Side by side, glimpses of Palestinian refugee camps then and now

Side by side, glimpses of Palestinian refugee camps then and now

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History has marched on since they arrived in the middle of the last century, seeking refuge for what they thought would be a few weeks, but staying for a lifetime.

Around them the Middle East lurched from conflict to civil war to peace and back again. But for Palestinian refugees in these camps, there has been little movement over decades - only their memories and hopes can travel freely back to lost lands.

. Gaza, Palestinian Territories. Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
A Palestinian woman holds a child at UNRWA's health centre in Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip.

Visited by photographers decades apart, time seems to have passed at a different speed in many of the Palestinian refugee camps scattered across Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

. Gaza, Palestinian Territories. UNRWA/Handout via Reuters
. Gaza, Palestinian Territories. Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Left: Newly displaced Palestinian refugees walk after fetching potable water in Al-Shati (Beach) refugee camp in Gaza City, in this handout picture believed to be taken in 1953.
Right: Palestinian women walk after fetching potable water in Al-Shati (Beach) refugee camp in Gaza City, September 10, 2019.

Change there has been, but limited in its ambition. Canvas tents in 1948 Beirut grew up to be cinder block homes. Beaches evolved into sunless alleyways.

And young women balancing clay water pots on their heads in 1950s Gaza became the grandmothers of a generation who today have taps in their homes but still haul bottled water home because it is filtered, and so safer to drink.

. Gaza, Palestinian Territories. UNRWA/Handout via Reuters
. Gaza, Palestinian Territories. Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Left: Palestinian students attend a class inside al-Falah Elementary School in Gaza Strip, in this handout picture believed to be taken in 1974.
Right: Palestinian students attend a class inside al-Falah Elementary School in Gaza City, September 2, 2019.

A key presence in these lives is UNRWA, the United Nations agency which provides services and protection to 5.5 million Palestinian refugees. Around a third – more than 1.5 million - live in 58 registered camps.

. Bethlehem, Palestinian Territories. UNRWA/Handout via Reuters
. Bethlehem, Palestinian Territories. Reuters/Mussa Qawasma

Left: Palestinian boys pose for a photo in Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in this undated handout photo.
Right: Palestinian boys pose for a photo in front of a section of the Israeli barrier in Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, October 19, 2019.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East – its full name - was created by the U.N. General Assembly 70 years ago to deal with the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who had been driven from their homes or fled the conflict surrounding the birth of the modern state of Israel in 1948.

One of the descendants of that exodus - Najah Abu Reyala - has lived all her life in Beach Camp, the third largest of eight refugee camps in coastal Gaza.

Now 61, she remembers the rudimentary conditions during her youth in the camp, where the population has grown from 23,000 to more than 85,000.

. Qalandia, Palestinian Territories. UNRWA/Handout via Reuters
. Qalandia, Palestinian Territories. Reuters/Mohamad Torokman

Left: Young women play basketball at the Women's Activity Centre in Qalandia in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Right: Palestinian school girls play basketball at UNRWA's Qalandia school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 17, 2019.

"Streets were not paved, they were sandy and dusty," she recalls. But although the passing of the years brought more services, it also brought more tension, divisions and despair.

"Maybe they put electricity and water inside the houses, but things are far worse than they used to be,” she said. “Back then, we were more closely knit, we were more united.”

Abu Reyala and other refugees want the right to return to their families’ former lands in pre-1948 Palestine, lands which now lie inside Israel. Israel has rejected any such right of return as a demographic threat to its Jewish majority.

. Amman, Jordan. UNRWA/Handout via Reuters
. Amman, Jordan. Reuters/Muhammad Hamed

Left: A doctor examines a child in Baqaa camp, near Amman, Jordan, in this handout picture believed to be taken in 1969.
Right: A doctor poses for a photo while he examines a child at a health center at Baqaa Palestinian refugee camp, near Amman, Jordan, September 29, 2019.

And many Israelis regard UNRWA - by far the largest humanitarian organisation handling Palestinian refugees - with suspicion.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that that UNRWA’s longevity had served to perpetuate, not solve, the refugee problem. “It is time (for) UNRWA (to) be dismantled," he said in 2017, urging the U.N. to "re-examine” its existence.

. Beirut, Lebanon. UNRWA/Handout via Reuters
. Sidon, Lebanon. Reuters/Ali Hashisho

Left: Palestine refugees sit inside their tent in the newly formed Ein El Hilweh refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, in this handout picture believed to be take in 1948.
Right: An elderly Palestinian man sits as his wife stands behind him as they pose for a photo inside their house at the Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp near Sidon, southern Lebanon, September 24, 2019.

Just such a re-examination is due in the coming days, with the U.N. General Assembly to vote on renewing UNRWA's mandate.

Amid financial crisis and political uncertainty, Palestinian leaders warned of unrest if services were to vanish.

. Amman, Jordan. UNRWA/Handout via Reuters
. Amman, Jordan. Reuters/Muhammad Hamed

Left: Students attend a lesson inside a classroom in Jabal el-Hussein camp in Amman, Jordan, in this handout photo believed to be taken in 1971.
Right: Schoolchildren attend a lesson in a classroom at one of the UNRWA schools at Jabal el-Hussein Palestinian refugee camp, September 29, 2019.

But in November 170 countries voted for UNRWA in a committee ahead of the main assembly. Only two - Israel and the United States - voted against.

Although nothing is certain in Middle East politics, such an overwhelming majority is unlikely to be overturned in the final vote, the agency's supporters say, with no easy alternative available.

. Jericho, Palestinian Territories. UNRWA/Handout via Reuters
. Jericho, Palestinian Territories. Reuters/Mohamad Torokman

Left: A Palestinian woman feeds a child at UNRWA's rehydration/nutrition centre in Ein El Sultan camp in Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in this handout picture believed to be taken in 1960s.
Right: A Palestinian woman poses for a photo while she feeds a child at Ein El Sultan camp in Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 17, 2019.

“UNRWA’S detractors want a solution to the refugee problem without a political agreement,” said Elizabeth Campbell, an UNRWA official in Washington.

“And that’s a very difficult thing to achieve.”

. Jericho, Palestinian Territories. UNRWA/Handout via Reuters
. Jericho, Palestinian Territories. Reuters/Mohamad Torokman

Left: Palestinians walk in Nuweimeh camp near Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in this undated handout photo.
Right: Palestinians walk in the deserted Nuweimeh camp near Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 17, 2019.