Re: <nettime> nettime-l Digest, Vol 4, Issue 19

[Andrew Ross via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

 One of the reasons for the longevity of the camps is the strongly observed
principle that Palestinian refugees will never leave them except to return
to their pre-1948 village homes. So there has been determined internal
resistance to integrate into the cities and societies where those expelled
during the Nakba and Naksa sought refuge. It even took a while for camps to
accept UNRWA’s offer of more “permanent” building materials. Over the
decades, the makeshift urbanism of the camps evolved, and the PLO promise
that the camps would never be charged for utilities helped to reinforce
both the provisional or “temporary” status, and made them permanently
affordable. Leaving is less of a taboo than it used to be, though those who
do move tend to keep addresses in their camps as a registered link to the
original villages. In the late 1970s, Israeli authorities tried to
encourage residents of Gaza’s refugee camps to disperse, by subsidizing
“build your own” houses outside the camps; some took up the offer, in
accord with the condition that their former homes in the camps be
demolished. But the program was fiercely opposed by the PLO, and the UN
General Assembly went so far as to pass two resolutions of disapproval,
demanding that the residents be returned to the camps because the
resettlement had constituted “a violation of their inalienable right to
return.” Highly ironic, of course, in view of the second Nakba that’s
happening now. Gazans are being told to leave their homes before they get
permanently flattened—apparently with the approval of Western powers and
liberal elites.

    I know much less about camps in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria—and I have
not visited any. But in addition to the “temporariness” principle, camp
residents in those countries are socially marginalized and disdained as
refugees are almost everywhere. So, even though Palestinians are a sizable
portion of the population—more than 50% in Jordan—they generally don’t have
access to jobs in government, above a certain level. Ruling elites in these
countries, far from regarding Palestinians as “pawns,” have progressively
withdrawn their support for the Palestinian cause, even where leadership
has resisted normalization with Israel. The current onslaught on Gaza—I
will not call it genocidal, though many are doing so—might pressure or
shame them into second thoughts, but the corruption may be too deeply
ingrained.


   For Ghassan Kanafani's views on those elites, see his riveting interview
with a hapless Australian journalist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWXTzAx0KbQ


ar/
https://andrewtross.com



On Thu, Oct 12, 2023 at 5:40 PM Gebhard Sengmüller via nettime-l <
nettime-l@lists.nettime.org> wrote:

> It would indeed be a gross misrepresentation to say that Palestinian
> refugees deliberately choose to stay in camps for reasons of propaganda, if
> that’s what you’re implying. And I’m aware of the terrible injustices
> inflicted on Palestinians by the state of Israel and its predecessors in
> 1948 and 1967, and their terrible situation now. But what  I don’t see is
> that (Trans)Jordan, Lebanon (ok, not an „Arab nation“), Syria, Fatah and
> Hamas have been acting in the best interest of Palestinian refugees in
> their respective camps for the last 70+ years. Especially not in the
> interest of the individual humans in the camps, as opposed to the interest
> of „the Palestinians“ as an ethnicity, nation or people. Thus the „pawn“
> comment. I’m obviously not an expert on the subject, but how else would you
> explain the overall terrible treatment of Palestinians in those and other
> countries throughout the Middle East, low rates of Palestinians getting
> citizenships in those countries etc. How is it possible that after 70+
> years all 68 of the camps established after '48 and ’67 still exist? Is
> that only Israel’s or the UNRWA’s fault?
>
>
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2023 08:05:34 -0400
> > From: Keith Sanborn <mrzero@panix.com>
> > To: "<nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
> >       collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets"
> >       <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>
> > Subject: Re: <nettime> nettime-l Digest, Vol 4, Issue 18
> > Message-ID: <9CCC1D46-E450-4467-B35B-364BD82B8FE6@panix.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
> >
> > The notion that Palestinians remain in ?camps? to promote
> anti-imperialist rhetoric is a gross misrepresentation.
> >
> >> On Oct 12, 2023, at 7:16 AM, Gebhard Sengm?ller via nettime-l <
> nettime-l@lists.nettime.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> ?I agree. The role of Palestinians as pawns in the hands of Arab
> nations seems to be largely excluded from the left?s ?imperialism?
> discourse on the topic. Doesn?t make a difference for suffering civilians
> now of course, but just try imagine other countries in similar predicaments
> acting like this.
> >>
> >>>
> >>> 1. Re: silence on Palestine? (Rahul Goswami)
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>> Message: 1
> >>> Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2023 11:31:29 +0530
> >>> From: Rahul Goswami <makanaka@pobox.com>
> >>> To: nettime-l@lists.nettime.org
> >>> Subject: Re: <nettime> silence on Palestine?
> >>> Message-ID: <a752f7a8-a77d-4e26-ad66-307086b92179@pobox.com>
> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> I present a few points here to bring balance to the subject:
> >>>
> >>> 1. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution
> 181,
> >>> known as the Partition Plan. Acceptance of the Partition Plan would
> have
> >>> meant the establishment of two states, but the surrounding Arab
> >>> countries and the local Arab population vehemently rejected the
> proposal.
> >>>
> >>> 2. After the May 1948 war, Israel (other Western countries too)
> >>> immediately absorbed Jewish refugees. Palestinian refugees were placed
> >>> in camps and kept there generation after generation as a matter of
> Arab
> >>> policy. Israel withdrew entirely from Gaza in 2005, but there are
> still
> >>> eight UN-run refugee camps there. Why should there be? Gaza is
> >>> completely under Palestinian control. But dismantling the camps would
> >>> mean removing symbols of Palestinian ?resistance?.
> >>>
> >>> 3. During the 1990-91 Gulf War, Kuwait expelled over 300,000
> >>> Palestinians working in the country when Yasser Arafat supported
> Saddam
> >>> Hussein. The Palestinians were seen as a likely fifth column. There
> was
> >>> scant objection from other Arab countries, or pro-Palestine voices in
> >>> the West, about the expulsion.
> >>>
> >>> Rahul Goswami
>
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