The Syrian uprising gathered pace in the ians from taking up 30 professions and year preceding the Russian presidential 40 artisan trades outside the refugee elections when Putin was hoping to return 30 years on, camps. A doctor or a pharmacist of any to office after a four-year hiatus as prime of the world’s nationalities can practise minister. He never actually relinquished in in Lebanon – but not a Lebanon-born power, but his position had become more Palestinian. Many youngsters drop out insecure, with opposition forces becoming Lebanon need of school in search of labouring work. more vocal. Having lost the support of lib- Palestinians are not allowed to own or eral reformers who saw Russia as part of civic rights inherit property. With these unjust laws the Western family, Putin became more in place, Palestinians are confined to the dependent on nationalists and Soviet refugee camp with no hope of escape. alain mingam/gamma-rapho via getty images getty via mingam/gamma-rapho alain apologists. He also had to rely on the Dr Swee Chai Ang recalls Denied their right of return to Palestine, security apparatus. the massacres in Sabra and they are born refugees, they will die refu- It was always unlikely that Putin, during gees … and so will their children. the run-up to the elections, would risk los- Shatila refugee camps Against this desolate background Pal- ing a guaranteed chunk of public opinion Hidden inside ’s urban mosaic are estinians and their international friends and the backing of a security apparatus that the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra come together each year to commemo- is more comfortable in the company of like- and Shatila, scene of a horrific massacre rate the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Last minded counterparts in the Middle East. in 1982. This September, an estimated year, a youth group, with no money and Despite some predictions that Putin would 280,000 living in no sponsors, performed hip-hop, poetry soften his stance after his election victory, Lebanon will mark both the 30th anniver- readings, and painted the silhouettes of Moscow has remained steadfast in its sary of the massacre and the 64th anniver- their friends on to the whitewashed walls support for the Assad regime. Putin will sary of the start of their continued exile. which surround a mass grave where near- continue to rely on these important con- For me, the building that symbolises the ly one thousand of the victims are buried. stituents during this fragile phase of his worsening plight of the Palestinians in These young people were born after presidency. Lebanon is Gaza Hospital. I came to it in the massacre, and as a survivor I was Russia’s support for Assad has long-term August 1982 as a volunteer orthopaedic asked to talk to them. cost implications, however. These include: surgeon to look after people injured by the I recounted how in 1982, a few days further complications in the relationship Israeli invasion that turned hospitals, after the massacre, I walked down Rue with the West; deteriorating relations with schools and homes into heaps of rubble, as Sabra towards Gaza Hospital. The stench Gulf Arab and other Sunni Muslim coun- well as killing an estimated 20,000. of decaying human flesh was unbearable. tries; a potential rise in hostility towards In exchange for a ceasefire to stop the Survivors were identifying the remains Moscow from Muslims within the Russian city being destroyed, , leader of their loved ones. A group of child- Federation; and a global perception of of the Palestine Liberation Organization, ren spotted me and called out ‘Doctora Putin as the remnant of a bygone era rath- agreed to evacuate its 14,000 members in- Sabra. Hundreds of terrified camp resi- Palestinians were killed and a further Sinie’ (Chinese Doctor – my parents are er than a renaissance man. cluding its leadership and fighters. In re- dents were being rounded up by armed 30,000 displaced, in what was known as ethnic Chinese). They raised up their Russia’s chosen path of endorsing Assad turn, he received guarantees of the safety men who bore no insignia. A terrified ‘the war of the camps’. hand in a victory sign and said: ‘We are was clearly made more attractive by the of those refugees left behind. woman tried to give me her baby, but was Gaza Hospital was not spared. It was not afraid’. perception in Moscow of a weak and At that time, Gaza Hospital was an forced to take it back at gunpoint. We taken over by the militiamen and pillaged. There are reasons to be hopeful that hesitant US administration under Barack 11-storey, state-of-the-art hospital run by stumbled over dead bodies. Some bore No longer a hospital, it is now a bleak ten- the Palestinian refugees will have some

Obama. But this is dangerous. Despite the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Up images eid/afp/getty joseph the marks of torture: an old man had had ement for 900 families. dignity restored – but it needs a re-en- Russian support, the survival of the Assad until then I had never heard of Palestinian his eyes gouged out; women had been In the early 1990s, after the end of the gaged and committed effort from the regime is not guaranteed. And this back- refugees. We were so busy that it was not raped before being killed. , Palestinian refugees international community. ing means that the restless and ambitious until after my third day there that I learnt Those events of June to September 1982 found themselves more marginalized than For the first time, a few Lebanese poli- Arab youth now have a tarnished image the hospital was actually in a Palestinian Top: Mourners in Beirut, in 1982 started the downward spiral of the Pales- ever. The focus of international attention ticians recognise that an improvement in of Russia, wiping out many decades of refugee camp, that my colleagues in the Above: Shatila Palestinian refugee camp tinians in Lebanon. in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict moved civil rights for Palestinian is compatible regional endeavour and investment by hospital were all Palestinians as were our First came the physical destruction of to the West Bank and Gaza Strip; the with a rejection of permanent settlement. Moscow. patients, the courageous people rebuilding Sabra and Shatila camps. their homes and institutions, then the Palestinians in Lebanon were old news Despite a petition of 150,000 signatures Putin’s chief political achievement, to their homes and lives in the rubble. The next day the Israelis sent a group evacuation that was to break up families. internationally. In Lebanon the one thing to the Lebanese Parliament in 2010, a Bill create the illusion that Russia without him They welcomed me into their destroyed of Christian Lebanese militiamen into The PLO was not just a handful of fighters. the sectarian factions agreed on was to improve the civil rights of Palestinians would be doomed to become a weak, frag- homes, serving me coffee and what- the camp. When the tanks withdrew from It ran hospitals, schools, women’s organi- the rejection of tawteen (naturalization) was voted down. But these enlightened mented and subservient state, is hazier ever food they happened to have. They the perimeter, the extent of the massacre sations, co-operatives, media, and voca- for the refugees. parliamentarians have pedged to con- now. His failure to include the transforma- were part of the 750,000 people uprooted became apparent. Heaps of mutilated bod- tional training institutes. Today Lebanese law prohibits Palestin- tinue their campaign. tional aspirations of techno-savvy Syrian and forced out of British Mandate Pales- ies lay along the narrow alleyways. Up to Removing the PLO destroyed most As we mark the 30th anniversary of the youth in the cost-benefit equation may tine in 1948. I was shown faded photo- 3,000 people died inside the camp. of these structures. But the survivors massacre we must continue to encourage have long-term significance for Russia’s graphs of their homes and families before On the morning of September 18, after returned after the horror to rebuild ‘There are reasons to the international community to work own restless and ambitious urban youth. 1948 and the large family keys that they still operating for 72 hours in Gaza Hospital’s their lives. Gaza Hospital re-opened a with the Lebanese government to guar- Their most popular slogan is ‘Russia with- kept with them. basement theatre, I was ordered out with month after the massacre and I went back be hopeful that the antee civil rights for Palestinian refugees out Putin!’ On September 15, 1982, the day after 21 other foreign medical volunteers. Ex- to work. Palestinian refugees and improve conditions in the camps. l the assassination of Bashir Gemayel, the hausted, deprived of sleep and unaccus- But things were to get worse. From Talal Nizameddin’s book, Putin’s New Lebanese president-elect, violated tomed to the Beirut sun I emerged blinking 1985 to 1987, Syrian-backed Lebanese mi- wil have some Dr Swee Chai Ang is an orthopaedic Order in the Middle East, will be published the ceasefire and sent tanks into west into the light. litiamen besieged the camps in Beirut and surgeon and a founding member of by Hurst in January 2013 Beirut. By midday they had ringed the We were marched at gunpoint along Rue . An estimated 2,500 dignity restored’ Medical Aid for Palestinians

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