Naji El Khatib
The destruction policy of the Yarmouk refugee camp is the same policy of systematic destruction that the Syrian regime has followed since 2011, which aims to destroy the social environment of the revolution and the displacement of those who have rebelled against this dictatorial regime. There is also another economic-financial reason motivated by certain circles around the power in Damascus who are interested in these areas, especially in Damascus and its surroundings. It is a question of destroying these peripheral zones inhabited mainly by a poor population, and this is to satisfy the interests of these circles of “political” mafias who seek to expropriate these zones for the “construction” of a commercial and real estate projects, especially after the price of land has become very high around Damascus. In addition to the two reasons mentioned (to destroy the social environment of the revolt and to serve the interests of the mafia), there is the specifically Palestinian side that added to these two motives:
By applying a policy of destruction of the refugee camps, the living witnesses of the Nakba of 1948 and the places of the persistence of the claims of the Right of return of refugees in their homes in Palestine, the regime is objectively “united” with an Israeli strategy that aims to destroy this issue of the camps. This is to send a message to Israel about a possible Syrian-Israeli compromise based on a common interest in the annihilation of the Palestinian cause, which is a source of political troubles for both (Palestinian resistance against Israel and encouragement of the revolt among a Syrian population against the regime).
The attempt made by the regime to exploit the Palestinian cause in a compromise with Israel makes the regime complicit with Israeli policies towards the Palestinians. Already in the time of Hafez Al- Assad, the Syrian regime supported militarily the Lebanese Falangists in the battle of destruction of the camps of Tel Zaatar and Dbayeh . A battle that was ended by a massive massacre. Subsequently, the Syrian regime supported the Shiite Amal movement, which tried to destroy the Sabra and Shatila camps after the slaughter by the Falangists in both camps a few months earlier. More recently, the formation of “Fatah al-Islam” by the Syrian secret service, which sparked a battle with the Lebanese army, led to the destruction of the Nahr el-Bared camp in northern Lebanon. It is clear that this policy of the Syrian regime, which relies on the displacement of refugees from territorial proximity with Palestine to distant countries, is a policy in the service of the regime interest and of the interest of Israel to put an end to the “refugee problem”. This is to serve an Israeli policy refusing any application of international law guaranteeing the right of return for Palestinian refugees.