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In December 2000, Shehadeh’s mother, mean “pass but on foot.” Blue cards and as a member of the choir’s annual yellow license plates mean “pass” (welcome Christmas concert, summed up what he to ), etc. The message is clear: the color and all want. Unable to go to of racism (p. 60). Jerusalem, the choir sang at the Qalandia After four months in Qalandia, Oikono- checkpoint, and his mother stood in the rain mides moved to Bayt Hanina, and a few carrying a placard that stated simply: “End months later, relocated to , where the occupation now. Israelis go home” (p. she remained until October 2003. Oikono- 152). mides introduces her French readers to the The book by Oikonomides shows us the meaning of checkpoints, the humiliation poverty and deprivation of a segment of that Palestinians experience on a daily ba- the Palestinian population that Shehadeh sis, and the absurdity of the Israeli regime of does not highlight. As a young woman with occupation. She provides hand-drawn illus- aGreek surname, she became actively en- trations of checkpoints, maps that identify gaged with the Palestine solidarity move- settlements (colonies), and sketches of set- ment in France. She went to Palestine in tler roads that Bantustanize the . October 2000, initially to work and live in She introduces simple and poor Palestini- the Qalandia refugee camp, a location that ans and focuses on the young (shebab). And enabled her to observe the class divisions like Shehadeh, she does not shy away from of Palestinian society. She notes that the di- criticizing the culture of arms that prevails rector of a cooperative designed to help the among Palestinians. poor does not live in the camp and displays the arrogance of a middle-class Palestinian REFUGEES’ PREDICAMENT who has disdain for refugees who have be- come dependent on assistance (p. 29). In The Palestinian Impasse in : contrast is Um Sleiman, a camp resident The Politics of Refugee Integration, by who cleans the cooperative, is religious and Simon Haddad. Foreword by Hilal Khashan. veiled, but a great cook and hospitable. She Brighton, UK and Portland, OR: Sussex Aca- adopts Oikonomides, a European outsider demic Press, 2003. x + 148 pages. Appen- who thus is in a better position to see the dices to p. 161. Select Bibliography to p. other Palestine. Oikonomides observes that 170. Index to p. 179. $65.00 cloth. Um Sleiman had not gone beyond elemen- tary education, but she learned Hebrew and Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon— other things on her own. And she manages Where to Belong? by Doroth´ee Klaus. to work, care for eleven siblings, and keep a Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 2003. 176 positive demeanor despite the hardships of pages. Bibliography to p. 199. Index to p. occupation. More details about Um Sleiman 205. 25 euros paper. and others like her would have enhanced Reviewed by Laleh Khalili the book. Missing, too, are details about the author’s own work during her three years in In the aftermath of the Lebanese civil war Palestine. (1975–1991) and in reaction against refugee Oikonomides displays a good sense of settlement schemes that first were fielded humor and irony, as she tries to explain during the 1992 Madrid talks, the Lebanese what occupation entails. In “The Colors government increasingly and drastically has of Discrimination,” she dazzles her reader curtailed Palestinian refugees’ civil rights. with the various color-coded license plates The aim of the draconian limits on Palestinian and identity (ID) cards. The holders of blue employment, property ownership, and uni- cards can enter Jerusalem, but the holders versity education has been an open secret of green cards are not allowed to leave the throughout: The Lebanese state wishes to West Bank. The color game can become “encourage” Palestinian refugees in Lebanon surreal. She describes a house in Qalandia, to emigrate, so as to reduce the numbers of where the balcony is physically located in Jerusalem, and the bedrooms are in the West Bank. With much irony she says, “don’t ask me the color of the identity cards of this Laleh Khalili is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Columbia University. The title of her houses’ inhabitants” (p. 59). The rules are soon-to-be-completed doctoral dissertation is simple: Green and orange ID cards with Citizens of an Unborn Kingdom: Stateless green license plates mean “do not pass.” Palestinian Refugees and Contentious Others with green IDs and work permits Commemoration. RECENT BOOKS 87 possible refugees settling in Lebanon at a fu- using conceptual tools from research on im- ture date. Conventional wisdom holds that migration to North America and Australia. these policies have arisen because the great The conclusions he draws from his survey majority of the Lebanese do not want Pales- results confirm his original hypothesis that tinian refugees settled in their midst. The two most Lebanese do not want to see Pales- volumes reviewed here support this view, tinian refugees settled in their midst, blame although the authors use differing—though the Palestinians for the civil war, and do complementary—methods for arriving at not desire their integration or assimilation their conclusions. into the Lebanese society. (His Sunni and Haddad, an associate professor of po- Druze respondents are far less adamant than litical science at the Notre Dame Univer- other sectarian groups in their hostility to- sity in Lebanon, utilizes survey questions ward and distrust of Palestinians.) While this to gauge the attitude of the Lebanese to- conclusion in itself is unsurprising, Haddad ward Palestinian refugees and their possi- also interestingly argues that this hostility ble settlement in Lebanon. He also surveys is a result of low interaction between the Palestinian refugees about their opinions Lebanese and Palestinian respondents, and of possible Palestinian statehood and set- that “the higher the respondents’ frequency tlement in Lebanon or further afield. His of communication, the more they feel closer pool of respondents includes 273 Palestini- to Palestinians” (p. 122). ans who were “interviewed at and outside The second volume is based on the au- the camps” (p. 79) and 1,073 Lebanese citi- thor’s doctoral thesis, and it uses ethnogra- zens. The Lebanese respondents are mostly phy to explore the attitudes of Lebanese and 18–35 years old (72 percent), male (64 Palestinians toward one another. Klaus con- percent), college educated (58 percent), ducted 180 in-depth interviews and held and “people with professional and manage- even more informal conversations with rial occupations” (p. 77). Although Haddad Palestinian and Lebanese respondents be- has collected data on the respondents’ age, longing to different backgrounds. Although class, and gender, his primary basis of mea- she does not provide an overall breakdown surement and comparison is religious iden- of her correspondents’ age, gender, class, or tity. However, even in this small sample, confessional belonging, when quoting them Christians are overrepresented: Whereas in the text—which she does extensively— population estimates put the percentage she identifies them by all of those factors, of Lebanese Christians at or below 30 per- while allowing them to remain anonymous. cent, nearly half of Haddad’s respondents In her introduction, she states her aim as un- (48 percent) are Christians. By contrast, the derstanding “the sources of both continuous Shi‘a, the Sunni, and the Druze comprise stalemate and coexistence” (p. 8), as well as respectively 27, 18, and 7 percent of all focusing on Palestinians who live outside the respondents (p. 77). The author does not camps (p. 6). However, the book seems to provide a similar breakdown by age, gender, cover a vast and sometimes unwieldy range class, or religion for the Palestinian respon- of anthropological themes (such as state- dents (although the questionnaires indicate lessness, kinship, the honor code, fear and that he collected this data), and nor do we trauma, and unsettled populations, among know what percentage are camp residents. others), and most of the Palestinians quoted Prior to the analysis of the survey re- seem to be camp residents. sults in chapters seven through eleven, One of the strengths of Klaus’s book is Haddad outlines the historical and social the excellent range of “voices” recorded background of Palestinian refugees’ pres- throughout. She liberally quotes her respon- ence in Lebanon. The first four chapters dents in order to provide anecdotal support include a review of the strategies of regional for her thematic arguments, and the range of parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict, a brief opinions and attitudes she conveys through overview of the Palestinian exodus from these direct quotes is illuminating and inter- Israel in 1948, an assessment of the Pales- esting. Klaus dedicates nearly half the book tinians’ role in the Lebanese civil war (in to an historical summary of the Palestinian chapter three, Haddad claims that the civil predicament in Lebanon. Although the re- warwas primarily between Palestinian guer- spondents’ anecdotes are colored by their rillas and local militias), and the obstacles present concerns and prejudices and may to Palestinian integration and resettlement. not represent their political positions in the Haddad also attempts to ground his analysis 1970s and 1980s, nevertheless, these chap- in theory by drawing comparisons with and ters are fascinating to read, and by providing 88 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES the Lebanese viewpoint of those years, com- inal focus. For example, her discussion of plement Rosemary Sayigh’s groundbreaking pre-1948 life in Palestine (pp. 135–42) has From Peasants to Revolutionaries (London: little bearing on her argument. In Haddad’s Zed Books, 1979) and Too Many Enemies volume, more attention should have been (London: Zed Books, 1994). The latter half of paid to fact checking, to prevent glaring er- chapter six and the whole of chapter seven, rors such as describing Hamas as “a splinter where the Palestinian respondents voice group of Osbat al-Ansar” (p. 81 n. 5) or stat- doubts about their future, their identity, and ing that Lebanon “has some of the fewest their relation with their hosts, are among resources and wealth [sic]” in the Middle the more poignant and interesting sections East (p. 45). Haddad’s inconsistent and in- in the volume, as they show the complex- correct spelling of names and confusing use ity of attitudes present in a particular social of honorific titles in both the text and the group. Similarly, the direct quotations by bibliography are also problematic. For exam- Klaus’s Lebanese respondents show that ple, Rosemary Sayigh’s last name is rendered their opinions toward Palestinians are not as “Sayyigh” in the text and the bibliography, monolithic and can range from sympathetic and political scientist Farid al-Khazen’s name (p. 96) to vitriolic (pp. 94–95) to downright is preceded with the use of the honorific bigoted (p. 97). “Sheikh” (p. 32), which can bemuse the un- A fundamental premise in both books is familiar reader. More significantly, Haddad that the confessional identities of the actors uses quoted material ahistorically; for ex- is their primary categorical identity and that ample, describing a present-day situation by it determines their attitudes and opinions, al- using a quote from a 1984 article by Rashid though Klaus’s research—implicitly—shows Khalidi (p. 42 and p. 48 n. 7), or utilizing a that class is a significant factor in delineat- Kata’ib party document from 1999 to explain ing attitudes. Both authors assume sectarian Maronite attitudes circa the 1970s (p. 38 n. allegiances as monolithic, internally coher- 16 and p. 32). The absence of details and the ent, and the primary motivator of politics. proliferation of euphemized discussion lead In some ways, the readers of both books Haddad either to make sweeping general- are expected to know the internal politics of izations without further explanation—“Any Lebanon and to understand the euphemisms [demographic] imbalance would have a ma- that are intended to describe someone’s pol- jor political, social, economic and security itics through naming his or her religion. impact” (p. 47)—or to assert facts with- Thus, Klaus’s identification of a respondent out documentary support. For example, in as “Maronite technician, Mount Lebanon afootnote, he reports that the number of area” (p. 97) is supposed to evoke in the refugees registered with UNRWA is nearly reader historical knowledge of the role of 400,000, half residing in the camps, but “the Mount Lebanon’s Maronites in the civil war researcher was told [by whom?] that the real and it replaces a discussion of the politics number [of camp residents or all refugees?] in which this person is engaged. Haddad’s did not exceed 130,000” (p. 80). More mun- similarly unproblematic use of confessional danely, the English used in both volumes is categories as euphemisms for political po- sometimes awkward and occasionally gram- sitions transforms all Maronites into impla- matically incorrect. cable foes of Palestinians, and all Sunnis as Despite these shortcomings, some of stalwart supporters. That the voices of in- which are more than minor, these books pro- dividual Sunnis recorded in Klaus’s volume vide rare empirical snapshots of Lebanese- may show antipathy toward the Palestinians Palestinian relationships at the begin- or that more than a few Maronites in her ning of the twenty-first century. These book voice their sympathy toward Palestini- can be valuable to policymakers and re- ans undermines the authors’ unquestioned searchers discussing the predicament of privileging of confessional belonging. Their Palestinian refugees and trying to under- prioritization of sectarian allegiances ignores stand the social attitudes of their Lebanese political relations within and across sectar- hosts. ian groups. Aside from this serious problem, both CONVENTIONAL ZIONISM volumes could have benefited from a firmer editorial hand. Klaus works with such fas- The Invention of a Nation: Zionist cinating material that she sometimes loses Thought and the Making of Mod- sight of her central argument and covers ern Israel, by Alain Dieckhoff. New ground that is only tangential to her orig- York: Columbia University Press, 2003.