Al Yarmuk is a camp in the outskirts of war-torn Damascus. There are those who call it a refugee camp, meaning that all his residents are Palestinian refugees from 1948 and their direct descendants, while the reality is that the camp was established in 1957. It was never acknowledged by the Syrian regimes since then as a refugees camp, and Syrian regimes, as we know, have never missed an opportunity to score propaganda victories by relating everything bad under the sun to the "Zionist Entity." In fact, the neighborhood was ruled as part of the district of Damascus. Be that as it may, in the collective awareness of people, the camp became associated with the Palestinian tragedy, part of the conflict with Israel. As is customary in this conflict, names are always symbolic, part of the historic narrative, which has been so significant in the history of the conflict. Yarmuk was the scene of the battle in 636 A.D when the Arab-Muslim invaders defeated the army of the East Roman Empire, itself a foreign occupier of the land, and started their own occupation of the country they would later call Palestine. Not so relevant to today's situation? It is in the eye of the beholder.
In the Syrian civil war starting in 2011, the camp has become a zone of action. First, these were the rebels loyal to the Free Syrian Army [FSA] who cooperated with Palestinian factions, fighting against other Palestinian factions loyal to the Assad regime, which were backed by the Alawite-dominated Syrian army pro-Assad forces ended up losing, the Syria army entered into full-scale action, shelling indiscriminately the camp, besieging it and bringing about starvation, the spread of contagious diseases, in short bringing havoc to the place and its residents.
All this time, all the fighting parties there swore their allegiance to the Palestinian struggle against Israel, while massacring each other, mostly Palestinian residents. The UN is represented in the camp through the notorious anti-Israel Unrwa Agency, which made noises about the bad conditions in the camp, but to no avail. Who would listen to an outcry about the plight of Palestinians, when Israel is not involved?, when Israel cannot be blamed? Well, the tragedy got a turn to the worse in recent weeks, as ISIS fighters infiltrated the camp from the Hajar Al Aswad district of Damascus, trying to root out what is left of the pro-Assad elements, and when ISIS is in action, the news are bad, very bad.
The fighting soon became an all-out, free for all entanglement of all the various militias and Syrian army forces operating in the arena, with shuttering effects on the unarmed civilians in the camp. Unspeakable atrocities have taken place, though seem to have subsided in recent days. But alas, where is the pro-Palestinian community of the world? where is the International Solidarity Movement, the BDS movement, the Jewish voice for Peace, the partisans of Justice for Palestine[and pardon me all the other groups involved... limited space considerations prevent me from mentioning you]. Well, they are silent, and not because they do not know what is happening. They know it very well, as there is world-wide coverage of the carnage.
Cognitive dissonance can be a funny, curious thing. Like a high school jock who wears shorts while lobbying the principal to ban all summer wear, those who play the "I'm-apathetic-but-I-like-to-call- myself-an-activist" game are the best at what they (don't) do. Their exercises in self-imposed make-believe produce comical scenes in which these individuals are at variance with their own objectives and undermine the very positions they claim to represent.
Yet, such intellectual inconsistencies often provoke more than light chuckles. In the case of the Arab-Israeli conflict, they lead to the wholesale disenfranchisement and destruction of Palestinians -- all in the name of Palestinian welfare.
...After these groups are confronted with the absurdity of such arguments, they often either concede the point Date, place, supporting evidence?
or simply reiterate talking points ad nauseam as though sheer repetition were a substitute for rational debate. Thus, when I explained to my professor in class one day that a Palestinian state would invariably be repressive for Palestinians, he responded by repeating that he believed a Palestinian state was good... for Palestinians. In my experience it's not "I believe", it's always "I feel".
From Conservative Tribune: Heaven forbid liberals be reminded about our military's sacrifice for their freedom...
In Milford, MI, a local veterans group wants to complete their current Veteran's Memorial with a fallen soldier monument but the Town Council is concerned that it is inappropriate.
The piece, commonly referred to as a battle cross, is an 8-foot monument featuring a pair of boots, an M-16 rifle, helmet and dog tags. Some on the Village Council are concerned it is inappropriate for this location.
#4
There's room for compromise here. How about a tasteful depiction of OBL being pitched off the deck of the Carl Vinson in a sack labelled "Pork Chops"? Or maybe Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty fighting to the death on a rooftop in Benghazi?
Posted by: Matt ||
04/19/2015 11:51 Comments ||
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#5
Remember Albert Einstein said the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits...
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/19/2015 15:22 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
From Conservative Tribune: Heaven forbid liberals be reminded about our military's sacrifice for their freedom...
