IN THE SHADOWS OF WAR - "THE CHANGEMAKERS"

This is the third blog article in my on-going mini series “In the shadows of war”, from my visit to the Palestinians in Lebanon in February 2019. In fact it has been a piece of writing quite hard to put in words due to the complexity and divergent views about the situation, political solutions and even some factual information. I have called this post “The Changemakers”, even though the word “change” has to be interpreted in context and with some reservations. 

After more than 70 years of occupation, armed conflicts and for thousands of Palestinians being forced to live their lives as refugees and denied the right to a homeland, one could argue that all the change that has come these years has been mostly for the worse. As Israel is constantly expanding the settlements, building more walls, and bombing and killing demonstrators and innocent civilians, and while the war in Syria adds yet another tragedy to thousands of Palestinians, and exploitation and absence of basic human rights are what Palestinian refugees are facing in Lebanon. It´s really hard to keep up hope and believe in any change for the better. The absence of a functioning, united, political leadership, internal conflicts within PLO and repeated corruption accusations, make things even worse.  

However, to deny anyone hope, or to refuse to recognise and celebrate the hard work of thousands of young and old Palestinians struggling long hours, day in and day out, trying to make life better for their people in so many different ways, would be yet another assault, and in my opinion deeply unfair. So, while the word “Changemakers” only to a limited extent is pointing at significant or potential political, lasting change, I am convinced that the people I introduce to you in this article make a real difference for many of the people they are trying to help.

Some background information about the formal and informal welfare system for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

Though it is rather difficult to get a good insight and overview of both the formal and informal welfare system in and outside the Palestinian refugee camps, I will share some of the information that was given and explained to me during my short visit to Lebanon in February. 

Even though the Palestinians have been living in Lebanon since 1948 they have very limited legal rights or access to the Lebanese welfare system like pensions, social support and medical aid. In 2010 Lebanon's parliament passed a law, which to some degree allows Palestinian refugees to work legally. However, Palestinians are still unable to work in the public sector or in professions such as medicine, law engineering, and many others where membership of Lebanese syndicates is compulsory. They also continue to be denied access to Lebanese state medical or educational facilities. The work permit (which is very expensive to get) in private sector gives Palestinians a formal right to claim cover for work-related accidents and retirement pension from their own social security fund, if the jobs are formalised/registered and they pay contributions to the fund while working. In reality the Palestinian refugees, except for those working with UNRWA, and for some NGOs have very few, legal and contract based work options, which gives access to the said welfare benefits. The vast majority who can get a job outside the camps, work in the construction and building industry, in seasonal agricultural work like picking fruit and vegetables or in shops, restaurants or hotels with cleaning and with housekeeping in private homes. Most jobs are without any sort of contracts or written agreements and many works as day labourer and casual workers. A daily income of as little as $10 is not uncommon.  

Formally, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which according to several sources is currently suffering from a severe financing deficit, (not the least after the Trump administration came to power in the US) are responsible for basic welfare, education and health services for Palestinian refugees both inside and outside the refugee camps. 

According to UNRWA`s own information, the Relief and Social Services (RSS) programme in Lebanon…

“assists impoverished Palestine refugees and promotes the development and self-reliance of disadvantaged members of the refugee community, especially women, children, youth, persons with disabilities and the elderly. A special hardship assistance programme provides quarterly in-kind food and cash assistance as well as emergency cash assistance for specific cases of urgent need. We also provide targeted services for women, youth and persons with disabilities, through RSS, other UNRWA programmes or partnerships with community-based and non-governmental organisations. UNWRA also runs a micro credit community support programme that provides loans for start-ups or business expansion. The programme also provides housing loans to improve the refugees’ living conditions, since Palestine refugees in Lebanon have long suffered from poor housing conditions and a shortage of housing. In emergency situations, RSS is in charge of registering Palestine refugees and recording other persons eligible to receive UNRWA services, providing food and non-food items and participating in the planning and implementation of livelihood-recovery activities”.

In collaboration with several partners UNRWA also provides basic, and to some extent secondary health services as well as education; primary and secondary schools and some additional, technical vocational training. 

But even though UNRWA have their defined responsibility and partnering with numerous NGOs to provide much needed services in the camps, both available statistics and a walk trough the refugee camps and meeting with it´s residents, tells a story about services that are highly inadequate to cope with the reality on the ground. Either it is caring for children with disabilities, child protection, unhealthy living conditions or poverty in general, the situation is simply put very bad. As I told in my first post in this series, much of the camps are more or less slums. Playgrounds, cinemas, culture facilities are either sparsely available or non-existent in many areas.

In Rashidieh houses along the seashore are constantly threatened by the Mediterranean waves when the winter storms are hitting, and the beach itself, which could have been be beautiful, are mostly covered with all sorts of garbage.

What about the PLO?

While the PLO has limited influence in the Lebanese policies regarding the Palestinian refugees, it is has to some extent been pushing for cooperation between the Lebanese and Palestinian authorities in governing the camps, as in the declaration of the Palestinian Ambassador in Lebanon Abbas Zaki back in 2007. Many local pro-Syrian and Islamist actors however as well as some Palestinians, have refused this and pressed to keep the status quo.

The Palestinian refugee camps are technically under the control of PLO since a 1969 agreement, and as a result the Lebanese army largely refrains from entering or policing them. However the army do have checkpoints at the gates of some southern Lebanese camps like Rashidieh, controlling who (and what) goes in and out. Inside the camps, security is a PLO/Fatah business, which also gives some extra income to poor families if one of the male family members joins the security forces. Through this arrangement, the officers receive a salary of $200 a month, and also to some degree prevent recruitment to radical Islamist groups.

The PLO do also contribute to some extent to hospitals and health services for Palestinians in Lebanon. They do also have some kind of social security funds I was told, from which poor families can apply for support if they have special needs, no family provider etc. Trough collaboration with foreign solidarity organisation, PLO in some cases have helped by organising “adoption programs” for poor families where residents in other countries gives donations to a specific family on a regular basis. Numbers and details in this regard however, have not appeared through my current research, but I will update this information if it becomes available.

With many reservations due to lack of available information, most Palestinians I talked to in Lebanon, seem to acknowledge the PLO/Fatah as an important  Political symbol, but maybe less as a significant actor or contributor representing and helping them in their daily struggle for survival, dignity and human rights. 

The NGOs

The insufficient UNRWA services have led to the development of an extensive network of local Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Community based Organisations (CBOs) operating in the camps. The NGO/CBOs either fills-in where UNRWA services is lacking or insufficient or they contribute with extended services or activities that are needed, but not a part of the general, basic camp services. In some camps, especially in Beirut, the Palestinian refugees from Lebanon have recently experienced deteriorating living conditions caused by the increased population. Conditions were already poor before the arrival of thousands of refugees from Syria and the influx of people have only exacerbated these pre-existing problems and also created tensions among the population. Storeys have been added to the poorly constructed shelters, some of which are now eight or nine storeys high, without proper foundations, and electricity wires and leaking water pipes intertwine at head height throughout the camp as a result of the networks being extended to reach new inhabitants.

Leaving the debate about the long-term consequences of a UNRWA/NGO based public service system for Palestinians in Lebanon for now, I will introduce two short examples showing both why the NGO/CBOs and their services are needed and some of the great things they do.

Abu Jihad Al-Wazir center for handicapped

One morning while staying in Rashidieh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, I `m invited to the Abu Jihad Al Wazir centre for handicapped to meet a quite remarkable man, Mr Abed Muhammed Assaad, one those people who stands out with from the crowd with a personality and strength that is far beyond the average. We meet in his spacious office inside the center. Abed is a middle aged, blind man who came from Syria to Lebanon in the seventies with his family of 12, a mother, father, six brothers and three sisters.  Four brothers and one of the sisters are all blind. – In Lebanon very few people suffering from blindness have a job, he tells me. – But in my family, everyone is working.

After arriving in Lebanon from Syria their situation became totally changed. In Syria they had the same rights as the Syrians, but from 1976, according to Abed, -The Lebanese government said they could not give Palestinians any rights because they didn´t want us to stay. - After the Lebanese war, the situation was miserable for disabled people all over Lebanon, says Abed. – In 1989 my brother and I joined with a group of 12 other young people from Rashidieh and Tyre with disabilities. Some were blind, some deaf and some with polio. We made a plan for handicapped Palestinian refugees. We though we needed a center for people like us. The group recognised that disabled children in the Tyre region camps were receiving no education, special needs training or social stimulation. Their disabilities meant they could not attend the UNRWA schools, and parents could not afford to send them to paid special schools and there were no social or physical activities available to them. 

The establishment of the center was supported by the PLO and UNRWA, and is named after the former PLO-leader Khalil Al-Wazir. The work in the centre began in one room with a small kitchen back in 1989. – When we started we had 370 people with disabilities registered, says Abed. - In 1994 we received funds from UNICEF and NORWAC to build the center where we are today.

In 23 years the center has expanded into 18 rooms, together with a large garden. Training courses are now also including disabled adults.  Disabilities include visual or hearing loss, learning difficulties, physical disabilities and mobility problems. Today we have 1900 people registered with different disabilities, and we have made a comprehensive report about their needs and propositions to how they can be met.

Mr. Abed gives me a guided tour inside the centre, which is a nice, spacious two store building, a visible result of what some extraordinary people like mr. Abed can achieve. Still I cannot let go of some questions in my mind, about what would be the case if mr. Abed, his friends and family wasnt´s there with the strength and skills to fight for change and make good things happen. 

Tadamon

The day after my visit to the Abu Jihad Al-Wazir center, I meet with another local NGO named Tadamon and their project manager Hameda Otman and social worker Wafaa Derbass. Tadamon works among the Palestinian women and children in different parts of Lebanon and is promoting education of woman and child’s rights, and works to empower women and children in the Palestinian camps and gatherings in the social, educational and economical fields.

Hameda and Wafaa tells me they work with many different programs and activities, to help both children and youth with disabilities, as well as with social, psychological and stress related problems. In their programs they normally work with both child/youth- oriented activities and by teaching, training and empower the parents to understand how to support their children. In some programs children with disabilities and other children are mixed to interact and work together to learn how to help each other.

- In the camps and in the so called gatherings, where the Palestinian refugees lives (and lately more and more poor Syrian refugees as well), there are all sorts of social problems, says Wafaa. - Drop out from schools, child labour, child abuse and neglect, early marriages and sexual harassment. Tadamon has several, special psychosocial support programs for youth and women focusing on awareness building and empowerment. Many of the activities and programs are organised in close collaboration with the schools. 

In the refugee camps child protection services are more or less non-existent, and there is no way of intervening legally, even if child-abuse is observed. In a house close to the Tadamon center lives an man who every day sends his two wives to work, while his two small children are left alone all day in the streets to manage on their own. The Tadamon staff tries to look after them on a voluntary basis, but without Tadamon or some other friendly neighbour helping out, anything could happen to the children. 

Child labour and drop out from schools are some of the biggest problems among the poor families in the camps. To try to deal with these problems Tadamon organizes sessions, where they invite parents to teach them about children`s rights. But they are facing numerous problems with some of the families to convince them that they have to send their children to school, and not to work as street vendors or car cleaners. But some of the parents don´t really seem care about their children, only about the money they can make. Some doesn´t understand the problems intellectually, and there are a lot of old-fashioned traditions and ways of thinking among the camp dwellers. In some families the men and the old head of the family decides everything and children and women have to ask for permission for everything they want do. - In Al Buss camp we know a man from Syria, says Wafaa. – He controls several families with 50 children and all the money they receive. - He refuses to let any NGOs or social workers see the families. - They are very poor and the children are dirty and neglected. - We have tried to give them shampoo, but the “king” refuses. He wants the children to work in the agricultural business.

Tadamon has been working for the Palestinian refugees since 2006 and in Rashidieh since 2012. Their effort makes a real difference and the need for their services seems obvious.  But funding is a constant challenge. Over the years they have had many sponsors like Unicef and Medical Aid Palestine, but the donations have decreased, and from April this year they don´t know if some programs have to be terminated due to lack of funding. 

       

The young, local social entrepreneurs

While many adults are spending all their time and energy making ends meet, supporting and caring for their families, there is quite a large number of young residents in the camps who refuses to accept the things the way they are, doing nothing. Many work as volunteers or get a job with an NGO, but some prefer to start their own, local “changemaking project” and wants to be independent from existing political parties or donors like PLO, Fatah, UNRWA or foreign Aid organisations, because as they said: - We have to start relying on ourselves and not let others decide our future. We have to educate our people and our future leaders and not get stuck in the problems and the ideas of the past.  

The Youth cafe

In a backstreet in the centre of Rashedieh, I come to visit a newly established Youth café, run by two young men in their twenties, Mohammed El Amry and his friend Mahmoud Khatib. Two and a half years back they came together because they were seeing some worrying tendencies and increasing problems among of young boys who were dropping out from school with no option or motivation to engage work or other positive activities. Due to the situation in the camp many young boys are loosing hope for a better future or for a life worth living. They become vulnerable. Some start using drugs, and are at risk of being recruited by radical Islamist groups. (Side note: Until a few years ago, the major Palestinian Fatah faction was the dominant group controlling the refugee camps in Lebanon. Though it is hard confirm or to get reliable, information about this, according to the independent Gastone institute (2016), this is no longer. Today, Beside Hezbollah it has become evident that many other groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, ISIS and Al-Qaeda and other local suspect groups have established bases of power inside some of the refugee camps).

In 2017 Mohammed and Mahmoud were offered two rooms, one and a half storey building previously used as a coffee shop. This was a great opportunity they thought, and maybe the chance they had been looking for. The building needed some upgrades however, and a bit of rehabilitation, so they made a plan and sent an application to a foreign NGO for the money they needed to get started with their youth café. The application was granted as a loan, and a deal was made with the NGO, saying that if the money was spent according to the plans, they could keep it. In 2018 the NGO accepted what they had achieved and the way they had spent the money, so now the café can be run on a permanent basis, and be independent from external donors.

The first and main goal for the café project was to get young boys away from the streets. - To do that we needed this kind of informal meeting place, says Mohammed. - Rather than becoming drug addicts or under the control of religious radical groups, we wanted to create a space were they could be educated and trained to understand their situation, their society, and think for themselves. - Besides having and open space in the café where the boys can meet, play chess and cards, we arrange awareness sessions, workshops and training programs and we also arrange football and boxing training activities. - Our goal is two educate tomorrow`s leaders. Some of the boys are very resourceful, but they need guidance and help to find a way to use their recourse. We hope to be able to motivate some of them to get higher education and go to the university. In the café we make meetings/events where we can talk about such things.

Since they started the café in 2018, there are now around 20 young boys who come to the café on a regular basis more or less daily. Some nights when there are organised activities 50 or more boys are coming. – We have already achieved a lot, says Mohammed. We have established a group who trust us and each other and who already understands that they have alternatives to sit on a corner and carry a gun for Fatah or others.

Walaa, and his YouTube channel

Walaa El Amry (29) is another remarkable young man who also became my good friend during my time in Lebanon. Walaa works full time as a sports and recreational officer with UNRWA. Every day he has to make a two hours drive (each way) between Tyre and Beirut to reach the UNRWA offices. His work as a sports and recreational officer did not come as a coincident, but was rather a result of Walaa`s burning commitment to get children and youth in the refugee camps engaged in physical activities and ballgames such as football and volleyball, basketball and sometimes rugby – When aI was a boy we didn`t participate in any organized activities, says Walaa. - My family was so poor we could not afford it. Later, when grew older I was involved in a survey that was mapping the number of children who where benefitting from sports, and recreational activities organized with support from UNRWA. We saw that a lot of children did not participate and we started to organise things by ourselves, like trips to the sea so the children could play and swim in the water. We had meetings in my home to start planning new activities and made project proposals to NGOs in order to get money for sports equipment, playgrounds, and for renting sports and training facilities. 

- Today, I am still training three football teams here in Rashedieh, beside my work with UNRWA, Walaa says with a smile. - I believe training and sports activities can develop societies. It gives good health and at the same time it gives a better understanding of the importance of teamwork and organisation. 

There is no doubt that Walaa through his work with UNRWA and his volunteer engagement as a sports facilitator/coordinator in Rashidieh, is an important contribution to the life of many young boys in the refugee camps (and there is a lot of young women doing the same thing for girls as well), but he also has another quite original project. This project is about changing some awkward, old fashioned ways of thinking. Together with his friends Alaa Ghatith, Walaa has started a YouTube channel they have called “FORWARD”.  

The purpose of the channel is to inform and educate people in the camps and elsewhere about a variety of topics in order to make people understand that there is no single or definite truth, and searching for the right answer in the mosque or from religious leaders may not always be the way to go. As of March 2019 they have made 48 videos/episodes from about three to seven minutes of length. 

The channel is organised under different headings like “Life” “Tech” etc. where they talk about various topics like how to use modern technology and social media like YouTube and Facebook effectively and safely, and some episodes where they talk about topics related to superstition like “Black cats” or western traditions regarded as “Haram” (forbidden) by most of the people, like celebrating Valentine’s day, Birthdays and new year.. Whether one dislike Valentine`s day celebrations or not, or argue against the day for being “haram”, the FORWARD channel tells the story about the origin of the day, which according to the YouTube episode is mainly is a story about love (can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A6xwc0VtF0&t=13s), to make people decide for themselves whether it is worth celebrating or not. - We believe people have to learn to think “out of the box”. The youth must learn to say “I think , I see , I believe …” not “we think, we see and we believe…”, says Walaa. 

Walaa also tells me that the Channel is regarded quite controversial by some people in the Camps all around Lebanon. Some men want to control everything their wives are doing, including what they read and write on social media. - My friend makes episodes where he teaches the women (and others) how they can prevent anyone, including their husbands from seeing what they are doing on the Internet and talk more about security and privacy and the importance of to be “ ourselves” not “ themselves”.

- Some of the Mullahs have been warning against the channel in the mosque, says Walaa. - We have also been threatened by some religious people because they don´t accept other sources of knowledge than the Islamic references and some parts from the holy Quran and what they usually preach in the mosque. - I believe that religion is a relation between us and God, it’s a private believes and no one has the right to control others by any way. Knowledge is about all sides of life and we have to distinguish between religion and other sources of knowledge and stop seeing it as contradictions, it’s important to rethink again about our life and to start develop and improve ourselves by reading more and more every day.

Nadia, the PLO and the struggle for women`s rights

One afternoon I get the chance to meet an important female “changemaker” in her home Rashidieh, Nadia Qasem, a representative of The General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) which is the official representative of Palestinian women within the Palestine Liberation Organisation(PLO).  Nadia`s responsibilities is mainly welfare and social issues in the area around Tyre in Southern Lebanon including three refugee camps and 11 gatherings.

Nadia tells me the Women`s Union are working to improve the situation in many different areas like education, food distribution and social and psychosocial support. Today mainly the families with someone serving with the security forces are receiving money on a regular basis from the PLO ($200 a month). In addition to social and welfare related activities and projects, PLOs main responsibilities in the camps are security. After 1984 PLO I Lebanon was disarmed, and were only allowed to keep light arms. – People don´t forget what happened in Sabra and Chatila, says Nadia. – The Lebanese army are not protecting us so we have to take care of our own security. PLO and the government have made an agreement to let us keep the light arms and do some military training in the camps.  

But even though PLO cannot give financial support directly to a large number of families, they do offer some assistance. In some cases poor widows, divorced women and families with no incomes can receive a $100 a month in social support and in some cases to cover parts of special medical treatment when needed. In some cases PLO also gives small loans to women to help them start a home business. This money comes from a fund PLO is organising based on donations from rich Lebanese. 

- We do also facilitate some support through our partnership with other NGOs, says Nadia. - Some families doesn`t have any incomes whatsoever. Widows and divorced women are particularly vulnerable, and in many cases we help them get in touch with an NGO who can “adopt” them and give some financial support on a regular basis. 

- Divorced women are facing many challenges in our society, both financially and socially when they have to manage alone without a husband, Nadia tells me.

 - Their freedom of movement outside the homes is often restricted and women are often blamed for the divorce even when they have been victims of domestic violence and abuse. Nadia tells me the women`s union are giving “awareness sessions” for divorced and single women to inform them about their rights and to empower them through cognitive training to help them to manage the daily challenges they are facing. But working for women`s rights and protection of vulnerable women against domestic violence is very demanding. Many conservative religious leaders from groups like Hamas and Jihad Islami (and other even more extreme groups) want to control women and make them stay at home.

There was an incident where a women and a child was raped, Nadia tells me, - After the incident I and the Women`s Union were organising an awareness session we called “Sexual awareness”. Hamas wanted to cover up the rape and were criticising me in the mosque, saying that I and the Women`s union were lying about the rape. They wanted us to stop the awareness sessions, but we made it a program and changed the name and called it “How to protect the family”.  - We also made a session about abuse of women, both verbally and physically. The main focus was how women can know their rights. Once again Hamas reacted by preaching in the mosque that domestic violence and abuse of women didn`t occur.   

Nadia tells me they have worked with awareness sessions since 2005. They have gradually seen that some change is coming. Some years ago women never asked for a divorce. Today they do more and more, when the marriage is not working. Women used to think that violence and abuse from their husband had to be accepted. But awareness sessions and other information have helped them understand that this is not acceptable, and that they can make it stop by asking for help and leave their husband if they must. And it is not only regarding their position in the families women are becoming more aware. More women than before finish high school and go to university. Social media has also made a big difference regarding women`s access to information and to how they can communicate without being controlled by their husbands or their fathers.

- But women still faces many challenges, says Nadia. Most families give priority to the boys when they cannot afford to let all their children get the education they want. Most people think education for girls isn`t as important since they are going to be housewives anyway. Even some teachers and supervisors in high school contribute to hinder the girls choosing an education and the professional career they are dreaming of, because it cannot be combined with being a housewife. Some supervisors say the girls should not be nurses for example, since it means working late hours, when they should be making dinner and take care of their husband and children.

In refugee camps like Rashidieh there are no places outside the homes where women can meet. The men have the coffee shops (cafes) where they can sit with their friends whenever they want. Nadia wants to start a café only for women, but doesn´t have the money she needs at the moment. – We need more activities for women where women can develop and educate themselves on their own terms, she says firmly 

- But the challenges isn`t only the extreme and conservative religious leaders, Nadia explains. - Even inside the PLO women have to struggle against men who is not willing listen to what we are saying and respect our opinions. Women can only have 20% of the positions in the PLOs administration. But even after I was elected to my position, some of the men have tried to stop me from attending the board meetings by not telling me where the meeting is held. So as you can see, the lack of respect for women, for our knowledge and resources is a real problem even inside the PLO. – Now I will focus on mobilising the women to make the revolution, rather then continue the struggle with the men, Nadia says with a smile.

Manal and her “virtual campaign”.

Some days after may return to Norway, I get a message from my friend Sigrun who works as a volunteer for the Norwegian Palestine Committee in Rashidieh. Sigrun tells me she`s been on visit to Beirut where she met an amazing lady with the name Manal Kortam, whom “you just have to interview”.  A couple of days later I am having a two and a half hour Skype talk with Manal about her efforts to start a new political movement among the Palestinians in Lebanon. 

Manal Kortam is a highly educated, female Lebanese Palestinian political activist and she is by no means like any other political activist or politician I`ve met. Prior to the parliament elections in 2018 Manal started a campaign, running for a seat in the Lebanese Parliament. From her campaign poster, where she is dressed in a formal dark blazer, she looks like any other conventional politician, arms crossed, with a Lebanese flag in the background. On the poster the text reads: "Manal Kortam. Palestinian seat. Third district."

But the point is there is no Palestinian seat in Lebanon's parliament, which is a fundamental democratic problem Manal wanted to address through her “virtual campaign”. Grounded in social media and employing the slogan "Mawjoudin" or "We Exist," Manal wanted to start a movement for real social and political change for the Palestinians in Lebanon who have been living under conditions that some people would characterise as apartheid for generations. A 2016 study by UNWRA and the American University of Beirut (AUB) found that almost two-thirds of the Palestinian population lives in poverty. More than 63 percent lives in camps in slum-like conditions.

"It is time for the Palestinian society to have some visibility, to say: 'We exist, we have a voice, we are like you, we are with you'," Manal Kortam told Al Jazeera. During our Skype talk Manal was stressing that many Palestinians are not aware about their situation. - They have become apathetic and passive after living in the camps for too long without anyone willing or able to mobilise and educate them politically. - The Palestinian leadership have become more focused on their own power, than fighting for the Palestinian people, says Manal, - and working with UNWRA, NGOs and engaging in social entrepreneurship have became a trap for many young Palestinians. It has made them believe that this can lead to real change, which in my opinion, it will not, she says - They need to be educated, mobilised and get political awareness. 

As you may already have guessed, Manal Kortam didn`t get elected to the Lebanese parliament, but at least she hopes the campaign has been a first step and maybe the beginning of a real, new Palestinian movement for human rights, the right to work, education, to own property and full economic and civil rights for all Palestinians in Lebanon. – And there is no conflict between these basic rights and the right to return to our homeland Palestine, says Manal. On the contrary, education, political awareness, dignity and democratic participation is a prerequisite for our political struggle for our homeland and the right to return.

Manal tells me she is working on a political “Manifest” which is crucial to help people to see and understand what they are fighting for and how to reach their goals. – I want to create a movement and not a political party, says Manal, because I don`t believe in hierarchic fixed power structures, but real democracy where everybody can participate, and have real influence on the politics. I want to make a movement that includes as many as possible based on a broad agreement to fight for the things that is most important (Mentioned above) rather than the kind of politics that excludes people based on traditional social, religious and political power structures. – But I know we have a long way to go, she admits (and I can almost hear her sight in my earphones), and to find the right people who share the same ideas and who really wants to work hard to make things happen will not be easy, but someone has to start. 

Some final words

From my readings and interviews my impression is that the dominant Palestinian and humanitarian organizations have narrated the conflict between the Palestinian refugees and their hosting country mostly in terms of human suffering and victimhood. This narrative and the ethnicization of the refugees are mostly based on their very politicised history, both pre 1948 and after, and overlooks the importance of the economic, social, and cultural relationships with their host country. 

In much of the ongoing political conflict the individual Palestinian has been invisible. Humanitarian organisations sees Palestinians as bodies only to be fed and sheltered, completely depoliticised, while on the other end political parties and organisations sees the Palestinian as a constant threat to security or their own political power. 

It also seems to be a widespread idea, both among some of the Palestinians in Lebanon and among citizens of their hosting country, that giving the Palestinians full and equal human, civil and economic rights and promoting a process of integration in the Lebanese society, would threaten the motivation and the right to return to their homeland and make their presence in Lebanon permanent. 

Sari Hanafi (2008) are suggesting; “a rehabilitation of the refugee camps and their design as an urban space, not only with reference to their political and social status, but also to becoming part of the city and not opposing it. An urban master plan based on rehabilitation should take into account the physical, socio-economic, and cultural fabric of the concerned spaces. A bottom-up participatory approach should be used to outline the differentiated needs of the Palestinian refugee population: women, men, children, working class and middle class, etc. A solution grounded in the right of choice (between return, settling in the host land, Palestinian territory or in other countries), and close cooperation (not competition) between the PLO, the Palestinian National Authority, UNRWA and the host country, is the first step in alleviating the problems of the refugees.” 

And Hanafi continues: “We must re-think the refugee camps as a space of radicalism and a space that contributes to perpetuating the Palestinian-Israeli conflict rather than resolving it. There is a real need to empowering camp dwellers by giving them civil and economic rights, recognising the transnational character of their identity, and radically improving the urban conditions of their space. This will not be possible without connecting these spaces to the urban tissue of the neighbouring cities and creating a transparent mode of governance based on local elections”.

Hanafi also argues that the situation in the refugee camps and the living conditions for the Palestinians in general can only be improved by allowing the Palestinian refugees full access to the labour market, allowing them the possibility to possess land and property, establishing an elected popular representation in the camps, and establishing a quasi-municipality, to be in charge of the camp administration, establishing joint Palestinian-Lebanese police centers in each camp and, finally, the ending of the space of exception status of the camps by submitting the camps to the full Lebanese laws.

To me, what Hanafi is suggesting make a lot of sense. However for the time being it is hard to see how and by whom these suggestions can be promoted and brought forward to become reality on the ground. Maybe Manal Kortam could be one?

***

Next up in a week or so is my last article from Lebanon, a short and pretty sad story and I have called “The Syrians in the Bekaa valley”. Thanks for reading. T