PFLP-GC SAYS REPORTS OF YARMOUK DEAL ‘INCORRECT’

        Ramallah, 25 Safar 1434/7 January 2013 (Ma’an/MINA) – The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command on Sunday denied reports of an imminent deal to demilitarize a Palestinian camp in Damascus.

 

        Earlier, sources in Syria told Ma’an that PLO leaders, the Free Syria Army and the Syrian regime forces were poised to conclude a deal to end fighting in Yarmouk camp.

 

        The proposed deal would end Syrian army shelling, force the Free Syria Army to withdraw from the camp, remove road blocks, and see the entry of staple goods into the camp, the sources said.

 

        PFLP-GC lawyer Hussam Arafat said the reports were incorrect, and no official deal has been agreed.

 

        A Palestinian Islamic faction in Syria has proposed a deal which was approved by the Free Syrian Army and is awaiting approval by the Syrian regime, he said, providing no further details.

 

        The earlier deal had stipulated that all refugees who had fled the camp would return Monday, but Arafat said that a local Palestinian leader had called on refugees to return, without it having been part of any agreement.

 

         In December, heavy fighting broke out in Yarmouk between Syrian rebels and the army, causing Palestinians to flee.

        Syria hosts half a million Palestinian refugees, descendants of those admitted after the creation of Israel in 1948. (T/R-015/R-006).

 

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)