Ramallah – Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Secretary General, Saeb Erekat, on Thursday called for immediate international protection for Palestinian refugees in the Al-Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria.
Erekat also called on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and international aid organisations to provide humanitarian aid for those besieged in the camp.
He also conveyed his condolences over the three Palestinians killed inside the camp three days ago during clashes between Islamic State (IS) and the Al-Nusra Front.
According to Palestinian witnesses in the camp, IS waged attacks against several locations controlled by its former ally, the Al-Nusra Front, causing the death of large numbers of Al-Nusra militants and three Palestinian civilians.
Erekat said that the international community must shoulder its political and humanitarian responsibility towards the continued suffering of Palestinian refugees in the camp, by stopping this massacre and increasing efforts to end the Israeli occupation.
According to Erekat, the solution to the Palestinian refugee issue must focus on returning them to their homes, from which they were forcibly evicted in 1948.
Erekat said that no fewer than 6,000 refugees currently live in the Al-Yarmouk camp, down from 160,000 in 2011, before the beginning of the Syrian crisis. (Xinhua/NAN)
