U.S. Sheds Crocodile Tears Over Plight Of Palestinian Refugees

December 17, 2012

This is something we never expected to hear from the U.S. State Department. Today it denounced airstrikes against Palestinians.

Why only now? Why didn't we hear that during the two war on Gaza? Or during the Israeli attacks in Lebanon?

Well, this time there were U.S. supported terrorists who where hit by a Syrian Army airstrike while they overran a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus.

The United States is deeply concerned by reports that dozens of civilians, including women and children, were killed or wounded in Yarmouk, an area of Damascus home to 150,000 Palestinian refugees, as a result of aerial bombardment and fighting between Syrian government forces and armed opposition on December 16. These latest attacks mark a significant and alarming escalation of the conflict in Syria.

What will the State Department say the next time Israel bombs the refugees in Gaza. Will the State Department then show some consistency and also utter some "deep concern"?

Posted by b on December 17, 2012 at 18:51 UTC | Permalink

Comments

LATimes, Dec 16

Opposition activists reported at least eight killed

Opposition activists which are paid by the US State Department. Even if true, eight killed is not even a good afternoon for the US military in Iraq (formerly) or Afghanistan (currently).

Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 17 2012 19:07 utc | 1

Yes. but those were refugees in Syria. And it concerns ‘dozens’ of ppl. They are labelled ‘civilians’ and so on. The US may jaw about protecting Palestinian refugees – as long as they are not in or around Israel and suit the current mealy mouthed propaganda.

Posted by: Noirette | Dec 17 2012 19:09 utc | 2

Recent Adam Curtis piece re Mideast betrayals:
Link

Posted by: biklett | Dec 17 2012 19:49 utc | 3

It’s a big place
wiki – Yarmouk Camp is a 2.11 square kilometres (0.81 sq mi) district of the city of Damascus, populated by Palestinians, with hospitals and schools. It is located 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from the center of Damascus and inside the municipal boundaries but when established in 1957 was outside the surrounding city. Yarmouk is an “unofficial” refugee camp; it is home to the largest Palestinian refugee community in Syria. As of June 2002, there were 112,550 registered refugees living in Yarmouk.
Living conditions in Yarmouk appear to be better than in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria and residents of the camp are made up of many professionals, such as doctors, engineers and civil servants, as well as many who are employed as casual laborers and street vendors. There are four hospitals and a number of government-run secondary schools. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) operates 20 elementary schools and eight preparatory schools in the camp and sponsors two women’s program centers.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 17 2012 20:10 utc | 4

Yarmouk is full of refugees who were pushed out of Palestine by the Jews and taken care of by Syrians.
sana, Dec 17
Al-Moallem to Ki-moon: What Syria Has Been Providing to Palestinians for Decades Hasn’t Been Provided by Any Other Host Country

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday held a phone call with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem, discussing the situation in Syria in general, the mission of UN Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Ibrahimi, and the situation in al-Yarmouk Camp.
Minister al-Moallem affirmed to Ki-moon that the UN and the international community are responsible for the state of frustration experienced by Palestinians due to not implementing resolutions on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
He stressed that what Syria has been providing to Palestinians for decades hasn’t been provided by any other host country, and that Syria has repeatedly warned against the danger of involving Palestinians in the Syrian crisis and deviating them from their rights, primarily their right to return.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 17 2012 20:14 utc | 5

And now the place has been attacked and ruined by US-supported terrorists.
al-akhbar, Dec 17

Damascus – The battle over the Yarmouk refugee camp between the Free Syrian Army and Islamists, on one side, and the Syrian security forces and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), on the other, intensified over the past few days.
A prominent leader of the PFLP-GC told Al-Akhbar that the “situation is extremely dangerous. The FSA has taken over large parts of the camp, including areas that once belonged to the General Command, forcing many of our fighters to retreat.”
He added that the living conditions in the camp have completely collapsed, without any possibility of sending in supplies and medical aid, not to mention that the whole area’s electricity has been cut.
“If the camp falls under the control of the FSA and the jihadi Islamists,” he said, “it will become a launching pad for military operations, and it is the camp residents who will pay a heavy price.”

Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 17 2012 20:17 utc | 6

‘Syrian government forces and armed opposition’
what ‘armed opposition’? these are mostly foreign terrorists, and any syrians are not party of any political opposition .
Im told the palestinians in the camp support then govt, so its the ‘armed opposition who have been killing them.

Posted by: brian | Dec 17 2012 20:33 utc | 7

the constant use of Free SyrianAmry,,,makes it seem they are ‘syrian’, that they endorse freedom(what ever that is, but in the US, a right wing label) and are a legitimate army…they are none of the a above

Posted by: brian | Dec 17 2012 20:36 utc | 8

Wonder how the State Department will comment on this
New York Times reporter is refused entry into Bahrain
:-))
The poor guy has to sleep in the airport.

Posted by: somebody | Dec 17 2012 21:26 utc | 9

Victoria Nuland, State Department spokesperson, explained her “quiet diplomacy” on Gaza when questioned by journalist Matthew Lee on Nov 19.

LEE: “How do you – this whole thing of saying nothing, I’m not sure I understand why you think that that’s helpful to the situation. You say that it would not be helpful for you to discuss any of your conversations, that quiet diplomacy is the way to de-escalate that. Well, you’ve been doing your quiet diplomacy now for almost a week. How’s it going so far?”
NULAND: “We are working hard with the parties. We’re working hard with –”
LEE: “Hasn’t it occurred to anybody that maybe being less quiet might get more results, though? Squeaky wheel gets grease, that kind of thing?”
NULAND: “I’ll let the –”
LEE: “You’re being silent while people are dying left and right.”
NULAND: “Matt, we are being far from silent. The President has –”
LEE: “You’re not telling us anything about what you’re – when the Turks come out – when the leaders of Turkey come out and say that Israel is engaged in acts of terrorism and you refuse to say that you don’t agree with that – or maybe you do agree with it – that’s being silent.”
NULAND: “Matt, we have made a decision that we need to engage in our diplomatic work diplomatically. We have been very, very clear about where we stand on this, which is that – which is –”
LEE: “And that’s because you don’t practice diplomacy from the podium? Is that what you’re getting back to?”
NULAND: “We don’t practice diplomacy –”
LEE: “Yeah.”
NULAND: “– from the podium. We have been very clear that Israel has a right of self-defense. We’ve been very clear that rockets continue to be fired and land on Israel. We’ve been very clear that we are working to try to get this conflict de-escalated.

But hey, Nuland is married to Robert Kagan, a neocon who co-founded the Project for the New American Century, so what can we expect.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 17 2012 21:28 utc | 10

The ever-dependable US lackey Ban Ki-moon called the Syria foreign minister to express concern about the escalation of violence after US-supported terrorists invaded a Damascus area neighborhood, the Yarmouk camp.
NYTimes, Dec 18

Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for Mr. Ban at the United Nations, confirmed that the secretary general had spoken with the Syrian foreign minister to express concern “about the escalation of violence in recent days, and very specifically the incident yesterday in which a Palestinian refugee camp, Yarmouk, right near Damascus, came under attack.”

Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 17 2012 21:41 utc | 11

If you’re an Israeli, you’re bombing nobody, cuz there ain’t no such thing as a Palestinian. The land was empty when we got there, remember [quote Mark Twain when and where it suits you]?

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Dec 17 2012 22:40 utc | 12

Strange (ahem) that most of the Western commentary I’ve seen about this bombing of the Yarmouk refugee camp omit to mention that it was heavily infiltrated by al-Nusra rebels (Xinhua).

Posted by: Philippe | Dec 17 2012 23:31 utc | 13

@ Don Bacon [“10]
I wonder what mantra runs through Robert Kagan’s head when he visits his local synagogue [empty space … empty place … desert land … deserted land … la la laahhh … lalala laahhh …]

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Dec 17 2012 23:43 utc | 14

On al-Nusrah, reportedly Ambassador Ford recently sat down with Coalition head Ahmad Moaz Al-Khatib to discuss the latter’s acceptance of al-Nusrah on the same day that the US designated them as a terrorist group. (Subsequently al-Nusrah was also accepted by FSA.)
I think in Nuland’s declaration, which doesn’t mention al-Nusrah in her condemnation of airstrikes against Syria “armed opposition,” even though 300 al-Nusrah terrorists are in Yarmouk, we’re seeing the results of that conversation. Al-Khatib told Ford to accept his position. Accept al-Nusrah.
So Al-Nusrah has been born-again as “armed opposition” because that’s what the Coalition wants. There are no terrorists in Syria, according to the US. Even “armed opposition” must have been difficult after all those months of saying “protesters.” There can be no other way, given the circumstances. The US must support the terrorists er armed opposition. US allies can never be terrorists, by definition.
This can not turn out well. Neither the US not the Russians can now control what is happening, unless they go with Assad which they won’t do.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 18 2012 0:09 utc | 15

The Saudis and Qatar can control it though. Those jihadi warriors have no objection to infidel dollars.

Posted by: dh | Dec 18 2012 0:16 utc | 16

Probably it’s EITHER the Saudis or Qatar, and I give Qatar the edge with the Brotherhood. They’ll probably end up fighting amongst themselves, the Islamists.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 18 2012 0:26 utc | 17

I give Qatar the edge too. The al Thanis are more manageable than the Saudis.

Posted by: dh | Dec 18 2012 0:39 utc | 18

Whatever. No one cares about the Palestinians, except the Palastenians. They are nothing but pawns in potical battles. They are the true “chosen ones”.

Posted by: Lori A. | Dec 18 2012 7:18 utc | 19

Israel Is Shooting Farmers for Trying to Farm: Got Any Tears for Them?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-is-shooting-farmers-for-trying-to-farm-got-any-tears-for-them/5315990
The Israelis view truces as an agreement that allows them to wound and murder at will, but only them, not the other side.

Posted by: вот так | Dec 18 2012 9:25 utc | 20

Israel Is Shooting Farmers for Trying to Farm: Got Any Tears for Them?

Egypt is the guarantor for the cease fire, at least all the fuss was made about Morsi coming of age, blah, blah!

Posted by: hans | Dec 18 2012 11:03 utc | 21

The loss of indiscriminately killed non-white, impoverished Middle Eastern children doesn’t come close to meeting the same magnitude of sorrow, despair and outrage as it did with regards to the most recent school shootings in the US. But why is this so? Such actions, whether by government drones or mass murderer’s assault rifle, clearly depend upon sheer dehumanization of the subjects, exempting them from worthiness to have basic morality applied to their existences.
When mass murder arrives in our own neighborhoods, and we feel a bottomless pit of horror at what has been done, we should feel the same for all children everywhere – even those far away.
I am deeply ashamed that the US government is one of the biggest users and abusers of death machines in the world.

Posted by: Cynthia | Dec 18 2012 18:19 utc | 22

When Israel kills Palestinians not a peep well “Israel has the right to defend itself” even though they are on and stealing Palestinians lands while they are attacking Palestinians. And now the State Dept is concerned about Palestinians if they are allegedly killed by Syrians. Can it get any more absurd

Posted by: Kathleen | Dec 20 2012 4:31 utc | 23

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