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Governing Palestinian Refugee Camps in the Arab East

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Governing Palestinian Refugee Camps in the Arab East Policy and Governance in The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Aairs (IFI) Palestinian Refugee Camps American University of Beirut | PO Box 11-0236, Riad El Solh 1107 2020, Beirut, Lebanon | Tel: +961-1-374374, Ext: 4150 | Fax: +961-1-737627 | Email: [email protected] October 2010 Governing Palestinian Refugee Camps in the Arab East: Governmentalities in Search of Legitimacy Sari Hana Associate Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences Program Research Director, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut Working Paper Series Paper Working #1 Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs American University of Beirut Policy and Governance in Palestinian Refugee Camps Working Paper Series #1 | October 2010 Governing Palestinian Refugee Camps in the Arab East: The Program on Policy and Governance in Palestinian Refugee Camps in the Governmentalities in Search of Middle East is run jointly by IFI and the Center for Behavioral Research at Legitimacy AUB. It brings together academic and policy-related research on Palestinian refugee camps from around the world. The program aims to be an open and non-partisan coordinating mechanism for researchers, civil society, government officials, and international organiza- tions, in order to generate accurate analysis and policy recommendations on Palestinian refugee camps throughout the Middle East. Sari Hanafi Associate Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences Rami G. Khouri IFI Director Dr. Sari Hanafi Program Research Director Program Research Director, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and Tara Mahfoud Program Coordinator International Affairs, American University of Beirut TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................5 Urban/Local Governance and Sovereignty .......................................................................................................................................................................................6 Methodology ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................7 I. WHO ARE THE CAMP GOVERNANCE ACTORS? ........................................................................................................................................................................7 Mapping of Actors ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................7 Host Authority and Local Popular Committees .................................................................................................................................................................................9 UNRWA .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................14 Mokhtars and the Clan Structure .............................................................................................................................................................................................................17 Governmentalities of Islamism(s) .............................................................................................................................................................................................................18 II. URBANITY OF THE CAMPS AND RELATION TO THE MUNICIPALITY ....................................................................................................................20 The Palestinian Territory .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................20 Lebanon ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................21 III. POLICE STATIONS...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................22 IV. CAMP GOVERNANCE: TWO EXCEPTIONS ..................................................................................................................................................................................23 The Gaza Exception ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................23 Published by the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut. The Lebanese Exception ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................26 This report can be obtained from the Issam Fares Institute website: www.aub.edu.lb/ifi V. FOUR MODELS OF GOVERNANCE ....................................................................................................................................................................................................30 Porto Allegre Participatory Model ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................31 Beirut, October 2010 © All rights reserved VI. CONCLUSION .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................33 RECOMMENDATIONS ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................34 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................37 Principal Investigator: Sari Hanafi Sari Hanafi is currently Associate Professor of Sociology at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and editor of Idafat: the Arab Journal of Sociology (Arabic). He is also Research Director for the program on Policy and Governance in Palestinian Refugee Camps at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, AUB. Hanafi was recently elected to the Executive Committee of the International Sociological Association. He holds a Ph. D. in Sociology from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales-Paris. He is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on the political and economic sociology of the Palestinian diaspora and refugees; sociology of migration; transnationalism; politics of scientific research; civil society, elite formation and transitional justice. Reviewers Riccardo Bocco, Professor, Development Studies, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva Jalal Al Husseini, Researcher, Institut Francais du Proche Orient (IFPO), Amman 2 Policy and Governance in Palestinian Refugee Camps | Working Paper Series #1 | October 2010 3 Governing Palestinian Refugee Camps in the Arab East: Governmentalities in Search of Legitimacy 3 INTRODUCTION1 “Camp crowdedness becomes unbearable. The size of Palestinian families is increasing relentlessly, and Iraqi migrants are invad- ing our space. There are no green areas, or any playgrounds for kids. Yes this is painful … but nevertheless I like being here amongst my family and people. Here, I feel safe.” This is how one interviewee, a middle class Palestinian refugee, portrayed his paradoxical experience in Jaramana camp, Damascus. He describes its painful urban condition, but also the sense of comfort in belonging to a community. The camp setting has reinforced nationalism, yet when the local population stigmatizes the camp dwellers and the local authority neglects its infrastructure, the camp transforms into a ghetto, allowing a blend of nationalistic and problematic isolationistic identities to flourish. While a few of the camp dwellers develop a sense of self-segregation, the large majority resist it. Although keen to keep the camp’s political specificity as an area populated by a forced refugee community so as to maintain their right of return (to their place of origin), they strongly denounce the transformation of their camp from a temporary
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