OLFAT MAHMOUD is director of the Women's Humanitarian Organisation in the Burj el Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon, which houses 20,000 Palestinians in a space one kilometre square. She is currently on a speaking tour of Australia, organised by the Women Refugee Education Network. JENNIFER THOMPSON and KATHY O'DRISCOLL spoke to Mahmoud about the situation facing Palestinian refugees after the accords signed by Israel and the PLO.
She began by explaining that there are main two categories of refugees. The first are those from 1948, driven out when Israel was created; the second are the refugees created in 1967 by the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
The peace agreement, Mahmoud noted, covers only the 1967 refugees; their fate is to be the subject of talks due to begin in May. "Five million of us", she said, "three million who are still refugees in the Middle East and two million all over the world, have no right to go back home, visit or vote for the Palestinian Authority (PNA) which will represent us and talk on our behalf.
"Everyone thinks that the Palestinian problem has been solved and we have all our rights. This is not right."
Support lost
Palestinian refugees are still deprived of all civil and human rights, and the camps have gone from bad to worse. "We now don't get any support from international donors because they pay attention to [the West Bank and Gaza] where the media attention is — we are being ignored."
The PLO, which previously gave old people and widows a pension, no longer provides this support, and neither does the PNA, Mahmoud said, adding that most local Palestinian organisations had to close down for lack of financial support.
"Because of this", she said, "I'm trying to raise the awareness of the Australian government and people that we are still refugees; our problems are the same as before, even worse".
The UN Relief Works Agency, which had supported refugees medically, educationally and socially since 1948, is now concentrating on the Gaza Strip, Mahmoud said. There is no longer enough money, so UNRWA has stopped medical support, including the hospital referral system.
"If anyone gets sick, there are no hospitals in the camps so UNRWA used to send them to hospitals. Now the only thing we have is a clinic with a GP and one small hospital for minor operations. If someone needs a major operation, they die in their homes because we can't afford to go to private hospitals." Lebanese government hospitals are open only to Lebanese citizens.
UNRWA also established an education system in 1952, Mahmoud said, "but we still have the same number of schools as in 1952, forgetting that we are increasing". Schools now have a double shift system which allows children to go to school only for four hours, five days a week. "They don't have enough education, and there are no classes for art, sports, such activities."
Children are very frustrated and aggressive as a result, because there is no space in the camp for play or other activities.
Social life is affected too, Mahmoud said. The camps are three-quarters women and one-quarter men. "Men were either killed in the war or in jail or disappeared — no-one knows where they are — or have emigrated because they can't bear the life any more."
Burden on women
Women bear the brunt of these problems. With no running water, no electricity and no phone lines, the community support system is breaking down under the new stresses, she said, adding that older people are too stressed and sick to look after younger children. "So the woman has to go to work because there is no other support", but the only day care centre — run by her organisation — is big enough for only 35 children.
As well, Palestinians don't have the right to work in the Lebanese community. "The only way to work is without any rights, for wages that are half the wages of equal Lebanese workers, and we can't belong to unions." According to official figures cited in the December Middle East Report, only 7362 Palestinians have permits to work in Lebanon.
Lebanese government officials have periodically said that all Palestinian refugees will have to leave eventually and that the camps will be demolished. In April 1994, foreign minister Faris Buwayz said that 20% of Palestinians would be transferred to the area controlled by the PNA, 25% would join family members abroad and 55% would be distributed among "countries of immigration" and the Arab world.
The conditions in the camps — the lack of water and electricity may be related to the current minister of electricity and water, Elie Hubayqa, who has been linked to the 1982 massacres in Sabra and Shatila camps — seem to be an unsubtle attempt by the Lebanese government to move Palestinian refugees on.
"They said it openly for everyone. They don't want the Palestinians." But, she said, "I don't blame the government; their country is very small and their economic situation is very bad. They can't cope with another 350,000 Palestinians. It's not a Lebanese problem, it's an international problem."
The Women's Humanitarian Organisation runs programs to give women opportunities to get skills and a chance to work. This includes vocational training programs in working from home so they can look after their children.
It also runs children's programs and a day care centre for babies under three years old. Many of the children are suffering psychological problems from the long years of war, camp seizures and massacres. The centre provides counselling programs, summer activities and outings from the camp. It also has a small library and simple literacy programs run with the support of AusCare.
Mahmoud said, "Firstly I'm seeking Australian government support for our right to go back home. It has been 48 years and we are still refugees. We are born as refugees, without any nationality or rights."
For more information on the work of the Women's Humanitarian Organisation or to make donations, contact Women Refugee Education Network, PO Box 1308, Bowral NSW 2576, phone/fax (048) 622 325.
[Olfat Mahmoud will speaking at public meetings in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin and Canberra. See pp. 29-31 for details.]