In Jerusalem - A Refugee Camp???

Shufat Refugee Camp - May 11 2016

It was a surprise to learn as part of our recent tour of Israel that there is actually still a large refugee camp, dating back to 1948, but especially the Six-Day War of 1967, and run by the UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine, within the borders of northeast Jerusalem itself. Some of the last referred to were those who had lived in what was referred to as the Moroccan Quarter which Israel cleared in 1967 to make room for their Western Wall Plaza. The population in 1967 had been about 7000. Ironically, this is just across the road from a rich area of Jerusalem of long-standing, referred to as French Hill. Conversely, the refugee camp is referred to as a mini-Gaza. It is now surrounded by one of Israel's famous concrete walls, complete with guard towers, and its citizens subject to the use of rubber bullets and tear gas, of which empty canisters can be seen on street corners at any time. Apparently 22,000 and possibly as many as 27,000 Palestinians still languish in this camp and there are another 75,000 of them trying to make a living in the surrounding area of Jerusalem.

This "refugee camp" is in some ways indistinguishable from other parts of the city because of its concentration of multi-story apartment buildings, some with shops on their main floors, with cars busy going up and down such streets as they have. Of course, decades ago, it began with what we are more familiar with when it comes to refugee camps - tents. This building goes on in spite of the fact that Israel as opposed to it and in fact, in the previous year, had only issued three building permits for a population of 400,000 Palestinians. Even to get those building permits would have been an ordeal. However, there is no electricity grid, no cablevision or Internet service and no connection to Jerusalem's sewer and water system. Israel is supposed to be responsible for their infrastructure, utilities and economy, whereas the UN is only responsible for health and education. However, Israel seems to use the UN involvement as a way of denying their own responsibility and provision of services. On the other hand, the UN lacks funds to keep up even their commitments to the camp and would like out of their responsibility. Some say that the Western nations are responsible for all of this happening and should take care of it, referring particularly to Britain's role in the establishment of the state of Israel.

One has to acknowledge the ingenuity of the Palestinians though, for many connect to the outside world with satellite dishes and cell phones. They also set up their own electricity grids. They are given rations of water. They work hard to save this by putting up water tanks on the roofs of their buildings. However, a high proportion of the residents are unemployed. It seems they have Israeli ID as they live within Israel, but are still hindered from going out to work legally.

They were apparently two substandard schools in this camp. We also visited what was referred to as a Childcare Center, which even got some funding from somewhere in Canada, according to a plaque on the wall where we were gathered. However, they are only able to operate a couple of hours of school in the morning and a couple of hours of play under supervision in the afternoon; needless to say, there are no parks or green spaces for children to play in this whole area.

I could not help but reflect how all of this resembles the struggle for a just existence, identity and independence that has characterized two other groups of people that I'm well acquainted with: the indigenous people of North America and indeed around the world, and the Taiwanese, from where my wife comes.

Although there is a gated checkpoint with security towers at the northern entrance from which we originally entered, there is a long narrow over-arched passageway, essentially an old street, to the south with no such restrictions at its end. This leads into what the village of Anata, which has grown up to surround the refugee camp. This whole area has a population of about 90,000. This is the route we took to exit the camp and meet our bus.

For some of our exploration of the camp, we were led by a young Palestinian activist named Mohammed, who seemed to be known to one of our leaders, Omar Haramy. Mohammed responded in the affirmative with respect to arrests when we asked him if he had ever been arrested. He also stated that he had been tortured on at least five of those

Here, we reflected on the Second Station of the Contemporary Way of the Cross. In the first sense, this is simply when Jesus begins to carry his cross. Today, it directed our attention to the refugees, whom we had just visited. Surely, being a refugee since either 1948 or 1967, is a heavy cross to bear after all this time.