Palestinian Refugees. ~ Can you imagine what their life? ~ Moe Matsuyama, No.10A F June 10, 2011

Transcription

1 Palestinian Refugees ~ Can you imagine what their life? ~ Moe Matsuyama, No.10A F June 10, 2011 Why did I choose this Topic? In this spring vacation, I went to Israel & Palestine. There, I visited Palestinian Refugee s Camp and talked them what their feeling. I saw their life in poverty and the life enclosed by high fences. It s serious problem more than our imagination. The world news is always picked up only a causing disturbance like an act of terrorism, an invasion by Israel army and a conflict between Israel army and Palestinian. Because of this, almost all the people don t know about refugees despite lots of Palestinians have lived as refugees for 63 years. I guess this is an important issue. Palestinian Refugees are treated with slighted human right. However the world still have only a superficial understanding of it. Therefore I d like to lead the public to a better understanding of this issue. I guess the public attention lead the issue into better. How many refugees are there? In the world After World War, a lot of people lost their country. UN called them Refugee. As present circumstances, the number of refugees is increasing year by year in spite of UN effort. According to UN research in 2009, there are 43,300,000 refugees in the world. Since in 1990s, the number of refugees is expanding rapidly. Moreover most of them cannot still return home. There are about 10 million refugees in Africa, 18 million refugees in Asia, 3 million refugees in Europe, 3 million refugees in South America. UN takes care of 15,200,000 refugees UNHCR have two-thirds of them, UNRWA has one- thirds of them. (UNRWA means UN organization for Palestinian Refugees.) It means that one-thirds of Refugees who are supported by UN are Palestinians. Moreover, as a recent tendency, IDP is increasing. IDP means Internally Displaced Person. Someone stay own country but they are persecuted. IDP has serious situation than other refugees because of moving restriction and infringe on human right (I refer this point later). I suggest that problem of Palestinian Refugees as a typical example. Do you know Palestinian Refugees? 1- Showing comparatively Israel with Palestine In Israel there are 7.3 million people whose 76.4% is the Jews, whose 23.6% is the non-jews. Israel government insists on there are 22072sq km as Israel area and Jerusalem as their capital. In Palestine there are 4.4 million people whose 97% is Muslim, whose 3% is Christian. Their area is West Bank (5970sq km) and Gaza (365sq km). These area are controlled by Israel government, and are decreasing year by year in spite of the increasing population. Israel government is building the Wall that is called Green Line, as the borderline. However UN don t allow them to build it.

2 2 Where do they live in? According to UN research in 2010, there are 4,766,670 Palestinian Refugees 1,983,733 in Jordan, 472,109 in Syria, 425,640 in Lebanon, 778,993 in West Bank and 1,106,195 in Gaza. (Refugees who live in Gaza and West Bank are IDPs.) Gaza has the most serious situation. Israel army attacks suddenly, kills some people and destroys houses. Israel soldiers shoot a gun to Palestinian boys who throw stones to resist attacks. (Look the graph below, you can know how many Palestine in Gaza was killed from December 2008 to January 2009 for one month.) Not only in Gaza but also in other areas, Palestinian Refugees are in trouble. Most of them who live in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon don t live in these countries exactly, but live on the borders or out of community as Refugee s Camp. They aren t accepted officially anywhere. And they suffer from terror day after day for many years. I suggest that they are suffering wherever. Refugees of Gaza and West bank (=IDP) suffer from unfair rules by Israel. Refugees who live in neighboring suffer from no social care. They don t have country which permanently stands by them. For instance, 9 January in 2009 Israel army attacked Gaza, over 800 Palestinian and 4 Israel soldiers were killed. One-thirds of Palestinian death was children. Moreover Gaza people are suffering from shortage of food & water because they aren t allowed to contact outside. For instance, 31 May in 2010 Israel army attacked Turkish ships which send relief supplies to Gaza and several Turks who were Humanitarian Relief NGO members were killed. All of their human rights like to move, to get job are slighted. As recent problem, population is serious. They have high birth rate in their community. Now, there are 1,106,195 people / 365sq km in Gaza. It s too densely population. What s the beginning point of the issue? 1 - It s Formerly Issue as you can see in History The story was started from the 1st B.C. There was Jewish Kingdom around Jerusalem. The kingdom was attacked by Roman Army, they lost their kingdom and separated escaping in every part of the country. In the later 19th century, anti-judaism movements were happened in Europe. As a typical example, you can see Holocaust by the Nazis. These movement made Jews who live in the world start action of Zionism.(Zionism means to go back Canaan area which the god gave Jews =the whole district around Jerusalem.) In World War, U.K. have three-dealing diplomacy between France, Arab and Judea. These agreement supported Zionism. After World War, UN made decision of divided are between Arabs and Jews because lots of Jews moved to live around Jerusalem. However Arabs rejected the UN decision because of unfair. At the time, population were one-thirds Jews, two-thirds Arabs. In spite of the difference of population, the area was divided in half.

3 they cross the wall without a permit, they are shot to death following Israel law. Some Palestinians decided to stay Israel area. In 2011, 23% of people who live in Israel are Palestinians. Israel government announced their reception officially. However these Palestinians are treated unfairly too. They don t work as same as Israelis. They are often arrested on suspicion of terrorist. On the other hand, Jews expressed the founding of their country Israel. As a result, the first war in the Middle East was broke out. The wars were happened roughly four times (exclude non-official conflict). Because of these wars, a lot of Palestinian people were became refugees. 2 - How to be made Palestinian Refugees? From in 1948 to in 1973, the war in the Middle East brought out 4 times. In the first war, Arab wanted to get back Palestine. On the contrary, Israel got 77% of area (Palestine reduced into 23%) and 700,000 Palestinian became refugees. They lost their houses and area by the force and can t go back by the wall. If How is living of Refugee? 1 - about Refugee s camp Refugees who live in Refugee s camp are took care by UNRWA. They have small and simple frame house, get some food and water from UN. It s not enough. There is no hospital there. Some UN doctor stay, but it s not enough to. Their children can go to school in camp but most of them couldn t continue to go for a long, because they have to work for their poor family. They can t get job in the camp, thus they go to distant town in search of work. The working problem is one of factors why they still poor for generations. They don t have stable income. 2 - about Gaza & West bank People who live in Gaza or West bank have house and job. At first sight, they can live an ordinary life. However they have problems. In Gaza they are in trouble of water. In spite of fertile soil, they don t get water, because Israel government controls groundwater. Gaza people have to buy expensive water from Israel. Israel aims to evict Palestinians from there by implication. Because Israel wants to be a security

4 without suffering from terrorism. Israel controls Palestine s trade even food, they insist on it to prevent the import of arms. In fact it s the same reason of water. People who live in West bank are suffering from moving restriction seriously. They have to make a detour because of the wall. My Palestinian friend wakes up A.M. 6 to go to school. It takes 2 hours at least to reach there. In fact there is 6km from her house to the school. Besides there are lots of check points which were build by Israel to find terrorist everywhere. Israelis can through there without stop. However Palestinians are stopped at least one hour there every day because of suspicion of terrorist. Moreover many of them don t have passport. If once they leave the area, they can never come back. Like these, there are lots of mental attacks by Israel. What s the issue? - Considering Present Issues Suicide bombs kill the general public in Israel. It makes Israelis big fear. Israel puts heavily guarded. The Special Forces in Israel arrests terrorists, and prevents Israelis from Suicide bombs danger. On the other hand there are lots of false arrest, false imprisonment. It is not known when they are released. The issue is especially urgency for children. There are 8814 Palestinian prisoners in Israel. About 2000 of them are child prisoners. According to the Palestine Ambassador to Japan, there were 377 child prisoners who were under 18 in There were 1500 children who were examined by Israel army, 85% of them were tortured. The children who was taken into custody, was hit and wasn t given any food and sleeping hours. Refugees can t against with Israel government because they don t have their government, can t have diplomatic negotiations. What can be done about this problem? 1 - neighboring Jordan allowed refugees in 1948 to give right & duty as same as Jordanian. However Jordan government doesn t allow refugees from 1948 onwards to give it. If refugees don t have license, they can t work or go to school. The Foreign Minister puts Department of Palestinian Affairs, DPA takes care refugee s camp. As current problem, in spite of increasing mixed marriage; Palestinian man and Jordanian woman, their children aren t allowed Jordan nationality because of Palestinian father. Syria gave citizenships some refugees, but the ratio is less than Jordan. Therefore UNICEF or JICA gives helping hands like vocational training, building school and treatment for alcohol dependency etc

5 The situation of refugee s camp in Lebanon is worse than other place. Almost of refugees aren t allowed citizenships. By low in Lebanon, Palestinians aren t allowed to work outside of the refugee s camp. Therefore the unemployment rate rose to over 40 % in UN (UNRWA) UNRWA has mainly five kinds of service programs; primary and vocational education, primary health care as social safety-net and community support, microfinance for infrastructure and camp improvement, and emergency response. According to UNRWA, in 2011 there are free 691 schools and 22,000 educational stuffs. UNRWA has 483,000 enrolled pupils and 49.8% of them is female. And there are 6,770 training places, UNRWA teaches working skills such as design, architecture, business and computing etc Moreover there are University scholarships. As health support, there are 137 primary healthcare centers and 4,600 health staffs. UNRWA has 11 million annual patient visits. As latest support, UNRWA s microfinance department provides incomegenerating opportunities for refugees. It extends receiving credit and financial services to small-business owners, microenterprise entrepreneurs and households. These approaches sustain and create jobs, reduce poverty, and empower for refugee s independence, particularly women s. Conclusion The more I research, the more I can t say what the possible way of solution this issue. UN is contributing much to the promotion of welfare in the refugee s camp. On the other side, the number of Palestinian refugee is increasing, because of dispute. I can t say the situation is better or worse. However, I can insist on this much is certain; It is impossible to be better the issue without the public understanding. References Welcome to the United Nations The UN official website: Retrieved 20 May < UNRWA UNRWA official website: Retrieved 20 May 2011 < UNHCR UNHCR official website: Retrieved 20 May 2011 < t ml> The invasion of Gaza Strip AFPBB news: 9 January in 2009 Retrieved 10 June 2011 < / > Israel attacks ship carrying aid to Gaza AFPBB news: 31 May 2010 Retrieved 10 June 2011 < / > Welcome to the Palestinian Refugee Research Net PRRN: Retrieved 10 June 2011 < The Conflict General Mission of Palestine Tokyo: Retrieved 12 June 2011 <