THE EYE OF YARMOUK AND THE ANTI-ISIS FIGHTER: THE FATE OF TWO PALESTINIANS FROM YARMOUK REFUGEE CAMP
The fate of Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria's Damascus has been largely ignored by the mainstream media since the Islamic State took control of large part of the camp during the spring, with fighting ongoing ever since.
On December 4 a single little article, in a web site dedicated to Palestinian refugees in Syria and noticed by few, told of the end of the life of one young Palestinian refugee, Ahmad Mahmoud Aziema, in that combat still being fought among the ruins of Yarmouk:
"The Palestinian Refugee "Ahmad Mahmoud Aziema" died at the entrance area of Yarmouk camp which is under the Regime's control. Ahmad was fighting alongside the Syrian Regime forces and its militias against Al-Nusra Front and ISIS inside the camp.
It is noteworthy that the bad economic conditions and the exploitations of some factions in addition to the high rate of unemployment had pushed many Palestinian refugees to join the Pro-Regime militias, not forgetting that there are other segments which are officially inducted by the Syrian Security Branches and instructed to play a specific role in the field.
AGPS statistics refer to (681) Palestinian Syrian victims died during participation in Pro-Regime clashes in Syria."
He probably fought among a secular group aligned with the Syrian government forces, like PFLP-GC or Fatah al-Intifada, but we don't know which. We just know that he died in a war that was not his own, away from his homeland he had never known.
Perhaps 3000-4000 civilians remain in Yarmouk of the 18 000 - 22 000 before the Islamic State's advance. Before the war in Syria Yarmouk was known as the "capital of the Palestinian diaspora" and had population of 160 000, of whose 147 000 were registered Palestinian refugees.
Many of those who remain live in fear both of the Islamic State, al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front that has a complicated, fluctuating relationship with IS in the Damascus region, and the state forces - fearing forced conscription, imprisonment and death.
Photographer Niraz Saied had chronicled the fate of the camp's inhabitants through years of war and siege until he left the camp in September for the state controlled part of Damascus. In the early hours of 4 October he was "disappeared" by the state and nothing has been heard of him.
"The Eye of Yarmouk" as he has been called had, won European Union and UNRWA's join photography competition with his photograph "The Three Kings" - of three young brothers waiting to get outside of the camp to receive medical treatment - but even this amount of publicity or the spread of his photography in mainstream media (which, except in Spanish speaking countries, has been silent of his current fate) didn't protect him.
Saied's Facebook pages, where he showed his photography and through them the fate of the Palestinian refugees of the camp and others who had sought what kind of safety it could offer during the war, were closed. Through that act, much of his photography is as unavailable to the world as he is himself.
We don't know if Niraz Saied is still alive, or whether he has become one of the Palestinian victims of Syria's war, like Ahmad Mahmoud Aziema.
Together the fate of these two young refugees shows the almost impossible situation in which the Palestinian refugee community in Syria has been forced into, facing danger from all directions and rejection when they seek refuge from Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey or Europe, where over 36 000 Palestinian refugees have arrived through Mediterranean crossing this year, with hundreds perishing during the voyage.
The announcement of him winning the photography quoted Saied himself thus:
“You can’t find a complete family in the refugee camp. I used to feel that in every portrait of a Palestinian family you could see the shadow of a person missing, and that is why my photos are dimly lit.
“But there is always hope. Difficult times have fallen on Yarmouk camp before and they have always passed. The Palestinians continue to struggle to live. The Palestinian people appreciate life and deserve life. Despite all that they live through, they hope that tomorrow will be a better day.”
SOURCES:
A Palestinian Refugee Dies While participating in Clashes at the Entrance of Yarmouk Camp
Award-winning Yarmouk photographer arrested in Syria
“Siding with life in the face of death”: photographer captures siege on Palestinians in Syria
“The Eye of Yarmouk” stolen by Syrian Regime Security in the Early Hours of the Morning
YARMOUK YOUTH WINS 2014 UNRWA/EU PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION
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