Yarmouk

James El-Sharawy in the play 'Camouflage,' London, May 18, 2017. (Ho-Chih Lin)

New play brings tales from Palestine to the London stage

A new one-man play, staged to mark the 69th anniversary of the Nakba and 50 years of occupation, brought Gaza, Ramallah and Yarmouk refugee camp to the heart of London. By Christa Blackmon A 12-year old boy escaping from Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus is left alone to sort out the quirks of his biology…

By +972 Magazine May 29, 2017

Illustrative photo of a bombed out building in Homs, Syria (FreedomHouse/CC)

The Syria that was once an icon of enlightenment and education has been erased, crushed under barrel bombs and proxy power struggles, as the world watches and waits to see how it will all end. What, after all, have we learned from history? Run, run away all you strong and invulnerable Israelis, and all you Palestinian…

By Samah Salaime December 16, 2016

Juliano Mer Khamis. (Photo: Vera Reider)

100 percent human: Five years without Juliano Mer-Khamis

In a small cafe in Berlin, I found myself surrounded by Palestinian refugees from Yarmouk who knew and loved my friend Juliano — a man who was 100 percent Palestinian and 100 percent Jewish. By Udi Aloni When I landed in Berlin on April 4th, I realized that it was the first time since the…

By +972 Magazine April 11, 2016

Latest

Station to Station 2: The phantom line

In a strange feat of partial resurrection, half of the railway between Haifa and Damascus is being fixed for reuse. Elisha Baskin’s lens and Yuval Ben-Ami’s pen follow it, focusing on the decaying and embalmed, rather than the freshly welded. (for the full, four part project, click here) For the next leg of the journey,…

By Yuval Ben-Ami October 15, 2015

Palestinians stand in front of the entrance of Remal Elementary UNRWA School which is used as a temporary shelter for people from the northern part of the Gaza Strip, Gaza City on July 13, 2014. People from northern Gaza left their homes after Israel dropped leaflets warning them to evacuate. Israeli attacks have killed at least 166 Palestinians, including 30 children. (Photo by Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

UNRWA funding crisis puts 500k Palestinian children at risk

A budget deficit of $101 million threatens to delay the start of the academic year in UNRWA schools. At a time of rising extremism, such an outcome could have consequences for states across the Middle East, the agency says. UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, is facing a budget deficit of $101 million…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland August 3, 2015

Palestinian refugees from Syria fleeing the horrors of war on a boat originally headed to Italy.

Lifelong refugees: Palestinian boat people search for a new home

After escaping the horrors of the Syrian Civil War by boat, a group of Palestinian refugees washed up on the shores of Greece. Now they are wandering the streets of Athens without food or shelter. After four days at sea, with no food or fuel, 175 Palestinian refugees were rescued by the Greek navy. After…

By Samah Salaime May 21, 2015

Palestinian refugees seen in Yarmouk refugee camp, Damascus, Syria. (photo: Walla Masoud/UNRWA)

Finding my family in Yarmouk — then losing them again

Six decades after the Nakba forced us into different corners of the world, social networks allowed us to reconnect with our families and villages. In Yarmouk, I found the people I should have grown up around—the ones who looked like me and my immediate family. And then war broke out in Syria, Facebook went dark…

By Samah Salaime April 8, 2015

Yarmouk residents gathered to await a food distribution from UNRWA in January 2014. (Photo by UNRWA)

If only there was oil under Yarmouk

As Palestinians are being murdered and starving to death in the refugee camp near Damascus, the Arab world is busy intervening in Yemen, the Palestinian Authority is silent, and Israeli television is talking about where to eat during the Passover holiday. Monday morning, on the morning show on Israel’s Channel 10, which was co-hosted by…

By Samah Salaime April 6, 2015

A child of Diab Bakr is seen amidst the rubble of his home which was destroyed last night by Israeli missiles, in As-Shati refugee camp, Gaza city, July 22, 2014. Another home from the extended Bakr family was also destroyed and another one damaged. Hassan Khader Bakr, was killed during the attack in the street. Their cousins, Bakr family who live in the same area, lost four children, Ahed (10), Zacharia (10), Mohamed (9) after they were targeted by two Israeli missiles while playing at the beach on 16 July, 2014. (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Don’t cry for me: A letter from a little girl in Gaza

With Palestinian children in Gaza bearing the brunt of Israel’s offensive on the Strip, this is what one little girl may have written to us – had she the chance. By Sam Bahour As the latest horrific obscenity of Israel’s aggression against the Gaza Strip continues, the death toll mounts. Palestinian children are paying the…

By +972 Magazine August 9, 2014

Yarmouk residents gathered to await a food distribution from UNRWA in January 2014. (Photo by UNRWA)

PHOTOS: Devastation in Damascus Palestinian refugee camp

After months under siege, humanitarian aid finally reached the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in war-torn Damascus this week. UNRWA on Wednesday released photos of the camp, showing the devastation and desperation that has taken hold there after years of civil war and months under siege. “It is impossible not to be touched by the apocalyptic…

By +972 Magazine February 26, 2014

Thousands of Syrians flood across the border into Iraq recently in search of shelter. (Photo by UNHCR / G. Gubaeva)

Israel, the Jews and Syria: A moral imperative

The Jewish state has always relied on its ‘schnorr’ abilities in order to raise funds from Jewish communities throughout the world. Israel should now use these abilities in order to establish an international Jewish appeal for Syrian refugees. By Ilan Manor Conventional Israeli wisdom has it that the world has lost interest in Syria and…

By +972 Magazine January 15, 2014

Destruction due to shelling in Douma, a town under siege northeast of Damascus. (photo: Adasa Sham)

After chemical attack, Damascus suburbs face starvation

Since the beginning of 2013, Assad’s forces have laid siege on the suburbs of the capital known as Ghouta, which was the target of a chemical weapons attack earlier this summer. Regime forces are stopping food and other goods from coming in and as winter approaches, activists are warning that the situation is about to…

By +972 Magazine October 3, 2013

Syrian refugee camp Za'atari, in Northern Jordan (photo: Roee Ruttenberg)

30 Palestinians killed last week in Syria

Five members of the same family were killed in Yarmouk, along with at least seven other people. Despite the bloodshed, Jordan continues to refuse to allow Palestinians among the Syrian refugees it accepts. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) issued a press release on Sunday expressing…

By Noam Sheizaf February 10, 2013