The destruction of the Palestinian presence in Syria

Becoming a refugee is the embodiment of a miserable human weakness. People do so because there are factors threatening their safety, factors that push refugees to leave their land and go elsewhere with no protection. Because the process of seeking refugee status is down to human weakness and misfortune, it in turn requires attention and protection under international law. The protection of the refugee in law is meant to safeguard his or her right of return and put a time limit on this difficult and disruptive experience. It is meant to guarantee their safe return to their homeland, which is why the refugee is prevented from seeking citizenship in the host country. Sadly, refugee status is an on-going condition for millions of people.

Life in Syria for Palestinian refugees has long been a positive experience when compared to those in neighbouring countries, as many Palestinians were given the opportunity to integrate within Syrian society. Similarly, many Syrians have willingly joined Palestinian factions and given up their lives for the cause. Both Palestinians and Syrians chose to engage jointly in political life through the Ba’ath Party and excelled in this regard. There are also those who joined the opposition forces and were consequently thrown in prison for many years. In both cases, Palestinian affiliations with political life in Syria were not a cause for concern or a threat to Palestinian issues or progress towards political freedom. Similarly, Syrian affiliations with the Palestinian factions did not push the latter into interfering with Syrian issues, despite the constant Syrian interference in the Palestinian cause.

The Palestinians in Syria suffered from the same things that Syrian citizens suffered from, whether with regards to living conditions, economic status or the regime’s iron grip on social life. The Palestinian refugee camps across the country were affected by the same things as the rest of the Syrian population; they were viewed and treated as one by the Syrian security agencies. The Palestinians were not seen as an outside entity but part of the society and so the authoritarian regime controlled both groups equally. In contrast, Palestinians and their camps in the south of Lebanon are considered to be a threat to Lebanese security.

There was no particular threat to Palestinian life in Syria despite the many political and ideological differences between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Assad regime. The only thing that would lead Palestinians to leave Syria would be the chance to return to Palestine itself.

Now, though, it looks as if this once unshakeable constant is falling apart. It is impossible for a refugee’s status to remain secure when the host country itself is disintegrating; the Palestinian presence in Syria cannot stay the same under the country’s current conditions, with the whole of Syria in dire straits due mainly to the barbarity of the Damascus regime. The fighting has spread and affected Palestinian refugee camps and communities; the camps are not immune to attacks by the regime air force.

It is thus understandable that Palestinian refugees now feel little, if any, affiliation with Syria. At this stage, the vulnerability and frailty of living in exile is exposed; the rules changed after the refugee camps were shelled by the regime.

The largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria was Yarmouk on the outskirts of Damascus. As in most camps, life was miserable, but it developed into one of the most well-known neighbourhoods in the capital city. It is no coincidence that many called Yarmouk the capital of the Palestinian diaspora.

The camp would not have reached this relative level of prosperity were it not for the Syrian government’s decision to give Palestinian refugees the right to work. It is ironic that the government which granted this right was the democratic parliament of 1954, known as the most representative government in the history of modern Syria. However, the focus of this story is not the law itself, as we all know that it is possible to manipulate laws in the Arab world. What is more important is the Palestinian experience in Syria and the manner in which the Syrian public welcomed the refugees. The people’s hospitality helped to alleviate much of the suffering that comes with being a refugee. The many decades that the Palestinians have lived in Syria can attest to this. And yet, all of a sudden, Yarmouk camp was shelled and experienced violence like the rest of Syria. The attacks are ongoing.

Hence, the Palestinian refugees feel that their lives are once again under threat after having experienced relative calm and hospitality. They do not know where to go and their identity is subject to question just as their lives are endangered. They begin to relive all the injustices that have been experienced by their compatriots and replay the memories of all the harsh realities faced by the Palestinians in the diaspora. This includes the experience of the Palestinians in Jordan, and the even worse massacres of the Palestinians in Lebanon, the forced expulsion of Palestinians from Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion, the vengeful killings of Palestinians in Iraq after the American invasion, and so on.

The Palestinian refugee camps embody Palestinian history; modern Palestinian nationalism was born in the camps within occupied Palestine and beyond. Yarmouk camp undoubtedly played a role in this. The camp, despite its Palestinian identity, was open to everyone. With one of the largest Palestinian communities in Syria at 150,000 people (according to UNRWA statistics prior to the recent violence, which has left the camp with only 15,000 residents), the camp itself adjoins a middle class Syrian area of more than 700,000 inhabitants. This co-existence made it hard to differentiate between Syrians and Palestinians in Yarmouk. The camp took pride in its strong connection with Palestine and the many martyrs it provided in defence of the homeland and in the name of the Palestinian national project.

After the Palestinians of Syria found their political identity, their communities started to pay a high price. Palestinians disappeared from Iraq and today they are disappearing from Syria. The worst Palestinian experience was arguably in Lebanon, though, where the government discriminated against Palestinian refugees; it still does.

With the collapse of the Palestinian community in Yarmouk, the fragility of the refugee experience has been exposed. The refugees have rarely enjoyed the fruits of their labour and they took little with them when they left the camp under siege. Their life has changed forever, for the second and even third time. Something has broken inside of them, and it is doubtful if they will ever be the same again.

Translated from Al-Araby Al-Jadid, 11 November, 2015

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.