Here is the tale of the Palestinina refugees who came to Norway thinking they would be well taken care of. This is also the story of a Lebanese young woman, born in Lebanon, with Lebanese passport, who, for political reasons, chooses to define herself as a Palestinian?
Am I the only person who thinks both of these stories show the utter falseness of Norwegians and others with a chip on their shoulder? And did the Lumiere brothers come to Palestine of Fatah and Hamas, or did they go to a town where Jews were in majority (according to a Prussian census) although Egyptian Muslims and immigrants from North Africa began to settle the town in order to gain influence?
Telling little lies, one little drip at a time, can slowly over time be perceived as truth. Maybe we should show the pictures showing Jewish life and culture in Israel, around the same time as the Lumiere brothers came to visit?
Life in Limbo
TONE B. VÆRVÅGEN, Published: 07.10.11 10:23Piece of Palestine in Oslo - makeshift refugee camp
- We want to show another Palestine than the one we know from the media, showing only blood and murder, says Rana Issa (34).
She arranges the Palestinian Night Film From the South Festival.
- I do not need a movie like Tears of GAza. If I want to see dying Palestinian children, I can see it on the news, Issa says .
She is one of several Palestinians organizing the short film program Palestinian Night, where a cultural line is drawn all the way back to around teh time when film was born, when in 1897 the Lumiere brothers came to Palestine to film. One of the Lumiere short films are on the program.
- We want to create a cultural awareness of Palestine, for culture is the most important thing we have. We do not have a country, so it is culture that binds us together. And it is through culture that people can see things with different eyes.
Enormous differences- One can not generalize about how the average Palestinian life is. It depends on where you grew up and whether you have passports or travel documents, Issa says.
She grew up in a refugee camp in Lebanon, both her parents were active in the PLO. She is among the lucky ones, relatively speaking. She is married to a Norwegian and have legal residence in Norway. The two met at university in Lebanon, where he received his master’s in Arabic.
Today, Issa is studying for her Ph.D. in Arabic literature at the University of Oslo. She believes that being a Palestinian is a political choice.
- I have a Lebanese passport, I live in Norway and have a wonderful life. I do not need to be Palestinian, but I choose to be. It is an honor! To be Palestinian is to fight – to fight for a country and a normal life.
- Palestinian refugees toughing it out, preferring tents to the asylum seekers center
Faith in NorwayThe difference in how life pans out for Palestinians, is easy to spot and that in the heart of Oslo. While Jens Stoltenberg speaks the Palestinian cause in the UN, 23 Palestinian men live in a makeshift tent camp, 150 meters from the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration’s (UDI) offices in Hausmannsgate 21 in Oslo.
Norway’s self-imposed role as peacemaker in the Middle East has led the Palestinians to believe that Norway will take them in with open arms. In the West Bank and Gaza people talk about Norway as “the best country in the world for human rights and democracy.”
- But here all of my dreams and hopes have been shattered, says Said Alhilow (23). He comes from Gaza, has lived in Norway for 18 months and has received a final rejection of the application for a residence permit, like the others in the camp.
- Gaza is not safe! The West Bank is not safe! I will not be the third brother who is killed in our family. I was stateless, now I’m also paperless.
Non-compliance with UN recommendationsIn 2009 the government tightened the rules for asylum. The general application of protection from return for Palestinians was terminated. UDI does not follow the UN recommendations for the return of the Palestinians because they believe it is not dangerous there any longer. Several of the squatters claim they will be killed if they return. They cannot divulge the reasons for fear of of putting others in danger.
The Immigration authorities rules state that “The security situation in the West Bank and Gaza is still marked by violent clashes between the Israeli army and militant Palestinian factions.”
Better than at the refugee reception centerAll of a sudden, a sound as if a rifle was fired over our heads. It’s chestnuts from the trees around that slam into the tarpaulin. The noise, the rats, the weather – how can one live like this?
- When we arrived, no one knew each other from before. Now we are brothers, says Ashraf Khoffash (26). He, like most others in the camp has lived here since the 5th April.Days here can be hard and difficult. But still it is better than at the refugee reception center, for the mental health. They have at least a community, both with each other, people who help them and random passers-by.
- Norwegians are good people. But they are shy and weary of intruding. We try to break the ice and invite for a cup of tea. We discuss with them. Some agree with us, not others, it’s okay. We have at least the opportunity to explain to people why we are here. By gathering here in this camp we try to take responsibility for our own destiny, says Mohamed Ganan (26) from Gaza.
Resourceful- Most of us have university degrees. We are people with resources, we can contribute to the Norwegian society. We are not asking for alms, but an opportunity to work, says Ganan. He is a graduate engineer. Others we talk to are trained sociologists, journalists, economists and interior designers.
- Life is very difficult as paperless, for you have no rights, you can not get work or residence, says Dana Mahmoud (33). She and her 60 years old mother are Palestinian Iraqis. They have also been rejected, but the government has nowhere to send them to. Hence, they still live at the asylum seekes reception center. They visit the camp as often as they can.
- My mother wanted us to stay here, but the boys said that it would be too cold and too humiliating for an older lady to live that way.- We will fight to stay, but not by using violence. We came here to escape the violence said Ganan. – We want to demonstrate peacefully. The demonstration is called Freedom March.
On 19th of October they organize a 24 hour culture festival. Anybody who would like to try, are welcome to spend a day in camp.
[...] be the third brother who is killed in our family. I was stateless, now I’m also paperless. via israelwhat.com LD_AddCustomAttr("AdOpt", "1"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Origin", "other"); [...]
This issue, what is a Palestinian, is frequently used in the propaganda war concerning the middle East conflict. Towards the western audiences, the Palestinian identity is emphasized. In surveys done in the West Bank the Arab population first and foremost identify themselves as Moslems, secondly as one of the neighboring countries and thirdly as Palestinians.
Also historically very few Palestinians track their origin to the costal area that is the pre-1967 Israel. Furthermore, what is Palestine? The British Palestine mandate included also Trans-Jordan, so obviously there is an existing Palestinian state, Jordan. About 70% of the Jordanian population is of Palestinian origin (the rest Bedouins).
As I wrote earlier, the Palestinian refugees left Israel in 1948. The youngest Palestinian refugee ever to live in the Israeli area is today 63 years old and the number of those still alive is probably about 10,000. Hence, there is no question about refugees anymore. It is all about their decendants. They are not refugees under any UN refugee determination except the UNRWA criterions that were made specifically for the Palestinians.
In fact Palestinians always identify themselves by the village they come from first, so I am a Palestinian from Tarshiha which has only sixty years ago been renamed as Maalot. So when I am abroad and peopel ask where I come from I reply as follows: Palestinian, from Tarshiha, from Beirut, Burj al Barajne Camp.
You must be seriously deluded if you think palestinians identify themselves as Muslim, because not all of us are Muslim, actually some of us are Christians and even some of us are Jews
Funny, one of my Bedouin friends on the mountain tops around where you refer to is very clear, he and his family do not define as Palestinians, he has however explained to me how in the old days, during the days of Ottoman rule, one would refer to Damasek for the Northern region, since at that time, the colonizers administrative center was Damascus. Also, Tarshisha still exists, you should really try the laffa there, very good!
Another friend, not Bedouin, but Muslim is equally clear that she does not think of herself as a Palestinian, but an Israeli Muslim. She is of course too young to have any recollection of events you seem to allude to. She is quite happy for things to be as they are, although she admits that things could be better between Jews and Arabs, but she is mainly happy she can drive a car without asking anybody for permission.
About a year ago, I stopped over some Arab Christian friends on a trek through the hills, we were as usual warmly welcomed, and sat under the pergola, picking grapes from the stock and cooling off with a cold beer. And yes, I also know the odd one with Jewish mother and Muslim father, not an easy tightrope to balance. Who knows, maybe we will bump into each other at some point. Humus in Tarshisha? My treat!
Please be accurate with historical facts. First, Tarshiha did not dissapear anywhere, nor was it renamed. The town Maalot was build next to the Tarshiha village not on it. Somewhere around the 70′s the two municipalities were united to form the town Maalot-Tarshiha in order to improve the municipal services. Note, both names were preserved in the name.
I’m quite aware that some of the arabs are not Moslems. I was involved in a PhD study of a student from Tarshiha who was a Christian Arab. This leads be to another question that I have not received a good answer yet. How do you define Arab?
As far as I can understand, the common nominator to the Middle Eastern and North African populations is the language (although Moroccans, Yemenites and Lebanese etc) may have hard time to understand each other). How does one define his ethnicity? For example, how do you define three Norwegians that all speak Norwegian as their mother tongue, but one is a Viking Norwegian, the other Christian Arab from Tarshiha and the third Moslem Arab from Sudan.
They all have Norwegian citizenship. They all speak Norwegian, two speak also Arabic, Two are Christians, two have dark complexion, Two have an immigrant background etc,etc. What is the message of emphasizing your Palestinian origins? Of all the Arabs/Moslems living in Europe today, is it only the Palestinians that are doing so because of they being refugees or their offspring and all the others because of other reasons?
I truly believe that Europeans are advocating multi-culturalism without having any knowledge of other cultures than their own. When they do (if they do), they may understand much more about the Middle East conflict
Prior to 1948. the Palestinians were the Jews. not the Arabs, whether Christian or Moslem. Palestinians fighting with the British army during World War II were Jewish, not Arab. The local Arabs spoke a Syrian form of Arabic and were known as Arabs or Syrian. Syria has practised hegemony over the present day states of Lebanon, Syria and Israel.
Arab Palestine is nothing more than a hoax created by Yasser Arafat in 1964 as a marketing tool to claim this “Arab” land from the Jews. So Anonymous, what are the plans regarding Spain and Portugal? What about Southern France?
Under Ottoman control, why didn’t the Arabs want to live there, when it was nothin more than a dirty, dusty and barren wasteland? Why diid you only want to live there once the Jews began the backbreaking work to clear the land of malarian, desert, swamp etc?
I remember being told that the only Arab authentic town in Israel is Ramleh. Now, proof has been found that even this sole Arab settlement was originally Jewish. There are thousands of Jewish towns, settlements across north Africa from Morocco to Egypt, from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Aden, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan that were left vacant by “real” Jewish refugees. They left behind businesses, shops, factories etc with for the most part, the clothes con their backs. There was no help for them. They were part of the huge refugee crisis in Europe, Africa and Asia where millions had lost their homes after the second world war. Only the so called Palestinians require help. What a load of absolute nonsense.
[...] ‘Norway, Israel and the Jews’ blog has more on the Palestinian refugee camp in downtown Oslo.Update: Slight translation fixes Related Posts25 October 2011 – Iran, Israel [...]
Norway is a very large and empty country with a very small population and it would be an excellent idea if the Palestinians were invited to go and live there- all of them. That way the Norwegians would benefit by an important increase in their active population and they would have the immense satisfaction of knowing that they had contributed to peace in the Middle East.