Reconstruction at the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in Lebanon. Credit: Ray Smith/IPS

By Joe Hitchon
WASHINGTON, Mar 7 2013 (IPS)

A top United Nations official is warning that the plight of Palestinian refugees is being neglected amidst the ongoing crisis in Syria.

Currently in Washington, Filippo Grandi, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), is urging U.S. lawmakers to maintain financial support for the roughly five million UNRWA-registered Palestinians in the Middle East, even as broad budget cuts threaten U.S. overseas aid.

“From a strategic interest point of view, the biggest competitor for attention and resources to the question of Palestinian refugees today is the crisis in Syria, which is monopolising political attention, funding and humanitarian efforts,” Grandi said at the Middle East Institute, a Washington think tank.The problem is the conflict in Syria has become so big, so widespread, so violent and so present to everyone’s lives that keeping the Palestinians out has become increasingly difficult.

“Of course Syria is important, but I encourage people not to forget that the Palestinian refugee element in this crisis is extremely sensitive.”

As profound changes sweep across parts of the Middle East, Palestinian refugees have once again found themselves stuck in a position of stagnation, their interests marginalised. A present-day reminder of the war of 1948, they remain scattered across an unstable region, particularly vulnerable to events in Syria.

There are an estimated 500,000 Palestinian refugees living in Syria – mostly descendants of families who fled their homeland as a result of the Israel-Arab wars of 1948 and 1967 – where they have lived in relatively stable conditions compared to their compatriots in Lebanon, Jordan the West Bank and Gaza – poor but given access to jobs and services by the Syrian regime.

The changes that the “Arab Spring” brought to the region have had little positive effect on Palestinian lives. In the case of Syria, it has only made things worse.

Grandi says his office estimates that almost half of the 500,000 Palestinians in Syria are currently displaced.

“They cannot go to Jordan, as Jordan has issued a very stringent policy of no admission for Palestinian refugees from Syria,” he says. “They claim they are already doing enough for the hundreds of thousands of Syrians coming over the border and for the two million Palestinian refugees they have already hosted in the country over the last six decades.”

He notes this “worrying policy” is preventing desperate people from fleeing violence across borders.

The only way out, then, is to go to Lebanon. An estimated nearly 30,000 Palestinians have done so, joining the almost 200,000 Syrians that have likewise fled to that country.

“These Palestinians are a heavy burden for Lebanon, however,” Grandi says. “There is a very sensitive balance between the communities and religions, which makes the presence of more Palestinians more sensitive than in any other country. Even without this influx, they are already living in appalling conditions and in a very difficult situation.”

Neutrality under fire

Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, UNRWA has sought to remain neutral, as has the Palestinian leadership. Even Hamas, whose political headquarters had long been hosted in Damascus by the al-Assad government, moved its offices to Qatar more than a year ago.

This was due to the deteriorating security situation and to avoid any repeat of the violent backlash directed at Iraq’s once-protected Palestinian community, for the perceived favouritism allotted them during the reign of Saddam Hussein.

Indeed, Palestinians have a difficult history of being involved in the conflicts of others. This includes in Lebanon, Jordan and the first Persian Gulf War, during which Yassir Arafat sided with Saddam Hussein, resulting in the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the Gulf States allied with Kuwait.

Today, however, the conflict in Syria is complicating Palestinian lives throughout the region.

“The problem is the conflict in Syria has become so big, so widespread, so violent and so present to everyone’s lives that keeping the Palestinians out has become increasingly difficult,” Grandi says.

“Today, there are groups of Palestinians that are supporting the [Syrian] regime and some groups that are siding with the opposition.”

Perhaps the most difficult situation, he notes, is in a suburb of Damascus called Yarmouk, an unofficial camp densely populated with the largest Palestinian refugee community in Syria. It is a strategic area that is considered vital to controlling Damascus, and the fighting there has been particularly intense despite its neutral designation.

“Devastating” cuts

Here in Washington, broad budget cuts kicked in on Friday, forcing 85 billion dollars in spending reductions across all federal agencies. Some worry these cuts, known as “sequestration”, could now threaten vital U.S. aid to UNRWA.

Although it is not known yet the extent to which sequestration could affect foreign aid coffers, Chris McGrath at UNRWA’s Washington office emphasises that a cut of just five to 10 percent would be “devastating”.

“This would literally mean bringing a stop to services on the ground,” McGrath told IPS.

“We have a 67-million-dollar budget deficit this year, and any cut would mean closing schools or health care centres. Our services are always increasing – especially in Gaza, where the economy is so poor, and in Syria. Funding is always our biggest challenge and now is no exception.”

Amidst the broader discussion over how or whether to cut U.S. foreign aid spending, many groups are ramping up efforts to highlight the significant returns the United States receives for its foreign spending.

“The U.S. has invested a lot of time, energy and resources in terms of developing a ‘smart power’ way to engage the world, and an important part of that is being able to work with countries that need support – in terms of moving toward democracy, bringing people out of poverty, and moving toward conditions where peace can prevail,” Don Kraus, president of Citizens for Global Solutions, a grassroots organisation headquartered in Washington that focuses on encouraging cooperative and multilateral foreign policy, told IPS.

“If you take away this funding, it will only come back to haunt us, in terms of higher military expense, greater conflict and mass migration. The value we get from spending less than one percent of our budget on foreign aid is incredibly important.”

Refugee children in Ruweished camp. Credit: UNHCR/Astrid van Genderen Stort

By Fabíola Ortiz
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 28 2012 (IPS)

Issam Ali Hassan spent more than four years in an isolated desert camp in Jordan before he was taken in by Brazil. The son of Palestinians had been living as a refugee in Baghdad when he had to escape after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.

He was given a new lease on life by Brazil’s Solidarity Resettlement Programme run by the government of Dilma Rousseff with the support of the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR.

Today, at the age of 30, Hassan has still not forgotten the anguish, loneliness and desperation of the desert camp of Ruweished in Jordan, located 70 km from the border with Iraq, where he shared the harsh conditions in improvised tents with other Palestinians, as well as Somalis, Iranians, Kurds, Sudanese and Algerians.

He agreed to tell his story to IPS, but he did not want any photos taken.

“In 2003, when the war was two weeks old, I had to leave,” he said. “It’s really hard to get that time out of my head, because I suffered a lot. I lived alone in the camp. I didn’t have any work and I couldn’t study, I was far away from my family, and I had no contact with the outside world.”

Refugees from a number of countries who had spent years in Iraq fled the war towards Jordan, which refused them entry. Thousands were stranded in a no man’s land between the borders of the two countries. Some were finally given shelter in Ruweished camp.

But despite the UNCHR’s efforts, the refugees in the desert camp lived in near total isolation, and in extreme conditions.

In the summertime, the temperatures in the tents climbed to 60 degrees Celsius, and in the wintertime, it was freezing. There was no electricity, and the water and food were rationed.

“I had a right to 20 litres of water per day. They gave us vegetables three times a week, but later that was reduced to two times. To buy food, people worked cleaning bathrooms and other installations,” he recalled.

One night, a tent caught fire, and a five-year-old girl burned to death. “When I talk, the images run through my mind like in a movie. I don’t want to remember, but I can’t help it,” Hassan said.

“I wanted someone to save me from that land. Everyone wanted to leave, find a rich country that helped refugees, like Australia, Sweden, Norway or Canada.”

Then “a light appeared, which was Brazil, and I ran after it. But I left there without any hope. Our dreams had died, he said.

In October 2007, Hassan formed part of a group of 108 Palestinians who left Ruweished camp, on their way to Brazil. On Nov 5, 2007, when the last family left, the camp was closed.

The Palestinians were the first non-Latin Americans to benefit from a resettlement programme proposed as one of the lasting solutions offered under the Mexico Plan of Action to Strengthen International Protection of Refugees in Latin America, adopted by 20 countries in this region in 2004.

One part of the group went with Hassan to the state of Rio Grande do
Sul, in the extreme south of Brazil, with the assistance of the Jesuit Antônio Vieira Association. The rest went to the interior of the southern state of São Paulo, with the aid of Caritas Brazil.

The nearly 20 hour trip left him in Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, with 50 other Palestinians, most of them single men without families.

They were assisted by Brazilian authorities, UNHCR officials, and the local Arab community. Hassan spent a month living in a church until he was assigned a small apartment and a stipend of 170 dollars a month for two years.

“I learned to speak Portuguese at work,” he said. “The religion is different, the customs and even the climate are different, and the language is difficult.”

He journeyed all around this enormous country looking for work, from Porto
Alegre to Rio de Janeiro, through São Paulo, and around the states of Mato Grosso, in the west, and Rondônia, in the northwest.

He worked as a security guard in clothing stores, in poultry and beef processing plants, and in the kitchen of an Arab restaurant.

Today, back in Rio, he has a stable life. He was embraced by the family of his Brazilian wife of Arab descent, who is now carrying their second child.

Since a year and a half ago, Hassan has been the owner of a small children’s clothing shop in the Rio neighbourhood of Tijuca, which makes him especially proud because he built it with his own hands.

Although he has been in Brazil for five years, he is not yet a permanent resident, which means he cannot get a passport to go and visit his family, who are scattered around the world, and who he has not seen for 12 years. His seven brothers live in Sweden, Norway, Greece and Jordan, and his mother and his sister are in Iraq.

He complains about the scant aid he received as a refugee. Most of the families who stayed in Porto Alegre continue to receive assistance today, but the single men were left on their own, he says.

“After two years I didn’t receive any more help, and the wages I earned were very low.” He doesn’t know much about what happened to the rest of the Palestinians who travelled with him, but he does know that some were not as fortunate as he was. “Some ended up begging on the streets, or got caught up in drugs. But others found a stable job, and are hard workers.”

The Solidarity Resettlement Programme provides two years of coverage, which in some cases is extended to four years, depending on the beneficiary’s “degree of integration in society,” UNHCR spokesman in Brazil Luiz Fernando Godinho told IPS.

In this country of more than 192 million people, refugees enjoy the same basic rights as Brazilians and have access to public education and public health.

Only a small group of Palestinians continue to receive UNHCR aid. They are individuals who are sick and vulnerable, and who receive housing, a monthly stipend, and psychological and social support, Godinho said.

Karin Wapechowski, coordinator of the Antônio Vieira Association in Porto
Alegre, received the refugees like Hassan in 2007. At the time, she contacted the Arab-Palestinian communities in the region, to get help in welcoming the new arrivals.

Sixty-eight of them are living in Rio Grande do Sul, Wapechowski told IPS. “At first it was hard. But now they speak Portuguese, and their kids also adapted, and are fluent. They have integrated well. It’s more difficult for the older people, but the younger ones married, had Brazilian kids, and put down roots,” she said.

A support network was set up to help the Palestinians understand the local culture, diet and religion, she said.

“It was a challenge,” Wapechowski said. “Until then, we only had experience in taking in Colombians. We prepared a package with Portuguese classes and geographic and cultural information on Brazil. The aim of the resettlement was inclusion for these people, and we are still keeping track of the families.”

Although he has adapted, Hassan says that being a refugee is a scar that never disappears. “I lived my entire life as one. I’m not identified by my nationality, but as a refugee.”

That is the problem shared by all Palestinians, whose land was occupied by Israel. “The common problem is that they remain refugees and there is no political solution to that question,” Filippo Grandi, head of the U.N. Agency for Palestine Refugees, told IPS.

Nearly five million Palestinians, eternal refugees, live in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the occupied territories, while tens of thousands live in other countries of the Middle East and in North Africa.