MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Palestinians are confronting painful new information about a man many had viewed as a defender of their rights, the ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Now they're seeing new stories about the atrocities Assad carried out against his own people. NPR's Michele Kelemen has this report.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: On the streets of Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Naela Daud says she's been riveted by stories of Syrians pouring out of Assad's jails.
NAELA DAUD: (Through interpreter) What we saw is unbelievable. We know that Bashar al-Assad was with us as Palestinians and defended us. But what he had done to his people is beyond belief.
KELEMEN: She heard about a woman who gave birth to three children while in prison and didn't know which of the jailers were the fathers after years of sexual assault. There was another story of a child who had never been outside of the prison walls or seen nature.
DAUD: The child tell, what is bird? A tree? What is tree? I don't understand what you tell.
KELEMEN: Another Palestinian we meet - Mohamed Tamini - says Assad did little for the Palestinian cause.
MOHAMED TAMINI: (Speaking Arabic).
KELEMEN: "When we say Assad was with us, what did he do in Gaza? He did nothing in Gaza," Tamini says, adding that Assad tortured Palestinians in his jails. But Tamini is worried now that there will be chaos in Syria, and the world's attention will shift away from Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Inside the offices of Fatah - the main political party in Ramallah - Deputy Secretary General Sabri Saidam is also watching Syria closely.
SABRI SAIDAM: I was born in Syria. I lived in Syria. I know it quite well. I mean, you know, for a regime to survive 11 years of civil war, to fall in 11 days is quite a big bang, as it were.
KELEMEN: Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been talking about a new Middle East with Assad facing justice and Syrians given a new life. Saidam says the same should be true for Palestinians.
SAIDAM: The Assad regime ought to be trialed. You know, what about your friend, Netanyahu? You talk about self-determination. What about the Palestinians? You talk about a new future. What about the Palestinians?
KELEMEN: Back on the streets, Yousef Shahadi says Bashar al-Assad was abandoned by his allies - Russia and Iran - and it happened so quickly.
YOUSEF SHAHADI: (Speaking Arabic).
KELEMEN: "Syria was handed over on a gold platter without resistance," he says. Shahadi is worried that Palestinians could be abandoned just like Assad, but he says they will continue to stand up to the Israeli occupation, even if it has to be on their own.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Ramallah. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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