Ramallah: The largest Palestinian camp in Syria used to be buzzing with activity. There were packed minibuses, and shops selling falafel, shawarma, and nafeh nabulsih, a cheese and phyllo dough dessert.
When Syria descended into civil war before the arrival of men armed with real weapons, children played football and brandished toy guns. Communities across the country have been devastated by fighting over the past ten years, including in the Yarmouk camp on the outskirts of the capital Damascus.
The streets of Yarmouk are still covered with debris. The only signs that the area once served as an important political and cultural center for the Palestinian refugee diaspora are sporadic Palestinian flags flying from mostly abandoned homes.
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Syrian authorities began allowing Yarmouk's former residents to return two years ago if they could demonstrate that they owned their homes and pass security inspections.
But so far only a few have returned. The fear of being detained or forced into service has discouraged many others. Some people do not have homes to return to.
Some still want to see what is left of their homes, despite the fighting in Syria having largely stopped.
To highlight its efforts to encourage returnees, the government allowed journalists to visit Yarmouk earlier this month. The event was to inaugurate a newly constructed community center by an NGO.
Mohd Yousuf Jameel is one of those who have come back. He had been a resident of Yarmouk since 1960, moving there from the Palestinian village of Lubya, which is located west of Tiberias in modern Israel. Before the war broke out in Syria, she raised her three sons there.
The 80-year-old returned about a year and a half ago, with the government's permission to fix his damaged house. Now there are only four families living in their street instead of the 30 or 40 that used to be there. Buildings that were not destroyed by the bombs were often looted and had their windows, electrical wires and even taps removed.
He said of his house, "I am living here to watch it from thieves.
While he was repairing the left half of his house, which is still standing, the right half of Mohammad Taher's house collapsed nearby. "There is no electricity," the 55-year-old said, even though the camp's sewage system and some areas have water access.
Since its creation in 1957 as a Palestinian refugee camp, Yarmouk has developed into an affluent suburb, which also attracts Syrians from the working class.
According to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees, or UNRWA, 1.2 million people lived in Yarmouk, including 160,000 Palestinians before the 2011 uprising that descended into civil war.
According to UNRWA, 4,000 people had already returned to Yarmouk by June, and another 8,000 families were allowed to do so over the summer.
According to UNRWA, returnees face difficulties due to "lack of basic services, restricted transportation, and largely destroyed public infrastructure". Some people live in houses without windows or doors.
The UN agency claimed that part of the increase in Yarmouk returnees was due to the camp's provision of free accommodation. UNRWA chief Philip Lazzarini claimed in a recent press conference that the growing number of Palestinian refugees in Syria are "basically going back to the rubble just because they can't afford to stay where they were."
Relations between the Syrian authorities and Palestinian factions in Syria have sometimes been turbulent in the past. There was a long-standing rivalry between Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and Hafez Assad, the former president of Syria.
However, Palestinian refugees enjoyed greater socioeconomic and civil rights in Syria than in neighboring Lebanon, and they did so in relative comfort.
As civil war broke out in Syria, Palestinian factions in Yarmouk attempted to maintain neutrality, but by the end of 2012, the camp had become involved in conflict and various factions had chosen opposing sides.
While others, like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, fought on the side of the Syrian government, the militant group Hamas supported the opposition in Syria.
Yarmouk was the target of a deadly siege by government forces in 2013. It was seized by the extremist Daesh organization in 2015.
Yarmouk native and American University of Beirut sociology professor Sari Hanafi said those who are returning are doing so out of "absolute necessity."
The reason the others leave is that the place is intolerable, he said.
A young man from Yarmouk who now resides in a camp for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon concurs.
He claimed that since Bashar Assad's government in Syria is still in power, returning there would mean "always living in anxiety and without security."
When someone goes back to the camp or to Syria in general, they are no longer concerned with how much freedom they will have. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was worried about the safety of his relatives in Syria. "He is thinking, 'I just want a house to live in,'" he said.
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The Damascus governor, Mohamed Tarek Kreishati, pledged to clear the debris and reestablish utilities and public transportation at the opening of the community centre.
However, Mahmoud Zaghmout of the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria, a group affiliated with the Syrian opposition and based in London, said that much work still needs to be done to persuade people to return.
According to Zaghmout, Yarmouk is devoid of "hospitals, bakeries, gas distribution centres, and basic consumer and food items."
Some people, like Suheil Natour, a researcher based in Lebanon and a member of the leftist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, wish to see Yarmouk reclaim its former splendor.
He indicated the later-rebuilt Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, which had been destroyed by Israeli forces in 1982. Additionally, he added, Yarmouk could "someday be a very flourishing symbol of revival of the Palestinian refugees."
Some people are dubious. Samih Mahmoud, 24, who was born and raised in Yarmouk but now resides in Lebanon, claims that not much of the area is still there.
He claimed that he is not a part of the Yarmouk's streets and buildings. I'm attached to the people, the food, and the camp's environment, he confessed. "And it's all gone now."
