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20 FMR 16 Western and Palestine: shared refugee experiences by Randa Farah Still Pictures/Julio Etchart

Polisario 27th s a student in 1977 I attended abandoned them, forgotten their exis- ’s colonial mandate in February February camp, a meeting at which the tence or sided with their enemies. 1976, both and Western Sahara A Polisario representative urged made territorial claims which were students to assist yet one more strug- Headed by the Frente para la rejected by the International Court of gle for liberation and self- Liberación de Sagiau al-Hamra and Rio Justice (ICJ) in its verdict in October determination. Although at the time de Oro () and the 1975. A UN Inquiry mission that visit- most Arab students supported the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic ed the in May-June 1975 Sahrawi cause, a minority, invoking (SADR1), the refugees of Western reported that the Sahrawi population notions of ‘Arab unity’, denounced Sahara are efficiently and highly had overwhelmingly expressed their Polisario as a ‘separatist movement’. organised, have democratic institu- wish for independence and that Today, the Moroccan regime relies on tions and processes and a high level Polisario appeared as a prominent similar slogans to deny the Sahrawi of participation in decision making. political party in the territory. On the people the right to self-determination Laws and institutions guarantee social same day, Morocco’s King Hassan II set out in a 1975 ruling by the equality, including women’s rights, led a ‘’ during which International Court of Justice. provide free education and health approximately 350,000 Moroccans services and the right and duty to crossed into Western Sahara, carrying Twenty five years later, as I flew to work. In general, the level of democra- a bizarre briccolage of white banners, in the Algerian desert to visit tisation I encountered in the camps is American flags and the Holy Koran. the , I won- unmatched elsewhere in the Arab dered why I – as a Palestinian refugee . Could the experience of the In 1991 the Security Council mandat- researcher – had not made the jour- Sahrawi refugee-citizens and their ed a UN peace-keeping force ney earlier. As I pondered the mini state-in-exile provide a beacon of (MINURSO)2 to oversee a referendum question I felt that the silence of the light amidst the bleak despair engulf- to decide whether the sand echoed the disturbing silence in ing the ? wished to integrate with Morocco or the Arab world on the urgent conflicts opt for independence. Morocco’s role in Western Sahara and Palestine. Historical background in obstructing the referendum has Indeed, all those I met in both been amply documented. The latest Palestinian and Sahrawi camps bitter- In 1884 Spain colonised Western Moroccan autonomy proposals were ly complained that the Arab world has Sahara. Prior to the termination of aborted in July 2002, when the FMR 16 Western Sahara and Palestine: shared refugee experiences 21

Security Council adopted Resolution traditions is its institutionalisation of (Jerusalem) and al-Khalil (Hebron), or 1429 "underlining the validity of the women’s rights. Traditionally, women significant events and symbols in the " and expressing its have total autonomy in managing the political history of Palestine. In both readiness to consider any approach daily activities in and around the tent. cases, the names of original places in which provides for self-determination. Any form of violence against women, the country of origin had been granted verbal or physical, is condemned and to the places of exile as a form of pop- The democracy of the desert: the man is usually ostracised by soci- ular resistance against ‘forgetting’ and ety. Consequently, these incidents are an affirmation of the inseparable rela- SADR and its citizens so rare that the issue of domestic vio- tionship between those exiled and lence against women or children is places in their homeland. The Moroccan takeover of Western almost non-existent. Sahara led to the displacement of Over time most tents in the wilayas approximately 150,000-200,000 However, the Sahrawi people are nei- have been replaced with brick homes. refugees. Many carry the memory of ther ‘primitive’ – as some orientalists The adobe huts have basic furniture, the American napalm and phosphorous would argue – nor ‘communist’. They blankets and kitchen utensils. Despite bombs dropped indiscriminately on have developed livelihood strategies to the lack of public electricity in the them by the Moroccan army as they adapt to the physical and political envi- camps, some families have acquired TV fled in 1975. Four refugee camps and ronment and respond to the Moroccan sets powered by solar energy in order one unofficial settlement have been occupation by maximising what little to access the outside world. In established in what is referred to as resources they have. Their numbers are Palestinian refugee camps, TVs are the ‘uninhabitable’ desert near the few as are their financial and material found in the majority of homes, one of Algerian town of Tindouf. resources. They have to depend almost the few affordable items for entertain- totally on humanitarian aid and a high ment, especially for children. The SADR – currently based in the level of efficiency, organisation and camps – has successfully drawn upon democratic mechanisms to be able to Needless to say, there are important democratic and egalitarian principles wage their political, social, economic differences between the Sahrawi rooted in nomadic, Arab and Islamic and diplomatic battles. wilayas and the Palestinian refugee culture and history. Islam, as practised camps. Not least is the fact that the by the Sahrawis, is tolerant and liberal. Wilayas and camps latter exist within or near urban One of several examples of how SADR centres whereas a massive desert has been able The Sahrawis refer to the camps as separates the wilayas from Algerian Saharawi refugee, to draw wilayas, or provinces, which in turn are urban centres and society. However, Dakhla camp upon subdivided into da’iras, or municipali- the underlying social and economic local ties. Each da’ira is subdivided into imperatives and dynamics in both several hays, or districts. The cases are not as different as may at wilayas and the da’iras are first appear. named after towns and areas in Western Sahara, such as In both cases, the communities are Smaara, al-Ayoun, al- not and never were homogeneous. Dhakle and Oauserd. Sahrawis were never totally nomadic Similarly, most as by the 1960s a sizeable force was Palestinian working in the industry. refugee camp Similarly, in Palestine, though the econ- areas are omy was predominantly agricultural, a called after the significant number of the fellahin sub- villages of ori- sidised their agricultural resources gin and/or main with mercantile activities, while others urban centres, worked in urban centres as wage- such as mante- labourers. In both cases the initial qat al-Quds years of exile levelled the socio- economic status of the uprooted population and introduced new forms of differentiation.

Undoubtedly, humanitarian aid and its management procedures contribute to the emergence of social and economic variance among refugees. Thus some entrepreneurial Palestinians were able to fill a niche in the ‘refugee market’ by mediating between households and the Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). New small merchants bought and sold rations, as some fami- lies needed cash while others needed more sugar or flour. A few of these UNHCR/A Hollmann 22 Western Sahara and Palestine: shared refugee experiences FMR 16

entrepreneurs succeeded in generat- backs in international aid and stale- The Zionist-Israeli argument that ing capital and expanding. mate in the political situation, a Palestine was not a nation state prior Commercial enterprises began to growing population of Sahrawis may to the establishment of and appear as some shelters were trans- be pressed to look for alternative hence does not have a right to self- formed partially or totally into little social and economic possibilities. determination is invalid. In 1919 the retail shops and today there are large Underlying all these processes is the Covenant of the League of Nations markets in most Palestinian refugee question of how to reconcile the grow- recognised the Palestinian people as camps. Needless to say, there are ing social and economic needs of an independent nation to be "provi- other factors that contributed to dif- individuals with the collective political sionally" placed under the British ferentiation within Palestinian camps, will in order to withstand the Mandate, the British acting as a "cus- such as the size of the household, the Moroccan tactics of procrastination todian" to lead people "not yet able to availability of members with mar- and stalemate. stand by themselves" to indepen- ketable skills and labour markets, dence. remittances from expatriates and The Palestinian case provides insight, social and political relationships. if not answers, to this issue. The Oslo framework for peace Examining the Palestinian movement provided for a form of Palestinian In the Sahrawi community, although over five decades, it is obvious that a ‘autonomy’ or ‘authority’ with the distribution processes of humani- sense of collective belonging and ultimate remaining in tarian aid is egalitarian, nevertheless mobilisation appear during some peri- the hands of the Israelis. The conse- some households have economic ods as intense and other times as quences of ‘autonomy’ have become advantages. A few families who subdued. This is due to the fact that clear to the Palestinians: Israeli served the Spanish colonial adminis- the reproduction of identity is a polit- tration receive pensions which give ical and ever changing dynamic that them economic and social leverage. includes active agency but also exter- Others have relations abroad who nal dynamics. The current Intifada send goods or cash. Already there are has had a clear impact in reawakening a few shops in the camps selling a collective sense among Palestinians goods brought from , in the diaspora, most of whom have Mauritania and elsewhere. Through never seen Palestine. Those who are informal economic trade networks, hoping that the passage of years will the seeds of a cash economy and a weaken the Sahrawis’ collective market are beginning to emerge in the resolve need only look at the wilayas, mirroring similar processes Palestinian case to see that time and in Palestinian camps. distance are no guarantees that con- flict will disappear. Collective political mobilisa- tion and socio-economic The UN, self-determination imperatives and ‘autonomy’

New generations are being born in the call 1975 the al- wilayas and SADR’s efforts to invest ghazu (‘invasion’), paralleling the in their education have begun to bear Palestinian nakbah (‘catastrophe’) of fruit. Hundreds of students study 1948. Since these traumatic junctures abroad, returning with degrees in in the lives of the two peoples, numer- medicine, education, chemistry and ous UN and international resolutions the social sciences and with new ideas and declarations have been accumu- to contribute to the cultural and polit- lating dust. Both the Oslo agreements ical life of the community. Children and the Moroccan ‘autonomy’ propos- are participating in a Spanish pro- al for Western Sahara violate gramme, Vaccaciones en Paz, under principles of international law. which thousands of Spanish families host Sahrawi children in their homes The right of the Palestinians and the for two months every summer. The Sahrawis to self-determination is a emphasis on education as a strategic non-negotiable right enshrined in objective for the Sahrawi people principles of international law. Indeed, echoes the Palestinian strategy to it is a central principle in the UN redeem ‘home’ and ‘homeland’ and Charter, as expressed in Article 1(2) tackle poverty by acquiring education and reaffirmed as a human right in and political awareness. Article 1 of both international covenants. In 1960, the UN General The Sahrawi graduates work in the Assembly adopted the Declaration on various wilayas and attempts are the Granting of Independence to made to place the right person in the Colonial Countries and Peoples, which appropriate job. However, with the affirmed that "all peoples enjoy the Still Pictures/Julio Etchart passage of time, especially with cut- right of self-determination". FMR 16 Western Sahara and Palestine: shared refugee experiences 23

land have continued and stayed in Morocco. The 150,000 met a refugee who goes to the south- the settler population doubled since Moroccan soldiers in Western Sahara ern border fence to see if he can the peace process began. The persecute those who oppose integra- glimpse his original village across the Moroccan-American autonomy option tion with Morocco or support the border. When he cannot, he hopes a proposed for Western Sahara would Sahrawi right to a referendum. breeze originating in his land will have had similar consequences, blow his way. leaving key matters such as defence, Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva foreign affairs and the currency under Convention relative to the Protection Walls erected by occupiers are indica- Moroccan control. of Persons in Time of War tive of a culture of fear and are raised (12 August, 1949) clearly outlaws set- precisely because the occupier realis- The state, the nation and tlements: "the Occupying Power shall es that their occupation is opposed by the nation state not deport or transfer parts of its the rightful inhabitants. It is only a own civilian population into the terri- matter of time before the enclosed The five million Palestinian refugees tory it occupies". The purpose of the and imprisoned populations find and exiles were marginalised in the Article is to protect the civilian popu- ways to overcome the barriers. Oslo negotiations and relegated as a lation of an occupied territory and to Occupying powers must reflect on ‘final status’ issue. They feel betrayed reserve permanent territorial changes, history to realise that walls are no by the Palestinian Authority. Their if any, until settlement of the conflict. match for people’s struggle for free- political nexus in the form of the PLO- Both Israel and Morocco have violated dom. When will they realise the PA was torn away as a result of Oslo the Fourth Geneva Convention by rad- paradox and absurdity of negotiating as refugees were abandoned to fend ically transforming the occupied peace while simultaneously building by bringing in new settlers walls? in order to change the demographic walls are no match for people’s make-up of the territories under their Conclusion struggle for freedom. occupation and to utilise the natural resources. The Arab world should stand up for for themselves. Israel’s refusal to con- the rights of the Sahrawi people for template the right of return has been In both the Sahrawi and Palestinian self-determination and learn from the supported by the failure of the Oslo cases it is difficult to think of repatri- successful experiences of democracy agreements to refer to UNGA ation and self-determination as and the building of civil institutions Resolution 194 (III), which calls for mutually exclusive. Rather, they of this small but resilient people. If their right of return, compensation should be viewed as part of a larger left to fester, the Palestinian and and restitution. Oslo’s emphasis on political solution that amalgamates Sahrawi conflicts are threats to building state-like institutions in the the two concepts and is solidly regional and global stability. It is time statelet (22% of Mandate Palestine) grounded in international law. that the silence of the sand is shat- granted to the Palestinian Authority tered. Louder Arab voices must be ignored key questions fundamental to Berms, fences and borders heard calling for the universal appli- the Palestinian predicament. cation of international law to put an Western Sahara is split in two by the end to the impunity with which occu- Who was to represent the Palestinians 900-mile long Moroccan berm, a pying powers strip occupied peoples in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the rest defensive wall extending from the of their rights to self-determination of the world? Settlers and settlements north-east corner of Western Sahara and return. would have been a major hindrance to down to the south-west near the the contiguity of its territory. Schisms Mauritanian border. Built in the early Randa Farah is attached to the over political representation would 1980s, following advice given to Anthropology Department at the have emerged between the PNA and Hassan II by Ariel Sharon, the berm is University of Western Ontario. host countries, especially Jordan – made of earth and reinforced with Website: www.ssc.uwo.ca/ the only country to grant refugees full soldiers, anti-personnel and anti-tank anthropology/farah. citizenship rights – where 40% of all mines, trenches and detectors. It has Email: [email protected] UNRWA-registered refugees reside. been estimated that 1-2 million land- The relationship between Palestinians mines have been planted by Morocco. This paper is based on a larger research project in Ariel Sharon is now building a similar which Dr Dawn Chatty, of the RSC, is the principal living within Israel and the Palestinian investigator. The author would like to express her state was undefined. wall which will devour chunks of gratitude to her Sahrawi hosts and to those who Palestinian land legally considered shared their ideas and experiences which helped Mirroring the Israeli determination to part of the West Bank. It too will be her write this article.

create demographic facts, the fortified with electric fences, trenches The most comprehensive and regularly updated Moroccan authorities have lured over and motion detectors. source of Internet information on Western Sahara 150,000 settlers into the occupied is the Western Sahara Referendum Association (ARSO): www.arso.org/index.htm. Other Sahrawi territory in order to change the For 27 years Sahrawis have been sepa- links are on the FMR website at: results of the long-delayed referen- rated from relatives and neighbours, www.fmreview.org/4DWSahara.htm dum. As in the occupied Palestinian some living under Moroccan occupa- 1. The SADR website is: www.arso.org/03-0.htm territories, settlements are heavily tion and others in the wilayas in 2. The MINURSO website is: www.un.org/Depts subsidised, giving the inhabitants con- Algeria, Mauritania and elsewhere. /DPKO/Missions/minurso/body_minurso.htm siderably higher incomes than they Palestinians too have not seen their would have enjoyed if they had relatives for decades. In Lebanon I