“Breaking the Silence” in the Palestinian Camps

On Thursday, August 1st the Palestinian Camps News Network Union in Syria announced the launch of a week-long campaign during the final week of Ramadan: “Breaking the Silence.”

“The week of Breaking the Silence from the Camps”

Official promo video for the Campaign

Activists and revolutionaries have launched this campaign to draw attention to the plight of the Palestinian camps in Syria, as they have been subject to violence during the uprising. The campaign organizers, who come from all 13 refugee camps in Syria,  hope to change the reality on the ground, and push forward nine goals:

1. End on the siege on Yarmouk Camp, the other besieged Palestinian camps, especially those south of Damascus;
2. Stop military operations from being carried out by the regime in the camps;
3. Put pressure on the internationationl community to carry out its duties towards the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria and to place the camps under some kind of international protection;
4. Put pressure on the Palestinian Authority, PLO, and other Palestinian factions to pressure the international community to try to break the siege and stop the attacks on the camps;
5. Stress the unity of the Palestinian and Syrian people;
6. To remember the Palestinian martyrs, of which there are more than 2,500 (or 2.5% of  the martyrs of the current uprising);
7. To remember the Palestinian detainees in the regime’s prisons and put pressure on the regime to release them;
8. Establish the truth about the destruction, seige, and military operations that have taken place in the camps and;
9. Mobilize the Palestinian and Syrian streets, as well as global solidarity movements to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria and their demands of lifting the sieged, stoping abuses and military operations from being carried out by the regime and restoring the rights of the palestinian refugees.

The activists behind the campaign have called on all Palestinian writers and journalists, and all Palestinian and Arab news channels to shed light on the plight of Palestinians in Syria through available mediums, and to promote the campaign. They’ve also called on Palestinian cyber activists to spread the word about the campaign via social media (on twitter, the hashtag is #ﺃﺳﺒﻮﻉ_ﺍﻟﻤﺨﻴﻤﺎﺕ_ﺍﻟﻔﻠﺴﻄﻴﻨﻴﺔ_ﻛﺴﺮ_ﺍﻟﺼﻤﺖ)  and to discuss the issues plaguing the camps: detainment, martyrs, and displacement. Finally, they call on Palestinian institutions and Palestinian activists to share their strategies and adopt their mobilization techniques by protesting wherever possible, and hosting sit-ins, to call on the world to stop the bombardment of the camps, lift the siege, provide relief and humanitarian support, and release the detainees.

In order to truly shed light on what is happening in the camps, the organizers have named each day of the week after one of the main issues, with all actions that day focusing on the issue.

Poster advertising the days of action

The first day of action, Saturday, August 3rd was called “Loyalty to our Martyrs” (twitter hashtag: #سبت_الوفاء_للشهداء) and highlighted the 2,500 Palestinian martyrs in Syria. This day was marked by a protest in Yarmouk Camp, and an online campaign in which pictures and names of martyrs were uploaded onto the Campaign’s event page and Facebook page.

Protest in Yarmouk Camp (for part one, click here)

The martyr Marwan ‘Awdh from Khan Sheikh camp

The martyr Lama al-Abtah from Yarmouk Camp

Sunday, August 4th is named “Sunday of the Detained” (twitter hashtag: #ﺃﺣﺪ_ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺘﻘﻠﻴﻦ) and draws attention to the more than 15,000 Palestinians detained in the regime’s prisons.

Monday, August 5th is called “Monday of  the  Besieged Camps” and it will highlight the two camps that are under siege by the regime: a blockade has been imposed on them, preventing food, bread, vegetables & medicines from entering the camps, with the means of communication and electricity cut, basically stripping the residents of all necessities of life.
The besieged camps are Dara’a, Yarmouk, Khan Sheikh, and Husseiniyeh camps.

Tuesday, August 6th is named “Tuesday of the Displaced Palestinians”, shedding light on what is being called the second, or ongoing Nakba: how more than 80% of the residents of the Palestinian camps have been displaced.

Thursday, August 8th will be “Thursday of Freedom” which calls on a revolt against all Palestinian factions if they do not move, quickly, to help the Palestinian people and ease the suffering of Palestinians in Syria.

And finally, Friday, August 9th will be “Friday of Breaking the Silence” in which the week of action will culminate in protests, sit ins at embassies, and everything possible to let the world know that the Palestinians in Syria have broken their silence about the despair of the camps in order to call on the protection of the camps and the people in them.

We who claim to support the Syrian Revolution and the struggle of the Syrian people,  must also stand with  our Palestinian brothers and sisters, and respond to their call of Breaking the Silence.  They have suffered with us under the iron-fist rule of the Ba’athist regime in Syria, and have stood steadfast by us. Their struggle is our struggle. And we can never forget: واحد واحد فلسطيني سوري واحد!

Solidarity poster by the Revolutionary Syrian Youth of Damascus

يا ظلام السجن خيم إننا نهوى الظلام..
ليس بعد الليل إلا فجر مجد يتسامى…
الحرية لمعتقلينا الفلسطينيين في سجون الممانعة
أحد الحرية للمعتقلين
الشباب السوري الثائر
دمشق 4/8/2013

 UPDATE (AUGUST 5th):  The campaign has been going strong on Facebook, albeit with little attention elsewhere. Since its launch, they’ve released two more videos:

“History will not forget Ahmad Jibril and his massacres; break your silence”

The first video, the video above, places blame for the massacres that occurred in the camps, specifically Yarmouk, on Ahmad Jibril who is the founder and leader of the PFLP-GC, a splinter group of the PFLP. The PFLP-GC had acted like an extension of the regime’s security forces in Yarmouk refugee camp, firing on protestors. The people had chanted for his, and the PFLP-GC’s, expulsion from the camp.

Promo video for “Monday of the Besieged Camps”

The second video is a promo video for “Monday of the Besieged Camps” and highlights the effects of the siege on the camps: checkpoints, heavy shelling on the camps, the large scale of destruction due to the shelling, and funerals turned protests for the martyrs.