Northern Syria -

After a great effort to obtain an agency from the Syrian regime's embassy in Berlin, the family of Hussein, a Palestinian refugee residing in Germany, was unable to return to Yarmouk camp in Damascus, claiming that he had failed to enroll in military service in Syria.

Despite the difficulty of obtaining the agency in Germany and sending it to Syria, the Syrian Foreign Ministry refused to certify the agency, which hindered the completion of papers for the family’s return to their home they were displaced from several years ago.

The fate of this family and their return to their homes depended on the settlement of Hussein's status, residing in Germany, which has become almost impossible in light of the security conditions that Syria is going through.

Recently, the Syrian regime authorities have been asking Palestinian refugees residing abroad to send a general agency for their families to enable them to return and live in their homes in Yarmouk camp, at a time when a large number of them faced the decision to refuse to obtain or approve it.

The decision negatively affected the families of hundreds of people wanted for military service, deserters, or accused of working with the Syrian opposition, which prevents their families from obtaining the papers required to return to the camp, according to Mahmoud Zaghmout, spokesman for the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria.

Zaghmout confirms - in an interview with Al Jazeera Net - that the decision included all Syrian embassies outside the country, as it refuses to grant public agencies to those who have failed the mandatory service, with exceptions that some refugees were able to benefit from, including making a settlement by paying a financial allowance, or obtaining an exemption from service. For health reasons, or to pay a service allowance of $8,000 for those over 42 years old.

Zaghmout points out that those who have left the compulsory service residing inside Syria cannot go to state institutions to issue papers to return to Yarmouk camp, for fear of arrest.

Yarmouk camp was subjected to organized robberies during the Syrian regime’s control over it in May 2018 (Al-Jazeera)

incapacitate terms

Since the regime took control of Yarmouk camp in early May 2018, the residents have not been allowed to return to their homes, but under pressure from the camp's residents and their repeated demands, in October 2020 it issued a decision requiring the Damascus Governorate to receive return requests from the residents.

The regime's government has set 3 conditions for the return of the people that must be met, which are the general safety of the building, proof of ownership of the property, and obtaining the security approval.

However, some people from Yarmouk camp confirmed to Al Jazeera Net that they are impossible conditions that cannot be achieved, and that the process of reconstruction in the camp is not in the mind of the regime and the rest of the organizations concerned with the Palestinian issue.

A displaced person from the camp (refused to reveal his name for security reasons) complains about the difficulty of renovating his house, due to the lack of financial resources, as well as the loss of most of the ownership documents as a result of the destruction and thefts that affected most of the camp’s houses.

He pointed out the difficulty of returning to the camp, in light of the continuous power cuts and the absence of basic services such as education, health and food markets, and the difficulty of securing transportation inside the destroyed camp.

Despite the regime’s talk about facilitating the families’ return, the number of families that returned does not exceed 800 families, out of more than 250,000 Palestinian refugees who were living in the camp before 2011, according to what was stated by engineer Mahmoud Al-Khaled, member of the Supervising Committee for the Rehabilitation of the Camp.

Most of the Yarmouk camp buildings are still deserted (Al-Jazeera)

Destruction and theft

The destruction rate of the camp’s buildings and infrastructure is estimated at more than 60%, and it ranked the seventh largest area of ​​destruction in Syria, according to a survey conducted by the United Nations Agency for Training and Research (UNITAR).

While civilian properties in the camp have been subjected to organized thefts since the Syrian regime took control of it, activists posted on social media pictures of Syrian regime forces and loyal militias carrying washing machines and refrigerators.

According to a survey report by the Action Group for the Palestinians of Syria, 93.2% of the respondents had their homes thefts due to looting of furniture, doors, windows, electrical wires, and others.