Article74 Magazine

Al-Hussein Camp, al-Wehdat Camp, and Baqa'a Camp are the three major Palestinan refugee camps in the central, Amman region. Together they house some 150,000 refugees, i.e. 10% of the total Palestinan refugee population of some 1.5 million living in Jordan.  Refugees in these camps talked freely, were warm and welcoming and determined to pass on their message: “Fifty years away from our lands and homes, fifty years have been wasted! We continue to hope and demand our right of return." Only one refugee, a woman employed by UNRWA, appeared to be cautious, anxious to prove that there were no problems and complaints  so as to not harm her position in the Agency.

Refugees in Jordan on the Oslo Accords

Refugees described how they have been living for 50 years, planning their lives from one day to the next, because they do not perceive their future as stable. "We always hope for the best", they say, "but we are often depressed, because whatever political changes occur, nothing really comes to improve our situation."

For a short while, refugees in Jordan had hoped that the Oslo Accords would open the gate for their return to Palestine. This hope, however, has long since been frustrated. According to Umm Mohammed, a refugee woman who cooks traditional food on order for families, the Oslo Accords did not bring the expected economic improvements to Jordan and the refugee camps. Her camp has been suffering from an economic depression in recent years. Rising unemployment among male refugees compelled women to take up work as cleaners or to start small enterprises in handicrafts, embroidery, and cooking.  Um Mohammed advises other refugee women to follow her steps and build their own business in order to improve the family income. She also encourages the women to attend cultural lectures and health counseling held in the camp office of the Women’s Union. High unemployment, however, has made Umm Muhammad's business slow. Camp residents spend less of their small incomes on food orders than in the past. "Oslo has become a burden for us," says Umm Muhammad,  "it is not a solution that serves public interest."

Unemployment in Jordan (1998 estimate)
 
 

Criticism of the Oslo Accords is a common denominator among Palestinian refugees in Jordan. The owner of a small bookshop in al-Wehadat Camp commented: "Oslo has not affected us directly. We are still waiting to return." Dr. Adel al-Qanneh, a pharmacist and president of the local Camp Services Improvement Committee (CSIC) affiliated with the Jordanian Department for Palestinian Affairs, also points to the negative aspects of  the Oslo Accords. According to him, the major drawback is the fact that the Oslo Accords do not relate to the refugees in Jordan; nothing of what has been implemented serves their interests. A member of a religious Muslim group in one of the refugee camps expressed: "Everything that happened after Oslo happened at the expense of our dignity. Everybody expected that our needs would  be met, that we would return to our homeland and benefit from our lands. However, nothing but stalling is taking place after Oslo, and agreements signed are not complied with. Refugees reacted with bitterness and hatred. They are not with this peace process because it is not to their benefit."

Refugee Concerns and Demands: Jordan, UNRWA, PLO

Although refugees in Jordan raise numerous concerns and sometimes contradictory viewpoints, all agree on two major demands: the implementation of UN Resolution 194 and the respect for human rights.

Addressing their special relationship with the Jordanian Government, refugees express a set of clear-cut demands:

• to secure employment for the refugees, many of whom are highly qualified, and to stop recruiting foreign workers;
• to stop the discrimination between Palestinian refugees  who are citizens of Jordan, and persons of Jordanian origin, especially in public sector employment;
• ongoing government protection from private land owners who have more than once tried, by means of court procedures, to evict the camps from the lands rented out to UNRWA in the past when real estate prices were low even in urban Jordanian areas.

Refugees demand government support, but not government representation. Jordan must continue hosting its Palestinian refugees until their future is decided. Until then, the Jordanian Government is to provide funding and services for the camps without, however, taking the role of representing them politically. Refugees in Jordan highly appreciate official statements which support this demand: "We have said on more than one occasion that we do not negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians, and we do not pressure the Palestinians, nor do we represent them, " stated Crown Prince Hassan early this year.  In a letter to former Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul Salam, King Hussein wrote, "as for refugees, we must remember that Jordan is the largest host country of Palestinian refugees, most of whom hold Jordanian citizenship, as honourable citizens, who share our rights and duties until their problem is solved with return and/ or compensation."  Although refugees feel assured by official statements of this kind, they continue to worry about the stability of this official position.

Palestinian refugees are aware of and grateful for the fact that Jordan has hosted them for such a long period under conditions which are better than those of Palestinian refugees in many other countries. They consider Jordan a stable and peaceful country and do not wish to upset this situation. "I thank the Jordanian government for hosting us all these years", says Umm Mohammad, the cook. Dr. Adel al-Qanneh, the pharmacist, adds: "We are very grateful to the Royal Family and the care and support provided by them. We are in a democratic country, we believe in its leadership."

Registered Labor Force in Jordan
(1997, Jordanians and Foreigners)
 

While none of the refugees  interviewed in the three camps had actively participated in the strike and protests against UNRWA service cuts which were held this past summer, all of them were outspoken in their criticism and protest against current UNRWA policies. UNRWA  provides only health insurance and cleaning workers, they say, but the refugees  need more. They demand that:

• UNRWA provide all refugees, without exception, with ration cards. Supply of the ration cards must not be stopped when one of the male family members reaches the age of 18;
• UNRWA must stop the policy of not recruiting replacements for employees who retire;
• UNRWA must stop the policy of cutting back its services, especially the provision of free
medication, but also wheat supplies and education services. Refugees want more medical doctors, as UNRWA clinics are overcrowded, one physician having to treat 150 patients daily;
• UNRWA must not abandon the refugees until their case is solved and provide stable and permanent services until then.

Refugees also criticise UNRWA for its dependence on the United States which they consider the other face of the Israeli coin. Refugees are concerned about the political conspiracies against them. They hold that UNRWA takes part in these conspiracies by manipulating statistical data.

Palestinian refugees in Jordan have low expectations of the Palestinian leadership, especially the PA.  "The Palestinian leadership does not do anything. We are only familiar with their names, but we never saw any action from them," is a common statement from refugees who complain that the only leadership action they have witnessed is the signing of treaties which are in its own interest and not in the interest of the refugees.
 Refugees demand a leadership that does not trust Netanyahu and his government, but is ready to fight for refugee rights and the implementation of UN Resolution 194 as they did until the 1980s. They wish to see a leadership that is able to incorporate all factions in a united struggle. As for the PA, Dr. Adel al-Qanneh stated that, "Palestinan refugees need a strong and firm PA position in favor of self-determination and the right of return"   At the same time, there is little confidence among Palestinian refugees in Jordan that the current leadership can actually implement their wishes and demands.  Many refugees expressed the view that, "Arafat is not qualified for his position.”

How do refugees organize in Jordan?

Although the majority of Palestinian refugees in Jordan hold Jordanian citizenship which grants them equal formal rights and duties in the country, they feel discriminated against and oppressed: discrimination by internal Jordanian policies of job recruitment and public service allocation and oppressed by an international political conspiracy, lead by Israel and the United States and shared by the Palestinian leadership, which has obstructed their return to the homeland for 50 years. Lacking a leadership of their own and dependent upon the support and protection of the Jordanian official institutions, they have been making efforts to protect their rights mainly by addressing Jordanian institutions and high ranking politicians.

In this framework, the Department of Palestinian Affairs (DPA) (since 1998 part of the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) constitutes the main address for refugee concerns and demands. Refugees address the DPA mainly via the Camp Service Improvement Committees (CSIC) established in the Palestinian refugee camps by the DPA  in 1988. Palestinian refugee camps do not participate in municipal or rural council elections in Jordan, due to their special political and legal status. The CSIC, a Jordanian government institution, is therefore also the body representing camp residents. Its members are not elected by the refugees, but selected by the DPA's director general in coordination with the administrative governor of the area in which the camp is located. The CSIC performs its work in each camp in full coordination with and under the supervision of the DPA which earmarks a portion (some 10-20,000 Jordanian Dinars) of its annual budget for the CSIC services in the camps.

Each camp has a local CSIC office run by 7 - 13 members, refugees of the local camp community. The local CSIC offices administer infrastructure maintenance (repairs of streets, pavements, homes; water meters, etc.), projects of infrastructure improvement, social and economic support, as well as child care and mental health services. The CSIC is also responsible for regulating trade and commerce (opening and closing regulations for stores). Refugees are eligible for CSIC services upon payment of an application fee of  five Jordanian Dinars.

In addition to the DPA and the CSIC, Palestinian refugees approach Jordanian parliamentarians, especially in cases which require the intervention of high ranking officials. Jordanian parliamentarians are addressed via the office of the deputy elected in the district in which the camp is located.

Refugee organizing outside the official institutions is marginal. The Union of Local UNRWA Staff represents the interests of refugee employees versus the inernational Agency, and the Jordanian Women's Union conducts seminars and workshops related to refugee needs in the camps. Independent refugee organizing on the grass-roots level is absent in Jordan.
Samar Hijjawi is a freelance journalist, graduated from Yarmouk University, and working with the Arab Daily Newspaper in Amman, Jordan.