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The Radcliffe Press London
USA and Canada St. Martins Press New
York
By Margarita Skinner
(The following segment is an
extract from Chapter One, 'The Refugees', of Ms. Skinner's book
"Between Despair and Hope". Ms. Skinner has given Jerusalemites the
permission to post part of her chapter online.)
...Even
in their displacement, Palestinians managed to maintain the fabric
of their traditional way of life. More than ever before, it was
important for all, even the most humble refugee to feel that the
sense of community was re-established quickly. The pattern of
village leadership went with the refugees and, though there were few
material ways of helping, there was always a ready ear and a word of
hope. A sheikh is a leader of a village or tribe and is in a sense
very much the father of his people. His house or tent is always open
to those who seek his help. He is expected to show leadership and
courage, give sound advice and be fair when disputes are brought
before him. He knows each family and all their problems well and
carries the greatest of load in times of community or national
crisis. Due to the wars, several village sheikhs also found
themselves to be refugees.
One of
the first sheikhs I was to know was Sheikh Abdul Majid El Azzeh,
camp leader of the Talbiya refugee camp south of Amman in Jordan.
During part of 1970/1, when I was the only foreigner with the MCC*
living in Amman, my duties expanded to include the supervision of
our sewing centres and kindergartens. This work took me to Talbiya
camp. The sheikh's house in Talbiya was always open to me too.
Together, we would sit and discuss both the problems and progress of
my work. He told me some of his wishes and from time to time
referred the most recent of the needy hardship cases to me. Of
course there was always the traditional cup of coffee.
The
sheikh's village of origin was Beit Jibrin**, beit meaning house, 35
kilometres southwest of Jerusalem and close to the 1948/9 armistice
line. Time and time again, he would tell me the story of his village
people. During the uncertain troubled years leading up to the war in
1948, the question on the minds of all the villagers was should they
stay or should they move? How and when do they decide? The war
decided for them, and he finally accompanied and supported his
village people on the trek over the hills to Bethlehem. Here, UNRWA
eventually provided them with shelter and assistance. He told me
that to keep the memory of their beloved village alive, they
naturally called their camp 'Beit Jibrin'. Daily, this gave them the
little flame of hope that they would return to their village one
day. But years went by. Then came 1967, with yet another conflict,
another war, another time of uncertainties.
He said
that many inhabitants of the camp wished to move across the river to
Jordan, joining thousands of others on the move. With tears in his
eyes he described how for the second time he and his people were on
a dusty crowded road of fleeing humanity. They found a temporary
home under tents in Zizia, south of Amman. After six months on the
edge of desert land, winter came with cold biting winds and heavy
rains. The rains were welcomed by the farmers but not by the
occupants of tents. The Red Lion and Sun Society*** of Iran provided
funds for the building of a small camp in Zizia. In the meantime,
the Jordan government allowed those people, like many others living
on exposed hills, to move to the Jordan valley where it was much
warmer. But the stay there turned out to be a very short one.
Shellfire and bombings from the Israeli side became nearly a daily
routine and thus, in February 1968 the sheikh returned from the
valley with his village people. In tents they waited for the camp
buildings to be finished. On opening day, the government of Jordan
called the camp Talbiya, to honour the memory of the Prophet
Mohammed's son-in-law and heir, Ali Ibn El Talbiya...
Footnotes:
* Mennonite Central Committee, an American NGO.
** The city of Eleutheropolis of the Byzantine
era, meaning City of the Free.
*** A society equivalent to the Red Cross.
Ms. Margarita Skinner is a health and welfare worker.
She has spent over 20 years throughout the Middle East as a
volunteer in hospitals, health clinics, and relief aid
organizations. Ms Skinner also chaired welfare committees and
organized kindergartens, sewing and embroidery projects and
occupational therapy for handicapped children. In 1991-92, she was
UNICEFs Health Coordinator in Baghdad.
To order her book please
follow this hyperlink:
www.bookplace.co.uk/bd/ibtauris/sb?1860641539
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