In Syria, Yarmouk residents plan return to war-torn Palestinian camp

When Syrian authorities said they would allow returns to the war-ravaged Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees in southern Damascus, Issa Al Loubani rushed to sign up and quickly started repairing his home. Hundreds of former residents have already requested permission to go back to the settlement, home to 160,000 Palestinian refugees and some Syrian families before the conflict broke out in 2011. More than 400 families have returned in the last few months because they cannot afford to rent homes elsewhere after years of displacement, the UN said in early November. Mr Al Loubani, who first left in 2012, is determined to join their ranks even if the windows of his wrecked apartment are still covered with plastic sheeting. “Our flat needs major work, but it's better than paying rent,” said Mr Al Loubani, who has been living in an apartment in Damascus with his wife and daughter. “We still need electricity, running water and to clear rubble from the streets” before moving back in, the Palestinian refugee, 48, said from Yarmouk. Syrian government and allied forces retook the camp in 2018 from ISIS. But two years on, reconstruction has been slow and the scars of war remain visible. The walls of Mr Al Loubani’s building are pockmarked with bullet holes. Neighbouring blocks have had their facades blown off or their balconies cave. Some structures have collapsed following years of bombardment and heavy fighting. Mr Al Loubani’s wife, Ilham, finds an old photo from their wedding in the rubble-strewn alley. “That’s Umm Walid,” she says, pointing to one of the guests in the picture. Founded in 1957 with tents for Palestinians who fled or were ousted from their homes with the establishment of Israel, Yarmouk grew into a bustling district. In 2012, about 140,000 residents fled as clashes raged. Those who stayed faced severe shortages of food and medicine under a withering years-long government siege. ISIS entered the area in 2015, bringing further suffering to remaining residents until the militants were forced out three years later. This month, the Damascus municipality said residents could register to return to Yarmouk if their homes were structurally sound. About 600 families have already signed up, said Mahmoud Al Khaled, a Palestinian who heads a committee that clears rubble in the camp. But the civil engineer, who grew up in Yarmouk, said fewer than half of the buildings were safe for habitation. The 430 families who have already returned despite difficult living conditions rely heavily on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). About 75 per cent of UNRWA’s 23 premises in Yarmouk, including 16 schools, need to be completely rebuilt, and all three of its health centres have been destroyed. To compensate, the organisation sends a mobile health clinic to the camp once a week and provides buses to transport children to schools in Damascus. A month ago, Syrian Shehab Al Din Blidi returned to his home, one of the few flats in Yarmouk largely spared by the fighting. Its cosy living room with bright paint and upholstered armchairs stands in stark contrast with the wasteland outside. “If we had waited for electricity, water and sewage to return, we would have perhaps” had to wait for a year before coming back, said Mr Blidi, 60. With little outside help, he said it was up to residents to fend for themselves. “Reconstruction requires efforts from several countries,” he said. “In the meantime, we have to make do.” Mr Blidi has managed to secure some electricity for his flat through a long cable connected to a power source beyond the camp. With no running water, he buys large bottles from outside Yarmouk and stores them at home. But for camp residents displaced to Idlib – the last major opposition bastion, in northwestern Syria – returning is nearly impossible. “No one in the [opposition-held] north can register to return or even reach Yarmouk,” said Ahmad Khormandi, who left the camp when ISIS entered in 2015. He and his family now live in a displacement camp in Idlib province near the border with Turkey. The Palestinian, 43, said that he fears arrest if he returns to Yarmouk. But even if he were allowed back, he said, returning to live in his home would be impossible. “I don’t have the means to fix my house,” he said.