In recognition of World Refugee Day, we present Nidal Bitari's personal account of life in Syria's largest Palestinian refugee camp, Yarmuk, which has been the site of devastating regime attacks and infiltration by anti-regime militants:
When the Syrian uprising began in early spring 2011, the great majority of Palestinians in the country were determined to remain neutral. This was the case both for the factions, including those tied to the regime, and for ordinary people. Everyone knew about the September 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres in Beirut and about the mass expulsions of stateless Palestinians from Kuwait during the first Gulf War, not to mention what happened to them after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. No one wanted anything like that here.
