WHEN the bombing finally stops, little will remain of Palestine’s capital-in-exile. Yarmouk, on the southern edge of Damascus, Syria’s capital, was once the Palestinians’ largest and liveliest refugee camp, sheltering displaced Iraqis and Syrians too. But two weeks of relentless bombing by the regime of Bashar al-Assad and his Russian backers has reduced it to rubble. Of the 350,000 people who once lived in Yarmouk, only a few hundred remain.
Syria used to treat the Palestinians well. They were provided with health care and education and allowed to own homes. Many worked for the government. Mr Assad gave Palestinian security forces arms and training to police their camps. Khaled Meshal, the leader of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement, had more access to the president than most of the cabinet.
But when Mr Meshal sided with his Qatari financiers, who backed Syria’s Islamist rebels after the uprising in 2011, Mr Assad and his men fumed at the treachery. They...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa https://ift.tt/2KA7Mxd
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