Palestinians demand refugees’ protection

Waleed Al-Awad, Member of the Political Bureau of the left-wing Palestinian People’s Party (PPP), said that Palestinians are renewing calls to protect civilians from the spreading Syrian conflict, at a meeting in Gaza on Tuesday. The demands come following bloody battles in Damascus' Yarmouk refugee camp yesterday, after heavy fighting erupted between the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and pro- and anti-Assad factions yesterday. Around 5,000 Palestinians have fled to Lebanon as a result. In a press statement, Al-Awad said: “The Congress of national and Islamic factions stressed the need to spare Palestinian civilians in refugee camps, particularly after the massacre inside the Yarmouk refugee camp and the subsequent displacement of its population.” "Do not turn Palestinian camps into a battleground," Al-Awad added. According to Al-Awad, the Congress invited the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) to take effective political action to spare Palestinian refugees from the Syrian conflict, while also assisting refugees inside camps such as Yarmouk. Palestinian factions meanwhile called on international organisations, as well as the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), to “fulfill their basic role in supporting Palestinian refugees.”