RIGHTS GROUP: 2.667 PALESTINIAN REFUGEES KILLED IN SYRIA
Berlin, 12 Jumadil Awwal 1436/3 March 2015 (MINA) – A number of 2,667 Palestinians were killed in Syria; 298 tortured to death and 169 starved to death, executive director of the Palestinian return center and founder of the Action Group for Palestinians in Syria, Tariq Hamoud, reported.
Speaking during a solidarity evening hosted by pro-Palestine activists in Berlin and entitled “Palestinians of Syria, New Nakba,” Hamoud provided the audience with data on the state of affairs of some 450,000 Palestinian refugees who fled to war-torn Syria, The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Three Palestinian refugee camps in Syria have been torn down and two others were seized while some three more camps have been blockaded so far. The remaining refugee shelters, except for the Hama camp, have reportedly been subjected to daily shelling. Some 712 Palestinians are still held in Syrian lock-ups.
Representatives of Berlin-based Palestinian and Arab institutions along with a number of pro-Palestine activists attended the seminar staged by the Germany-headquartered Palestinian League.
Senior member of the Palestinian League, Khaled Daher, tackled, in his inaugurating speech at the seminar, the historically strong Palestinian–Syrian bonds and the role played by the Palestinians of Syria all along the national liberation struggle.
Daher pushed for lifting the blockade and halting bombardment of Palestinian refugee camps in Syria.
He pointed to the ongoing efforts made by the Palestinian League in Germany since the onset of the crisis in an attempt to assuage the tragedy of Palestinians stranded in Syria. He cited the al-Wafa solidarity campaign as the best case in point.
Representative of the Palestinian Popular Movement, Omar Daraji, meanwhile, raised alarm bells over the agony endured by Palestinians in war-battered Syria, calling for stepping up pressure so as to halt the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime forces against Palestinian refugees.
For his part, chairman of the Palestine Conference in Europe, Majed Al-Zeer, pushed for the need to prop up pro-Palestine activities across the continent and stand up for Palestinian refugees’ right of return to their mother land.
He said some 30 prominent Palestinian figures are set to join the 13th Palestine Conference in Europe, expected to kick off on 25 April in Berlin—the capital of the Palestinian Diaspora par excellence.(T/P008/R04)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
