Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief

Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief

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Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander H. Joffe

RELIGION, POLITICS, AND THE ORIGINS OF PALESTINE REFUGEE RELIEF Copyright Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander H. Joffe, 2013. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-37816-3 All rights reserved. First published in 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-47820-0 ISBN 978-1-137-37817-0 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137378170 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Romirowsky, Asaf. Religion, politics, and the origins of Palestine refugee relief / Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander H. Joffe. pages cm 1. Refugees, Palestinian Arab Gaza Strip History 20th century. 2. Palestinian Arabs Gaza Strip History 20th century. 3. American Friends Service Committee. 4. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. I. Joffe, Alexander H. II. Title. HV640.5.P34R66 2013 362.87 809531 dc23 2013026220 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: December 2013 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

C ontent s List of Figures Acknowledgments vii ix Introduction: The Palestine Arab Problem and the International Community 1 1. Studying the Palestine Arab Refugee Problem 7 Early Scholarship on the Refugee Crisis 8 1970s and 1980s 10 T he Ne w H i s tor i a n s 12 S c hol a r s h ip -A d vo c a c y 15 Studying the AFSC and Relief Organizations 17 2. The Quakers and the American Friends Service Committee: Origins of the Quakers and Quaker Ideology 19 Friends and the AFSC from the Civil War to World War I 20 Quakers and the Theology and Politics of American Protestant Missions in the Middle East 23 World War II and European Refugee Relief 1945 1948 28 THE AFSC and the Politics of Pacifism 30 3. The AFSC in the Middle East: The Official Origins of AFSC Involvement in the Middle East 35 Religious Diplomacy and the Origins of AFSC Involvement i n t he M id d le E a s t 37 AFSC and Palestine Arab Refugee Relief, Summer 1948 42 I n s t it ut ion a l i z i n g Pa le s t i ne A r a b R e l ie f 55 How M a ny R e f u g e e s? 58

vi Contents 4. AFSC in the Field: December 1948 December 1949 63 Early Operations and Growing Concerns 70 Pickett Goes to the Middle East and Changing Perceptions i n E a rly 19 49 73 5. AFSC and the Politics of Regional Development 81 AFSC, UNRPR, and Local Economies, Spring and Su m me r 19 49 9 0 6. AFSC, the Economic Survey Mission, and Regional Development 97 Internal Tensions and International Solutions, Fall 1949 107 7. The AFSC and UNRWA: The End of UNRPR 121 The Last Gasp of American Voluntary Organizations 128 AFSC as an UNRWA Contractor 136 8. International Security and the Question of Reintegration 145 AFSC Retrospectives on the UNRPR and UNRWA 152 AFSC and the Middle East after 1953 155 9. Assessing the AFSC as an Early NGO 161 AFSC, NGOs, UNRWA, and Moral Hazard 171 AFSC, UNRWA, and the Question of Anti-Semitism 173 10. Conclusions 179 Notes 181 Bibliography 221 Index 249

Figures 2.1 Clarence Pickett 23 3.1 Signing the agreement to create UNRPR 53 4.1 Food distribution 68 4.2 Teachers at AFSC sponsored school in Deir el-balah 69 4.3 UNRPR director Ambassador Stanton Griffis visiting a refugee camp in Andjar, Lebanon 71 4.4 Clarence Pickett visiting the Middle East 74 4.5 Don Peretz 76 5.1 Original AFSC caption, Dealing with a riot! 94 7.1 AFSC sponsored carpentry shop 130

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A c k nowled g ment s W e gratefully acknowledge Donald Davis, archivist of the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for his exceptional help with this project and for permission to cite the materials used here. We also thank our families for their love and support throughout this project.