| West Bank Refugee Campaign Gaining Ground Palestinian refugees in the Bethlehem District have taken additional steps towards the realization of the independent refugee campaign outlined at the December 1995 al Far’ah conference [see ARTICLE 74/15]. Between July 4 - 14, the Preparatory Refugee Committee is conducting a series of six public workshops with local experts invited to present their views on central issues pertaining to the current debate, i.e. the economic situation of refugees, legal aspects of the refugee question, implications of the Israeli-Palestinian agreements, evaluation of services in refugee camps, the future of UNRWA and strategies for refugee organizing. These workshops will result in recommendations to be discussed by a broad public of refugees at the First Bethlehem Refugee Conference scheduled for summer 1996.
Refugee organizing in other West Bank areas is proceeding slowly, mainly in the Ramallah District with Kalandia Refugee Camp as the center and in Nablus. The slow pace is attributed by activists to the fact that “everybody is waiting to see if and how the Bethlehem model will succeed, both in mobilizing the refugee community and in establishing working relation with the Palestinian Authority which has been following this independent grassroots initiative closely and with some suspicion.”
The first three workshops were attended by an average of 50 persons. A preliminary evaluation by the organizers mentions a broad media coverage and the open debate among the participants as achievements, while the participation of both the refugee public and especially of PA officials and Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) members was, unfortunately, below the original expectations. Both the Refugee Preparatory Committee/Bethlehem and the Union of Youth Centers have taken the first steps to establish a refugee lobby in the PLC. Although the refugee activists do not expect the Council to be given a real say in the political negotiations on the refugee question, they hold that lobbying the Council is worth while so as to “at least have somebody to speak out when it is necessary.”
In their first two meetings with representatives of the 15 member Refugee Committee, a subcommittee of the PLC, delegates of the refugee campaign explained their opposition to the recent proposal by Minister of Local Affairs, Sa’eb Erekat that refugees in the camps should participate in the upcoming municipal elections: since the refugees do not see themselves as subject to the PA as long as the political dimension of the refugee question is unresolved, they will - as in previous municipal elections - abstain from participation and not agree to a policy of refugee integration until progress in the final status negotiations is achieved.
[Source: Refugee Preparatory Committee/Bethlehem, Union of Youth Centers/West Bank] |
