Democratic Palestine : 1 (ص 18)
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- Democratic Palestine : 1 (ص 18)
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while the remainder was for aid and
the costs of moving them from the
camps and *resettling them.
Afterwards, responsibility for the
refugees would be turned over to the
Arab governments. Though the
political committee of the Arab
League was ready to accept this plan,
the Palestinian people rejected it. The
Executive Committee of the Arab
(Palestinian) Refugees made the
following statement to the Arab
Foreign Ministers: “We reject this plan
and consider resistance to any
enforced resettlement to be a means of
struggle to defend our national cause,
as are the threats to the interests of
those countries that created Israel and
work to preserve it. Any Arab leader
who agrees on resettlement is a traitor
to the Palestinian cause. The Palestinian
people are not ready to make any
compromises in exchange for their
dear homeland. Thus, we reject all
forms of resettlement and will not
budge one iota from our objective: the
return to our homeland.”
Nevertheless, resettlement projects
continued. A plan was proposed to
resettle refugees in the northwestern
Sinai. Preparations for this plan began
shortly before the US Secretary of
State, on June 1, 1953, said that some
of the refugees could be resettled in
‘Israel’, while the majority of them
could, in one way or another, be
assimilated in the neighboring Arab
countries, but this depended on the
irrigation projects through which new
territories could be reclaimed. In June
1953, through US-Egyptian coope-
ration with UNRWA, a program
was adopted whereby $30 million
would be invested in this plan aiming
to resettle 59,500 refugees living in the
camps of Gaza, in the Sinai. The land
was supposed to be transformed into
an agricultural area, villages built and
employment provided. It was
proposed that the resettlement project
duplicate the existing social structure
in the camps, keeping the hamulas
(extended families) intact in order to
preserve traditional social relations
and leadership. The plan was to be
implemented over 25 years.
The danger of this was the fact
that the US was serious about im-
plementing such a comprehensive
plan, viewing it as a basis for resolving
the Arab-Israeli conflict and a prelude
to having ‘Israel’ as a full partner in a
regional alliance against the growing
Arab national liberation movement
and the socialist camp. As the plan was
being forwarded, ‘Israel’ waged a
terror campaign against the
Palestinians in the Gaza camps to force
them to accept it. However, the
Palestinian people and their political
18
forces in Gaza demonstrated under the
slogan “No to resettlement.”
After the Israeli invasion of Gaza in
February 1955, the Palestinian masses
declared that they would not be
subjugated by the stick and carrot
policy. They insisted that the essence
of the Palestinian problem is not
economic or psychological, but that it
is a national question and requires the
fulfillment of Palestinian national
rights.
Initially, the Egyptian administ-
ration in the Gaza Strip used violent
means to enforce resettlement along
the lines of the US plan. It later
changed its position as a result of
escalating tension with the US, due to
Nasser’s refusal to join the US-
sponsored regional pact (Baghdad
Pact). Also, the Israeli attack on Egypt
in February had led to this change.
The UN Secretary General’s 1959
report recognized this fact; he said
that assimilation was not possible or
acceptable if implemented by force,
and that the question should be dealt
with on a voluntary basis if permanent
results - political
stability - were desired.
The new occupation
In the aftermath of the 1967 war,
and Israeli occupation of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, the Zionist
authorities thought that conditions
were ripe for dismantling the re-
fugee camps. By preserving and con-
centrating the Palestinian national,
social and cultural identity, the camps
continuously contribute to the
Palestinian national struggle. In the
camps, the hope of return and
freedom is embodied and continues to
grow with each new generation. With
this in mind, the Israeli authorities
understood that there would be daily
confrontation with the Palestinians,
and that the camps must be liquidated
in order to achieve full control of the
territories and to be able to root out
the commandos. The Israelis
destroyed houses close to the main
streets and opened wide roads to
make it easier for the army to control
the camps during demonstrations.
They attempted to break down
densely populated areas, and move
part of the population to other sites in
order to dismantle social relations
among the residents and push them to
search for housing elsewhere,
preferably outside the occupied
territories. While contributing to
destroying the camps, these practices
also aimed to reduce the international
sympathy with the Palestinian
struggle, which is elicited by the:
refugee problem, and ultimately to
and economic ,
end any international responsibility for
the Palestinian people.
Prior to the present one, the Israeli
government has attempted two
significant resettlement projects:
1. The attempt to tie the camps to
the municipalities in order to end their
distinctive, independent character. By
subjecting the camps’ activities and
services to the municipality system,
the Israelis prepared to end UNRWA’s
jurisdiction over the refugees. In 1971-
72, this attempt failed due to the
united position of the Palestinian
mayors and the masses of the camps;
some who collaborated with this plan
were liquidated.
2. Building housing projects in the
Gaza Strip, as started in 1975, for
instance Al Nasr (Victory) project in
Gaza, and Beit Lahda and Al Amal
(Hope) projects in Khan Yunis. There
the occupation authorities built model
units where apartments could be
leased for 30,000 Israeli pounds by
anyone who would forfeit his house in
the camp, or by families whose houses
had been destroyed in the broadening
of roads. These houses were leased for
99 years to married couples. Later on,
the authorities sufficed with giving a
piece of land for people to build their
own house. Gradually the size of these
plots diminished to only 70 square
meters per family. In addition, there
was an annual housing tax of 5,000
shekels.
Many forms of pressure were
applied to implement this project,
such as preventing people from
renovating or enlarging their houses.
According to Israeli sources, this
project now encompasses 8,000
families (50,000 people). Even though
this project continues, the number of
people enticed into it is decreasing
constantly.
So far, about 5,000 persons have
been transferred from the Gaza Strip
to the West Bank, particularly to Jenin,
Tulkarem and Jerico. Others were
transferred to Rafah camp in the Sinai
Peninsula, which created a problem
with the Egyptian authorities.
UNRWA cooperated in this project by
ceasing aid to refugees for renovating
their houses, and by = generally
reducing services, totally suspending
the distribution of food rations and
school materials to students.
It is important to mention that the
Israelis’ focus on the Gaza Strip was
specifically motivated by the
population concentration there, where
- refugees constitute 60% of the total
population, and by the very active role
of the Palestinian resistance movement
in the camps, and its military
operations.
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