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U.S. Fiddles while Palestinians in Syria Starve
by Khaled Abu
Toameh
January 7, 2014 at 5:00 am
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As for the international community,
no one seems to be worried about the starving Palestinians in an Arab
country. After all, this is not taking place in Israel and no Israelis are
involved.
The plight of the Palestinian
refugees in Syria serves as a reminder to all Palestinians that their Arab
brothers do not care about their suffering. They pay lip service to the
Palestinians while at the same time starving them to death, killing them and
displacing them.
Palestinians are being starved to death. But this is not happening in the
West Bank or Gaza Strip. Nor is it taking place in Israel.Rather, this is happening in an Arab country, Syria, while the international community continues to turn a blind eye to the tragedy. At least 15 Palestinians have died from starvation since last September in the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said, "We have received reports over the weekend that at least five more Palestinian refugees in the besieged refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus have died due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of reported cases (of starvation) up to 15." According to reports from Syria, some 20,000 Palestinians living in Yarmouk face death from starvation as a result of the siege on the camp that began last July. Yarmouk has been under siege by the Syrian army after a large number of gunmen belonging to the Syrian opposition found shelter inside the camp. Yet it is not only the Syrians who are besieging the camp. A radical Palestinian group called Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, which is loyal to Bashar Assad, is also taking part in the siege. Human rights activists say the Syrian authorities are refusing to allow aid into the camp, creating a severe humanitarian crisis. Palestinian and Syrian activists have also launched a campaign entitled Save Yarmouk Camp in an attempt to end the crisis and prevent further deaths from starvation.
According to the website, the siege has led to a sharp rise in prices of basic food, with one kilogram of rice being sold in the black market for more than $40. The PLO leadership, meanwhile, seems to be too busy with the "peace process" and US Secretary of State John Kerry's efforts to achieve peace between Palestinians and Israel. Besides issuing laconic statements calling for the lifting of the siege, PLO leaders have not been able to do much to help the residents of Yarmouk camp. Zakariya al-Agha, head of the PLO's refugees department, said in a brief statement that the death of Palestinian refugees as a result of the shortage of food and medicine is a "crime" for which the warring parties in Syria are responsible. The PLO official pointed out that 37 Palestinians have so far died from starvation in the camp. Yet the PLO leadership has stopped short of calling for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council or the Arab League to end the suffering of the Palestinian refugees in Syria. The Arab League did meet recently in Cairo at the request of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. But the gathering was called not to discuss the plight of the Palestinian refugees, but to talk about Kerry's latest proposals for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. "The besieging and starvation to death of Yarmouk camp is an all-out scandal," wrote the London-based daily Al-Quds. "This is the first Palestinian camp that is being starved and besieged by Palestinians, namely the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command." The paper noted that more than 200 Palestinians from Yarmouk camp have been killed in Syrian air strikes. The paper also criticized the Palestinian Authority and the Arab countries for turning a blind eye to the tragic events in the camp. "The blockade on Yarmouk camp is a big crime against the Palestinian people," it added. "This crime is being perpetrated by the Syrian regime in collusion with the Arabs and the world." Alarmed by the silence of the international community, Palestinian activists this week closed the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in east Jerusalem. The protesters called for pressure on the international community and humanitarian organizations to save the besieged residents of Yarmouk camp. The plight of the Palestinian refugees in Syria serves as a reminder to all Palestinians that their Arab brothers do not care about their suffering. In several Arab countries, especially Lebanon, Palestinians continue to be treated as a "fifth column" and an "enemy from within." The Palestinians once again feel betrayed by their Arab brothers, who continue to pay lip service to the Palestinian cause while at the same time starving them to death, killing them and displacing them. As for the international community, no one seems to be worried about the starving Palestinians in an Arab country. After all, this is not taking place in Israel and no Israelis are involved.
Related Topics: Syria
| Khaled Abu
Toameh
The Middle East: The Way They See It
by Shoshana Bryen
January 7, 2014 at 4:00 am
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friends to like this.
Syrian Eyes:
Israel and "Palestine" are, by comparison, oases of peaceful
coexistence and economic development. The U.S. Administration sent Secretary
of Stare John Kerry on his 10th visit to make peace for Israel, as
if peace is more important for them than for us -- and as if the Palestinian
"refugees" are in more immediate need of help than we Syrians are.
Iraqi and Afghan Eyes:
Kerry offered Israel "security guarantees" -- meaning troops -- to
replace Israeli soldiers in the Jordan valley. What makes Israel more worthy
of American troops than we are?
Egyptian Eyes:
The Muslim Brotherhood is our Taliban. We could use help. Instead, the U.S
Administration sent Kerry to Israel and to "Palestine" to figure
out how to give Hamas -- the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood --
an independent country.
Israel receives a lot of unwelcome attention from the U.S., the UN and the
EU. As others in the region see it, however, that makes Israel the most
important country in the world, and Palestinians the world's luckiest
"refugees." While withdrawing security and political assistance
from most of the Middle East and Africa, the Obama Administration has increased
its visibility in the "peace process" and announced a $4
billion investment plan for Palestine. To other countries, this attention
shows who, in America's eyes, is important.
The Syrian civil war has killed more than 200,000 people, including more than 1,500 by poison gas. More than 11,000 children have died; both children and adults have died by starvation. The Assad regime refused to let relief agencies into villages unless they surrendered and flew the government flag. Starving a population into surrender is a war crime. The government is using "barrel bombs" -- barrels filled with nails and metal shrapnel and thrown from airplanes. Twenty-one people died last week from a barrel bombing of the Aleppo market. There are more than 2 million refugees both internally displaced and in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Israel and Palestine, by comparison, are oases of coexistence and economic development. The U.S. Administration, however, sent Secretary of State John Kerry on his 10th visit to make peace for Israel as if peace is more important for them than it is for us – and as if Palestinian "refugees" are in more immediate need of help than we Syrians are. Through Lebanese eyes: After a generation of unrelenting sectarian violence, the Lebanese people found a tentative peace in 1991. Yes, it vested a lot of unearned power in Hezbollah, which used it to bait Israel. But among ourselves, we were figuring it out, more or less, give or take. Now the Syrian war has landed on us. Hezbollah fighters are fighting not only in Syria, but also in Lebanon; Sunni militias are doing the same. We share the agony of Syria, we are terrified, and we are powerless. But the U.S. Administration sent John Kerry to make "Palestine" -- to obtain security for Israel, and avoid a "third intifada." How does potential violence against Israel command more American diplomatic attention than the actual descent of Lebanon into chaos? Through Iraqi and Afghan eyes: The American war against Saddam removed the boot of a dictator from our necks, even as it unleashed sectarian trouble that Saddam's boot had kept in check. American troops helped us through a civil war, but left before we had figured out what to do with the peace, open government and materiel they gave us. Our deterioration picked up steam in 2012 after the Americans left. In 2013, more than 7,000 people died in bombings and shootings. We Iraqis see the agony of Syria and know it was us -- and it is us again; Ramadi and Fallujah are again held by the same Islamists we ousted with American help only a few years ago. We Afghans know it will be us when the Americans leave. We are terrified, and we're not ready to do this on our own. But the U.S. Administration, which apparently thinks it "ended the war" in Iraq by removing U.S. troops, and plans to do the same in Afghanistan, sent John Kerry to offer Israel "security guarantees" -- meaning troops -- to replace Israeli soldiers in the Jordan Valley. What makes Israel more worthy of American troops than we are? Through Egyptian eyes: The Muslim Brotherhood is our Taliban, and its dominance would have precisely the consequences that the Taliban had, and will have again, in Afghanistan. Periodically, the government shoves the Muslim Brotherhood back into a box and tries to keep it there. Such behavior may not be "democratic," but we are at war. At the same time, the government is trying to produce a new constitution and hold new elections. We could use American support for having only secular political parties -- like your separation of Church and State -- and for strengthening the legislature against the presidency -- like your separation of powers. We could use American support for destroying the Hamas smuggling tunnels, for working with Israel, for maintaining security in the Suez Canal (and keeping the U.S. Navy at the top of the priority list for passage through the canal). We could use help. Instead, the U.S. Administration sent Secretary Kerry to Israel and "Palestine" to figure out how to give Hamas -- the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood -- an independent country. From South Sudan and the Central African Republic: The Americans rejoiced in the independence of South Sudan. Today, in five of its ten states, there is fighting, raping, pillage, and refugees. There are reports reaching the West of the killing of scores of young (ethnic) Nuer in a secret detention facility, their bodies buried in shallow graves: "Witnesses said that Nuer men have been rounded up across Juba and that many were thrown in prisons for days, beaten with rifle butts or killed on the spot." Nearly one million people are displaced in the Central African Republic, more than 60% of them children. Medecins Sans Frontières has been reduced to treating only the most severe cases reaching refugee camps, but they fear many civilians are hiding in the bush, afraid to come into refugee centers. Earlier this week, the UN warned the violence had sunk "to a vicious new low" as children were mutilated and beheaded in revenge attacks. Violence in Israel and "Palestine" is handled by local authorities, and Palestinian "refugees" live in heaven compared to us, but the world spends untold billions on them, probably because they are "occupied" by Jews. We should have such luck in enemies. From Iranians, Libyans, Kurds, Turks, Tunisians, Chechens, Russians, Uyghurs, Saudis: We live under severely repressive governments, denied basic human rights -- women's rights, minority rights, the right to our own history and language. We can be thrown in jail for using the Internet, for having a contrary opinion, for being of the "wrong" ethnicity, for leaving the house without permission, like slaves. Our friends and family are "disappeared." We are desperately afraid we will be next. Where is the American beacon of hope for us? Shining on what must be the "most important country in the world," and the world's luckiest "refugees." Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of the Jewish Policy Center.
Related Topics: Shoshana Bryen
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