A Tale of two Camps Liberating Life

A TALE OF TWO CAMPS LIBERATING LIFE

There are various and multiple ways which exemplify the forms of confiscating the role of the people as well as their spirit, ranging from direct (military) occupation, to “development” programs, agendas of donors, institutions and non-profit organizations, which all purport to represent the people. Against all of that, life becomes liberated from under the ruble, amidst oppression, discrimination and marginalization.

WOMEN’S KINGDOM: EIN IL-HILWEH

During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the summer of 1982, Ein IL Hilweh, the largest Palestinian camp in Lebanon, put up a stiff resistance, the camp was destroyed, men and youth were rounded up and sent to concentration camps, and women and children were left behind to live amid the rubble.

Beginning with the end of 1984, groups of men and youth were freed, who returned to Ein il Hilweh to discover that women of the camp had rebuilt it, had established and are still managing vital community programs. This epic proves that that “people in community” are the solution.

THE RETURN OF THE SOUL TO NAHR AL-BARED CAMP

In 2007, the inhabitants of Nahr Al-Bared camp were displaced, the camp was destroyed as a result of a war that lasted for four months between the Lebanese Army and extremists (mostly non- Palestinians) who infiltrated the camp.

The inhabitants were not allowed to return and rebuild the camp. It was bulldozed and its displaced People were instructed to wait while the Lebanese state and UNRWA (United Nations relief and works agency) raise the necessary funds from international donors.

Today, three years later, only a third of the funds were raised, and two thirds of the camps inhabitants are still displaced. Those who returned to live in the outskirts of the old camp are still caged in by barbed wires and checkpoints. Over and again they are being humiliated by waiting in line to get rations, which brings back memory of the first years of establishing the camp in 1949, following the first Nakba.

Despite their new “Nakba”, as they refer to it, people of Nahr el Bared refuse to become helpless refugees. Instead, they organized themselves, women at the forefront, undertaking pioneering initiatives in community solidarity, mobilization, economic self- sufficiency, and in the lobbying and protest movement for the reconstruction of the camp and rights of the people.

People refuse to give up their role in shaping the future of their camp. Accordingly, they formed a committee of ex- residents and volunteering architects and city planners, that put into place the participatory process for reconstruction. All of this resulted in constructing a master plan, that took into consideration the needs and wishes of the people.

After a struggle, they forced their priorities as well as the plan for their futures upon all authorities.

Lessons from these inspiring experiences show that, any effective community work has to be grounded in positions of strength of the local community (people), activate their roles and their capacities, and reinforce their hopes that they are the builders and protectors of their own future.

Moa’taz Dajani