened.
With respect to Yarmouk, there is a very real possibility that this largest of
Syria's refugee camps will succumb to a fate similar to those of the Tel
al-Zaatar, Nabatieh, and Nahr al-Bared (now partially rebuilt after seven
years) camps in Lebanon, but the loss of Yarmouk will be doubly compounded
because in Syria, Palestinians found secure, sympathetic refuge in 1948. At
that time, Palestinians fleeing their homeland were welcomed in solidarity--as
Yarmouk became a symbol of resistance--but in 2014, there simply is no more
welcome. For over six decades the Palestinian residents here nurtured families
and communities, integrated economically, and formed a subset of the cultural
and intellectual fabric of a vibrant and proud Syrian society, but a civil war
and a Western-backed insurgency have changed the landscape, perhaps for good.
Yet even besides re sistance, Yarmouk
is also a symbol of Palestinian in sistence--insistence
that the right of return be addressed, insistence that their narrative be
recognized, that their need for safety be respected, that their rights be
upheld, that they live in dignity. One aspect which always stood out for
foreign visitors to Yarmouk were the youth clubs, which provided teenagers with
a safe creative space where they developed skills while choosing colleges over
Kalashnikovs.
UN negotiator Lakhdar Brahimi's recent warning about the "Somalization" of
Syria is not merely a disturbing metaphor, for as he told this observer in a
meeting last year at the Dama Rose Hotel in Damascus, "Somalization" has
already become a daily reality for Yarmouk camp.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
