At Least 168 Palestinians Tortured to Death by Syrian Regime

At least 168 Palestinian have been tortured to death by the Syrian regime according to the documented names and numbers by Human Rights Collective PLHR/SYRIA. The number of Palestinians arbitrarily abducted and tortured to death by the Syrian regime, or one of it’s proxies, has continued to increase on an almost daily basis. The siege of Yarmouk is often written off as a inevitable consequence of the complexities of the Syrian conflict, a shameless lie unveiled by the continued enforcement of the siege during the brief period of truce in which oppositional forces left the camp. But the cases of arrest and torture of Palestinians by the regime make it almost impossible to deflect culpability away from the Syrian regime. Yet, there continues to be either a silence, tepid response or outright justification from some elements of “Pro-Palestinian” society.

How anyone could justify the death of Palestinians arrested and tortured to death by the regime is beyond me. But it still happens. I was shocked a few weeks ago when I confronted a Pro-Assad Palestinian from Ramallah with these figures and she responded by asking, “Why were they arrested?” When I explained that these arbitrary arrests have no basis in reason or logic, she retorted, “there is always a reason for someone getting arrested.”

What little imagination it takes to predict what the response to these kinds of blatant justifications of Palestinian deaths would have been had Israel been the culprit. We, rightfully, disown any voice among us who spews anti-semitism or peddles justification for Israeli crimes. And yet, that moral indignation and impatience is not extended to those amongst us who have nothing to say about what is happening in Syria or are content to mourn the murder of Palestinians without clearly condemning those killing them. We passively accept their presence amongst us.

Below are some of the Palestinian who, we have learned this past week, have died from torture in the Assad regime jails:

(It should be noted, however, that all signs indicate that the majority of Palestinians continue to stand against Bashar Al Assad. Polls have shown that as much as 79% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza support the Syrian revolution. A more recent poll reiterated the same findings showing that 87% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza regarded Assad unfavorable with almost a third (31%) supporting the idea of the West arming anti-government fighters and 41% supporting Arab countries doing the same.)