Palestinian factions that had aligned with Syria's Bashar Assad regime are undergoing major organizational changes, the Action Group for Palestinians in Syria has reported.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) announced the suspension of Khaled Jibril’s membership in the central committee due to "serious organizational and financial violations" and referred him to an investigative committee, which will later submit its findings to the Central Committee.
In a similar move, the secretary-general of Fatah al-Intifada decided to freeze the work of the faction’s central committee until further notice and dismissed two senior leaders – Rumeidh Abu Hani (Lebanon branch) and Yasser Al-Masri Abu Omar (Syria branch) – for violating the movement’s regulations.
In addition, the faction announced the relocation of its general secretariat headquarters to Lebanon and plans to restructure the central committee at a later stage.
The group for Palestinians in Syria also reported that the central committee of al-Intifada decided to relieve Ziyad Awdeh al-Saghir Abu Hazem from his duties as secretary-general due to organizational violations.
Meanwhile, the secretary-general of the "As-Sa'iqa" faction has undertaken a leadership reshuffle to strengthen the faction’s Palestinian role.
Palestinian refugees in Syria, however, have rejected these decisions, viewing them as an attempt to evade responsibility for the factions’ role in the Syrian conflict.
"These factions actively participated in besieging the camp (Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees in the Syrian capital), starving its residents, arresting civilians, and even killing them," a Palestinian told Action Group while requesting anonymity.
Today, they are trying to wash their hands of these crimes by dismissing some of their leaders, but they cannot erase the memory of bloodshed and suffering," they said.
Similarly, a refugee from the Khan al-Shih Camp (for Palestinian refugees outside Damascus) said these measures "change nothing for the victims, as the crimes committed against Palestinians and Syrians require international trials, not mere superficial organizational decisions."
Since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, some Palestinian factions aligned themselves with the Syrian regime and became involved in violations against both Palestinian refugees and Syrian citizens, particularly in Yarmouk Camp, which endured an inhumane siege for years. These factions contributed to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of camp residents and the destruction of their infrastructure.
Observers believe that these internal changes reflect attempts by these factions to reposition themselves after the fall of the Syrian regime in late 2024.
However, they face widespread public rejection from Palestinian refugees, who demand accountability for those responsible for the violations.
On the grassroots level, Palestinian refugees in Syria and abroad have called on the international community to launch independent investigations into the abuses they suffered and to hold all perpetrators accountable.
A resident of the Daraa Camp in southern Syria stated: "We want justice. What happened was not just organizational misconduct – it was war crimes against us Palestinians and our Syrian brothers. We will not remain silent until accountability is achieved."
