BEIRUT: Residents and fighters fear they may be starved out of the Damascus suburb of Yarmouk as the siege of the Palestinian area approaches its fifth month, mirroring the increasingly desperate humanitarian situation in many of the capital’s suburbs. The relatively new practice of blockading neighborhoods reflects a shifting strategy among rebel and government forces, analysts say, as both sides hunker down for what is expected to be a long war of attrition.That siege is now 139 days old.
Yarmouk was originally a camp for Syria’s Palestinian refugees but has since expanded into a sprawling neighborhood in Damascus’ rebel-held southern belt. It has been encircled by troops loyal to President Bashar Assad since February.
On the second day of Ramadan, July 10, government forces tightened their grip on the area and sealed off a checkpoint that was the area’s only gateway to the capital, which was previously only sporadically open to allow through aid and fleeing residents.
The movement of food, medicine and people came to a complete halt.
“Civilians are totally forbidden from going out of the camp. At the same time, no food is coming in. They [the soldiers] have refused to let in vaccines for polio, measles, chickenpox and flu,” said Abdullah, an activist who has been stuck inside the neighborhood for over a year.
While the world constantly hears about a "siege" on Gaza where there are no restrictions by Israel on fuel, medicine,food or hundreds of other items,and where hundreds of people enter and leave every week, no one is talking about the real siege of tens of thousands of people in Yarmouk which is now on day 139.
Similarly, the death toll of Palestinians in Syria has now reached 1781, the vast majority of whom are civilians. But there is no Goldstone Report about this. No UN resolutions about Palestinians in Syria. No special sessions of the Security Council, nothing at the UN Human Rights Council, and very little in the media. No political Christmas carols being sung outside Syrian embassies.
I'm sure there is a rational explanation for why the "pro-Palestinian" crowd is exerting so much little effort on helping Palestinians literally starving to death.
And it probably has to do with the fact that they aren't "pro-Palestinian" at all.
(h/t Yerushalimey on caroling)