25 Doden bij Syrisch bombardement op Palestijns vluchtelingenkamp

 

Het was gisteren niet op het journaal, vandaag evenmin en ik zie het ook niet op internet, behalve een bericht op BNR. Dit zou uiteraard anders zijn geweest wanneer Israel een Palestijns vluchtelingenkamp zou aanvallen en er 25 doden vielen. Logisch, hoor ik sommigen denken, in dat geval gaat het om een internationaal conflict waar de hele wereld zich tegenaan bemoeit en iedereen zich betrokken bij lijkt te voelen. Wanneer Syrië eigen burgers doodt, is dat tragisch maar een binnenlandse aangelegenheid waarbij pas in extreme gevallen wordt ingegrepen. Er worden in Syrië dagelijks onschuldige burgers gedood, of die daarbij ook nog Palestijns zijn of niet is van ondergeschikt belang. Klopt allemaal, maar het maakt het er niet minder cynisch op. Een Palestijn die door Israel wordt gedood is nieuws, een Palestijn die door zijn Arabische broeders wordt gedood niet. En wat voor het nieuws geldt, geldt blijkbaar ook voor de emoties bij de zogenaamde pro-Israel scene, en dat is minder logisch. Waarom zou Gretta D., Dries van A. of Anja M. zich niet even druk maken om Palestijnen die door Syrië worden gedood? Het maakt voor de slachtoffers niet uit wie ze doodt, en Syrië is vele malen wreder en meedogenlozer dan Israel. Blijkbaar is de woede en het verdriet over Palestijnse doden nogal selectief.

 

RP

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'Syrian jets bomb Palestinian camp, killing 25'

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=296122

By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFF

12/16/2012 15:09

Activists say fighter jets hit Palestinian refugee camp, mosque, killing 25 people; Palestinian Authority condemns attack.

 

BEIRUT - Syrian fighter jets rocketed the Palestinian Yarmouk camp in Damascus on Sunday, killing at least 25 people sheltering in a mosque in an area where Syrian rebels have been trying to advance on the capital, opposition activists said.

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They said the deaths resulted from a rocket hitting a mosque in the camp, to which refugees have fled from other fighting in nearby suburbs of Damascus. It was the first reported aerial attack on the camp since the revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad erupted last year.

Yarmouk, in southern Damascus, is part of an arc sweeping from the east to southwest of the Syrian capital where Assad's forces have been trying for several weeks to push back rebels from the gates of his power base.

A video posted on Youtube shows bodies and body parts scattered on the stairs of what appears to be the mosque.

Syria is the home of more that 500,000 Palestinian refugees, most of them living in Yarmouk. Assad's government and Syrian rebels have enlisted and armed Palestinians refugees during the 21-month uprising, which has escalated into a civil war.

Heavy fighting broke out 12 days ago between Palestinians loyal to Assad and Syrian rebels, together with a brigade of Palestinian fighters known as Liwaa al-Asifah (Storm Brigade).

The fighting intensified on Saturday with rebels gaining ground inside the camp, forcing Ahmed Jibril, a veteran leader of a Damascus-based Palestinian faction that back Assad to leave the capital with his son.

Jibril's PFLP-GC has maintained strong ties to Assad throughout the uprising, unlike the Islamist Hamas movement whose Damascus-based officials - including leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal - quietly pulled out of Syria as the mainly Sunni Muslim revolt against Assad gained momentum.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the Syrian fighter jet attack on the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus on Sunday, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.

According to Ma'an, senior PLO official Yasser Abed Rabbo told Reuters the PA hold Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime "responsible for this crime," adding that the attack shows the regime knows "no limits in its approach to criminal murder and destruction."

"In the Yarmouk refugee camp massacre and everywhere in Syria, the international community must put an end to a system of murder and terrorism in Syria before they burn the whole region," Ma'an quoted the PA official as saying.

"We are following up with our people in Syria about the conditions on the ground and we will take all measures that enable us to protect our people at all levels," Abed Rabbo was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Syrian warplanes bombed the town of Azaz close to the Turkish border on Sunday, destroying at least five homes, causing hundreds of people to flee and stirring panic at a Syrian refugee camp just inside Turkey, Turkish officials said.

Most of the bombs hit the center of Azaz, around three kilometres (two miles) from the Turkish border in an area dominated by Syrian rebels, but at least one landed 500 meters from Turkish soil, one official said.

"It is very close to the Turkish border ... There was also some bombing in the center of Azaz. Around 500 people were trying to come into Turkey," he said.