UPDATE:Campaign for the Defense of Palestinian Refugee Rights

UPDATE:Campaign for the Defense of Palestinian Refugee Rights

Commemorating Sabra and Shatila

(BADIL & Press Reports): Since 1982, when thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians were slaughtered in the Beirut refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila by the right-wing Lebanese allies of Israel's occupation forces headed by then Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon, annual commemorations of this massacre have united the Palestinian people in the homeland and in exile. Over the past two decades, the massacre of Sabra and Shatila has come to symbolize Palestinian suffering rooted in mass forced displacement, military occupation, and the denial of the right to self-determination and the right of refugees to return to their homes and properties.

 The circumstances of this year's 19th anniversary of the massacre of Sabra and Shatila have been especially devastating. Not only are Palestinians in the 1967 occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip the target of unprecedented Israeli military attacks, but Palestinians, as Arabs and/or Moslems, have also become the target of a world-wide, racist hate campaign triggered by statements of Israeli officials and carried in selective images and commentary in international media following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which have depicted Palestinians as innate terrorists and enemies of civilization.

 Against this background - and while numerous Palestinian communities in the western exile have cancelled or postponed this year's public Sabra and Shatila memorial events, both in respect of the thousands of victims in the United States and for fear of racist attacks against their community centers, Palestinians throughout the Middle East, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, commemorated the anniversary of Sabra and Shatila through a series of events. In the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinians commemorated the massacre under the slogan, "Stop Israel's State Terror - Terror is Our Enemy."

 Activities organized by the Committee of National and Islamic Forces in the Bethlehem District included a children's art exhibit at the Peace Center on Manger Square (Peace Center and UNICEF); a children's wall painting at 'Aida refugee camp (al-Rowwad Theater and BADIL); a popular war crimes tribunal for Ariel Sharon (Palestinian Prisoners' Society); a march to the martyrs memorial in Deheishe refugee camp and a coordinated memorial ceremony with the residents of Shatila refugee camp/Beirut; an art and culture program for children in Manger Square (Ministry of Education and IBDA'A Cultural Center/Deheishe camp); and a Sabra and Shatila theater performance (al-Rowwad Theater Group, 'Aida camp).

In Lebanon, Palestinian and Lebanese NGOs organized an Olympic day for the Lebanese and Palestinian children. More than 100 children from UNRWA schools in the refugee camps together with students from Makassed schools participated in the games. On 17 September, some 3,000 people participated in a march to commemorate the anniversary of the massacre. Participants carried banners and flags, including a banner by the Coordination Forum of the NGOs Working Among the Palestinian Community which read: "We the victims of terrorism condemn all forms of terror against civilians everywhere." Other banners called for the immediate war crimes trial of Ariel Sharon. Around 35 Italian activists joined the march including EU parliamentarian Luisa Morgantini.

Earlier in the day members of the group planted olive trees over the mass grave. "If the US wants to fight terrorism," stated Italian journalist Stefano Chiarini, "then it must begin with Sharon, who is still free." Some 100 protestors also staged a sit-in at 'Ain al-Hilwe camp to mark the anniversary.

Community and International Mobilization
Dheisheh and Shatila. It is only there that we can meet forever or whenever we want to," assures Kusay from Dheisheh. Thirty children, fifteen from Shatila and fifteen from Dheisheh and Ramallah met in the Al-Awda summer camp, as they called it, in Cyprus, in mid-July. Return was the main theme in all the discussions held among the children. When describing Shatila or Dheisheh and the living conditions in the two camps, when discussing the Nakba, the intifada, or even when passing through a spectacular view - which is always imagined as Palestine - Return was there. It is there to escape the bad conditions in the camps, to dream about a better future and to enjoy life and feel as humans with an identity. For children from both camps Return had something in common. When asked to describe it in words, "freedom, dignity, identity, peace, security, land" were mentioned by both groups. However, the perceptions of Return among children from Shatila differed in two ways.

First, they focused on it as a way to gain rights they are deprived of in Shatila - i.e., their civil rights. "Living in our homeland will make us feel we are humans and have rights to work, to study, and, to decide." And second, it meant escaping being identified as being refugees, a word that has different connotations for children from both camps. It is loaded with negative connotations for Shatila children such as a "helpless, hopeless, dehumanized person," however, for the children from Palestine it means "struggler and fighter." This difference in
perceptions is due to the harder living conditions experienced by Palestinians in Lebanon.

Perceptions of Al-Awda as a way to escape the refugees' bad conditions, however, did not mean for them that solving these problems somewhere else can replace return to the homeland - Palestine. For Mariam, "it will become an individual solution, but return to Palestine is a collective right for a whole nation, that's why it can't be achieved elsewhere."

Hanan further elaborated on the issue by suggesting that their identity problem will only be solved in Palestine: "We will never feel at home unless we go back to our homeland," she assures. Besides getting to know each other more the camp had two important assets. First, getting to know the story of Cyprus, to meet with Cypriote refugees and to live with them what they themselves had lived at Al-Awda Camp in Cyprus - The Cornerstone for Return (Aidoun - Lebanon): "Palestine is so close to me now," says Ismael. "Before it was so far away but now as I sit and talk to Palestinian children from Dheisheh I feel it is real - it is a reality."

The friendship that bound Shatila children to Dheisheh children made Palestine touchable and real. Mariam shares this feeling with Ismael. She told Zeyd, Manar, Nidaa, and Hanan from Dheisheh that when she touched them in the south [of Lebanon] from behind the wire (See al-Majdal Issue No. 6, "We will Return") she felt as if "I am holding Palestine in my hands." Return [al-Awda] has a different meaning for children from both camps now. "It is now related to friends with whom we stayed for fifteen days and with whom we want to meet forever," says Rabie from Shatila. "We know deep inside that only return allows us to meet forever or wherever."

The relations among children from Dheisheh and Shatila started via email four years ago. The liberation of the south [Lebanon] gave them a chance to meet for few hours - not enough time to discuss issues they live and are concerned about. "Everything was a dream," says Walid from Shatila. "Having friends in Palestine let alone meeting with them," he continued, "the dream was partially achieved in the south from behind the wires to be partially completed in Cyprus without borders but still to be realized in Palestine when we all return from the Lebanese Israeli borders - i.e., the inability to pass to their homeland which is separated from them only by wires. It was there, in Nicosia, at the wires separating the two parts of Cyprus that Shatila and Dheisheh children realized that they are not the only refugees. This realization universalized the refugee problem but did not make the solution of their own plight more possible.

"It is good to know that we are not alone, but you know, still I think that our problem is more serious. Palestinian refugees suffer the most in the world because Israel is very cruel and powerful," as many of them commented after the visit to the borders in Nicosia. The second asset was making Al-Awda, which was a far-reaching goal, realistic. Even Ussama who objected to discussing Al-Awda as a topic at the start realized that he can now talk about it as if something is happening - our meeting is the first corner stone in the road of return – “Tariq Al-Awda.” We never dreamt of meeting our friends from Dheisheh and we met them and maybe we have to dream about return and work for it in order to achieve it...

From the first day to the last day, fifteen days passed so quickly, but they will be cherished and remembered by all the children who were there as a first step to return. When the unwanted moment of farewell came lots of tears were shed. The moment was harder for the children of Shatila. "We cried more because at least they are going to Palestine, the land; we will go back to Shatila, oh how I hate Shatila, just to wait," says Farah. "Say Hi to Palestine, Don't forget us, Kiss the land for me, Send me pictures of my village, Take me with you, and, just throw me there," were the last requests cried out by tearful Shatila children to their friends on their way to Palestine.

Waiting at the airport in Beirut were many men, not necessarily related to the Shatila children who were in Cyprus. They came to greet the children and to ask about "our parents in Palestine," as one of them said. "What's this, as if we are coming from al- Haj, the pilgrimage," one of the children commented. "It is even better than that. You were with our people in Palestine," replied one of the welcoming delegation.The activity was organized in collaboration with  Ibdaa' Cultural Center in Dheisheh Camp and Aidoun Group, Lebanon in collaboration with the Macedonia Cultural Center in Ramallah.

Emergency Voluntary Medical Clinics (BADIL/ Union of Health Work Committees): Voluntary Emergency Health Clinics were held throughout August in West Bank refugee camps offering free medical services to refugees who are unable to obtain medical services elsewhere. The program, organized by BADIL in collaboration with the Union of Health Work Committees provided services to over 500 refugees in al-Fawwar, al-Arroub, and al-Fara'a refugee camps. (For more, see al-Majdal, Issue No.9) Hunger Strike (Aidoun - Syria): Palestinian refugees in Syria launched a spontaneous open ended hunger strike in front of the UNDP office in Damascus in early September demanding that the UN Secretary General clearly condemn Israel's brutal attack on Palestinian children and intervene to facilitate the release of medical and material aid withheld by Israeli authorities.

Several delegations and individuals visited the hunger strikers to express their support for the strikers demands, including theDamascus Youth Organization - the Syrian Communist Party, the National Committee for Boycotting the Israeli Goods and Products, Arab students, and other Syrian officials. The hunger strikers called off the demonstration in the aftermath of the attack on the US on 11 September.

Lobbying UNRWA and Community Mobilization (Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return - Jordan): In Jordan, the Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return issued a memorandum to UNRWA following the September donor meeting in Amman. The memo, which reiterated the suffering of refugees due to cutbacks in services, and because of Israel's attacks on the refugee communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 1) Reaffirmed that UNRWA should continue to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees until there is a durable solution based on international law and UN Resolution 194; 2) Called upon donor countries to cover all of UNRWA's budget; 3) Demanded international protection for Palestinians in the occupied territories; and, 4) Reaffirmed the right of return in accordance with UN Resolution 194.

Despite the official ban on rallies in public spaces, the Committee succeeded in organizing several popular rallies and workshops in Amman and several other cities, and distributed statements in support of the intifada and the right of return over the summer. Thousands of refugees in Jordan have signed the "Oath of Return." The Committee is also conducting research on Palestinian refugee properties and continues to monitor the situation in Jordan regarding ongoing concerns, based on previous news reports, about attempts to transform refugee camps into "neighborhoods" as part of a resettlement plan.

Lobbying UN and International Representatives (Popular Service Committees - Gaza): The Popular Service Committees in Gaza continue to lobby international representatives concerning refugee rights and the critical situation in refugee communities in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories due to Israel's ongoing siege and military attacks. In particular, the Committee continues to call upon the international community to do more to support UNRWA and press Israel to lift the siege, end attacks on the Palestinian community, and facilitate distribution of humanitarian supplies.

Campaign Against Intel - Palestinian Refugee Property (al-Awda - The Palestine Right to Return Coalition - PRRC): Al-Awda has launched acampaign against Intel Corporation's plan to expand its Kiryat Gat plant built on the land Israel confiscated from the Palestinian village of Iraq Al-Manshiya afterthe 1948 war. Al-Awda is calling upon individuals to contact the company to protest against the planand demand its divestment from Israel. Al-Awda  also called for sending opinion articles in this regard to financial newspapers and magazines. For further information, visit Al-Awda's web site at http://alawda. org/intel_divest.htm.

Conference on the Right of Return and Self- Determination (ADC): The American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee (ADC) - West Coast Region will co-sponsor a conference entitled "The Struggle for Justice: The Rights of Palestinians to return.

Lobbying the UN

Following an initial exploratory meeting in Geneva in April/May 2001 (See Majdal Issue No. 10), BADIL along with other NGOs, has invested significant efforts in lobbying several UN bodies to build broader international support for international protection for the Palestinian people in the occupied territories, in general, and, in particular, for Palestinian refugees. In the summer of 2001 these efforts were directed towards the Committee on Social, Economic, and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories,  nd the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

In July, 53 NGOs, networks, unions, and concerned individuals sent yet another appeal for immediate international protection, this time to the United Nation's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The Council, composed of 54 member states who take decisions by simple majority vote, is the highest UN body mandated to promote respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. The NGO appeal was initially submitted by BADIL Resource Center, in order to add emphasis to an earlier call for ECOSOC action issued by the UN Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). (See al-Majdal, Issue No. 10) In addition to a series of recommendations for international protection, the letter called upon ECOSOC to commission a study on the root causes of the conflict in the occupied Palestinian territories. (For more details on the recommendations, see Protection, below).

Among the recommendations brought before the CESCR in August was a recommendation to strengthen the Committee's 1998 Concluding Observations regarding Israel's violation of three "core, foundational" Covenant-protected rights of three displaced Palestinian population groups: (a) the 1948 refugees; (b) the "internally displaced" Palestinian citizens of Israel; and (c) the 1967 refugees. The three "core, foundational" rights are: (1) the right to hold property free from arbitrary governmental interference; (2) the right to hold citizenship in one's country of "habitual residence" prior to displacement; and (3) the right of selfdetermination. During the extraordinary session, the representative of Israel accused the Committee of exhibiting a "negative approach towards Israel [which] had become a pattern", and "applying exceptional procedural practices and double standards towards Israel in contrast to the human rights treaty regime foundation of due process and the rule of law."

He also accused the members of the Committee of violating "essential principles of transparency, objectivity, due process, and equal treatment" and further questioned their "true motivation." Following his statement, the Israeli representative walked out of the conference room.

The apparent inertia or resistance within the UN system as exemplified in the response of these UN bodies to lobbying efforts over the past several months, however, is not encouraging, particular in the context of escalating Israeli military attacks on the Palestinian people, including refugee and their camps. ECOSOC failed to address the issue of protection during its July session. The Council did, however, approve a request from the Commission on Human Rights to direct the relevant human rights Special Rapporteurs to follow up on the delayed implementation of the recommendations contained in the November 2000 report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the March 2001 report of the Human Rights Inquiry Commission (See Majdal, Issue Nos. 9-10).

In aresolution on Palestinian women, the Council  demanded, for the first time, that Israel comply fully with the provisions and principles of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, among other international agreements, in order to protect the rights of Palestinian women and their children, including the return of all refugees and displaced Palestinian women and children to their homes and properties. The US voted against the resolution arguing that its content was not helpful to the peace process.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also failed to issue substantive Concluding Observations on Israel. The Concluding Observations did note, however, continuing concern about Israel's denial of the right of return to Palestinian refugees.