I24News..
11 August '13..
The brave supporters of the Palestinian cause are probably tired. Their attempts to break through the military blockade of the Gaza Strip – which, by the way, has never been an hermetic one – have failed. They seemingly lost interest in the fate of their Palestinian brothers, currently persecuted in Syria. Over there, the Palestinians face an army which its ethical norms are worlds apart from the rules in effect in the Israeli Defense Force.
For nearly two years, the Palestinian refugee camp of "Yarmouk" - the largest one in Syria, located within the municipal borders of Damascus- has been targeted time and again by the Syrian Armed Forces. The indiscriminate aerial attacks of bombing populated areas have caused the death of hundreds of civilians. Planes and artillery did not spare schools, hospitals, shopping centers and even mosques.
In Israel, a random graffiti sprayed on a Muslim place of worship provoked an outrage from both Palestinians and Israeli politicians alike. Most notably, Israeli President Shimon Peres himself offered endless apologies for the unfortunate incident. In the "Yarmouk" refugee camp, rival Palestinian factions fight each other – some allied with the rebels while others support Assad's regime. Still, it is the Syrian army that placed a siege on the camp, devastating its inhabitants’ daily lives.
The camp’s population is devoid of food, water and electricity. The schools only operate on a partial basis and its infrastructure has been destroyed. The situation is so critical that the head of the Palestinian Authority, President Abu Mazen, recently dispatched envoys to Damascus in order to negotiate with the Syrian officials a way to reduce the military’s stronghold. Following the meetings, senior Syrian political and military figures promised Abu Mazen that the attacks against the camp's population would cease, if the rebel factions would stop their assaults against the army.
The Palestinian-Arabs' plight in "Yarmouk" camp is more real than that of Gaza. Moreover, they are not as lucky. IDF soldiers do not protect them and they do not enjoy the same international wave of support as their Gazan brothers do. The countless worldwide associations of "solidarity with Palestine", the Turkish "IHH" and all their colleagues have left their ships moored and flags down. A Palestinian-Arab from Damascus is placed lower on the rating curve of the humanitarian stock exchange than that of a Palestinian from Gaza.
The underlying fact behind this anomaly is not hard to understand: The true fate of Palestinian-Arabs is less important to all of these committees, groups and associations than the struggle against Israel. A nation which, according to them, is an illegitimate country that must be fought by any means necessary. In comparison with the multiple "humanitarian" expeditions to Gaza, no international splash was organized in favor of the Palestinian-Arabs in Syria, who did not have to confront Israel. The international community did not react in 1970 when King Hussein of Jordan slaughtered thousands of Palestinians without giving it a second thought, during the infamous "Black September." It did not react as well when Palestinian-Arabs were killed in Lebanese refugee camps during the 1975 civil war.
The only case that have gone down in history – and this is quite symptomatic – was the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982, committed by the Christian Phalangists after the assassination of Bachir Gemayel. Back then, the pretext was that the Israeli army was nearby and should have prevented the killings. The Karantina (January 18th, 1976) and Tel al-Zaatar (August 12th, 1976) massacres, in which thousands of Palestinian-Arabs were slaughtered by Phalangists, were totally forgotten. If one googles today “slaughters-Palestinians-Lebanon”, the only related content emerging would be of Sabra and Shatila!
In conclusion, the current civil war in Syria has, once again, the same configuration. Palestinian-Arabs, who suffer deadly attacks by the Syrian army, do not inspire compassion in the hearts of the international media or in the leftist, international pro-Palestinians’ universe. Demonstrations are not held across European and North-American capitals. The reason is obvious: Palestinian-Arabs are tools in the hands of the international left and radical Islamic movements, who are objective allies. These forces use the Palestinian-Arabs as much as they can as part of their global fight against the Western world in general, and Israel in particular.
I am sorry for all of you, Palestinians in Syria. There will be no "Free Yarmouk" flotilla heading your way…
Link: http://www.i24news.tv/en/opinion/130811-there-will-be-no-yarmouk-flotilla
Shraga Blum is an independent journalist. He publishes a weekly press review in the "P'tit Hebdo" and political analysis on Israeli-French language sites
Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment