The Palestinians of Syria asked the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, to reconsider Yarmouk Camp’s organizational plan put forward by the Damascus Governorate.
Contacts and meetings have been made between the leaders of the Palestinian factions and organizations with the political parties within the Syrian government, to review the plan, according to what the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, Khalid Abdul-Majid, said in an interview with Quds News Agency, on Thursday, 23 of July.
Abdul-Majid affirmed that the submission of memorandums to al-Assad identifies the political and symbolic dimensions of the “Yarmouk” camp, and calling for a review of the decision of the Damascus Governorate.
Abdul Majid considered that “the hopes are pinned on Mr. President,” pointing to “waiting for the political decision that addresses the issue as soon as possible.”
Last June, the Damascus Governorate agreed to announce the master plan of the al-Qaboun area and the regulatory map of the Yarmouk Camp in Damascus outside the framework of Law No. 10 of 2018.
This plan was issued within the framework of Law No. 23 of 2015 that provides for “organizing the process of land preparation for construction, according to the general organizational plan and the detailed regulatory plan in the urban development schemes approved by one of the two following methods, the owner’s division, and the regulatory planning of the administrative authority.”
The plan in the “Yarmouk refugee camp” was rejected by the Palestinians of Syria, amid calls from Palestinian human rights organizations for the Damascus Governorate to retract the plan, for it is seen as a complete change of the features of the camp.
Abdul Majid believes that the decision of the Damascus Governorate did not take into account the political and symbolic dimensions of the camp and that it “ represents the capital of the diaspora and resistance,” but rather was taken from a purely technical perspective and was dealt with like the rest of the regulated areas.
Abdul Majid identified the reasons for objecting to Yarmouk camp’s new organizational plan, as it was due to the fact that the camp has a “political and symbolic dimensions to block the way for refugees to migrate to exile, and that the Palestinian people uphold their right of return to their homeland.”
For his part, the Palestinian security and military official in the Palestinian Popular Front – General Command, Khaled Ahmad Jibril said that he sent a message to al-Assad in order to obtain an exception for the camp and amend the organizational plan, stressing that the plan would be modified by 50 percent.
The Damascus Governorate has not made a comment yet on what Gabriel mentioned regarding the amendment of the plan until the preparation of the report.
The camp experienced battles between the factions of “ the Free Syrian Army” (FSA) and the Syrian regime forces, amid the division of the Palestinian factions between the two sides before the so-called Islamic State (IS), took control of two-thirds of the camp in 2015.
However, in May 2018, after a month-long military operation, during which the IS group was expelled from the camp, the forces of the regime completely re-established control over al-Hajar al-Aswad and “Yarmouk” camps, in the wake of an unofficial evacuation agreement that transferred the IS group’s members to the desert of As-Suwayda.