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Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Food and medicine can't get past the blockade of Palestinian areas. In Syria.

Did you hear about the blockade of Palestinian Arabs where they can't receive critical supplies?

You know, it's been all over the news.

OK, I'm lying. Because this blockade is against the entire Yarmouk camp in Syria, which normally houses some 150,000 Palestinian Arabs. Most have fled but there are still tens of thousands in the camp.

This siege is not at all like Israel's "blockade" of Gaza where residents can get medical aid, food, school supplies, cars, building materials, fuel and hundreds of other items, not to mention that they can export vegetables and move lots of goods via Egypt.

The Yarmouk blockade, in contrast, is total.

In the very end of an Arabic article about the murder of an elderly Palestinian in Yarmouk by Assad's forces - another story you won't read about in the media - we learn this:

The Syrian security forces continue to impose a crippling blockade on the camp, preventing entry of medical supplies and basic needs of the refugees; [the blockade] has been in place more than a month.

I missed this story, and for good reason. Only two news sources mentioned the Yarmouk blockade over the past month, one from UPI on January 7 and one from Allvoices on January 9th. Middle East Monitor had earlier  indicated that the siege began around December 23rd so it is now in its seventh week.

No UN resolutions.
No NGOs issuing press releases and glossy reports.
No news coverage of any sort for nearly a month.
No flotillas.
No convoys.
No op-eds.
No Twitter hashtags.
No Facebook pages.
Nothing from "human rights" groups.
Total silence from "pro-Palestinian activists."

No, if you want to read about Palestinian Arabs suffering in Syria, you have to read a Zionist blog.

Now you need to ask yourself why that is.