Photo released, Mohamed Kfarnabel
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his official delegation met with the head of the Syrian transitional phase Ahmed Al -Sharaa at the People’s Palace in the capital, Damascus, on Friday afternoon, on a Palestinian visit, the first of its kind since the law took over the presidency of the transitional phase in Syria, and within the framework of a Palestinian diplomatic move to enhance bilateral relations between the two countries.
On Thursday evening, the Israeli authorities impeded the arrival of two Jordanian helicopters with which the Palestinian President and his official delegation are usually moved to Amman and then to various parts of the world, and after extensive Palestinian contacts with the various Arab and regional parties, the Palestinian official delegation moved by land to Jordan, and he started from the capital Amman to Damascus, loaded with a set of important files to discuss the table of the bilateral meeting, according to the official expression.
Common strategic interests
Photo released, Mohamed Kfarnabel
I spoke with a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Ahmed Majdalani, who accompanies the Palestinian delegation to Damascus, and asked him about the most prominent of what the Palestinian Group carries for the Syrian President, and Majdalani replied to the BBC: “There was an official Palestinian delegation who visited Damascus last January headed by Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa and I also participated in a meeting with the Syrian President Sharia, the State of Palestine is keen to establish the most closely closely relations with the Syrian state.
“We have joint strategic interests with Syria, and therefore there is a permanent keenness for us to maintain bilateral relations at its best,” he added.
The spokesman pointed to what he considered “great problems” with the previous regime, and said, “We were keen to manage the helm of relations in a manner that guarantees interests to our people, their security and stability in Syria and also to ensure the independence of the Palestinian national decision, especially since there was an attempt to control and contain it.”
And Majdalani added, “There are many common issues with the new Syrian leadership and the Syrian state, the most important of which is the existence of occupied lands on both sides.”
He pointed out that “the issue of the conflict with the Israeli occupation, its end and coordination in the common positions to end the conflict with it gather the Palestinian and Syrian parties.”
“We have joint issues regarding regional security,” according to Majdalani, who spoke about “the two parties paid a great price from the Iranian axis in the region.”
Majdalani said that the two parties are still facing the repercussions and effects of this role.
Among the common issues are the siege and the penalties imposed on both parties, according to Majdalani, who described it as a “political blockade”.
He talked about the presence of Palestinians since 1948 in Syria, and this existence was devoted through a set of Syrian laws and legislations that “guaranteed civil, social and economic rights to them.”
“Since the previous time during our last visit, we received confirmation of the commitment of the new system with these rights.”
Majdalani pointed out that “the majority of Palestinian camps were damaged by the civil war.”
He added: “It will be one of the most important issues raised for discussion today, the reconstruction of the camps and the return of the displaced and the displaced to them.”
About one million Palestinians live in Syria, most of them refugees in 12 camps. UNRWA recognizes only 9 of them.
About 200,000 Palestinian refugees were forcibly displaced outside Syria, and they suffered like the rest of the Syrian people from the scourge of the civil war.
President Abbas’s visit to Damascus comes more than a year and a half after the Gaza war and its “catastrophic” consequences for the future of the Palestinians, especially in light of the Israeli and American waving in public and secretly with a plan to displace the Palestinians from the Strip to neighboring countries.
Responding to what was rumored about the possibility of displacing Palestinians from Gaza to northeastern Syria, Ahmed Al -Majdalani said: “These are rumors, some are media and some are trying to seek certain parties.”
He added: “In all cases, this issue is not acceptable to us and is not acceptable to the Syrian leadership.”
The last visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Damascus in January 2007 was an official invitation to him at the time, the ousted Syrian President Bashar al -Assad.
The future of the Palestinians in Syria
The various Palestinian levels hope that the presidential visit of Damascus will come with a confirmation of the new Syrian regime on political positions and coordination at the region level bearing reassuring positions that do not exclude the Palestinians.
The region is witnessing changes that many consider a fateful for the Palestinians.
She spoke with Palestinian political analyst Khalil Shaheen, who lived in one of the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria in the 1980s.
Shaheen told the BBC: “In Syria, there is still a state under construction, any transitional government and internal and external policies of Syria are vulnerable to internal factors,” Shaheen told the BBC.
It is also affected by external factors, including Israeli positions, especially that Israel occupies large parts of Syria and plans to stay in spheres of influence that may reach the outskirts of Damascus, according to Shaheen.
Shaheen believes that Israel is trying to influence the overall future policies of Syria, including its political subject to Israeli trends by pushing towards normalization.
As for the Palestinian side, there are common factors that include: “An Israeli war of genocide and occupation in the Gaza Strip and also the Israeli military action in southern Syria, and this requires crystallizing common positions in order to demand the reducing of the Israeli policy implemented in an aggressive manner in the areas surrounding Israel,” according to Shaheen.
Shaheen added: “The other side is related to the Palestinian presence in Syria, and the Palestinians have suffered just as the Syrian people have suffered over the past years.”
He talked about the presence of refugee asylum inside and outside Syria and fully devastating camps such as Yarmouk camp.
He said that all the camps need reconstruction and ensuring the return of Palestinian refugees to them, especially since many buildings, homes and properties have been controlled under the auspices of groups belonging to the previous Syrian authorities.
He talked about “external pressure from the United States of America on Syria to end any Palestinian political activity in Syria.”
He believed that this pressure is unacceptable for the Palestinians, “especially since there are large numbers of Palestinians in Syria who enjoy political and civil rights, including the activity of the Palestinian factions.”
American media recently published a list of American demands handed over by the US President’s Administration to the New Syrian Administration to build confidence with it and a limited mitigation of sanctions against Syria.
Among the American demands is: “The issuance of a Syrian official declaration to prohibit the political activities and activities of all Palestinian factions in their territory.”
Khalil Shaheen expects the BBC that “the new Syrian regime, in light of the internal and external pressures and challenges it faces, cannot allow any Palestinian or non -Palestinian faction to work inside Damascus.”
“The main task of the Syrian regime is now an attempt to complete the transitional phase and the constitution and lift the sanctions imposed on Syria,” according to Shaheen.
The spokesman believes that this Syrian situation will find an understanding of the Palestinian factions, including the factions believed in armed action such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and others.
Shaheen added: “We may witness Syria’s focus in the coming period on working with the Palestinian embassy, which is a title of Palestinian legitimacy.”
He believed that this might constitute a way out of the Syrian administration in order to continue to control the security situation in Syria from the Palestinian factions or even the Syrian factions and groups.
He added, “Syria is facing a great threat and challenge in light of the remaining millions of Syrians displaced outside Syria in Arab and European countries and other regions in the world.”
Shaheen said that the new administration is concerned with re -absorbing all these refugees.
He pointed out that tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees left for the Arab and European countries, and the Majestic intends to return to their homes and property in Syria.
He added: “I think this is the fundamental thing of the new regime, which seems to have signals not to engage in any plans aimed at displacing more Palestinians from their homeland to Syria.”
