how palestinian refugee families living in refugee camps
TRANSCRIPT
How Palestinian refugee families living in refugee
camps within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
deal with their engagement with formal education
at primary and secondary school level
Gillian L Kerr-Sheppard
B.A., D.L.I.S, Dip. Ed
This thesis is presented for the degree of Master of Education (by research
only) of the University of Western Australia
Graduate School of Education and Graduate Research School
University of Western Australia
2010
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ABSTRACT
In light of the universally accepted importance of engagement with education, this
research set out to contribute to theory through the central research question, ‘How do
Palestinian refugee families living in refugee camps within the West Bank and Gaza
Strip deal with their engagement with formal education at primary and secondary
level?’ Despite being at the centre of a long running conflict, Palestinian refugees of the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip have consistently demonstrated a high degree of
engagement with education, in addition to achieving universal, gender equal, basic
education. (United Nations Millennium Development Goals Two and Three)
The choice of symbolic interactionism as the theoretical framework for the research
allowed the emergence of socio-cultural meanings underpinning the perspectives and
actions of the refugees in their dealing with education. The participants in the study
came from four generations of refugees, resident in ten camps across the West Bank and
in the Gaza Strip. Grounded theory methods of analysis were used with data gathered
during a period of four years from semi-structured interviews, non-participant
observation and document analysis.
The findings indicate that Palestinian refugees of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip deal
with their engagement with education through their ability to prioritise and respond to
positively fuelled aspirations, regardless of the circumstances within which they live. In
doing this, they centre their motivations on their own society and its wellbeing, a
healthier and more constructive approach than responding reactively to a perceived
antagonist.
However, implications arising from the findings suggest that the negative social and
psychological effects of living with prolonged stress and trauma arising from armed
conflict have the potential to severely diminish the positivity and resilience shown by
refugee families in their engagement with education. Therefore in terms of policy and
practice, this study recommends that immediate action should be taken by all concerned
parties, national and international, to alleviate the effects of conflict on refugee families
in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
On a theoretical level, given the importance of engagement with education both
universally and to the Palestinian population in particular, further research into the
interaction of community positivity and engagement with education would be a valuable
addition to theoretical knowledge and have implications for future policy and practice.
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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
This thesis represents the original research of the author. This work has not previously
been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge
and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another
person, except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.
Gillian Kerr-Sheppard
October 15, 2010
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Undertaking this study has been a journey on several different levels. Such a task would have been impossible without the support of my family, friends and colleagues.
For the academic journey, my heartfelt gratitude is extended to Dr Simon Clarke and Professor Tom O’Donoghue, my supervisors, who guided me from nowhere on the academic scale to making this study a reality. From proposal to completed thesis, despite distance and time, they have been a constant source of knowledge and encouragement.
Over the past five years, as I have moved between Western Australia, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Europe, my physical journey has been made possible by the many generous people who have welcomed me into their homes on my way. My family, Sonia, Alex, Jo, Nikki and Toni, and my wonderful friends Steve, Ian, and Steven have all offered me safe havens in my times away from the field, without which I could not have kept going.
Leaving my comfort zone as a Drama teacher in Perth has involved me in a personal journey, the rewards of which are still unfolding. Without the encouragement of colleagues and past students from my drama teacher days, especially Travis and Tim, I may never have started. Without the amazing positivity and resilience I have learned from my Palestinian friends and colleagues, I could not have kept going.
Finally to my children Sonia and Alexander, whose wholehearted endorsement of my decision to travel to Palestine set me free to go, thank you so much. Your respect, love and belief in me have made all of these journeys possible.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract i
Statement of Originality ii
Acknowledgements iii
Table of Contents iv
List of Photographs, Tables and Figures vii
Chapter 1 – Introduction 1
Context of the study 3
Research methods 7
Justification for the study 7
Conclusion 9
Chapter 2 –Background of Education in the Region 12
The wider region 12
Up to the mid 19th century 13
Changes in the 19th and early 20th centuries 15
The first half of the 20th century 17
The second half of the 20th century 18
The 21st century 20
Conclusion 22
Chapter 3- Background of the Refugees 24
Socio-economic organisation 25
Psychological orientation 27
Involvement with education 33
Conclusion 38
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Chapter 4 – The Palestinian Voice in Literature 40
Introduction 40
The Palestinian past 40
The Palestinian case 50
Palestinian resilience 55
Conclusion 60
Chapter 5 – Methodology 63
Purpose of the study 63
Theoretical approach 63
Data collection 65
Methods of analysis 68
Trustworthiness and authenticity 78
Conclusion 80
Chapter 6 – Description of Findings 81
Introduction 81
Theme 1 – ‘Being a Palestinian refugee’ 82
Theme 2 – ‘Building the future’ 93
Main Strategy – ‘Being educated’ 100
Conclusion 105
Chapter 7 – Discussion of Findings 106
Theme 1 – ‘Being a Palestinian refugee’ 106
Theme 2 – ‘Building the future’ 115
Conclusion 118
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Chapter 8 – Conclusions and Implications 120
Introduction 120
Summary of the study 121
Review of main findings 123
Limitations of the study 125
Implications of research findings 127
Recommendations for future research 131
Conclusion 132
References 134
Appendices 146
Appendix A Aide-Memoire for interviews 146
Appendix B Information sheet for participants in English 148
Appendix C Information sheet for participants in Arabic 149
Appendix D Consent form for participants 150
Appendix E Consent form for parents and guardians 151
Appendix F Consent form for Minors 152
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LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS, TABLES AND FIGURES
Photographs
Photograph 1: Peasant farming family, Palestine, 1935
(Elia Kahvedjian, courtesy of Kevork Kahvedjian, Jerusalem) Title page
Photograph 2: Refugee family, Aida camp, Bethlehem, 2007
(courtesy of Anne Paq) Title page
Photograph 3: Jenin camp (G. Kerr-Sheppard) viii
Photograph 4: Aida camp (G. Kerr-Sheppard) viii
Photograph 5: Al Fawaar camp (G. Kerr-Sheppard) viii
Photograph 6: Rafah camp (courtesy of Anne Paq) viii
Tables
Table 5.1 Participant context timeline in five year increments 67
Figures
Figure 5.1 Open coding of an interview at Aida Camp 72
Figure 5.2 Memo written following an interview at Aida Camp 72
Figure 5.3 Memo written following an observation 73
Figure 5.4 Theoretical memo exploring the concept ‘inaho al dakhilina’ 75
Figure 5.5 Flow chart containing properties of an emerging theme 76
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Rafah Camp, southern Gaza Strip
Aida Camp, near Bethlehem, central West Bank
Jenin Camp, northern West Bank
Al Fawaar camp, near Hebron, southern West Bank
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION TO THE THESIS
Introduction
This study is concerned with a group which is a particular sub section of a wider
population who have achieved universal basic education and gender equality in
education in circumstances of ongoing displacement, conflict and trauma. That
achievement has been attained over a period of sixty two years, thus allowing valuable
insights into how four consecutive generations of young people have found and
maintained their motivation to learn, at the same time as building their resilience in the
face of both internal anxieties and external dangers. The purpose of this study is to
develop substantive theory on how this particular sub group deals with their
engagement with formal education at primary and secondary level.
The participants in the study are members of Palestinian refugee families living in
refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, two parts of the Palestinian Territories.
They range in age from seventy-five down to eight years old and include the original
generation who were displaced in the middle of the twentieth century before moving
into the camps as young people and their descendants. Prior to the displacement sixty
two years ago, the participant families were part of the socio-economic group of peasant
farmers that inhabited villages surrounded by farming land, throughout historical
Palestine. The majority of the group was illiterate and had limited access to formal
schooling. The participants currently attend, or have attended, schools within the
refugee camps administered by the United Nations Relief Works Agency for the Near
East (UNRWA) and, since 1994, licensed and overseen by the Ministry of Education
and Higher Education, one of the Ministries of the Palestinian National Authority.
UNRWA schools serve only the registered refugee population and are free, single
gender schools running from grade 1 to 9, following which students who continue their
education join the government or private secondary schools from grade 10 to
matriculation at the end of grade 12. UNRWA began operations in 1950, at which time
most of the participants in this study had parents or grandparents who could neither read
nor write. Today’s reality is very different. Figures for the whole population of the
West Bank and Gaza Strip over 15 years old in 2006 (of which the participants in this
study are a sub section) show a literacy rate of 93.5%. In addition to the 6.5 % illiterate,
another 7.2% can read and write but have not received formal schooling, which is still
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an enviable percentage. The school enrolment ratio of both males and females in 2006/7
in basic schools (grades 1 -9) was 91.2%, dropping to 74.5% in secondary schools
(grades 1- 12). In terms of gender equity, the percentage distribution of males to females
in schools was 50.1% males to 49.9% females (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics,
2007, p. 311).
The participants in this study come from seven of the UNRWA refugee camps in the
West Bank and three camps in the Gaza Strip. Camps are variously described as the
frontline of resistance or extremely vulnerable places, depending on the discourse
within which they are being framed. What is without doubt is that the inhabitants of the
camps, over the sixty two years of the camps’ existence, have faced consistently adverse
conditions, including a variety of challenges, physical, social, economic and
psychological. Physical challenges affecting children have included lack of
infrastructure and basic facilities such as water and electricity; and lack of personal and
social space, leading to overcrowding at home, school and play. Socially the refugees
are seen as a distinct group, not always well integrated into the general population
which the children have to join in their final three years of schooling. Economically
refugees have had fluctuating high rates of unemployment depending on political
circumstances around them, with consequent lack of often basic needs. Psychologically
refugee children face constant uncertainty about the events in everyday life, direct
emotional trauma resulting from conflict in their camps, and frequent loss of contact
with family members through incarceration or death. Details of the above adverse
conditions have been regularly recorded and referred to by such interested international
parties as the United Nations bodies, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the
World Bank, Human Rights and non-governmental charitable organisations on the one
hand, and similarly by local and national groups on the other. Despite the agendas
behind all the information available, any background to a study of the conditions under
which Palestinian refugee families approach schooling and education is thus rendered
accessible.
The combination of educational attainment as quoted above and the existence of the
adverse conditions in which that attainment is gained leads to an enquiry into the
motivations of the school children and their families and the resilience they show in
dealing with adversity where education and schooling are concerned. In seeking to
generate substantive theory about how Palestinian families living in refugee camps
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within the West Bank and Gaza Strip deal with their engagement with formal education
at primary and secondary level, this study attempts firstly to understand the background
to how illiterate peasant villagers, once they became refugees, came to regard education
as one of the most crucial assets attainable in their lives. It also looks at the context
within which their children and grandchildren, after sixty two years of dispossession,
occupation and conflict, still seek education with passion, industry and pride at a time
when their economy and consequently their employment prospects are virtually
nonexistent.
Context of the Study
Who are the Palestinian Refugees?
A basic knowledge of who the Palestinian refugees are and which United Nations
agencies contribute to their well being and education is essential context to this study.
As mentioned, the participants in the study belong to a sub group of the overall group
‘Palestinian refugees’, and in order to facilitate understanding of that, a brief overview
is provided below.
Palestinian refugees define themselves as those people, and their descendants, who were
displaced from their land and homeland during the 20th century (Yahya, 1999, p. 19).
According to Farsoun and Zacaria, ‘Every child of Palestinian parents, whether born in
historic Palestine (al-dakhel) or in exile (al-manfa) is considered to be one of the
Palestinian people (al sha’ab al filastini)’ (Farsoun & Zacaria, 1997, p. 12). They are
the largest group of displaced people in the world, in diaspora across North and South
America, Europe, Russia, Australia and the Arab States, with a total estimated number
of 7.1 million (Badil Resource Centre, 2008). The United Nations, under UN General
Assembly Resolution 194, defines Palestine refugees as ‘persons whose normal place of
residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes
and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict’ (UNRWA, 2010a).
Palestinian refugees registered with the United Nations in 1950 numbered 914,000,
however the definition also covers the descendants of those persons who became
refugees in 1948, and by 2005 the number of refugees had grown to 4,718,899
(PASSIA, 2010, p. 327). During the 1967 Arab-Israeli war approximately 300,000
Palestinians were displaced from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This number included
some 175,000 UNRWA registered refugees who thus became refugees for a second
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time. They are known as ‘1967 Displaced Persons’ (Abu Lughod, 1996; PASSIA, 2007,
p. 308) and by 2008 their number had grown to 940,000 (Badil Resource Centre, 2008).
Thus, there are now three groups of refugees as follows: firstly, the 1948 Palestinian
Refugees under UNGA Resolution 194(III) and their descendents, including both
registered and non-registered refugees; secondly those displaced as a result of the 1967
War, the 1967 Displaced Persons under UNSC Resolution 237; and thirdly others
outside the area of former Palestine who are unable or unwilling to return due to well
founded fear of being persecuted (Badil Resource Centre, 2006b, p. xvi, 2007a). There
are in addition two main categories of Internally Displaced Persons. Firstly, those who
remained inside the area that became Israel in 1948, known as 1948 Palestinians or
Israeli Arabs, but who have since been displaced from their lands or homes; and
secondly Palestinians inside the Occupied Territories who have been and continue to be
displaced due to land confiscation, house demolition, construction of the Wall and
revocation of residency rights in East Jerusalem (Badil Resource Centre, 2007a).
The United Nations Refugee Agencies
The United Nations created two separate agencies to deal specifically with the
Palestinian refugees. In December 1948, UN General Assembly Resolution 194(III),
set up the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP), with a brief
to work towards a solution based on the principles in Paragraph 11 of UNGA
Resolution 194 which stated a right of return or compensation for loss of property and
livelihood (Badil Resource Centre, 2005). However, by 1952 the UNCCP, which was
created to seek a solution to the refugees’ status, became unable to fulfil its purpose and
ceased effective operation (Badil Resource Centre, 2005; Rempel, 2006).
The United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East
(UNRWA) was established by UN General Assembly Resolution 302(IV) on 8
December 1949 with a brief to deal with operational aspects created by the
dispossession (Badil Resource Centre, 2005; Bowker, 2003; Pappe, 2006; Rempel,
2006). UNRWA was solely ‘a service provider in the camps which in a legal sense
were host government facilities’ (Bowker, 2003, p. 135). UNRWA began operations on
1 May 1950 with relief accounting for 69 per cent of its budget. Due to the crisis
situation UNRWA inherited a ‘largely reactive rather than proactive and strategic
approach’ (Bowker, 2003, p. 131). It was meant to be short term, until the crisis was
5
solved through UNGA Resolution 194, however by 1955 it had extended the relief
operations of providing tents, food staples and health care to include education, housing,
training and employment (Farsoun & Zacaria, 1997, p. 142). During this time the tents
were replaced by breeze block or concrete ‘shelters’. In cooperation with UNRWA,
since 1950 UNESCO ‘has been responsible for the UNESCO/UNRWA education
programme, covering basic education (elementary and lower secondary), technical and
vocational education, teacher training and a university scholarship programme’
(Samady, 1997).
UNRWA Refugee Camps
There are 58 recognised UNRWA refugee camps distributed throughout Jordan,
Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Most of the camps were established
between 1949 and 1953, a further ten were established after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war
and the following Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip. Some camps have been closed (UNRWA, 2010a). UNRWA refugee camps are
built on either state land or land leased from local landowners by the government or
authority of the country in which they are situated. UNRWA does not administer or
police the camps, which remain the responsibility of the host government or authority.
Therefore, administrative control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip camps has
changed over the period of 1948 to 2008 as the ultimate responsibility for those areas
has passed from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, to Egypt, to Israel and then in some
cases to the Palestinian Authority (Bowker, 2003; Schiff, 1995). However, UNRWA
does administer its own facilities within the camps such as education, health centres and
distribution centres (UNRWA, 2010a).
Not all UNRWA registered refugees live in camps. As at June 2006, 30 percent of
registered refugees were living in camps, while 60 percent lived outside of camps. In the
West Bank, the proportion of registered refugees living the nineteen camps was 26.1
percent, that is some 185,522 refugees; whilst in the eight Gaza Strip camps the
percentage was higher at 47.5 percent or 475,675 refugees (UNRWA, 2007). Originally
the camp refugees were housed in tents by the Red Cross and the UN. However over
time, as it became clear that the solution to the refugee problem was not going to be
found with any expediency, UNRWA permitted more permanent shelters to be built.
The camps changed from ‘wind-swept tent cities with hardly any services into highly
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congested mini cities or shanty towns with some infrastructure’ (Farsoun & Zacaria,
1997, p. 143).
In the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, UNRWA refugee camps are often close to, or
even within, cities and towns. They are readily accessible to Palestinian and
international visitors, except during specific periods of curfew. The camps consist of
concrete buildings, which, as the ground area of the camps has not altered, have
increased in density and height due to natural population growth. Thus today’s camps
typically contain three or four story flat roofed buildings in close proximity, with
narrow streets and pathways and extremely rare green areas. It is not unusual to find
small gardens or livestock on the roofs of housing blocks. Although conditions in the
camps do vary, overall the high population density, cramped living conditions and
inadequate basic infrastructure, such as roads and sewers, lead to a general paucity of
life style, particularly in extreme weather, either summer or winter. Electricity and
water are the responsibility of the host governments and are frequently intermittent or
lacking (Badil Resource Centre, 2006a).
An idea of the density can be gained from the area and population of the camps. In
Gaza, the most populous area, Beach Camp (Al Shati), which had a population of over
80,688 refugees in 2007, was built and is still situated on an area of less than one square
kilometre. The largest camp in the West Bank is Balata (population 22,878) built on
less than two square kilometres and the smallest Beit Jibrin (population 2,058), built
within the Bethlehem municipal boundaries on 20,000 square metres (UNRWA, 2010f).
It must be noted that refugees in camps do not own or lease the land on which their
shelters are built, they only have the right as registered refugees to use it while living in
the camps (UNRWA, 2010d). As stated above, not all registered refugees live in the
camps. Many have moved to locations outside the camps, often in districts near them,
and bought and built on land of their own. The participants in this study, however, are
families who are registered refugees living in camps within the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. The camps from which the participants come are Jenin, Qalandia, Aida, Beit
Jibrin, Deheisha, Al Aroub and Al Fawaar in the West Bank and Al Shati (Beach
Camp), Khan Younis and Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
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Research methods
The purpose of this study has been to develop substantive theory about how Palestinian
families living in refugee camps within the West Bank and Gaza Strip deal with their
engagement with formal education at primary and secondary level. The substantive
theory has been arrived at by uncovering the perspectives, actions and changes in
actions decided upon by the participants with regard to their engagement with education
across the four generations of participants who contributed to the study. The use of
symbolic interactionism has been appropriate in this circumstance as it not only
provided a theoretical framework through which to interrogate the ways in which
individual participants dealt with other individuals and situations, but also to understand
the importance of such social meanings that the collective group attached to the world
around them, including how they responded to those social meanings (Taylor &
Bogdan, 1998).
Qualitative methods of data collection were used, as they allowed the emergence of
patterns of ‘action and interaction between and among various types of social units’ or
actors (Strauss & Corbin, 1994, p. 278). Data triangulation, involving collecting data at
different dates and places and from the perspectives of different generations, has been
considered vital (Flick, 2006). Analysis of the data collected used grounded theory
methods, facilitating an investigation of “patterns of action and interaction” between
individuals and their situations (Strauss & Corbin, 1994, p. 278). In keeping with
grounded theory principles, analysis of initial data collection was followed by
subsequent data collection, following emerging directions in that analysis (Punch,
1998). Such perspectives, actions, changes in actions and subsequent changes in
perspectives that emerged from the data have formed the basis of substantive theory on
how the participants deal with their engagement with education in their particular social
environment, namely refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Justification for Study
Education is seen as essential for the nurturing, development and civil growth of
individuals, peoples and nations alike. The universal provision of that part of early
formal education which involves literacy, numeracy and social learning, often called
fundamental or basic education, has been a goal of most empires, states and
international organisations from the nineteenth century to the present day. Gender
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equity, particularly in the primary years, became an equally important focus during the
twentieth century.
Provision is one side of the educational coin, the part that can be legislated for,
financed, staffed and offered by the authorities in control of, or contributing to, the
relevant states or nations. The other side of the coin is the acceptance of, participation in
and engagement with the education on offer, by the individuals for whom the provision
is intended. Although participation can be deemed compulsory, meaningful
participation, or engagement with that education cannot be enforced. The ability to
benefit from education depends on a variety of factors. One of the foremost is intrinsic
motivation, which encompasses the individual’s desire to take part in the education
process. Extrinsic motivation, based on the individual’s perceived need for education is
another powerful motivating factor. Without both of the above, that is a personal
motivating force combined with an aim or goal, taking part in the structure of schooling
may become a shallow undertaking with limited potential for individual growth and
gain.
Education is an ongoing process which builds upon itself. Formal education intended
for young people or children in their developmental years requires the personal
motivations mentioned above as an ingredient for success. However, many young
people are subject to stressors, either from within themselves or from external factors,
which affect their ability to engage meaningfully with the learning process. In such
cases, in addition to motivation, young people may need to build resilience in the face
of such stressors in order to achieve their educational goals. A large proportion of young
people in today’s world undertake their early formal education in circumstances
including high degrees of conflict and trauma. Many are deemed ‘at risk’, that is at risk
of falling below the minimum standards of literacy, numeracy and intellectual
development which are currently seen as desirable to fulfil the internationally stated
agendas of building meaningful participation in the progress and development of each
individual’s humanity and social and national responsibilities. These circumstances of
conflict and trauma are specific to the perceptions of each individual child and may
equally be present in industrialised, ‘developed’ nations, as well as in those parts of the
world deemed ‘developing’.
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Given the international acceptance of the importance of universal, gender equal
education to the well being of our world and its inhabitants, and the vast amount of
financial and organisational resources tied up in the endeavour of providing such
education in all parts of the globe, it follows that an understanding of how young people
access both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to learn, including the ways in which they
build resilience in the face of obstacles to their learning, is vital to the success of the
education provided by all sectors, nationally and internationally.
Conclusion
This chapter has introduced the focus of this study. Information related to the group
under consideration has aimed to give a general understanding of the context and
circumstances within which the participants engage with education. Methods of
research have been briefly outlined and a justification for the study has been provided.
In order to provide a contextual space for enquiring into engagement with education in
contemporary times, Chapter Two looks at the historical background of education in the
wider region surrounding Palestine. Two main aspects are relevant to this study, firstly
the existence of a long established belief in the value of education from both cultural
and religious points of view, and secondly the effect on the indigenous Arab Palestinian
population of the manner in which both the provision and content of education have
been used as a means to achieving specific objectives by successive waves of non-
indigenous groups with interests in the region.
In Chapter Three the historical and cultural background of the refugees living in
UNRWA camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is examined in order to gain an
understanding of the wider context of their perceptions and behaviours with regard to
engagement with education. The importance of the group over the individual is
identified as providing a solid basis for personal and group resilience in times of
difficulty, whilst a group characteristic of proactive response to perceived injustices
underpins resilience and forward motion, even under extraordinary circumstances of
difficulty.
Chapter Four, ‘The Palestinian Voice’, identifies and discusses a body of literature
written mainly by Palestinians, in English. The literature has been selected from the
vast body of works available on the subject of Palestine, and does not include
10
comparisons with literature relating to other refugee situations. Rather than locating
education pertaining to the sixty two year old Palestinian refugee case in the context of
other current or resolved refugee situations, the intention of Chapter Four is to
illuminate specifically Palestinian perspectives which have emerged during the course
of the study as relevant to the central research question. The literature is viewed in three
sections. The first, ‘Palestinian Loss’, consistently affirms the belief that a grave
miscarriage of justice has been suffered over the last century, unsolicited by Palestinian
actions. Secondly, the ‘Palestinian Case’ is explained through examining the current
situation related to Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law. The third
section, ‘Palestinian Resilience’, presents literature related to the conditions in which
Palestinian children go to school and their response to those conditions.
Chapter Five describes the use of symbolic interactionism as a theoretical framework
through which to interrogate the way in which the participants in the study deal with the
situations they experience by engaging with education. Examples of data collected over
a period of four years and the inclusion of participants from ten camps across the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, including two families of three generations and one extended
family, allow a view of the development of the participants’ perspectives over a period
of sixty two years.
A description of the findings which have emerged from the data is provided in Chapter
Six. Two main themes, ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’ and ‘Building the Future’ lead to
the contention that within Palestinian refugee society each individual is accepted as
responsible for the collective future of the group. Consequently, it becomes an
individual’s duty to form and apply specific strategies for engagement with education in
order to assure the future and to empower the collective group ‘Palestinian Refugees’ to
continue in existence.
Chapter Seven will present a discussion of the two main themes, ‘Being a Palestinian
Refugee’ and ‘Building the Future’, in the light of literature dealing with engagement
with education and resilience in education and conflict. The discussion of the first
theme will look at the nature of West Bank and Gaza Strip camp refugee society and its
relationship to the refugees’ successful engagement with education. In the discussion of
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the second theme, the focus will be on the proactive and positive elements of young
refugees’ attitudes to their lives and education.
In Chapter Eight a summary of the study reported in this thesis will be followed by a
section on the limitations of the research. Implications arising from the study include
questioning the shifting baseline of ‘normal’ where the daily lives of Palestinian refugee
children intersect with their educational aspirations. The chapter concludes with
recommendations for future practice and research.
The following chapter presents an overview of the historical background of education in
the wider region surrounding Palestine, including Ottoman Turkey and Egypt.
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CHAPTER TWO
BACKGROUND OF EDUCATION IN THE REGION
Introduction
This Chapter examines the background of education in the region, from Turkey to
Egypt. Two main aspects concerning education are relevant to this study. Firstly, the
existence of a long established belief in the value of education and secondly, the manner
in which both the provision and content of education have been used as a means to
achieving specific objectives by successive waves of groups with interests in the region.
Information will be presented in sections, corresponding to the following five eras. The
first section will give a general overview of education available up to the 19th century,
which was provided mainly through religious bodies or with Ottoman Governmental
requirements in mind. The second section will outline the developments in the nature
and availability of education in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt during the late 19th and
early 20th centuries. Of importance are the importation of European ideas and the
modernisation of Islamic educational thought. The third section will comment on the
influence of the Imperial British format of education in the wider region during the first
half of the 20th century and, through the British Mandate, in Palestine. The fourth
section will focus on the second half of the 20th century and briefly describe the
infrastructure, delivery and curricula of the education system in Palestine under the
successive controls of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Egypt and Israel (through the
Israeli Military and Civil Authorities), including the United Nations’ contribution to
refugee education in the region after 1950. Finally, an outline will be provided of the
current provision of education in the Palestinian Territories through the Palestinian
Ministry of Education, established in 1994, and of the development of the National
Curriculum by the Palestine Curriculum Development Centre.
The wider region
The term ‘Levant’ has been used by Europeans since the 15th century to describe the
wider general area encompassing what is now Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus, Iraq and
Israel and the Palestinian Territories. This area is known amongst Arab peoples as part
of ‘the Fertile Crescent’ and ‘bilad al shams’. It was important because of the fertile
land it contained; its sea boundaries and its position mid way between the East and the
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West, giving it both an economic significance in world trade and a cultural importance
as a meeting place of differing peoples and civilisations. Civilisation, religion and
learning have formed an important part of the ‘Levantine outlook’, stereotyped by
Europeans, not always in a positive manner, as quick thinking, open minded, lively,
intelligent and informed. For centuries therefore, the area known as Palestine, as a part
of this wider area, has been the recipient of a cross section of cultural influences from
both East and West, including the Arab and Ottoman Empires and European and British
colonial ventures. In the case of Palestine, this is not only because of its geographical
placement at the edge of the Eastern Mediterranean connecting the West and the East
but, in addition, due to its role as the ‘Holy Land’, of major significance to the three
religions ‘of the book’ which share common mythology and foundations based in the
area.
Up to the mid 19th century
For children, a limited form of education, mainly consisting of reading, writing and
some numeracy, was disseminated through places of religion, in the case of Islam and
Christianity, mosque and church schools (Kramer, 2002; Starrett, 2004). Young people
who showed academic ability, usually from the privileged classes, continued their
education to become either bureaucrats, destined to work in government, or religious
scholars. The main tasks of the latter focussed on the interpretation of religious matters
to those who had not studied, and included the judiciary, local government and teaching
(Kramer, 2002).
Provision of education for Muslim students was administered through schools attached
to mosques. The main agenda behind this schooling was that students should learn to
memorise and recite the Holy Q’ran and become familiar with the correct rituals needed
for worship. Reading and sometimes writing were achieved as a part of this learning;
however the classical Arabic of the Q’ran was not the dialect, or even the language,
spoken by most of the Muslim students in the wider region. Therefore, achieving a true
understanding of the text was not part of the curriculum of the mosque schools, but was
reserved for those students considered academically talented enough to proceed to a
madrassa, where they learned to understand and interpret the Q’ran, studying other
disciplines in the light of Q’ranic knowledge. Graduates from madrassas formed the
‘Ulamma’, or body of learned scholars and judges in Islamic law (Kramer, 2002;
Starrett, 2004).
14
For Christians, Palestine, known as ‘the Holy Land’, contained many sites of religious
importance. Under the Ottoman Empire, worship at and maintenance of religious sites
was undertaken by the relevant religious organisations through agreements with the
Ottoman Government. An example of how this interacted with education in the region
is the influence of the Catholic Franciscan Order, which had originally been granted
custodianship of the Holy sites in Palestine by a decree from Pope Clemens VI in the
mid 14th century, and despite a fluctuating influence over the following centuries,
remains a central custodial presence in the Holy Sites today (Custodia di Terra Sancta,
2007). As part of their custodianship, the Franciscans hosted Christian pilgrims during
their visits to the various sites across the Holy Land, and the need for local guides who
understood foreign languages and Catholic worship to assist the monks with the
pilgrims was a priority contributing to the form of education offered by the Christians.
From the 16th century there are written records of schools established by the Franciscans
to educate male children from the indigenous Christian population, both Catholic and
Greek Orthodox. The children were from families which acted as tour guides for the
pilgrims and they were intended to become tour guides themselves. The instruction
provided the children with elementary education and ensured fluency in Italian.
According to Fr Halim Nujaim, quoting from records of the General Chapter of the
Franciscan Friars, Toledo, Spain 1645, by 1645 the Friars were formally responsible for
‘raising the children of the guides and interpreters serving in the convents of Jerusalem,
Bethlehem and Nazareth and instructing them in the principles of the Christian religion
until the age of nine’ (Nujaim, 2005). In 1687 the curriculum included humanities,
Italian, religious singing and religious principles. A letter written in 1767 also describes
a vocational school at a convent in Jerusalem which taught carpentry, iron smithing and
printing and mentions that some students ‘conduct commercial activities in the East and
in Europe’ (Nujaim, 2005).
In the various divisions and regions of the Ottoman Empire, the administrative details
such as tax collection, census taking and conscription were organised and carried out at
local level by indigenous clan and religious leaders, who then reported back to the
‘Sublime Porte’, the centre of authority in Istanbul (Starrett, 2004). To enable and
facilitate this structure of government, education in the regional areas was designed to
create a literate, Turkish speaking elite within the colonised peoples, able to run the
15
local administration of each area (Assad, 2000). The language of instruction in
government schools was therefore Turkish and schools were located in the main urban
centres of each region. Two separate districts covered the area of Palestinian lands, one
governed from Istanbul, the other part of the sub district of Beirut (R. Khalidi, 1997).
The leading clans in each area formed a minority elite class and it was mainly their sons
who benefited from the schools in the main towns of each area. The majority of the
population, who lived in rural areas and did not benefit from education, remained
illiterate. Arabic was used as the language of instruction only in mosque schools where
the education provided was religious rather than a preparation for civil administration
(Sayigh, 1979; World University Service (UK), 1993).
Changes in the 19th and early 20th centuries
The change to a curriculum focussed on secular subjects was part of a general cultural
and intellectual expansion during the 19th century which lessened the hold of religion on
learning. In Britain this change was formalised as late as 1862, when schools could not
obtain a government grant if religion was the central part of their curriculum (Starrett,
1998). At a similar time, educational changes were taking place in both the Ottoman
Empire and Egypt, where the interest in a taking broader approach to learning was part
of a movement towards a greater integration with European affairs (Kramer, 2002;
Starrett, 2004).
The Ottoman Tanzimat were part of a reform movement which ‘sought to transform a
disjointed social and feudal order into a modernised state’ (Starrett, 2004, p. 45).
Included were changes to the established format of Islamic religious and legal training,
which were followed by the eventual secularization of post Ottoman Turkey and the
abolishment of the Caliphate in 1924. In addition, the Tanzimat included an upgrade
and secularisation of the education system. The previously narrow concept of education
as a pathway to either religious learning or civil administration for an elite few was
broadened. Changes which started in 1846 included plans for a government primary and
secondary system, and by 1869 free and compulsory education were decreed (Kramer,
2002; Starrett, 2004). The implementation of these changes was not backed up by
economic support or initiatives in teacher training and therefore they were not followed
through to actuality in the distant regional areas of the Empire. However, despite the
general lack of actual opportunity, the powerful idea of education as something for all
people to aspire to was established from this time (Kramer, 2002).
16
As mentioned above, in the Palestinian urban centres, education for literacy and
numeracy had been funded by the Religious organisations and missions for centuries. In
the nineteenth century, however, due to another Ottoman reform, the Tanzimat Fermani
of 1839, which gave greater freedoms to religious groups in the Empire and allowed an
expansion of the number and type of schools available, there was a steady increase in
the number of private religious institutions, especially in the main Holy centres
(Kramer, 2002). The already established Franciscan schools were consolidated and in
1846 Pope Pius IX required that tuition be extended to girls as well as boys in every
parish of the Holy Land. In 1841, the first girl’s school was opened in Jerusalem and in
1853 the Sisters of St Joseph founded the Terra Sancta School for girls in Bethlehem,
which today runs from kindergarten to 12th grade with approximately 950 students
(Associazione di Terra Santa, 2010). The Lutheran Church first opened an orphanage
for girls in Jerusalem in 1851 and increased its mission to include a larger school, a
deaconess school and a teacher training program by the outbreak of WW1. Lutheran
educational operations were resumed in 1925 and continue to be an important presence
in Palestine today (ELCJHL, 2010). The Quakers’ equally important and continuous
educational presence was started with the Friends Girls School, founded in 1869, and
the Friends Boys School in 1901 (The Friends School, 2010). Under the auspices of the
Anglican Church, St Georges School in Jerusalem was opened in 1899.
In Egypt a ‘cultural, educational and linguistic revival’ referred to as ‘The Awakening’
(al Nahda) (R. Khalidi, 1997) followed the outward looking agenda of the ruler
Mohamed Ali and his dynasty, who took control in 1805 (Kramer, 2002). As part of his
overall programme he sent Egyptian scholars, such as Rifat al Tatawi, to Europe, from
where they brought back modern European ideas which were then interpreted from the
standpoint of their own cultural back ground. It is important to understand that the idea
of European thought and learning was not accepted by all. To counter the growing
interest in European thought and philosophy, scholars such as Jalal al Afghani
highlighted the strengths of Islamic learning and thought and looked for a revival of the
‘Golden days of Arabic learning and scholarship’, the reality of which was later put into
practice by Egyptian teachers such as Hassan Al-Bana and Said Qu’tub (Starrett, 2004).
European style learning, imported to Egypt in the 19th century, formed the basis for a
new model of education based on literacy and numeracy (Langohor, 2005). The
17
movement towards a Western style education was accelerated under British
colonisation, which started in 1882, when it became more of a reality due to British
government and Western donor funding. An article entitled Popular Education in
Egypt, in the New York Times of May 2, 1900, displays both the enthusiasm for
extending education and the agenda behind it:
Scarcely had the last hostile gun been fired at Ondurman when Lord Kitchener’s
scheme for the Gordon Memorial College was inviting popular subscriptions in
England ....The conquerors are diligently carrying out the obligations which
civilization has imposed upon them, .... the vanquished are eagerly responding to
the new conditions with which they find themselves surrounded. (Anon, 1900)
The priority of teacher training was put in place by the British as they gradually
changed the nature of education, even in the mosque schools where funding became
contingent on upgrading the curriculum to the new model (Langohor, 2005). When in
1922 the British handed over control of the education sector to the Egyptian
Government, the administration, delivery and content of the system was firmly in place,
including both government and private schools which offered a teacher centred,
academic curriculum leading to a final matriculation exam designed to determine
entrance to university (Langohor, 2005).
The First Half of the 20th Century
In a similar manner to the Ottomans, in Palestine the British predominantly encouraged
education of the elite classes designated to take civil service positions in the colonial
infrastructure (R. Khalidi, 2006). In government schools, the overall aim of schooling
was literacy and numeracy and although the language of instruction was changed from
Turkish to Arabic, the curriculum reflected the values that the British wished to
inculcate into the group which they were targeting as useful for administration and local
control. Indigenous culture, beliefs and values were absent from the curriculum and
remained so, particularly as the British increasingly struggled with manifestations of
Arab nationalism (Sherman, 1997; World University Service (UK), 1993). In general,
schooling continued only to the sixth grade, in village schools it usually terminated at
the fourth grade, following which students who wanted to continue had to relocate and
find places in schools in cities and urban centres (Lynd, Bahour, & Bahour, 1994;
Sayigh, 1979; Tibawi, 1956). In the mosque schools both boys and girls attended but
18
girls learned reading only, as it was not considered culturally desirable or necessary for
women to achieve full literacy (R. Khalidi, 2006; Lynd et al., 1994). However, in the
larger private schools in main centres such as Jerusalem, girls from upper class families
were included and fully educated (Sherman, 1997).
The curriculum offered by the private schools reflected the beliefs and values of the
providers. The following quotation from an educator of the time who taught at St
George’s Anglican School for Boys gives a clear view of the British attitude towards
curriculum content:
It is an absolute fact that the boys in the schools here find their Arabic poets dull
and uninteresting, while they lap down Shakespeare with avidity .... they are
likely to find, on the whole, more akin to their own aspirations in Nelson and
Cromwell than in Salah ed Din and Suleiman the Magnificent. (Sherman, 1997,
pp. 72,73)
Despite the overall caution with which the British approached the spread of education,
particularly to the peasant classes, literacy did increase over the period of the Mandate.
The 20 percent of Palestinian Arab children who were in school in 1922 had risen to
44.5 percent by the end of the Mandate in 1947, that figure included both rural and
urban children. However over half of those children, some 60 percent, were in the
private schools in the main urban centres (R. Khalidi, 2006, pp. 15,22).
The second half of the 20th century
Following the establishment of the State of Israel on 77 percent of Mandated Palestine
in 1948, the remaining 33 percent fell under the control of two separate Arab states.
Eastern Palestine was annexed by Transjordan, and came to be known as the West
Bank. In 1950 Transjordan, including the West Bank, became the Hashemite Kingdom
of Jordan, ruled by King Abdullah I. The Gaza Strip retained its identity as a part of
Palestine and was administered by Egyptian military forces as a separate territory
(Chatty & Lewando Hundt, 2005). Transjordan was originally part of the British
Mandate, with King Abdullah I recognised as nominal ruler from 1923. His successors
were immersed in a British and Western style education, both at school and military
college. Abdullah’s son, Talal, graduated from the British Royal Military Academy
Sandhurst in 1939, while his grandson Hussein, the future King, was educated at first in
19
Egypt at Victoria College, Alexandria, then at Harrow before going to Sandhurst. The
current King, Abdullah II, whose mother was English, was educated at St Edmund’s
school in Surrey, Eaglebrook School and Deerfield academy in the US; Pembroke
College, Oxford and Sandhurst Military Academy.
Government schools, therefore, continued to deliver the traditional British structure of
education systems across Jordan and Palestine, that is to say, teacher centred learning in
primary and secondary schooling leading to a matriculation exam intended to be used as
a university entrance requirement. Furthermore, the content of curricula continued to be
non-indigenous as far as Palestinians were concerned. No mention was made in either
curriculum of Palestinian past history, ‘the catastrophe’ of 1948, or the subsequent
refugee crises. The Egyptian curriculum after Nasser took power in 1952 focussed on
Pan Arab nationalism, while the Jordanian reluctance to focus on Palestinian issues in
the interests of lessening conflict within its borders meant that the subjects of
dispossession and transfer were regarded as neither necessary nor desirable (Nicolai,
2007).
In neither case was spending on the infrastructure of government education in the Gaza
Strip or the newly annexed part of Jordan west of the river a high priority (Nicolai,
2007; Schiff, 1995). Despite the massive difference in the demography and number of
the populations in both areas due to the influx of refugees, particularly in Gaza, the
existing infrastructure of local organisation was kept in place by both Jordan and Egypt,
that is, local leadership by the elite, educated members of the most important Palestinian
families or clans (Bowker, 2003; Farsoun & Zacaria, 1997).
However, as continued development of education in the wider region was seen as
important, UNESCO, established in 1945, held the Third Session of its General
Conference in Beirut in 1948 to show ‘the importance it accorded to the Arab League’
which had been created in 1945 (UNESCO, 2009). Following the displacement of
Palestinians in 1948, the UN created an agency specifically for the refugee situation. In
1949, UN General Assembly adopted resolution 302 (IV) on 8 December establishing
UNRWA as ‘a service provider in the camps which in a legal sense were host
government facilities’ (Bowker, 2003, p. 135). UNRWA began operations on 1 May
1950, taking over from the small number of temporary schools already existing in the
camps and establishing schools for all refugee children. In the West Bank and the Gaza
20
Strip, curricula lead to the Jordanian or the Egyptian university entrance examinations
respectively (Rigby, 1995; Schiff, 1995). UNESCO formally prohibited any use of
inciteful material inside its classrooms and therefore texts provided by Egypt or Jordan
were censored by UNESCO, further ensuring a lack of indigenous Palestinian content
(Bowker, 2003; Schiff, 1995).
The problem of texts used in schools was compounded after 1967, when the
administration of education in the West Bank was taken over firstly by the Israeli
Military, and then Civil Administrations. The Jordanian and Egyptian matriculation
exams remained in use, however Israeli censorship of texts led to problems with
accessing information needed for success in those exams. According to Assad, between
1967 and 1978, 1788 books were taken out of use (Assad, 2000), whilst a double
censorship was applied in UNRWA schools, firstly through UNESCO and then by the
Israeli administration (Schiff, 1995). In addition, the West Bank became officially
known as Judea and Samaria, which nomenclature was printed on all educational
materials used in schools, effectively eradicating even the concept of any indigenous
ownership of education. A lack of modernisation of curricula, added to limits on
building infrastructure, led to a situation in which out of date information was presented
to students in buildings which could not accommodate the natural population growth
(Schiff, 1995). Double shift schools existed in dilapidated buildings, either housing two
completely separate schools with separate staffs in one building, or one school with a
division of junior grades in the morning and with senior grades in the afternoon. Classes
of up to 60 students, seated on fixed wooden benches in front of a blackboard, learning
a culturally irrelevant and out of date curriculum were the norm, a fact consistently
deplored by the UN in reports of the time (United Nations, 1979).
The 21st century
Education in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is currently under the control of the
Ministry of Education and Higher Education, one of the Ministries of the Palestinian
National Authority. The Ministry took over control of education in August 1994 as part
of the infrastructure of national government set up following Declaration of Principles
and the Oslo Accords 1993. It is responsible for provision, administration and financing
of government pre-school, school and university education; the development and
updating of the national curriculum; testing, including the Tawjihi matriculation
examinations; and teacher training and in-servicing. In addition, the MoEHE is
21
responsible for licensing and overseeing United Nations, private and non-governmental
schools (Christina, 2006; PASSIA, 2007; Rigby, 1995). In 2006 there were more than
one million students and 39,000 teachers in nearly 2000 schools (DCI/PS, 2006, p. 53).
Under the Palestinian Child Law of 2005, primary and secondary education is free in
Government Schools and compulsory until the completion of ‘higher basic schooling’,
which is Grade 10 (Nicolai, 2007). The current school education system follows a
kindergarten to year 12 model. Grades 11 and 12 are the post compulsory grades,
providing for both academic and vocational studies. The academic streams lead to the
Tawjihi, the matriculation type exam which provides the results from which University
places are offered. The technical and vocational stream provides a pathway to
employment in the non-academic sectors (DCI/PS, 2006; Nicolai, 2007).
Within the West Bank and Gaza Strip three types of schools are available, government,
UNRWA and private. MoEHE figures in 2004 showed that the government directly ran
76 percent of schools and educated 67 percent of students, whilst UNRWA
administered 13 percent of schools and taught 24 percent of students. Private schools
took up 11 percent of the total, but serviced only 6 percent of the students (Nicolai,
2007, p. 27). The UNRWA schools, which serve the registered refugee population, run
from grade 1 to 9 only, following which students who continue their education join the
government or private schools (Rigby, 1995). Private schools are mostly funded and
administered by Christian and Islamic religious organisations, and are usually open to
both Christian and Muslim sectors of the population. Primary and secondary education
in government and UNRWA schools is not co-educational, although there are moves to
offer mixed classes in the early grades. Mixed gender education is provided by some
private schools and pre-schools, however the majority are also single gender.
In 2000, the first Palestinian national curriculum was introduced to schools in Grades
One and Six, with full implementation completed in 2006. The goals of the National
Curriculum reflect the indigenous Palestinian desire for an understanding and
appreciation of their own past history, in addition to a strong focus on citizenship
values, Human Rights and knowledge of the world in general (Samady, 1997). This
curriculum is now used in all government, UN and private schools and is the required
curriculum leading to the Tawjihi exams. In addition, under licence from the MoEHE,
private schools financed and resourced by a variety of religious and non-governmental
22
organisations are able to offer extra subjects alongside the National Curriculum, to
employ international teachers and import and experiment with international teaching
methods and approaches (Christina, 2006; Rigby, 1995).
The timeline set for development and delivery of the National Curriculum has been
almost completely adhered to and according to the World Bank:
a key accomplishment in the development of education in Palestine in this last
five year period has been the construction of a national curriculum, followed by
the editing and distribution of text books, and the delivery of targeted in service
training to all teachers for curriculum implementation. (World Bank Middle East
and North Africa Development Group, 2006, p. 4)
Teacher training, historically one of the biggest problems in implementing education
plans in the region, has also been successfully addressed:
Since 2000, almost every teacher in the West Bank and Gaza has been provided
with opportunities for training, another goal set by 2000-2005 Education
Planning. Results of the impact evaluation show that many of the teachers view
the provision as well as the outcomes of the training positively. From the point
of view of institution strategy development, the creation of a national Institute of
educational training (NIET) is an important step in the right direction. (World
Bank Middle East and North Africa Development Group, 2006, p. 4)
Conclusion
This chapter has discussed the historical background to the variety of influences that
have come to bear on educational thinking and availability in modern Palestine. It has
shown that religion formed the basis of education for most of the historical period up to
the middle of the 19th century. Developments in education administration, content and
availability which took place in the 19th century during the latter stages of the Ottoman
Empire increased the availability of education generally and incorporated Western ideas
into the approach to curricula. Concurrent developments occurring in Egypt, both
before, during and after the British conquest at the end of the 19th century, affected
educational thinking and discourse. Despite the fact that practical developments in
educational law and curricular content in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt themselves
responded to outside influences from Europe and Britain, the lengthy cultural heritage
23
of Islam and the Arab world in learning and scholarship retained its place as an
important influence on Arab appreciation of and engagement with learning.
In the 20th century the demise of the Ottoman Empire led to the British Mandate in
Palestine, followed by the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and the
occupation of the Palestinian Territories in 1967, causing waves of fragmentation which
affected the administration, provision and content of education to Palestinians. The
establishment of the United Nations and UNESCO in the middle of the 20th century had
a direct bearing on the provision of education, particularly after 1950, in the Palestinian
refugee camps, through the UNRWA school system.
However, despite the constant presence of education in the region over a long period, at
no time were the curricula in any way related to the situation or national needs of the
Palestinian people. Instead, embedded within those curricula were the agendas and
expectations of the various providers. The situation was resolved by the establishment
of the Palestinian National Curriculum through the Palestinian National Authority
Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
The next chapter will look at the historical background and cultural heritage of refugee
families living in the UNRWA camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It will
investigate the socially cohesive and at times politically proactive peasant villagers of
ancient Palestine and discuss their transformation from a mainly illiterate farming
community into a highly literate group of refugees. Specific reference will be made to
the attitudes to and expectations of the education that has been variously offered to or
withheld from the villagers, and then refugees, over the 19th and 20th centuries.
24
CHAPTER THREE
BACKGROUND OF THE REFUGEES
Introduction
This chapter examines the background of the refugees from three perspectives. Firstly, it
will provide general information about the physical and social circumstances of the
peasant farmers in the 19th and 20th centuries, including a description of the clan system
which formed the infrastructure of their society. Secondly, it will present an account of
the peasant readiness to resist and rebel against perceived injustices in spite of their
isolation from the main urban and economic centres. Thirdly, it will look at the nature
and type of educational opportunities available to the villagers during Ottoman, British
Mandate and immediately post-Mandate periods and discuss the manner in which the
villagers’ social heritage and proactive attitude to challenges informed their response to
the education provided in refugee camps by the United Nations.
A study undertaken within the interpretivist paradigm should pay attention to the
participants within their own particular social setting. In order to come closer to an
understanding of the perspectives of participants and the ways in which they deal with
their own world, it is important to investigate the culture, traditions and social norms
that make up that world. It will be recalled that the participants in this study are refugees
and displaced persons. However, there are some interesting circumstances surrounding
their refugee status. Whereas many refugees, for example those in Australia, have to
forge a new life within a foreign country and strange culture, learning to speak a
different language, the Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are
refugees in their own indigenous land, where the language and dialect which they speak
are native and the culture surrounding them is that of their forefathers. So close are their
places of origin that they can, in some instances, actually see their own former farm
lands from the camps in which they now live.
In addition to the above observation, in terms of culture, tradition and heritage sixty two
years (the length of their refugee status) is not a lengthy period, therefore the current
refugees are still closely connected to their past ways. For the purposes of this study, it
needs to be clear that the participants originated in and are still part of an Eastern
Mediterranean or ‘Near Eastern’ Arab culture. As inhabitants of the ‘Holy Land’ of the
Jews, Christians and Muslims and as part of the Eastern Mediterranean area, known
25
historically by Europeans as the Levant and by the Arab world as The Fertile Crescent
or Bilad Al-Sham, the indigenous Palestinian population has been the recipient of
exchanges of varied cultural, religious, political and economic influences over centuries,
including Islamic, Christian, Jewish, Arab, European, Ottoman, and British (R. Khalidi,
2006; Sabbagh, 2006). This historical overlay has resulted in a great degree of
sophistication in the contemporary culture, allowing for a breadth and depth in
understanding of the world at large. It is important that the perspectives of the
participants are not interpreted through the lens of purely Western culture, as that may
limit any understanding of their perspectives and actions.
As stated in the introduction to this chapter, the majority of registered refugees who live
in camps originate from a peasant villager heritage. An understanding of both their
traditional socio-economic organisation and their long term pattern of pro-active
response to perceived socio-political threats will provide a framework for investigating
the mores and cultural norms of the current camp society, which underlie the refugees’
ongoing resilience in the face of continuous conflict and trauma. The importance of the
group over the individual is fundamental to the thinking and operation of the Palestinian
psyche, both traditional and modern, and should not be understated. It can be seen in
operation in both areas mentioned above – the close knit protective bond of social
organisation found in the camps and the accepted and respected proactive response to
perceived injustices perpetrated by those in control of the refugees’ lives.
Socio-economic organisation
The importance of the group over the individual is inherent in the traditional social
organisation of all the indigenous Arab inhabitants in the region, both Muslim and
Christian. For centuries Palestinian society was organised and controlled by a system of
kinship dominated by patrilineal clans called hamulas (Tamari, 2002). Each person in
the region, whether in villages or cities, belonged to a large extended family or clan,
known as their ‘hamula’. The clans originated in specific areas across the districts
comprising historic Palestine, major urban clans centred in the larger towns and cities,
the rural clans centred on villages surrounded by the lands used for farming. Although
individual villages could contain members of more than one clan, those villages tended
to be in groups, geographically close to each other (Farsoun & Zacaria, 1997; Sabbagh,
2006; Sayigh, 1979). The hamula leaders ‘provided the individual within the nuclear
family collective protection in all aspects of his life’ (Farsoun & Zacaria, 1997, p. 25).
26
The hamula leader was the most senior male of the clan and took responsibility for all
economic and social organisation and decision making within the clan, including
distribution of farming land, marriage arrangements and arbitration of family disputes
(Bowker, 2003). The actual physical structure of villages and buildings reflected the
clan system. Hamula members lived in groups of houses which often surrounded central
courtyards or open areas. The positioning of a house within the group reflected the
degree of closeness to the leading male of the particular branch of the clan. Sons moved
to their own house after marriage but often shared the same courtyard. Cousins’ houses
were more distant but were built within the same area of the village (Amiry & Tamari,
1989).
Distribution of land for farming was originally one of the main tasks of the hamula
leaders, as they were responsible for negotiating land use both within their own and
between other hamulas. Subsistence farming was carried out through a traditional
method known as the musha’a system, in which the land around the villages was shared
by the members of the villages. The land was divided into sections according to its
arability and rotated amongst the farming families to ensure fairness and equity within
the community, while common land, state or miri land, was shared by all. The essence
of this system was that the land was collectively rather than individually worked and
used. ‘Ownership’ was through established use, or usufruct, rather than written title,
each village being surrounded by areas of land traditionally farmed by the members of
the village. The community of each village was the unit which fostered, supported and
worked towards the wellbeing of its individual members (Bowker, 2003; Farsoun &
Zacaria, 1997).
Marriage arrangements were an important part of the economic strength of the clans and
Hamula leaders also controlled marriage and inheritance, thus cementing their power
over the economy of the clan. Marriages between cousins protected land from moving
to the influence of other clans, whilst for inheritance purposes women’s portions of land
were often added to the hamula leader’s (Abdo, 2000). To avoid ‘parcelisation’ of land
which would make it less effective for farming, inheritance was through the oldest son,
keeping power in the hands of the oldest male of each generation. The village leader
was the leader of the most influential hamula represented and traditionally taxation
commitments were organised by the leader, rather than through agents appointed
27
externally by the Ottoman government (R. Khalidi, 2006). Consequently, villages were
able to preserve a great deal of autonomy from the outside world and rely upon their
own organisational abilities to ensure the prosperity of their communities (Tamari,
2002).
The changes in land tenure that began with the Ottoman Land Laws of 1858 removed
much of the power of the hamulas and their leaders in economic and political
organization. They precipitated the start of a series of significant alterations to both
traditional ways of life and the security of the peasant farmers’ subsistence on the land.
Following implementation of the Ottoman Land Code of 1858, land had to be formally
registered and the owners taxed individually, thus increasing the power of the Ottoman
Government to effectively supervise taxation (Abdo, 2000). In the village communities
much of the village land was registered in the name of the resident hamula leaders or in
the name of other important clan members living in urban areas. Once registered, land
could be treated as an economic asset instead of a groups’ subsistence and sold to
absentee landlords, who came from a rising class of merchants, industrialists and
professional elites (R. Khalidi, 1997; Kramer, 2002). However, these changes, whilst
precipitating the end of the economy of subsistence farming era, did not alter the basic
structure of social organisation and the importance of hamula membership (Bowker,
2003; Farsoun & Zacaria, 1997).
Psychological orientation
The registration of land under private ownership at times presented the peasants with
life altering crises, as most peasants did not register the land they used in their own
names. In cases where they continued to use the land in the traditional way after
individual ownership of the land was registered by an absentee landlord, the peasants
were often not aware the land had been registered until it was sold on to a third party
who wished to take possession of it. Only at that point would they discover that they
had lost their livelihood (R. Khalidi, 1997, 2006; Kramer, 2002).
Because the first Jewish colonies, established in the late 19th century, were run along
more traditional lines of colonisation, in which a small group of foreign owners use the
land for their own benefit whilst using local agricultural labourers to farm it, early
peasant resistance to leaving land they no longer had the right to use, such as in the
village of Yahudiyya in 1886, was resolved when the peasants were able to lease the
28
land back or to work seasonally on parts of it (R. Khalidi, 1997). However, from 1905,
with the second wave of Jewish immigration, or second aliyah, the immigrants wished
to work their own lands and did not require or want Arab labour. From this time on,
dispossession of the peasant farmers grew steadily as a source of discontent and
conflict. In a case in the Tiberias District in 1908, although they had no legal title to the
land which had been sold on by a merchant family in Beirut, the peasants refused to be
removed from the land and accept the loss.
Despite their status as uneducated, illiterate peasant farmers living in isolated networks
of rural communities, peasant resistance to the growing threat of dispossession played
an important role ‘in making the issue of Zionism a central one in Arab political
discourse before 1914’ (R. Khalidi, 1997, p. 111). By April 1909, the Ottoman
government had sanctioned the formation of a Jewish paramilitary group to guard the
fields of the Galilee against the disposed peasants who had resorted to armed conflict
(R. Khalidi, 1997). Peasant organised political groups led the main armed resistance to
the Zionists in the 1920’s and the British in the 1930’s (Farsoun & Zacaria, 1997).
These groups were added to by the growing class of urban poor created from those
peasants already dispossessed (Sayigh, 1979).
By the time the British Mandate was established in 1922, violent riots and political
conflict had flared up on frequent occasions and were severe enough for the authorities
to resort to commissions of enquiry to ascertain the causes. The US organised 1919
King-Crane Commission and the British Government’s 1921 Haycroft Commission;
1930 Shaw Commission Report, Hope Simpson report and Passfield White Paper; and
the 1937 Peel Commission all identified two main problems as being Palestinian
discontent over lack of self determination and massive disquiet over Jewish immigration
and land purchases, with their deleterious social and economic effects (Farsoun &
Zacaria, 1997).
The dual injustices of taxation without representation and land dispossession were the
main cause of the three year revolt from 1936 to 1939. In 1928, the British introduced a
new land tax and between 1931 and 1936, the ratio of immigrants in the population
nearly doubled, rising from 16 percent to 28 percent (Farsoun & Zacaria, 1997, p. 104).
Leading up to the outbreak of the revolt, between 1932 and 1935, five new Palestinian
political parties were formed, with representation through National Committees in the
29
towns and larger villages, once again including the villagers in a national grouping. All
five parties joined to form the Arab Higher Committee, which started the rebellion by
calling for civil disobedience and a general strike (W. Khalidi, 1984; Kramer, 2002),
followed by armed rebellion, which was continued with some success, particularly in
the hill areas where the peasants were the most populous (R. Khalidi, 2006). The
contribution of the peasant villagers can be seen in the 1936 -39 revolt, which was
organised by the urban and rural populations, working together against the British and
Zionist interests, with most of the actual fighting carried out by armed groups of
villagers and urban poor. Many of the dispossessed peasants had moved to the coastal
cities in search of work, forming a new group of urban poor which provided the fighters
for the rebel leader Sheik Iz al Din al Qassam, the ‘first articulate public apostle of
armed rural resistance’, killed by the British in 1935 (R. Khalidi, 2006, p. 107).
The revolt started in 1936 and lasted until 1939, during which time the British
conducted another enquiry. The Peel Commission found that the causes were the
Palestinian desire for independence and their fear of the establishment of a Jewish
National Home on their lands (Kramer, 2002). The Commission’s recommendation to
end the Mandate and partition Palestine into two states with a British zone around
Jerusalem caused the fighting to continue with renewed vigour. To put down the revolt,
the British used extreme, and still familiar, methods such as curfews, administrative
detention, house demolitions, destruction of crops, summary executions and exile.
According to Khalidi some 5,000 rebels were killed, 10,000 wounded and an unknown
number exiled or forced to flee. In addition, by 1939 there were 5,679 detained (R.
Khalidi, 2006).
Within ten years of the end of the failed 1936 -39 rebellion against the British, the
Mandate was terminated and the peasant villagers had been affected by events they
perceived as so extreme that they ultimately named them the Nakba or ‘the catastrophe’.
The importance to this study of understanding the peasants’ perception of these events
is paramount, as it forms the basis for their actions since that time. The sheer scale of
the demographic change that occurred should not be underestimated in taking account
of the follow on effect that it created upon the refugees. There is currently little
argument between historians over the ultimate fate of the towns and villages affected by
the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Palestinian historians and ethnographers estimate that some
600 Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated in 1948 and the generally accepted
30
number of refugees created is 750,000 (Badil Resource Centre, 2005; W. Khalidi, 1984,
1992). More recently, an Israeli historian puts the number of villages destroyed and
depopulated at 513, the number of urban neighbourhoods depopulated at 11, and the
number of refugees at 800,000 (Pappe, 2006, p. xii). These towns and villages and their
lands made up 92 percent of the current area of Israel and contained 85 percent of the
indigenous inhabitants of the land (Abu Sitta, 2001, p. 197). Extensive work has been
carried out investigating the depopulation and according to Walid Khalidi in All that
Remains, of the 418 villages affected, 292 were totally destroyed; 90 largely destroyed
(20 had only one house left); 8 had only a small number of houses destroyed; less than
2% survived but were taken over by Israeli settlers; 20 could not be determined because
13 were in closed security zones and 1 was inside a settlement; 6 had standing houses
but the original number of houses was not known (W. Khalidi, 1992).
The paths and ultimate destinations of the 1948 refugees depended on their socio-
economic status, the areas they lived in, and the date of their flight (Sherman, 1997).
The upper and middle classes living in the main cities of Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem
moved from potential areas of armed conflict starting in late 1947 (Shehada, 2003).
Most of them moved outside Palestine to the cities of Beirut, Damascus or Cairo where
they had relatives or friends (Sabbagh, 2006; Sherman, 1997). Others moved away from
the cities to their summer houses within Palestine, in areas such as Ramallah (Shehada,
2003). These refugees had the resources and finances to restart their lives and
businesses. Those refugees, whose pathways ended in the UNRWA refugee camps, both
in the remaining 22 percent of Mandated Palestine not included in the State of Israel and
in neighbouring Arab countries, were mainly the peasant farming families of the
estimated 418-513 depopulated villages (Sherman, 1997).
The peasant villagers moved in stages when the conflict reached them, firstly to other
villages where they had clan based affiliations or into the forests and mountains to hide.
There were four main waves of movement starting from the time of the 1947 UN
Partition Resolution. The first was the urban middle class, as noted above; the second
included 200 to 300,000 urban and rural people; the third came from central Palestine
(Ramle and Lod) and the fourth was transferred from the South (Al Majdal) to the Gaza
Strip (W. Khalidi, 1992, p. 583 map ). Not wanting to move far from their villages and
lands of origin, the villagers moved to areas close to their homes and lands, to which
they expected to return once the conflict had ended (Abu Sitta, 2001; Yahya, 1999).
31
Many tried to return to their villages to harvest their crops but were killed or expelled
again (Badil Resource Centre, 2007b, p. 13). The salient factor for this study is that
throughout the series of movements made by the village refugees from 1947 until their
eventual location in camps, they maintained as much contact as possible with others
from their clans and original village groupings (Farsoun & Zacaria, 1997; Sayigh, 1979;
Yahya, 1999).
Figure 3.1 Map of refugee displacement (W. Khalidi, 1992, p. 583)
32
The geographic waves of displacement and the contact maintained between villagers
originating from the same areas meant that each refugee camp contained clans,
households and families from particular groups of villages. To take the three refugee
camps in the Bethlehem area as an example, Beit Jibrin camp is informally known as
Azza because that is the hamula name of most of the residents. In Aida camp, around
sixty percent of the refugees are from the Abu Srour clan, whilst in Deheisha camp the
refugees come mainly from twelve hamulas which were located in a group of forty five
villages. This continuity of ‘village and clan solidarity’ (Sayigh, 1979, p. 10) meant
that the refugees took the social organisation of their past with them, rather than being
fully dislocated from it. According to Bowker, ‘when violence threatened and people
were forced to become more dependent on each other for subsistence and protection,
Palestinian society organised itself ever more closely around pre-national structures,
including kinship ties’ (Bowker, 2003, p. 71). Social conventions such as endogamous
marriage which had originally been intended to protect land ownership, continued to be
practised with the new intention of preserving the identity of the groups within the
camps. In the West Bank in the 1990’s, statistics showed a forty percent rate of
marriage within hamulas (Bowker, 2003, p. 70).
Thus, as dispossessed people, through reorganising themselves around their traditional
structures, the refugees were able to preserve their sense of belonging and bond to their
places of origin, their land and their villages, as well as their cohesion as social groups.
This fact has created the circumstances under which the camps have ‘evolved as self-
contained, segregated communities that continue to reflect in broad terms the social
structure of pre 1948 Palestine in distinguishable neighbourhoods’ (Bowker, 2003, p.
69). It has also meant that through an ‘unbreakable umbilical cord’ (Sayigh, 1979, p.
10) refugees subsequently born in the camps have preserved their sense of identity and
belonging to their families’ indigenous places of origin (Bowker, 2003; Sayigh, 1979;
Taraki, 2006).
In addition to this preservation of kinship structure, relocation to the camps created a
further social structure, a new ‘hamula’ as some writers have referred to it – that of the
camp dwelling refugee (Bowker, 2003). Created under circumstances of conflict and
trauma due to the original transfer and subsequent occupations, which have been
ongoing over the sixty two year period, strengthened by discrimination from other
33
elements of Palestinian society, the position of camp refugees occupies a unique place
in the fragmented geography and psyche of the Palestinian people. ‘The people of the
camp consider themselves one family, sharing their bread to survive and steadfast in
their will to live’ (Yahya, 1999, p. 87).
Involvement with education
It has been explained that a proactive response to perceived injustices appears to be one
of the cultural characteristics of the Palestinian peasant farmer group. Injustices detailed
so far have ranged from military conscription, excessive taxation and taxation without
representation, to loss of land and livelihood. Of greater importance to this study,
education, including the lack of provision and the non-indigenous curricula content,
gained an increasingly prominent position in the growing list of perceived injustices as
the 20th century progressed.
As described in Chapter Two, from the middle of the 19th century the nature and
provision of education was a matter of growing interest to all governments in the region,
however despite legislation in both Turkey and Egypt regarding universal education, the
actual availability of places in schools spread to rural and village areas slowly. In
Palestine, as the changes in traditional ways of life took place following the Ottoman
Land reforms and the consequent sales of peasant land and loss of livelihood, lack of
education began to be perceived by the villagers as one of the causes of their evident
powerlessness in stabilising and maintaining their way of life (Sayigh, 1979). During
the final years of the Ottoman Empire, in the late 19th century, the increase in schooling
available in the urban areas included the proliferation of schools funded by religious
endowments, as well as increased numbers of Government schools. However, the
growth in number of village schools was not equal to that in urban areas (Kramer,
2002).
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, during the British Mandate, many village
schools were built and staffed with funds raised by the wealthy hamula members and
despite the fact that most village schools only reached the 4th grade, those villages
which could provide schools for their children felt a great sense of achievement (R.
Khalidi, 1997; Miller, 1985; Tibawi, 1956). The 1937 Peel Commission acknowledged
the villagers’ desire for more schools and commented that their high illiteracy rate ‘was
the more deplorable as many Arab villages are willing, if only the Government will do
34
its share, to contribute to the erection of school buildings’ (Palestine Royal
Commission, 1937, p. 337).
The greater demand than opportunity for attendance at schools has also been described
in anecdotes and oral histories detailing the peasants’ desire for education and the
students’ disappointments when they were unable to secure places in available classes
(Sayigh, 1979; World University Service (UK), 1993). Poverty was one reason for lack
of schooling, as demonstrated by stories of peasants in villages where there were no
schools, who paid visiting teachers for lessons with produce rather than money
(Kramer, 2002). Similarly, there are stories of the disappointments felt by poorer village
children who, despite their academic ability, were not able to afford the travel to larger
centres where the schools provided education past the 4th grade (Sabbagh, 2006).
Two occurrences during the first half of the 20th century clearly illustrated to the entire
Palestinian population the seriousness of being perceived as educationally
unsophisticated. Firstly, in 1919, following the 1914-18 war and the defeat of the
Ottoman Turkish Empire, the League of Nations divided the previously colonised lands
outside Turkey into three sections, defined by the League’s perceptions of the
developmental stage of the peoples contained in those areas (Quigley, 2005; Sherman,
1997). Despite the fact that the Palestinians and their representatives at the peace
conferences felt both ready and able to be an independent people based on the Woodrow
Wilson model of self determination, they were included in the group designated for
partial independence only. Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations
provisionally recognised Palestine as an independent nation ‘subject to the rendering of
administrative assistance and advice by a mandatory until such time as they are able to
stand alone’ (Sayigh, 1979, p. 43). Along with the shock and dismay felt and voiced by
the Palestinian delegations at the time was the underlying feeling of disempowerment
conveyed through being designated an ‘unstructured’ society, in ‘need of a custodian’
(Sabbagh, 2006; Sayigh, 1979, p. 42) From that time, the ‘vast collective feeling of
injustice’ identified by Edward Said ( as cited in Aruri, 2001, p. 1) began to grow as a
part of the Palestinian intellectual and emotional heritage.
Secondly, by 1922, when Britain was granted the Mandatory over Palestine by the
League of Nations, the intentions of the Balfour Declaration had already been
embedded within the British agenda. Articles 2, 4, 6 and 7 of the Mandate allowed
35
Great Britain to consult with the Jewish Agency on matters pertaining to land, Jewish
immigration and settlement, without consulting the indigenous Palestinian people
(Chatty & Lewando Hundt, 2005). Relevant to this study is that as a result of the above
quoted Articles, two separate education systems existed side by side in Palestine under
the British Mandate. On the one hand the Jewish education system was administered by
Vad Leumi and funded by the Jewish Agency, whilst State education for the Palestinian
Arabs was funded and controlled by the British Government (Tibawi, 1956). Despite
the Mandate target to provide primary schools in all Arab areas, the spread of British
funded schools and education to the villages was slow (Palestine Royal Commission,
1937). A perception existed on the part of the villagers that education was being
deliberately withheld from them by the colonial authorities as a means of
disempowerment (R. Khalidi, 2006).
Successive British enquiries uncovered Palestinian frustration at the lack of progress
towards self determination and the 1937 Peel Commission specifically identified the
Palestinian feeling of injustice which arose from a comparison of the two education
systems. Not only did the Palestinian system fail to achieve parity with the Jewish one,
but also national goals in the Palestinian curriculum were held in check and suppressed
by the Mandate. Of the failure to achieve the 1930’s target of bringing the two systems
to parity, the Commission reported ‘we cannot help thinking that if the claims of
education had been ranked as high as they deserved much more money might have been
found for it’ (Palestine Royal Commission, 1937, p. 339).
The issue of the non-indigenous curricular and colonial agenda of the education systems
that were in place was a subject of concern to Palestinians and according to most
sources, the dissatisfaction grew proportionately with the amount of education received
by the population in general (World University Service (UK), 1993). Of interest to this
study, the restrictions on content in curricula continued as a major theme of contention
after the villagers became refugees, when reference to their former heritage and
displacement from their lands was missing from all of the various curricula provided by
the administrators of the different areas of remaining Palestine (Schiff, 1995).
Towards the end of the Mandate, in 1946, there were 795 schools overall, broken down
into 478 government schools, 135 private Muslim and 182 private Christian schools
(Graham-Brown, 1984, p. 18). The villagers were underrepresented in the growth of
36
education, as only about 432 of 800 villages had government schools in 1944/45, and in
252 of those schools classes reached grade 4 or less (Tibawi, 1956, p. 224). Gender
parity was not yet an objective, with only 46 schools provided for girls (Tibawi, 1956).
The overall situation had improved, as stated in Chapter Two, the 20 percent of
Palestinian Arab children who were in school in 1922 had risen to 44.5 percent by 1947,
a figure including both rural and urban children. However, more than half that total
were receiving their education from the private schools in the main urban centres (R.
Khalidi, 2006, p. 15) thus demonstrating the smaller numbers of government schooled
students generally, and the greater number of those students studying in the cities and
towns.
The villagers’ perception that the British rulers did not want them to be educated
brought their lack of education and literacy into the realm of an injustice done to them.
In addition to the lack of provision of schools in general, repressive measures taken
towards teachers and students during the periods of political turmoil during the
Mandate, including the major rebellion of 1936-39, affirmed their perceptions. Student
strikes and demonstrations met with corporal punishment and arrests. Schools were
placed under curfews and closures. Teachers were not permitted to form unions or
associations and publication of materials outside British Government permitted texts
was forbidden (Graham-Brown, 1984). Thus, as Graham-Browne contends, education
became politicised by the actions of the rulers towards the ruled at a very early stage in
its growth of provision.
In the early period following the displacements of 1948, prior to the full involvement of
the United Nations, during the series of movements they made which culminated with
their grouping in hamula centred camps, the refugees from the villages were assisted by
volunteer organisations. It is important to note that schooling was commenced in the
camps very early on, in ‘refugee initiated schools’ in which the teachers were refugees
themselves, using donated ‘teaching materials, large tents and rations for the instructors’
(Schiff, 1995, p. 13). The existence of schools in the camps was therefore not solely a
United Nations initiative, imposed upon an illiterate population, but rather a
continuation of a previously existing desire for education. No longer hard working
farmers, raising families and crops in established villages, the villagers had become
displaced persons in crowded tent camps, with no land and therefore no way of
providing a future for their children (Schiff, 1995). Thus the peasant villagers, now
37
refugees, included their existing belief in the importance of education and the injustice
of its lack of provision into their life style paradigm shift.
By 1950 the provision and administration of education in the camps had been taken
over by the United Nations, with UNESCO providing ‘professional guidance and
supervision’ (Samady, 1997, p. 1) and UNRWA funding and administering the camp
schools (Schiff, 1995). In the same manner as the previous education providers in the
region, the United Nations had an overall agenda behind its provision of education. The
backbone of the UN educational initiative across all of its fields of operation was
democratisation, driven through the aim of basic (primary and lower secondary)
education for all. The UNRWA administered programmes prepared students for entry
into ongoing state education in which ever country or place the refugee camps were
situated, but over and above local stipulations, the ideology of democracy and the ideals
of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights were the framework through which
education was delivered (Schiff, 1995). In fact, the preamble to the Declaration
explicitly called upon all member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and
‘to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools
and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of
countries or territories’ (United Nations, 1948).
Although the curricula in UNRWA schools were tailored to the countries in which the
camps were situated, texts permitted for use by UNESCO had to conform to the UN
agenda. The prohibition of ‘inciteful’ materials allowed screening and filtering out of
content deemed inappropriate, in short, a form of censorship (Schiff, 1995). For the
villagers who had been displaced from their lands and heritage there was, in essence,
little if any difference between this and the reality of the curricular control which had
existed in the Mandate, with the additional step of other Arab government agendas
being layered on before the UNESCO controls were applied. The lack of relevance of
the curricula to the villagers’ past, their present circumstances and the existence of a
future to which the United Nations had given them an ‘inalienable right’, became one
more perceived injustice. Once again, within their communities they responded
proactively as time passed, taking actions to fill the gaps in the curricula by informal
teaching and community programmes, which in themselves became the subject of the
style of repressions that had previously experienced been during the Mandate years
(Nicolai, 2007).
38
The importance of the education provided to the refugee villagers appears to have
elicited responses in two distinct areas. On the one hand, it was vital for pragmatic
reasons and immediately accepted as such. Without farming lands, the only future
available for the new generations lay through education and vocational training and
within a dramatically short space of time the peasant farmers transformed their society
into an urban, skilled and professional one (Samady, 1997; Schiff, 1995). Secondly, the
democratic, rights oriented foundation of the UN’s approach affirmed the refugees’
belief in their rights - firstly to return or compensation as set out in UNGA Resolution
194, III (1948); then as human beings under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(1948); and ten years later, as restated in the 1959 Universal Declaration of the Rights
of the Child (United Nations, 1959). The corollary of this last area is that some of the
very rights in which their education was framed allowed for nationhood and a relevant
educational curriculum, actualities which did not exist for them in reality. The
dichotomy of their situation was clearly understood by the villager-refugees,
particularly as their literacy and educational standards rose over time, a time during
which their refugee status showed no signs of resolution.
Thus over the period of sixty two years of camp refugee life, education has achieved a
unique position. Within the closely knit communities of the camps it has enabled new
generations of refugees to change from farmers to urban dwellers and to find work with
which to support and sustain their extended family groups. Through education, the
refugees have become sophisticated, literate observers of the international struggle
played out over their unresolved situation. Finally, education has become a way of
proactively resisting the loss of history, culture and heritage, whilst contributing to the
quest for nationhood.
Conclusion
This chapter has firstly shown that the Palestinian refugees in camps in the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip are largely grouped in extended familial social units which reflect the
traditional heritage of their peasant farmer forebears. The strength of these social units
is found in the philosophy of the importance of the group over the individual, thus
providing a solid basis for personal and group resilience in times of difficulty.
39
Secondly, this chapter has suggested that the Palestinian villagers have historically
demonstrated a psychological readiness to respond proactively when threatened by
perceived injustices. Education, which had become increasingly sought after by the
largely illiterate villagers in the first half of the 20th century, was perceived as having
been purposefully withheld from them in order to lessen the effectiveness of their
response to the growing threat to their livelihood and existence in their ancestral lands.
As the threat became a reality, education became an important part of their proactive
struggle for survival.
Finally, the chapter has shown that once in the UN refugee camps, basic education for
the villagers’ children became freely available through UNESCO and UNRWA. The
education offered was based on a Western, democratic, rights centred approach which
was apolitical where reference to the refugees’ indigenous culture, heritage and past
history were concerned. On the one hand it affirmed their status as refugees with rights,
whilst on the other it did not give them the opportunity to develop a national education
system reflecting their beliefs and aspirations as members of the nation to which they
believed they had a right.
The next chapter investigates the Palestinian understanding and explanation of their
own narrative through literature presented in three sections corresponding to their past,
their legal situation and their attitude to the present and future.
40
CHAPTER FOUR
THE PALESTINIAN VOICE IN LITERATURE
Introduction
Over the last century a vast amount of literature has been generated on the subject of
Palestine, written in a variety of languages and informed by a divergent array of points
of view. In order to cut through the wealth of available information to establish which
parts of it are relevant to this study, it is necessary to bear in mind that a study
conducted within the interpretivist paradigm, using a symbolic interactionist theoretical
approach should focus on the participants’ perspectives and look for patterns which
develop through the interaction of those perspectives and actions over time
(O'Donoghue, 2007).
With the above idea uppermost, it has been helpful to group the relevant literature in
three sections. In keeping with some opinion regarding qualitative research
methodology (Charmaz, 2006; Glaser, 1998), these sections reflect the manner in which
the literature review was generated by both the process and focus of this research which,
it will be remembered, concerns a particular phenomenon observed amongst Palestinian
refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Furthermore, the Palestinian refugee situation contains some features which may be
termed ‘unique’ (Couldrey & Morris, 2006, p. 2) and ‘intractable’ (Bowker, 2003, p. 1).
Specifically affecting the perspectives of the participants and therefore of great
relevance to this study, are the longevity of the situation, encompassing sixty-two years
of refugee status (Sa’di & Abu Lughod, 2007), and the difficulties of achieving the right
of return (Aruri, 2001). In light of this uniqueness, it has been decided not to include
literature relating to other refugee crises, either current or previously resolved, in this
review.
To ensure that the wider population included in the study is understood from the
perspective of its own culture, most of the literature discussed in this chapter has been
written by Palestinians. The first section is entitled ‘the Palestinian Past’ and the
material reviewed is restricted to that written in or translated into English. The aim of
listening to the Palestinian voice is to look for the collective attitudes, beliefs and
convictions that are expressed across different genres of literature and which have been
41
sustained across the period of time in which the literature was written. It is these
collective perspectives which underpin the refugee belief in the importance of
education, which is central to the focus of this study. For the purposes of this study, the
Palestinian voice has been classified as formal, as in historical and ethnographic studies;
anecdotal, including transcribed oral histories; and biographical, in which socio-political
history is presented through the vehicle of a family narrative.
The second section is entitled ‘the Palestinian Case’. As the study focuses on
participants who are United Nations classified refugees, currently waiting for a
resolution to their situation, literature which facilitates an understanding of their case in
a legal sense is both relevant and important. Included in this section is information
produced by the United Nations, the ICRC and by Palestinian and non-Palestinian Non-
Governmental Organisations. This literature relates to Refugee Law, International
Humanitarian Law, the Rights of the Child and the Geneva conventions as they refer to
and impinge on the situation of the population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The third section is identified as ‘Palestinian Resilience’. It will be remembered that this
study seeks to generate theory about how Palestinian refugee families in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip deal with their engagement with education at school level. Over the past
sixty years, much of that education has taken place in an ongoing situation of conflict,
which at intervals has escalated to extreme trauma. Therefore, an investigation of
literature relating to resilience, specifically with regard to education in such
circumstances, will be of value.
Section One: The Palestinian Past
The Palestinian voice expressed in English was largely missing in the first three quarters
of the 20th century. Most early accounts of ‘the Palestine Problem’ were written by
authors of other nationalities representing colonising entities who, despite often being
sympathetic, treated the concerns of the Palestinians through the perspectives of the
colonisers (Dobbing, 1970; Glubb, 1971; Jeffries, 1939; Storrs, 1972). In the process,
the Palestinians themselves became depersonalised as ‘problems’ or ‘questions’ in a
wider area of interest. To counter this, Palestinian academics, many of whom were
refugees from 1948 and who had formerly trained, resided and or worked in the United
States, England or France began to produce a body of work which took a scholarly
approach to the history and ethnography of Palestine, from earliest times to the
42
contemporary. A sophisticated understanding of both the skill with which the Zionist
cause had been presented to the world and of its continuing maintenance through media
control and lobbying left these writers under no illusions regarding the importance and
size of their undertaking.
Formal Literature
The body of scholars of interest to this study who grew to maturity within Palestine
under the British Mandate include Sami Hadawi, Henry Cattan, Abdul Latif Tibawi,
Issa Nakleh, Yusuf Sayigh, Walid Khalidi and Ibrahim Abu-Lughod. These writers
received their higher education at universities outside Palestine, mostly in Beirut,
Britain and America, and they form the core of scholars who pioneered the direct
expression of the Palestinian view point in English, intended to be heard by the Western
World. Apart from writing works which dealt with the Palestinian past and present, they
also founded scholarly journals to promulgate Palestinian opinions, such as the Journal
of Palestinian Studies and the Arab Studies Quarterly, and academic societies to
encourage Palestinian scholars, such as the Institute for Palestinian Studies, The
Association of Arab American University Graduates and the Middle East Studies
Association of |North America. Many of them represented Palestinian interests at the
United Nations and whenever possible they returned to Palestine to contribute to
education within the colonised and occupied lands. The importance of these writers to
this study is that their contemporary knowledge of the British Mandate period and the
circumstances surrounding the formation of the State of Israel in 1948, combined with
their scholarly and informed approach, affords a clearer picture of genuine Palestinian
perspectives and understandings than can be gained from non-indigenous literature,
produced with an agenda of its own.
Since 1948, Palestine has been subject to ongoing and frequent wars, conflicts and
resistance. The generation which experienced the events of 1948 as children and
became refugees within Palestine or in various locations in the Arab world, Europe, the
US and Israel included major Palestinian literary and artistic figures such as Edward
Said, Ghassan Kanafani, Naj al-Ali and Mahmoud Darwish and scholars, human rights
lawyers, politicians and educationalists Naseer Aruri, Samih Farsoun, Salman Abu
Sitta, Salim Tamari, Abdel Wahhab Kayyali and Elias Sanbar. The earliest of the
generation born outside Palestine to refugee parents include Rashid Khalidi, Yezid
Sayigh, Beshara Doumani and Nur Masalha, the latter born within Israel. Events
43
following the Oslo Accords allowed some of the exiled to return, whilst at the same
time, a younger generation of writers has grown up within the Occupied Territories.
However, divergent as these writers are in age, experience and background, the message
of the Palestinian voice has remained consistent and available to the Western World
since its initial expression in English.
The central message of the earliest scholarly and informed writers was that a grave
miscarriage of justice had been perpetrated on the indigenous Arab people of Palestine
through no fault of their own (Cattan, 1971; Hadawi, 1963, 1967; W. Khalidi, 1984,
1992; Tibawi, 1956, 1961, 1978). Furthermore, this injustice occurred through the
machinations of the very nations who purported to be the protectors of justice and
human rights in the modern world. Hadawi states the issue is ‘fundamentally one of
individual rights and principles, as well as territory, and must be treated as a moral and
political issue’ (Hadawi, 1967, p. 3). According to Tibawi, evidence available when
official secrets legislation was lifted on the British Archive on Anglo-Arab relations,
added up to prove that ‘British policy regarding Palestine from 1917 onwards
constituted an injustice to the Arabs’ (Tibawi, 1978 preface). For Edward Said, the
hegemonic relationship between the Western World and Zionism was ‘disastrous for the
Arab Palestinian’ (Said, 1980, p. 37). Henry Cattan identified the hopelessness of
expecting justice in the UN due to the power of the US veto (Cattan, 1981), whilst for
Walid Khalidi ‘what particularly rankles with Palestinians is that the United States’
endorsement of their dispossession has been made in the name of the democratic values
of American political culture’ (W. Khalidi, 1984, p. 13), again making the point that ‘it
happened in the post colonial era and after espousal by Western countries of the
principle of self determination’ (W. Khalidi, 1992). Here can be found the start of the
‘vast collective feeling of injustice’ which ‘continues to hang over our lives with
undiminished weight’ identified by Edward Said (as cited in Aruri, 2001, p. 1) and
which is central to the focus of this study through the manner in which it informs the
West Bank and Gaza Strip camp refugee attitude to education.
Having established that an injustice was done, the first step taken in the formal literature
was to trace the ethnic origins of contemporary Palestinian Arabs. Henry Cattan, one of
the earliest writers in English, is explicit in his aim to ‘correct a current misconception’
and explains, ‘The (ancient) Israelis were not the earliest inhabitants of Palestine. They
were invaders’ (Cattan, 1969, p. 3). He asserts that the contemporary Palestinian Arabs
44
are the descendants of the Philistines, the Canaanites and other early tribes which pre-
dated the original Israeli invasion. Similar accounts are to be found in the contemporary
and subsequent historical literature written by both Palestinian and other writers.
The second step taken is to disprove the claim that Palestine was an empty land at the
end of the 19th century. Sources used for this task included both Ottoman and British tax
and census records and land surveys. For example, whilst working for the Mandate
Government as a land surveyor, Hadawi was a major contributor to Village Statistics,
published by the Government of Palestine, Office of Statistics, Jerusalem, in April
1945. Hadawi updated the information and republished it in 1970 (Hadawi, 1970), in
which form it became one of the sources for Walid Khalidi’s All that Remains (W.
Khalidi, 1992), which documented 418 Palestinian villages destroyed in 1948. Further
information arising from Walid Khalidi’s work is currently available, regularly updated,
on www.palestineremembered.com, an online memorial site. Aside from the existence
of the villages and farming communities proven through the Mandate registry, there was
also proof in the Ottoman and Mandate government records of an agricultural economy
dating back to ancient times. Two examples given by Hadawi relate to the olive and
citrus industries, the former dating back to the Crusades and the latter according to
records which ‘show that in 1912-1913, 1,608,570 cases of oranges were exported to
Europe’ (Hadawi, 1967, p. 8).
Having established their existence and reality as the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine,
the writers then turn to documenting the final years of the Ottoman Empire, the British
occupation in 1917 and the Arab representation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.
If the earliest eras of history are written to counter the claim of Palestine as an
historically empty space, the following sections of the literature are written in
explanation of what may be claimed as the ‘ground zero’ of Palestinian dispossession,
the Balfour Declaration of 1917. A variety of adaptations of the original quote from
Koestler appear in much of the literature relating to the Balfour era, clearly expressing
the Palestinian feelings of outrage over the manner in which ‘one nation solemnly
promised to a second nation the country of a third’ (Koestler, 1949, p. 4). Seen in
conjunction with the ‘sacred trust of civilisation’ (Hadawi, 1967, p. 24; Tibawi, 1978),
given to Britain by the League of Nations in 1922 to prepare the indigenous inhabitants
of Palestine for self determination, the prevailing view of the Balfour Declaration as
45
particularly perfidious in all of the literature under review has been frequently re-
affirmed by memorial activities, from early in the Mandate years up to the present.
The failure of the British Government of 1922 – 1948 to keep faith with the trust
incumbent on the Mandate in the area of education is one of the main subjects dealt
with by Abdul Latif Tibawi, an educator and school inspector during the Mandate era,
who believed education to be essential to developing statehood. His contemporary
knowledge of the dismissive British attitude towards the Palestinian Arab
representations to the various enquiries and Commissions held by the British
Government is invaluable in forming a picture of the extent of the Palestinian objections
to being treated as inferior and unready for statehood and to external immigration into
Palestine. Tibawi’s writing is of particular interest to this study because as a senior
government employee he had personal knowledge, backed up by statistics collected
both by the Government and by himself as inspector of education, of the extent and type
of education available to the urban and rural populations (Tibawi, 1956).
The loss of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the founding of the State of Israel on seventy
seven percent of Mandated Palestine are generally attributed in the literature under
consideration to three factors, namely the lack of Palestinian leadership leading up to
the end of the Mandate, due in part to the savage British response to the 1936-39
rebellion; the divided nature of such leadership as did exist within Palestine; and the
disappointing performance of the contribution to the war effort from the Arab States
outside Palestine (Cattan, 1969; Kayyali, 1998; Nusseibeh & Anthony, 2007). The
actual events and history of the period have been widely written, debated and rewritten,
particularly following the release of Zionist and Israeli Government documents and
their use by Israeli revisionist historians such as Ilan Pappe and Benny Morris.
However, of greater significance to this study than exact historical detail is the fact the
events of 1948, known to Palestinians as the Nakba, or ‘The Catastrophe’, signalled an
entirely new phase in Palestinian social, economic and political history. It is essential
that an understanding is gained of the enormity of those events in the perceptions of the
refugees who are the subject of this study. According to Sa’di and Abu-Lughod, ‘after
1948, the lives of the Palestinians at the individual, community and national level were
dramatically and irreversibly changed’ (Sa’di & Abu Lughod, 2007, p. 3). For Salman
Abu Sitta, who compiled a register of the depopulated villages:
46
The Palestinian Nakba is unsurpassed in history. For a country to be
occupied by a foreign minority, emptied almost entirely of its people, its
physical and cultural landmarks obliterated, its destruction hailed as a
miraculous act of God and a victory for freedom and civilised values, all
done according to a premeditated plan, meticulously executed,
financially and politically supported from abroad, and still maintained
today, is no doubt unique. (Abu Sitta, 1998, p. 5)
The loss of 1948 was compounded by the 1950 Israeli Law of Return, followed by the
1952 Israeli Law of Nationality, which afforded all Jewish immigrants citizenship
(Cattan, 1969, p. 69). During the British Mandate, the villagers had had legal status as
citizens of Palestine under the Palestine Citizenship Order 1925-41. The 1952 Israeli
Law of Nationality, by retroactively repealing the Palestine Citizenship Orders,
rendered the exiled villagers and their families, at the same time, stateless persons and
refugees with little chance of return (Akram, 2001; Badil Resource Centre, 2007a).
While their farms, houses and possessions were either destroyed or taken over by the
new immigrants, exiled Palestinians who attempted to return were termed ‘infiltrators’
and killed, imprisoned, or exiled again (Lynd et al., 1994; Sayigh, 1979; Yahya, 1999).
Oral Histories
As a largely illiterate peasant farming society belonging to a culture with a long held
tradition of oral information transmission, the anecdotal voice of the original refugees is
of value to this study. Stories and testimonies of the generation who went into exile in
1948 are a means to assessing the extent of cultural upheaval and the depth of the
collective experience of its people, both at the time of dispossession and as reflected in
subsequent memory (Yahya, 1999).
Accounts of refugee experience in general are familiar to the contemporary world and
contain common features, such as extreme hardship because of weather conditions,
exhaustion due to lack of transportation, ill health arising from lack of facilities,
physical danger from enemies, separation from family groups, untimely death, and the
desperation and lack of dignity felt by humans trapped in cramped camp cities. Oral
accounts of the Palestinian experience from 1948 -1950 include all of the above
elements. However, the Palestinian accounts include an additional feature, which is
central to the focus of this study, namely the exiles’ absolute expectation of return to
47
their lands and homes (Lynd et al., 1994; Sa’di & Abu Lughod, 2007; Sayigh, 1979;
Yahya, 1999). The distinction between colonisation and population transfer was not
comprehended by the refugees at the time of exile (Yahya, 1999). Historically, peasants
had left their lands during times of extreme conflict, to return once the armies in
question had passed through. However, on this occasion, no return was permitted,
despite individual efforts made by many refugees (Badil Resource Centre, 2007a). Even
when their situation was fully comprehended, the camp refugees refused to accept the
concept of population transfer, particularly in the light of UNGA Resolution 194, which
stipulated the right of return (Schiff, 1995).
Furthermore, the complete loss of socio-economic status of the peasant farming class,
when the expectation of return was thwarted, is significant in that it left the camp
refugees either dependant on assistance or in need of alternative means of earning a
living. Anecdotal evidence in the literature points to their distress at being in a position
where constant assistance was necessary, combined with a desire to find any possible
means of self sufficiency and improvement (Yahya, 1999). Their view of the underlying
meaning of condition of ‘refugee’ was ‘a trajectory toward its own overcoming by
restitution and return’ (Jayussi, 2007, p. 128). In this refusal to deviate from that belief
and to stay in the camps, even when relief was no longer required, can be seen the
appearance of ‘samud’ or steadfastness, a central Palestinian characteristic where
resilience is concerned (Barghouthi, 2009; Shehada, 1982). Such distortion of facts as
may have occurred over time (Sa’di & Abu Lughod, 2007) has entered the indigenous
discourse and narrative and thus become a part of the interaction of perspectives and
actions which are so important to this study. Despite debate over the reliability and
historical accuracy of oral accounts (Yahya, 1999), following the fiftieth anniversary of
1948 and the realisation that the original generation of refugees may soon be lost, oral
history became an even more urgent issue in the literature.
Biographies
As a non-scholarly genre, popular in the Western World, biography allows a sense of
the personal outrage felt by Palestinians at the affront to the memory of their
antecedents through the denial of their history, culture and existence (Sabbagh, 2006;
Toubbeh, 1998). In the forward to Fadwa Tuqan’s autobiography, Salma Jayussi
ascribes the desire to write personal stories to ‘the experience of uprootedness’. She
goes further to assert that writing personal accounts affirms the identity of both the
48
writer and the country, in a time when much of the world is in denial over the
Palestinian experience. It is:
a phenomenon of life in crisis, a call on the outside world to look in on the true,
live experience of an afflicted people, to see their tragedy as it is actually
experienced, to feel the pulse of their suffering, and of their pride and resistance.
(Tuqan, 1990, p. viii)
Despite the diversity of Palestinians offering their stories for publication, ranging from
poets and revolutionaries to human rights lawyers and academics, they display
constancy and unity in their presentation of the basic facts of the Palestinian narrative.
Sari Nusseibeh, a prominent Palestinian academic, asserts in his first sentence that his
family have lived in Jerusalem since the 7th century, the time of the Caliph Omar the
Great (Nusseibeh & Anthony, 2007, p. 4). Karl Sabbagh, who concentrates on the
period up to 1948, states that his aim is to show that the injustice done to his people was
achieved ‘by promulgating a series of institutionalised lies to the rest of the world’
(Sabbagh, 2006, p. 6), one of which was that Palestine was uninhabited. He claims
‘sixty percent of the population in the 10th century was in agriculture and all of them
believed themselves to belong to a land called Palestine’ (Sabbagh, 2006, p. 19). Jamil
Toubbeh refers to a ‘hoax’ having been played which ‘denied both my existence and the
existence of my country, Palestine’ (Toubbeh, 1998, p. 5), whilst Leila Khaled, the
Marxist revolutionary, displays the collective dismay over the Balfour declaration and a
deep scorn for the actions of the Mandate Government as holder of the ‘so called
“sacred trust” of civilisation under Western tutelage’ (Khaled, 1973, p. 56). The ‘pride
and resistance’ mentioned by Jayussi in her introduction to Tuqan’s biography (Tuqan,
1990) is conveyed in these biographies through a lack of self indulgence and the
rejection of a victim syndrome. These are replaced by an insistence on the belief that the
truth of the situation, if understood and believed, will speak for itself and that justice
should eventually prevail (Khaled, 1973; Sabbagh, 2006; Shehada, 2003; Toubbeh,
1998; Tuqan, 1990).
The biographies also give insight into the feelings of impermanency that went hand in
hand with refugee status. Apparent from the early decades of dispossession, the
interaction of the continuity of struggle and the constant disappointments over
reclaiming the past and establishing a future have become part of the conscious or
psyche of the first generation born in exile (Khaled, 1973; Toubbeh, 1998; Shehadeh,
49
2003; Nusseibeh, 2007). For the second generation, the underlying grief and shame,
directly expressed by the original refugees, or interpreted and felt by their children,
appears to have been as unsettling as the impermanency (Shehada, 2003). However, loss
of respect for the parent figure does not appear to have occurred as a result of the above,
instead a determination is demonstrated to work through the diminishment of parental
respect by understanding it thoroughly, thereby guarding against repeating the observed
mistakes (Kanafani, 1978; Shehada, 2003). The lesson learned from the Nakba
(catastrophe) of 1948 was tested in 1967 during the Naksa (disaster), from which time
the central Palestinian characteristic of steadfastness was identified and woven into the
culture (Barghouthi, 2009; Nusseibeh & Anthony, 2007; Shehada, 1982).
The politicisation of ordinary people through living in times of constant uncertainty and
conflict is of consequence to the central focus of this study, as it appears to be related to
the resilience demonstrated by Palestinian families of all social strata throughout their
sixty two year period of exile. The Palestinian voice in biographical accounts
demonstrates this conjunction of normal life and politicisation by highlighting the fact
that however removed from politics a person may believe him or herself to be, the
experience of being Palestinian, either in Palestine or in exile, involves them personally
in political events. For example, Fadwa Tuqan, whilst writing about the difficulties of
growing up as a female poet in a very conservative Nablus family, was also an
eyewitness to the effects of the rebellion of 1936 to 1939, and was able to comment
personally on the effect on her immediate family of the violent response to the British
Government’s 1939 White Paper (Tuqan, 1990). In the same way, Raja Shehadeh, who
had refused to be involved in politics, was eventually drawn into it through the murder
of his father (Shehada, 2003).
Section One, ‘The Palestinian Past’, has examined literature generated by Palestinians
to explain that their ancestors had been indigenous to the area of land now known as
Israel and the Palestinian Territories for centuries, and that as a people they were
unjustly evicted from their homelands, through no cause or desire of their own. An
acknowledgement of the strength of their sense of belonging is vital to gaining an
understanding of contemporary Palestinian refugee perspectives. The next section will
look at literature which explains the strength of the refugees’ belief in their ‘inalienable’
rights, including that of return.
50
Section Two: The Palestinian Case
The use of a legal approach to challenge the events of 1948 and 1967 through national
and international courts was in put in place soon after 1967 (Cattan, 1971; Shehada,
2003). The legal fight for ‘the case’ has continued to be one of the main avenues used
for seeking a just resolution by Palestinian and Israeli advocacy agencies and Human
Rights organisations such as Al Badil, Al Haq, and B’tselem and should be clearly
differentiated from the political concept of fighting for ‘a cause’ (Khaled, 1973).
According to the literature generated by the United Nations, Palestinian and other Non-
Governmental Organisations, the ‘Palestinian Case’ rests on United Nations
Resolutions; Human Rights; and International Humanitarian Law. Within the refugee
camps included in this study, knowledge and understanding of those Resolutions, Rights
and Laws is widespread, an important fact in understanding the strength of the refugee
belief in the justness of their ‘Case’.
United Nations literature
The basis of the case for refugee return is United Nations General Assembly Resolution
194 (III) of December 11, 1948, which established a right of return and/or compensation
in paragraph 11as follows:
The General Assembly, having considered further the situation in
Palestine.....resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live
at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest
practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those
choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under
principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the
Governments or authorities responsible. UNGA Resolution 194 (III) Paragraph
11, December 11 1948. (Farsoun & Zacaria, 1997, p. 327)
Following the 1967 war, UN Security Council Resolution 237 of November 22, 1967
stated the need to find a just settlement for the new refugees and displaced persons
(United Nations, 1967).
The basis for self determination is UNGA Resolution 181 (1947), the original UN
Partition resolution, which established the United Nations decision that Palestinians
51
should have a state of their own (Farsoun & Zacaria, 1997, p. 325), followed in 1967 by
UNSC Resolution 242, which called for the withdrawal of the Israeli armed forces from
all occupied territories, the right of all states in the area to live in peace with secure and
recognised boundaries, and called for a just settlement of the refugee problem (Farsoun
& Zacaria, 1997, p. 319).
Crucial to the perceptions of the participants in this study has been the regular re-
appearance of the issues of refugee repatriation and self determination within the United
Nations over the last sixty years, thus re-affirming their belief in the strength of the
Palestinian ‘case’. In addition to Resolutions, literature in the form of pamphlets and
reports has been regularly disseminated by the United Nations for the express purpose
on informing the world about Palestinian rights. This literature is based on the
application of Human Rights, and following the 1967 War and the occupation of
remaining Palestine, on International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Conventions.
In setting out the relevant UN resolutions, the literature also calls attention to the effect
of the veto on their efficacy, as with the 1976 draft of a two phase plan for a solution
suggesting return of 1967 displaced persons to a Palestinian State in the West Bank,
Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem and the return of 1948 refugees to their home of origin if
they wished to do so (Badil Resource Centre, 2005; United Nations, 1979).
In 1974, through UNGA Resolution 3236 (XXIX), the General Assembly reaffirmed
...the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self
determination without external interference, the right to national independence
and sovereignty, and the right to return to their homes and property. (United
Nations, 1989a, 1990b)
Following the resolution quoted above, in 1975 the General Assembly established the
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Right of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP):
... and requested it to recommend a programme of implementation to enable the
Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights to self-determination
without external interference, national independence and sovereignty, and to
return to their homes and property (UNGA Resolution 3376). Since that date
‘The Question of Palestine’ has been subject to review every year. (United
Nations, 1989b)
52
The CEIRPP publishes an annual report, formerly in pamphlet form and now available
on the website http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/com.htm. The phrase ‘Inalienable
Rights’ has been solidified in the refugee discourse and is frequently to be seen in the
refugee camps, particularly during commemoration activities such as the International
Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, created by the UN on 29 November 1977.
The United Nations literature is informative, in that apart from setting out the historical
background of events in Palestine from the UN point of view, it presents details of the
realities of the situation on the ground (United Nations, 1979, 1989b, 1990b, 1997).
From this, some understanding can be gained of the ongoing nature of the conditions
over the sixty two year period within which Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip have been born, grown up to maturity and raised families. The language
used tends to be extreme in its contemporary descriptions of the different decades,
whereas in fact the situation has steadily worsened. For example in a pamphlet written
after the 1st Intifada, the UN referred to the 1970’s and 80’s as a period of ‘occupation,
humiliation and deprivation’ (United Nations, 1990a, p. 41). The period of the 1980’s
was characterised by ‘violent and repressive measures’, including armed settlers who
‘uproot trees, burn crops, attack children and shepherds’ (United Nations, 1990, p.17).
In 1988 the CEIRPP referred to ‘an extension and intensification of various practices of
collective punishment and recourse to new forms of collective reprisal such as economic
sanctions.’ It also mentioned an ‘unprecedented scale’ of house demolitions, systematic
and prolonged use of curfews, sealing off of entire localities, ‘which in several instances
has provoked food and fuel shortages; interruption of flow of water and electricity’
(United Nations, 1989a, no page numbers provided). However, in light of contemporary
events in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the above occurrences appear standard rather
than extreme practice. Through comparison over time therefore, the literature is
valuable in documenting the continual deterioration of conditions, despite successive
UN Resolutions and efforts to mitigate the effects of the situation. This historical
overview assists in gaining valuable insight into how the refugee perspectives have been
framed and sustained.
Non-Governmental Organisation Literature
The Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) generated literature usually refers to
specific occurrences or discrete periods of time, interrogating them through the
application of the Human Rights Charters and International Humanitarian Law. For this
53
reason, it tends to be generated in waves corresponding to periods of heightened tension
and conflict, thereby affording a picture of extreme conditions. Examples of this are
readily available from the 1st intifada (Al Haq, 1990) and the 2nd Intifada (Save the
Children, 2004). The importance of NGO literature to this study rests on the manner in
which the information published is garnered, which is often through obtaining first hand
evidence from the population (DCI/PS, 2000; Save the Children, 2004; Al Haq, 2005;
B’tselem, 2006; World Vision, 2007). Once again, it should be remembered that in a
study of this nature it is the perceptions of the participants which are of value and
therefore, despite the possibility of overstatement during qualitative interviews
(Charmaz, 2006), in instances where the information is published by reputable
organisations, the opinions expressed can be accepted as informative. More
importantly, although the inhabitants of the camps do not need documentation to know
their own reality, such documentation repeatedly affirms their perception that they have
justice on their side, thereby strengthening their resilience.
Al Haq (Law in the Service of Man) was founded in Ramallah in 1979 and affiliated to
the International Commission of Jurists, Geneva. In its 2004 Annual Report, Al Haq
summed up its purpose as covering violations of human rights and providing ‘an in
depth legal analysis of these violations on the basis of international human rights law
and international humanitarian law applicable to the OPT’ (Al Haq, 2005, p. 1). It takes
a case by case approach, one example of which is Provocation to Kill: the use of lethal
force as a response to provoked stone throwing (Johansson, 2003), which documents an
incident between children and soldiers in a village schoolyard. Affidavits and witness
statements attest to the particular incident reported, which is then given a legal analysis
under the applicability of International Law, using Articles 51 and 52 of the Additional
Protocol 1 to the Geneva Conventions of 1977 (Johansson, 2003, p.18) concerning the
protection of civilians and civilian objects. The purpose of the report is expressed in the
conclusion, in which Al Haq ‘calls upon the Israeli authorities to carry out an
investigation into these events and hold the perpetrators responsible.’ It further appeals
to the international community to ‘demand that Israel takes action in this case’
(Johansson, 2003, p. 26).
Using a similar approach, B’tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights
within the Occupied Territories, publishes reports on specific incidents and violations.
In Barred from Contact, Violation of the Right to Visit Palestinians Held in Israeli
54
Prisons (Barsella, 2006), the legal framework is explained under Article 4 of the Fourth
Geneva Convention, which gives ‘civilians lawfully staying in the occupied territory the
status of protected person’. The case study then analyses the prohibitions and rights
applying to family visits in prisons, starting with Article 49 which prohibits forcible
transfers of protected persons ‘from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying
power’ (Barsella, 2006, p. 7). In the conclusion, the report discusses the applicability of
the Fourth Geneva Convention to the occupied territories and summarises the violations
of rights and principles of International Humanitarian Law and Israeli law, including
‘the right of the prisoners’ children to have physical contact with their parents, the
prohibition against collective punishment, and the principles of proper administration’
(Barsella, 2006, p. 42). It then calls on the government of Israel to undertake measures
to relieve the situation.
Defence for Children International/Palestine Section, established in 1992 as an affiliate
of the Geneva based organisation, aims to promote and protect the rights of Palestinian
children. In A Generation Denied, Israeli Violations of Palestinian Children’s Rights in
2000 (DCI/PS, 2001), each section addresses a particular right such as the Rights to
Life, Education, an Adequate Standard of Living, Health and Survival, and Protection
from Discrimination. In the Legal Frame work section, the report bases the Palestinian
Case upon the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and on Refugee Law. In
addition to its advocacy approach, DCI/PS has an active role, operating a Legal Unit
which represents children in Palestinian courts and a Training and Social Mobilisation
Unit designed to empower children (DCI/PS, 2004).
Al Badil, located in Bethlehem, has both a refugee advocacy agency and a practical
role. Founded after the Oslo Accords in recognition of the apparent erosion of refugee
rights through the agreements, publications explaining the history and legal status of the
refugees are combined with journals and annual surveys of the situation aiming to
encourage information dissemination and lobbying for refugee rights (Badil Resource
Centre, 2010).
In all the above cases an enormous amount of detailed research is presented, including
statistics and the frequent use of photography, to add faces to the figures. This research
is disseminated in English, both in printed form and on web pages, rendering it easily
available to local and international readers.
55
Section Three: Palestinian Resilience
The Palestinian national characteristic of sumud, or steadfastness, originally arose as ‘an
affirmation of the collective presence on the land’ (van Teeffelen, 2009, p. 25). The
main element of sumud is ‘persevering despite all the oppression and hardships’ (van
Teeffelen, 2009, p. 24), underscored by ‘the justice of the cause’ (Barghouthi, 2009, p.
18). Engaging with education under conditions of conflict can be seen as one aspect of
the ‘general struggle to carry out normal life in Palestine’ (Shehada, 2003, p. 144).
Resilience, the ability to recover or ‘bounce back’ from difficulties is an important part
of sumud and is therefore an essential component of the refugee families’ processes and
actions where education is concerned.
Resilience in education may be understood through the contrast of conditions and
achievements. Two types of conditions are relevant, the prevailing education systems
through which children are taught, and secondly, the context of the conditions within
which the children live and attend school. Therefore to gain insights into the resilience
shown by Palestinian refugee children and families in their quest for education,
literature which sheds light on both the state of educational infrastructure and
restrictions in delivery is of interest. Similarly, specific information about the
difficulties and dangers refugee children face arising from the conflict is relevant.
During the British Mandate difficulties faced by peasant families who wanted their
children to be educated arose from the lack of schools available in villages (Sabbagh,
2006; Tibawi, 1956). Tibawi showed that due to minimal spending on infrastructure by
the British Government, village education went up to the fourth grade only and was not
sufficient to attain the stated British minimum objective of permanent literacy (Tibawi,
1956, 1961). Nevertheless, the passion for schooling and the personal effort undertaken
by peasant children and their families to firstly obtain places at village schools and then
to overcome the economic and geographic difficulties involved in progressing to the
larger schools in towns is well documented (Sabbagh, 2006; Sayigh, 1979).
Once in refugee camps after 1948, the availability of primary education for the villagers
increased. Tent schools were set up almost immediately in which the teachers were
literate, although not necessarily teacher trained, refugees (Yahya, 1999). The well
documented place of UNESCO and UNRWA in ensuring free education for refugee
56
children after 1950 was central to the growth of literacy amongst the refugees (Badil
Resource Centre, 2006a; Samady, 1997; UNESCO, 1990). However, in the first decade
of exile uncertainty about the future, constant attacks and wars, combined with the
aftershocks of coming to terms with what was becoming evident as the new reality of
life, contributed to a dangerous and deprived context for education (Bowker, 2003;
Lynd et al., 1994). Nevertheless, during this period children did become educated and
the culture of engagement with education amongst the refugee community took a firm
hold (United Nations, 1979).
However, better access to schooling was not met by increased provision of
infrastructure. Black and white photographs, available on the UNRWA website, confirm
that in the 1950’s, facilities were minimal, with schools either in the open air or in tents,
few books, no electricity and no private space for study in the overcrowded tent
dwellings in which families lived (UNRWA, 2010a). Limited spending on infrastructure
by the Egyptian Government in Gaza and the Jordanian rulers in the West Bank during
the 1950’s and early 1960’s meant that facilities did not increase in proportion to the
growth of the young population (Barakat, 2007; Rigby, 1995; Sa’di & Abu Lughod,
2007). Despite this, through the ‘education revolution’ (Farsoun & Zacaria, 1997, p.
147) children schooled in the 1950’s and 1960’s became doctors, lawyers, engineers,
teachers and administrators, many of whom made an essential contribution in the
opening up of the Gulf Arab States (Sayigh, 1979; Schiff, 1995).
From 1967, the literature points to increased problems arising from the occupation
(United Nations, 1979). After some initial disruption, the education systems in place in
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip remained those of Jordan and Egypt respectively,
however, very little modernisation of infrastructure or curriculum took place, leading to
overcrowding, understaffing and an out of date curriculum. School buildings were used
for double, and sometimes triple, shifts, in which each building housed two schools, one
in the morning and one in the afternoon, with class sizes which were regularly up to
sixty or more (Rigby, 1995; United Nations, 1979). As well as lack of relevance to
modern developments, particularly in science and mathematics, censorship of many
texts approved by Egypt and Jordan led to gaps in the curriculum causing difficulties for
those students moving on to universities in other countries (Halstead & Affouneh,
2006).
57
Substantial damage to infrastructure during and following the First Intifada (or popular
uprising) which broke out in 1987, worsened the state of education provision (United
Nations, 1989a, 1989b) and by the time the Palestinian Education Ministry was
established in 1994 the condition of the entire educational system was ‘in a near state of
collapse’ (Halstead & Affouneh, 2006, p. 204). Within the first five years of Palestinian
administration, building of infrastructure and curriculum was enthusiastic and effective
(World Bank Middle East and North Africa Development Group, 2006; World
University Service (UK), 1993), however this upward cycle was interrupted by the
Second Intifada in 2000 during which once again, buildings, books and equipment were
deliberately destroyed by military intervention (Giacaman, Abdullh, Abu Safieh, &
Shamieh, 2002; Halileh, 2002).
The politicisation of education has meant that the context within which families and
children live and go about their schooling has contained elements of threat and danger
for most of the 20th century. Students and teachers have consistently been singled out
for harsh repression by the various occupations. During times of unrest and rebellion,
the Mandate powers targeted students and teachers using closures, curfews and
detentions. Along with these strategies, the prohibition of unions, demonstrations and
strikes were policies used then and which have been repeatedly used up to and during
contemporary times (Sayigh, 1979; Tibawi, 1956; Yahya, 1999).
Following the occupation of 1967, International customary and conventional law
including The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, as well as the Fourth Geneva
Convention, Articles 27 and 32, became relevant (United Nations, 1949). They state
that children are to be treated humanely, free of coercion, corporal and collective
punishments, with respect for their life, physical well being and moral integrity (United
Nations, 1990a, p. 6), while Article 50 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states ‘The
occupying power shall, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities,
facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of
children.’ (Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of
War of 12 August 1949 in United Nations, Treaty Series, vol.75, No.973, p.320).
However, the daily reality faced by children going to school during the first twenty
years of the occupation was very different (World University Service (UK), 1989,
1993).
58
At the end of 1986, before the start of the First Intifada, almost half of the population of
1.5 million living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories were children. In the West
Bank, 45 percent of children were registered refugees, 11 percent of them living in
camps, while in the Gaza Strip 83 percent were registered refugees, with 46 percent of
those living in camps (United Nations, 1990b, p. 3). Education, already under threat
from lack of development and modernisation, became an integral part of the conflict in
the First Intifada. Specifically targeted by the Israeli administration, schools, vocational
colleges and universities were shut down for extended periods causing noticeable gaps
in the education of many children and young people of that time (Chatty & Lewando
Hundt, 2005). The resilient reaction from a population which showed ‘unity, cohesion
and mobilisation of all elements’ (ICCP, 1988 ,forward) was the formation of popular
committees to ensure that students were able to continue learning. Classes took place in
private homes and teachers provided what education they could to small groups.
However, by 1988 the Israeli Authorities declared all Popular Committees illegal and
any teacher caught giving lessons was liable imprisonment for up to 10 years. Despite
this, education continued as an underground activity, in this instance resilience being
effectively augmented to become resistance (Anon, 1988; ICCP, 1988; JMCC, 1988,
1989; World University Service (UK), 1989).
The 21st century has seen the environment worsen, starting with the increased violence
of the Second Intifada. Once again, school infrastructure was targeted, affecting the
general education and matriculation chances of large percentages of students (Giacaman
et al., 2002; Halileh, 2002). From 2001 to 2005, more than 765 children, including 158
camp refugee children, were killed and 1,556 injured. Of the 765 killed, 31 percent were
involved in clashes and stone throwing; 29 percent died due to shelling; 24 percent died
in random shootings; 8 percent died during extra judicial targeted killings; 4 percent as
a result of mines and unexploded ordinance; and 4 percent due to closures and house
demolitions. In 2002, 48 percent of children killed were 12 and younger (Badil
Resource Centre, 2006a). During the 2004/5 school year 98 students and 4 teachers
were killed, some of those while actually in school (DCI/PS, 2005).
Detention and imprisonment have played a major part in the lives of children, one of the
effects of detention on the final years of education being the prevention of
matriculation, as without sitting and passing all the Tawjihi exams together the whole
year has to be repeated (Al Haq, 1990; Rigby, 1995). Until recently Palestinian children
59
were tried in Israeli military courts, without the benefit of juvenile courts (Barsella,
2006). Interrogation can last weeks, during which time they are prevented from meeting
their lawyers. The literature documents that ‘interrogators and guards subject child
detainees to intense physical and mental abuse in order to obtain confessions or as a
form of punishment and humiliation. This includes beating, threats, sleep deprivation
and preventing them from going to the toilet’ (DCI/PS, 2004, p. 17). In the 5 years from
2000 to 20005, over 4,500 children, aged 12 years and over, were arrested. In 2004
alone, more than 750 Palestinian juveniles were taken into custody by Israeli authorities
(DCI/PS, 2005, p. 33). In that year, 15.7 percent of the cases were children aged 12 to
14, while 33.4 percent were children aged 15-16 and 50.9 percent were 17 years old. Of
those children, 31percent were charged with the crime of stone throwing (DCI/PS,
2004, p. 18).
In light of the increasing levels of violence inherent in the conflict following the
outbreak of the Second Intifada at the start of the 21st century, a body of literature has
been produced warning of the consequences of prolonged and increased conflict on
community psycho-social and mental health in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Much of
this literature has direct relevance to schooling in times of conflict and therefore to
children’s resilience and abilities to engage successfully with education. Reports on the
condition of children in times of conflict compiled by international and national non-
governmental organisations, including Birzeit University’s Institute of Community and
Public Health and the Gaza Community Mental Health Service, articulate grave
concerns about the effects of the conflict on children’s resilience generally and in
education specifically (Dabbagh, 2000; Giacaman, 2004; Giacaman et al., 2002;
Giacaman, Saab, Nguyen-Gillham, Abdullh, & Naser, 2004; Halileh, 2002; Nicolai,
2007; Punamaki, Qouta, & El-Sarraj, 2001; A. Thabet, Abu Tawahina, El Sarraj, &
Vostanis, 2008). Recent reports from the Gaza Community Mental Health Service show
that in the Gaza Strip, the war of 2008/9 and the extended blockade, or siege, have
intensified the effects of the conflict on the community to an extraordinary degree (A.
Thabet, Abu Tawahina, El Sarraj, & Vostanis, 2009). According to the literature,
although the resilient attitude noted during the First Intifada (Barber, 2001) is still
evident, it is now in danger being eroded as the degree of violence in the conflict
escalates. As a result of this, engagement with education is being affected by a ‘deep
negative influence on the children’s ability to learn, their sense of security and their
mental health status’ (Giacaman et al., 2002, p. 16).
60
Sounding a more positive note, attempts to counteract the negative effects of ongoing
conflict on the mental health and wellbeing of children have led to an emphasis on the
relevance of the Right to Freedom of Expression, Article 12 of the Charter of the Rights
of the Child (OHCHR, 1989). Concerned with the impingement of military escalation
on children’s lives and human rights, schools, universities, NGO’s and camp refugee
agencies have made empowerment of young people a main agenda of their work.
Literature and multimedia created by Palestinian children and young people offer an
avenue through which they can express their opinions and communicate their feelings in
a positive way. Published and thus tangible acknowledgement of the children’s views
and feelings has a twofold value in that, in addition to contributing to their mental
health and well being, it plays a major role in affirming their dignity as human beings,
despite the often desperate circumstances of their daily lives (Al Rowwad Centre, 2007;
Atallah & van Teeffelen, 2001; DCI/PS, 2005; Right to Educate Campaign, 2006; Terra
Sancta School for Girls, 2004).
Conclusion
This chapter, the Palestinian Voice, has looked at the literature generated by
Palestinians in three sections, the Palestinian Past, the Palestinian Case, and Palestinian
Resilience. Distance, time and de-classified British and Israeli documents have given
contemporary historians a clearer picture of the events which occurred in Palestine in
the 20th Century. However, of greater importance to this study is the fact that for the
Palestinians involved there has never been any doubt. The Palestinian voice in the
literature has been remarkably consistent in presenting the same themes and facts in a
number of different genres from scholarly, through direct speech in the first person, to
transliterated oral testimonies. The Palestinian voice has been, and still is, clear, precise
and unwavering, qualities which bear testament to the existence of great resilience in the
collective beliefs and values of the population, both within Palestine and in the diaspora.
It has investigated, interrogated, accepted blame, explained and tried to reach out to the
world in a measured, intelligent and sophisticated way.
Palestinians, writing in English, have shown a knowledge and understanding of past and
recent events, and of the manner in which they have been represented by others. They
have constantly repeated their perceptions and perspectives of the past sixty two years
in the attempt to communicate their narrative to a world that appears to them not to
61
want to see or listen. Across this time span and across the different genres represented
in the literature, the basic message continues to be that a grave miscarriage of justice
occurred, unsolicited by Palestinian actions, and that according to their legislated rights
as human beings they hold the moral ground. An understanding of this constancy of
opinion, held since the early part of the 20th century, is essential to the focus of this
study.
Although under International Law there is a major differentiation between the periods
1922 to 1948; 1948 to 1967; and 1967 to the present day, the Palestinian narrative
demonstrates a perception that occupation and repression have been ongoing from the
start of the Mandate in 1922, including the period after 1948 in which the West Bank
was ruled by Jordan and the Gaza Strip was administered by Egypt. In the centuries
during which historic Palestine was a part of the Ottoman Empire until the Ottoman
reforms or Tanzimat, life in its traditional form carried on despite periodic repression
and injustices. However, according to the literature reviewed for this study, the British
Mandate of 1922 - 1948, followed by the 1948 and 1967 Wars, known to Palestinians as
the Nakba (Catastrophe) and the Naksa (Disaster) respectively, are now understood to
have introduced different elements to the usual methods of colonisation, the latter two
events in particular including forced population transfer.
In gauging the perceptions of Palestinians over the period of time, the descriptions in
the literature of contemporary modes of oppression and repression do not differ
significantly from those used by the British during the Mandate, and to a slightly lesser
extent the Jordanians after 1948, with the exception of an increase in hardships caused
by technological enhancement of military ordinance and surveillance. Curfews,
closures, house demolitions, arbitrary arrest, unlawful detainment, imprisonment and
death coupled with economic repression, destruction of infrastructure and restrictions on
education were already familiar to many of the generation that went into exile in 1948.
Since that time, the regular incidence of major and minor wars in the region,
interspersed with periods of severe restrictions affecting daily life, has formed the
background to the lives of all four generations of Palestinians under consideration in
this study. In addition, whereas the original exiles had to deal with forced migration
from their places of origin, since 1967 their children and grandchildren have
additionally had to deal with the influx of settlers colonising the remainder of the lands
where they are indigenous.
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With regard specifically to the villager antecedents of the camp refugees who are the
participants in this study, the information contained in the literature confirms the lack of
education available in villages during the century before 1948, the desire of the villagers
for more education and their perception that education was withheld from them in a
deliberate attempt to disempower them, the corollary of which is that they came to
perceive education as the key that would open a different and better life to them. The
literature clearly demonstrates that education was and has remained a priority in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip under all circumstances. However, during the increased
violence of the current decade, growing attention has been given in numerous reports
and studies to analysing the psycho-social aspects of constant conflict. Resilience in
education is being challenged by the devastating effects of the ongoing violence and
repression suffered by school age children and their families, at the same time as being
supported by a growth in available psychological and social support services. The
precarious balance between the effects of the violence and the support available to
children is one of the most important factors impacting their ability to effectively
engage with education. This study, therefore, seeks to add to the body of information
directly related to that particular aspect of the refugee’s lives.
The following chapter will describe the methodology which allowed the perspectives of
the participants to emerge from the data collected by means of semi structured
interviews, non-participant observation and document analysis.
63
CHAPTER FIVE
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter describes the purpose of the study and the design and methodology which
have been used to achieve that purpose. It explains the use of a symbolic interactionist
theoretical approach in the creation of guiding questions and the selection and
composition of the participant sample. It details the data collection process and gives
examples of how the grounded theory methods of data analysis were applied. Finally it
sets out the procedures used to ensure trustworthiness and authenticity and to deal with
ethical issues
Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study has been to develop substantive theory about how Palestinian
refugee families living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip deal with their engagement
with formal education at primary and secondary school level. Engagement with
education has been understood as having six main components. Students, whether
ultimately successful or not, are understood to have made an active commitment to
schooling and to have shown a desire to engage with both class and homework; to
succeed within the system and to pass examinations; and ultimately to graduate through
the system.
In seeking to achieve its objectives, the study has been concerned with uncovering the
perspectives, actions and subsequent changes in perspectives based on the results of
those actions which have been demonstrated by the participants over the sixty two year
period of their refugee status. Understandings of the ways in which the participants
have dealt with situations specific to the various phases of both internal developments
of refugee life and of external changes impacting on their society where education is
concerned over the sixty two years have been crucial in arriving at substantive theory.
Theoretical approach
This research has been located within the interpretivist paradigm, using a symbolic
interactionist theoretical approach and grounded theory modes of data analysis. The
interpretivist paradigm has been particularly appropriate for this study in that it holds
64
that the individual and society are considered as inseparable units and therefore a
complete understanding of one is not possible without a complete understanding of the
other. Any examination of the meanings that phenomena have for people must be
undertaken in their everyday settings. Palestinian refugee camps tend to be autonomous
and culturally homogenous settings, which fact rendered understandings of the
meanings various phenomena have had to their society, over the sixty two year time
span, relatively accessible.
The approach of Symbolic Interactionism, which places primary importance on the
social meanings people attach to the world around them, and how they respond to them
(Taylor & Bogdan, 1998) has been appropriate in this circumstance as it not only
provided a theoretical framework for understanding the way in which individuals deal
with other individuals and situations, but also placed importance on the social meanings
groups of people attach to the world around them, and how they respond to those social
meanings (Taylor & Bogdan, 1998). The concern has been with the study of ‘how
people define events or reality’ and ‘how they act in relation to their beliefs’ (Chenitz &
Swanson, 1986, p. 4).
Symbolic Interactionism rests on three primary premises found in Herbert Blumer’s
interpretive model for sociology which ‘inserts a middle term into the stimulus response
couplet so that it becomes stimulus-interpretation-response’ (Wallace & Wolf, 1986, p.
206). The premises are that human beings act towards things on the basis of the
meanings those things have for them, that such meanings arise out of the interaction of
the individual with others, and that an interpretive process is used by the person in each
instance in which he must deal with things in his environment. Additionally of
importance are Blackledge and Hunt’s four main assumptions underpinning symbolic
interactionist research. Firstly, every aspect of society can be traced back to the way
people act in everyday life; secondly, in everyday life people can and do create their
own activity to some extent; thirdly, everyday activity nearly always involves a person
interacting with other people rather than acting in isolation, as a result of which
individuals not only give meaning to their own actions, they also give meaning to the
actions of others; and finally everyday activity involves a process of ‘negotiation’ of
meaning and through this, we come to modify our understandings and views
(Blackledge & Hunt, 1985, p. 235). Following from the above, all human beings
develop perspectives on phenomena with which they have to deal, that is to say, ways of
65
perceiving or looking at these phenomena. A perspective is an absolute basic part of
everyone’s existence, and it acts as a filter through which everything around us is
perceived and interpreted (Charon, 2001).
A researcher adopting a symbolic interactionist theoretical approach when conducting a
study within the interpretivist paradigm is concerned with revealing the perspectives
behind empirical observations, the actions people take in the light of their perspectives,
and the patterns which develop through the interaction of perspectives and actions over
particular periods of time (O'Donoghue, 2007). As stated above, the relatively confined
nuclei of Palestinian refugee camps, almost wholly dependent on interactions with and
changes in the world around them, have lent themselves readily to examination through
this type of theoretical framework. The refugees’ ability to recognise and ascribe
meanings to the patterns of their own actions and those of others and to subsequently
adjust their perspectives and actions has constituted a strong suite in their ongoing
struggle for a future, thus making them an appropriate group to investigate through the
symbolic interactionist approach.
Data collection
Qualitative methods of data collection are concerned with situations resulting from the
interaction of individuals and society. They aim to discover patterns of ‘action and
interaction between and among various types of social units’ (Strauss & Corbin, 1994,
p. 278) and, as such, have been particularly appropriate for this type of research.
The field work for this study was undertaken over a period of four years in order to
detect patterns which have arisen from the ongoing process of the subjects’ actions and
interactions within their society and all of its challenges (O'Donoghue, 2007). The
study was grounded in the empirical world defined as:
the minute-by-minute, day-to-day social life of individuals as they interact
together, as they develop understandings and meanings, as they engage in ‘joint
action’ and respond to each other as they adapt to situations, and as they
encounter and move to resolve problems that arise through their circumstances.
(Woods, 1992 p. 338)
With specific regard to Palestinian refugee camps, daily life is affected by frequent
fluctuations, and at times swift changes, in conditions imposed on the refugee
66
communities externally. Therefore, the choice of a protracted period of time for the field
work was helpful in uncovering the individual and group perspectives held by the
participants and their community, and such actions as were taken in the light of those
perspectives, particularly during and after the fluctuations in conditions. This allowed
for uncovering changes in, or retention of, perspectives as the subjects engaged with
their inescapable realities.
Guiding Questions
The intention of three guiding questions, developed from the central research question,
‘How do Palestinian refugee families living in refugee camps within the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip deal with their engagement with formal education at primary and
secondary school level?’, was to provide a framework within which participants could
convey their points of view (Patton, 1987). In keeping with the theoretical framework
of symbolic interactionism, the first guiding question was designed to allow an
understanding of the participants’ general perspectives and intentions with regards to
engagement with formal education. It sought information about the strategies they
planned to use in their attempts to achieve those intentions, including the significance
and expected outcomes of those strategies. The second guiding question dealt with the
actual actions that the participants took, in the light of their perspectives and intended
strategies. The final question sought to establish such changes as had taken place in
their perspectives as a result of their actions. Together, the three guiding questions
facilitated the development of a list of data collection questions which engaged the
participants in conversations across a range of relevant areas in order to yield data
regarding their perspectives on engagement with education (O'Donoghue, 2007).
Selection of Participants
Purposive sampling, employed in this study, is sampling which is intended to uncover
as wide a scope of perspectives as possible. On that basis, the initial selection of
participants was chosen from refugee camps in geographically separated areas of the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Considerable variations exist in the conditions
experienced by the various camps in both Territories, depending on factors such as size,
density, economic activity and proximity to Israeli military installations and settlements,
thus the choice aimed to provide the possibility of uncovering a wide range of
viewpoints. In reality, expediency dictated availability of the intended samples,
67
particularly where the Gaza Strip was concerned. However, in the West Bank, the initial
selection was, in the main, adhered to. Further choices of participants that took place
during the study were also purposive, that is ‘guided by emerging directions in analysis’
(Punch, 1998, p. 167). Ultimately, the participants came from seven camps situated in
the North, centre and South of the West Bank and three camps across the Gaza Strip.
The Participants were all refugees and represented a variety of educational stages and
attainments, including those who had failed to complete their formal school education.
Thirty four participants aged from seventy five years old to the youngest at eight years
old contributed to the semi structured interviews. A further nine, mostly close family
members of the participants interviewed, provided data through informal, non-recorded
conversations and observations. Participants selected due to emerging directions in data
collection were chosen for specific attributes they possessed, and included refugees who
were successful professionals and those who had undertaken their education in
extremely difficult circumstances.
In keeping with the sixty two years of Palestinian refugee status covered by the study,
the selection of participants, informed by the need ‘to provide the greatest opportunity
to gather the most relevant data’ (Strauss & Corbin, 1990, p. 181), reflected the
traditional structure of Palestinian society. Wider extended families, or hamula groups,
were represented, whilst four multi-generational family groups were selected in two
geographically separate camps in the West Bank, including three families from Jenin in
the North and one from Aida in the South. These extended families were invaluable in
representing the development of, and changes in, perspectives and actions regarding
education over the sixty two year period of refugee life. They provided a sense of the
ever constant, but always changing, set of challenges faced by four generations of
students. The original refugees, from the generation that was born on their own farming
lands, had survived the socio- economic shift from independent village farmers to tent
city dwelling dependants of the United Nations and grew to maturity in the turmoil and
wars of the 1950’s. Their children were being schooled at the time of the 1967 war, and
grew up under occupation, experiencing the start of settlement building within the
Territories. The third generation faced the curfews and school and university closures of
the 1st Intifada of 1987- 1992, and their children, the current school age generation, have
contended with the 2nd Intifada, which started in 2000, the building of the Separation
68
Wall, the rapid increase of settlements in the West Bank and the economic sanctions,
siege and war in the Gaza Strip.
From the table below, which shows the participants by age in relation to major historical
events which have affected their lives, an appreciation can be gained of the
circumstances during which their schooling was undertaken.
Dates in five year increments
Key events affecting the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
Participants by age and camp
16A 17A 18A
20A
24J 11G 22J
6A 15A
23J 27 M 32J
1A 2A 33J
3A 21A
12C 9G 31J
4D 5KY 13AF 14AF
10A 25J 27J 28J 30J
7A 8A 26J 29J 34J
Pre 1948 born
1948-52 The Nakba born
1953-57 1956 Suez War 5 born
1958-62 10 5 born
1963-67 1967 War 15 10 5 born
1968-72 Settlement starts 20 15 10 5 born
1973-77 25 20 15 10 5 born
1978-82 Camp David 30 25 20 15 10 5 born
1983-87 1st Intifada 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 born
1988-92 1st Iraq War 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 born
1993-97 Oslo, PA 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 born
1998-2002 2nd Intifada 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 born
2003-07 Wall started 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5
2008-10 Gaza Siege and War
60+ 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10
Table 5.1: Participant context timeline in five year increments
Methods of analysis
Data Collection
Qualitative research methods of data collection seek to uncover ‘the different ways in
which individuals invest objects, events and experiences with meaning’ (Flick, 2006, p.
15). This study utilised three qualitative techniques for obtaining data, namely semi-
structured interviews; non-structured, non-participant observation; and document
analysis. These methods show a concern for the empirical social world and a
69
commitment to field work and were thus appropriate to the interpretivist underpinning
of the research.
Researchers should attempt to see the world from the point of view of the participants in
the study, always keeping in mind that the participants’ own reality is important, rather
than the reality of the researcher (Charmaz, 2006; Punch, 1998). When the participants’
world is culturally different from the researcher’s, any attempt to achieve this objective
requires a prior knowledge of the participants’ heritage and a constant sensitivity to
nuances of cultural meanings expressed both verbally and non-verbally. With field work
set in an environment of occupation and military conflict, in addition to a language
barrier which at times necessitated the use of translators in interviews, the difficulties
involved in accurately uncovering the participants’ perspectives may appear to have
been overwhelming. However, the time span over which field work in this study took
place, including extended periods within the four years from 2007 to 2010, facilitated
adjustment to the environmental circumstances and allowed the possibility of multiple
visits to all of the fields involved, giving the best possible chance for familiarisation
with the cultural settings to take place.
Semi-Structured Interviews
Interviewing ‘permits an in-depth exploration of a particular topic or experience and,
thus, is a useful method for interpretive inquiry’ (Charmaz, 2006, p. 25). In-depth semi-
structured interviews elicited the participants own perspectives with regard to the
concerns of the study by allowing them the space and opportunity to reflect on their
own experiences. Assisted by an aide-memoir or semi-structured interview guide, the
researcher’s task was to ‘listen, observe with sensitivity, and to encourage the person to
respond’ (Charmaz, 2006, p. 25). The aide memoir used in this study was designed to
reflect educational issues only and did not seek to elicit any political responses, a fact
which participants were assured of during initial meetings. As education is highly
valued within Palestinian society, all prospective participants were comfortable and
enthusiastic about taking part. Many Palestinian refugees speak English, albeit with
varying accuracy, therefore, as many of the thirty four interviews as possible were
conducted without the use of a translator. The oldest, youngest and least educated
groups of participants, however, did require a translator and in each of the eleven cases
requiring translation, the translator was a refugee from the same camp as the participant
and also a prior participant. These choices were intended to facilitate the comfort of
70
both the participant and the translator, reducing the potential barriers to a free flow of
communication.
The thirty four interviews were conducted in a wide variety of venues reflecting both
the lack of personal space available in the majority of camps and the ease with which
Palestinian refugees were able to express themselves articulately in less than private
surroundings. Venues included homes, extracurricular educational centres, balconies,
cafes, a video store and in two cases a grocery shop, this variety of venues demanding
maximum sensitivity and flexibility on the part of the interviewer. In many cases the
participant was not alone, a culturally appropriate circumstance in light of both the
collective nature of Palestinian family society and the security situation which refugees
face on a daily basis. The interviews, ranging in length from under thirty minutes to
well over an hour, were digitally recorded and subsequent transcription was at times a
painstaking process because of the amount and variety of background noise from
people, from the streets and, at times, from overhead. Once transcribed, copies of the
interviews were returned to the participants for scrutiny, using the same translators from
each camp when needed, providing opportunities for follow up questions and
discussions. As movement between refugee camps in the West Bank can be an uncertain
process, time gaps from a week to several months occurred between the interviews and
the return visit for transcription scrutiny. This facilitated the ongoing process of
constant comparison that took place in the analysis of the various participants’
contributions.
Non-structured non-participant observation
By observing and analysing everyday events, ‘routine actions in ordinary settings’
(Charmaz, 2006, p. 53), the underlying heartbeat or atmosphere within which events,
incidents, and phenomena occurred in the field was allowed to emerge. Observing at
first hand ‘how participants manage daily life’ helped to ‘define subtle patterns and
significant processes’ (Charmaz, 2006, p. 53). Of relevance to life lived in situations of
conflict, through observing a combination of ordinary and extraordinary events, the
process of constant comparison afforded insights into the way in which the abnormal
became assimilated into the normal. Observation partnered interviews as an important
part of the process of ‘looking for concepts in data through constant comparison of
incident with incident, incident with concept to emerge more categories and their
properties’ (Glaser, 1992a). Furthermore, within the interviewing process, sensitivity to
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‘non-verbal messages, effects of the setting and nuances of the relationship’ (Patton,
1987) was gained through observation.
Observation took place in a variety of venues and situations within and outside refugee
camps, in the company of refugees, thus covering both the routine and the less ordinary
referred to above. Within camps the participants were observed in the streets, shops and
cafes and also in their own homes, both during extended stays and on shorter visits.
Young people were observed at school, in class and in the school yards; contributing to
projects at the extracurricular cultural centres in the various camps; visiting cultural
events outside the camps; and taking part in politically motivated events. Older
participants were observed at universities, at their work places and at cafes and
restaurants. Observations were also made on local buses, in local shared taxis, at fixed
checkpoints and at ‘flying checkpoints’. Field notes were recorded digitally or taken in
note form as close in time to the observation as possible. They were then analysed and
the data were used to extend the process of data collection by both checking the
emerging concepts and themes from interviews and for stimulating further data
collection questions.
Document analysis
The documents analysed included ‘artefacts’ such as art, photography and performing
arts works created and performed by young people. Considered as empowering under
Article 13 of the Convention for the Rights of the Child, the Right to Self Expression
(OHCHR, 1989), these artefacts tapped into both the refugee past and present and
allowed valuable data to emerge relating to the position of young refugees in the
structure of Palestinian life. The data were collected over the extended period of field
work and used in the ongoing process of comparison which contributed to the
development of emerging concepts and themes. Included in document analysis were a
school Art Installation which involved UNRWA, Government and private schools in the
Bethlehem district and a photography and video programme, ‘Images for Life’, at the Al
Rowaad Centre in Aida camp in Bethlehem (Al Rowwad Centre, 2007). The latter took
place over a period of two years, culminating in exhibitions in Bethlehem, Nablus,
Jerusalem, and in New York at the United Nations in 2008 (United Nations News and
Media Division, 2008). In addition, youth theatre productions from the Freedom
Theatre in Jenin camp (The Freedom Theatre, 2010) and Al Rowaad Theatre in Aida
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camp were viewed, including a combined performance day for both youth theatres held
in Jenin camp in September, 2007.
Analysis of data
Grounded theory methods of data analysis, investigating “patterns of action and
interaction” between individuals and their situations (Strauss & Corbin, 1994, p. 278)
were ideally suited to this study. Inherent in grounded theory coding are the two
procedures of making comparisons and asking questions, which together start the
process of analysing the data and shaping a ‘frame from which to build the analysis.’
Within the frame ‘generalizable theoretical statements that transcend specific times and
places’ moved the data beyond concrete happenings into interpretations (Charmaz,
2006, p. 44).
The analysis of data involved two types of coding, open coding and axial coding
(Glaser, 1992b; Strauss & Corbin, 1990). In keeping with grounded theory principles,
the initial data collected was analysed using open coding, whilst subsequent data
collection was guided by emerging directions in that analysis (Punch, 1998). Using “the
constant comparative method of analysis” (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), a number of
substantive codes emerged from the data. Once substantive concepts had been
identified, the data ‘fractured’ by open coding were put back together again during the
process of axial coding. This was done by clarifying the relationships between concepts
and developing theoretical links between them (Chenitz & Swanson, 1986).The moves
between inductive and deductive thinking, as properties suggested by the data were
verified against other incidents in a “constant interplay between proposing and
checking” (Strauss & Corbin, 1990, p. 111), allowed higher levels of abstraction to be
reached throughout the period of analysis and theory formulation. Examples of the use
of open and axial coding during the study are provided below.
Open Coding
Concepts are the basic units of analysis in grounded theory methodology (Glaser,
1992a). They are defined as “conceptual labels placed on discrete happenings, events,
and other instances of phenomena” (Strauss & Corbin, 1990, p. 61). Open coding was
used at the outset to break up the data and identify emerging substantive concepts.
Through this process, concepts were identified and labelled. As these various concepts
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were recognised, they were labelled and elaborated on according to situational factors,
then explored further in subsequent data collection and analysis. Memos, or detailed
notes of the concepts emerging from the data, were used in the comparison, verification
and modification of the concepts as new data was collected.
The following figure is an example of line by line open coding which led to the
emergence of the concept ‘respect for social order.’ During an interview, 6A4, a 48 year
old married man, discussed his opinions on the teacher pupil relationship.
Figure 5.1: Open Coding of an interview with 6A4 at Aida Camp, 19.3.07
Immediately following the interview, prior to coding, the following memo was written:
Memo: Importance of society and social learning (19/03/07)
Although 6A4M didn’t mention social learning specifically as a positive factor in attending
class, it comes through very clearly in his discussion on teachers. He makes a clear
correlation between learning social behaviour and accepting the relative status and roles of
teachers and parents. This is important! The social grouping, in which families are familiar
with the teachers and vice versa, appears to be enormously important in the students’
commitment to engagement with education.
Figure 5.2: Memo written following an interview at Aida Camp, 19.3.07
The emerging concept ‘respect for social order’ was then examined in comparison to
information in subsequent interviews with participants of various ages, from university
For me, because my parents teach me to respect others, so I have to respect the teachers.
Accepting social behaviour set by parents
None of the teachers punished me because I was polite and good in school.
Recognising the rewards of following parents’ rules
The headmaster had the power to punish, he can ask my parents to come, and this is not easy if they do!
Acknowledging the status of teachers and parents
If you behave well, everyone has to respect you because you respect others. It’s life, it’s normal.
Seeing functional social behaviour as a desirable norm
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students to school students. It was found to be repeated consistently, although with
different levels of insight depending on the age of the participant. Examples from
younger participants such as ‘Because the teacher is bigger than me I must respect him’
(8A6) or ‘I learn from my friends when a person is dishonest the result is not good’
(26J5) show a basic pragmatism in approach. The responses of university level students
showed a higher sophistication, for example, 4D1’s understanding of ‘respect for social
order’ including an appreciation of the need for ‘social functionality’, an extension of
the original concept:
You don’t only learn from a book or the teacher. You learn the value of being in
a community, how to listen, how to value what you’re listening to, how to
exchange your ideas and how to hear others. (4D1)
The importance of the concepts ‘respect for social order’ and ‘social functionality’ was
corroborated in an observation made during a return bus trip, from Jenin camp in the
North of the West Bank, to Aida camp near Bethlehem. Some thirty young people from
Aida, aged from nine years old upwards had taken part in a Drama day at in Jenin camp,
accompanied by male and female adults, including parents and workshop leaders. The
incident observed was described in the following memo:
Memo: Drama day out!
Date:19 September, 2007
Just after sunset two Israeli soldiers in an armoured hummer created a flying check
point and stopped three coaches going out of Jenin. We were the third coach back.
Despite obviously being a school trip involving young children, no exception was
made for our bus and we all had to leave the bus at gun point. After collecting our
travel documents and identification papers, the soldiers allowed the women, girls
and boys under fourteen back on the bus, while the men and older boys waited on
the roadside outside the bus. The two soldiers’ task appeared to be to query all
identification papers by sending them electronically from the hummer, an extended
process considering the number of people on the three buses.
The children were now in a situation where after a long and exciting day, they were
in unfamiliar circumstances in the dark, with all their male authority figures
removed from the bus. The two armed soldiers were young, nervous and
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outnumbered by the Palestinians on the buses. Therefore it was obvious on
observation that the behaviour of the children was extremely important for the
safety of the group. In fact, the young children behaved with a complete lack of
distress and with a calmness and control that belied their circumstances. The only
behaviour they exhibited that was considered dangerous by the female adults on the
bus was a desire to photograph the soldiers and their hummer, flashes from which
could have resulted in negative reactions from the armed soldiers. However, the
children accepted the request to desist given by the women on the bus.
Outside the bus, the men and boys could be seen conducting the evening prayer at
the roadside. The sight of the group praying underscored the place of spiritual
strength in society. More importantly however, the men were praying because sunset
had occurred whilst the bus was moving and so it was the evening prayer, an
everyday, socially correct occurrence, a stable part of ‘normal’ life, and therefore
reassuring to the children in that their world order had not been disturbed.
Following the prayer the men simply sat on the road side smoking and waiting until,
after an hour, our bus was permitted to leave.
The importance of the concept of functional social behaviour emerged very strongly
from this observation, the respective social status of the group members was upheld
within the group and it was evident that deviant social behaviour was neither
expected by the adults, nor considered by the children. Following the incident the
adults and children continued to sing and chat on the bus for the remainder of the
long journey, passing very little comment on the occurrence. The concept of
‘normal’ arising from this incident is worthy of further investigation.
Figure 5.3: Memo written following an observation made on 19.9 07
Concepts which emerged from interviews, observations and document analysis were
continually recorded and refined by constant comparison throughout the process of open
coding, until a main group of substantive concepts was identified. These substantive
concepts, many of them ‘in vivo’, were categorised into four sub groups corresponding
to the ages, or generations, of the participants. This was done because the data collected
covered the whole period of sixty two years of engagement with education under
consideration, during which evidence emerged of shifts in the perceptions underlying
subsequent actions taken by the different generations.
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Axial Coding
The concepts which had emerged during open coding and which were then connected in
categories expressing similar meanings or processes became the subject of further
interconnection during axial coding (Punch, 1998). To begin with, the categories were
examined for dimensions or properties embedded in the data, recognised as contributing
to the essence of the categories. By continuously collating categories and their
properties they were further abstracted, thus uncovering theoretical categories and
properties at higher levels of abstraction. Theoretical sampling, ‘the ‘where next’ in
collecting data, the ‘for what’ according to the codes and the ‘why’ from the analysis in
memos’ (Glaser, 1998, p. 157) was a continual process, confirming and affirming the
value of the emerging categories and properties.
For example, from initial coding of data from interviews, supported by data from
observations made within camps, the concept of ‘being different’ emerged as a
phenomenon experienced by Palestinian refugees. In exploring the phenomenon, two
consequences of ‘being different’ emerged from the data, one reactive and the other
proactive. The reactive consequence became the category ‘managing everything’ and
the proactive one ‘knowing everything’. From the initial categories described above,
through the process of further sorting and refining at a theoretical level, ‘Being a
Palestinian Refugee’ emerged as a main theme with three main properties or
dimensions: ‘respecting the social order’, ‘wanting to learn’ and ‘enduring everything’.
During this process, memos, including the use of diagrams and flow charts, were
important in exploring the levels of abstraction and checking the validity of the
categories. For example, the following memo was used in conjunction with
diagramming to uncover the shift in perspectives across the sixty two years during
which the phenomenon ‘being educated’ came to be ‘in the blood’ of the refugees:
May 2008: Shift in beliefs about validity of education
The original refugees believed they had lost their land through ignorance and made
sure that their children were educated so that it would never happen again.
The next generation accepted the belief that their parents had lost their lands
through ignorance and believed in education as a valuable weapon in the fight, not
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only to lose no more land, but also to regain what was lost.
Their children believed they must be an educated generation so they could preserve
the existing strength of their society and ensure that the next generation would also
be also educated, thus making their contribution as a generation to the struggle to
regain what they saw as rightfully belonging to the Palestinian refugees, by now
perceived as including more than just land, but also human rights.
The shifts in emphasis shown by succeeding generations continually built on the
concept of the importance of education, to the point where it is now unquestioningly
accepted by the youngest children, even those with parents who did not succeed in
being educated.
Figure 5.4: Theoretical Memo exploring ‘inaho al dakhilina’ ‘it’s in our blood’
The flow chart below is an example of the process of refining the properties of the
emerging theme ‘Building the Future.’
Figure 5.5: Flow chart used in uncovering the properties of an emerging theme
Engagement with formal education at primary and secondary level
Build human capital
Widen employment
potential
Be a functional member of
society
Contribute to a just future for the group “Palestinian Refugees”
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Eventually, two main themes emerged, ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’ and ‘Building the
Future’, and became the overarching framework through which the categories and their
properties could be viewed.
In keeping with the method of constant comparison and the grounded theory approach
to reading literature (Glaser, 1998), at this point in the study the theoretical categories
and their properties were further considered and investigated by comparison with
selected readings from literature, the relevance of which became evident as the
categories emerged.
Trustworthiness and authenticity
A study conducted within the interpretivist paradigm is evaluated in terms of
trustworthiness, the components of which are confirmability, dependability and
credibility (Guba & Lincoln, 1989). In qualitative methods, as the researcher is the main
instrument of the research, a continual awareness of the necessity of seeing the reality of
the subjects is of the utmost importance. For this reason data triangulation is vital,
involving studying phenomena at different dates and places, from the perspectives of
different persons, and through observing different incidents (Flick, 2006). In this study
triangulation involved interviewing participants from ten different camps in both the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip, chosen from four generations of refugees. Document
analysis, involving cultural activities carried out by refugees, as well as observations
made in different geographical places over a period of four years contributed to
triangulation of data. Information was also gathered informally from refugee advocacy
agency personnel, academics and professionals with refugee backgrounds.
Throughout this study the participants were involved in member checking in which
transcribed interviews were checked back with the participants for modification, using
translators where necessary, until they were accepted as representative of their positions
and opinions (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Member checking was frequently related to
refining the meanings of words or phrases used by the participants, whose native
language was Arabic but who spoke English, during the interviews. In addition to
member checking for substance and accurate meanings, emergent categories were tested
through second and sometimes third round interviews with the participants to check the
plausibility of interpretations (Glaser, 1998).
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All of the raw data, including the digitally recorded interviews, transcripts of interviews,
records and memos of field work, theoretical memos and diagrams, have been preserved
to ensure that an ‘audit trail’ exists that will enable others to follow the process by
which conclusions from the study have been drawn. As the field work took place
outside of Australia and in a conflict zone, dates and places of interviews were recorded
separately from the actual interviews as a security measure required during travel, but
have subsequently been accurately reconstructed. In addition, multiple copies of the
interviews and transcripts were transferred to different electronic devices and kept in
more than one venue, ultimately including the University of Western Australia.
Ethical Considerations
A symbolic interactionist study which seeks personal information and perspectives from
participants must take into account ethical considerations, particularly when the field
work is conducted in a conflict zone where the security of the participants cannot be
assured by the researcher. The University’s Human Research and Ethics Committee
requirements necessitated providing participants with clear information about the nature
of the research, including the proviso that they were free to withdraw from the study at
any time, while ensuring that the participants were able to query the research directly
with the University if they desired.
On a practical level as the study involved children as well as adults, parental or guardian
consent had to be gained in addition to the consent of the children, necessitating a series
of letters appropriate to the varying age range of the participants. Furthermore as the
participants were Arabic speakers, all consent letters were printed in both English and
Arabic. Because of the status of the participants as refugees under occupation, the
option of preserving anonymity by using names other than their own was offered and in
some cases availed of. Names were not used in the recorded interviews, whilst in
written transcriptions the participants were referred to by numbers constituted from their
sequence in the interviews and the initials of the camp they came from. As mentioned
above, great care was taken in transporting the documentation through checkpoints and
borders, both to protect the security of the participants and to ensure the safe arrival of
the documents at the University in Australia.
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Conclusion
This chapter has outlined the research design and methodology used in the study. It has
explained the use of symbolic interactionism as the theoretical basis and detailed the use
of qualitative methods of data collection and grounded theory methods of data analysis.
It has provided exemplars of the use of open and axial coding as well as memoing and
diagramming as main strategies used in moving towards constructing theory. In
conclusion it has explained the measures taken to ensure trustworthiness and ethical
conduct throughout the research.
The next chapter will present an analysis of the findings which have emerged from the
data through the methodology described in this chapter. It will view the findings
through a framework involving two main themes, ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’ and
‘Building the Future’ and a central strategy ‘Being Educated.’
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CHAPTER SIX
DESCRIPTION OF FINDINGS
Introduction
In forming substantive theory regarding how the Palestinian Refugee families living in
UNRWA camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip deal with their engagement with
education, two main themes have emerged from the data. These themes, ‘Being a
Palestinian Refugee’ and ‘Building the Future’, explain the essence which has
underpinned the perceptions and actions of the group ‘Palestinian Refugees’ across four
successive generations. Together, the themes have provided the motivation and
impulsion through which the group has taken a proactive stance and maintained a
forward momentum in the continuum of an existence necessarily ‘in suspension’ due to
its refugee status. Connecting the two themes is a central strategy, ‘Being Educated’,
which the group has adopted as a means of preparing young people to take their place in
securing the present and continuing the momentum towards the future. This chapter will
provide an explication of the two main themes and the strategy, which emerged through
the analysis of data collected from interviews, observations and documents in the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip over a period of four years.
The first main theme, ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’, will be examined through three
properties which affirm the relevance of the theme to the focus of the study. Property
one, ‘respecting the established social order’ will be shown to be of central importance
in supporting the engagement of children with formal schooling at primary and
secondary level, particularly in the earliest years of education. The second property,
‘wanting to learn’, will become evident as the basis for continued engagement with
education throughout a learning process often interrupted by events outside the control
of the group. The third property, ‘enduring everything’, underlies the ongoing resilience
demonstrated when dealing with refugee life in general and education in particular.
Three properties of the second main theme ‘Building the Future’ which have emerged
from the analysis of the data are ‘acquiring knowledge of the world’, ‘accepting social
responsibility’ and ‘seeking economic viability’. Through investigating these properties,
an understanding can be gained of perceptions about the manner in which ‘Building the
Future’ can be most efficiently carried out. The attitudes that the group desires to
preserve, and the tasks which need to be undertaken within the established social
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framework, constitute the processes which are perceived as necessary for application to
the endeavour of building the future.
‘Being educated’ has emerged as a central strategy perceived as essential to achieving
the goal of building a future as a Palestinian refugee. In using this strategy, three main
processes are undergone by students engaging with education at school, namely
‘developing self’, ‘learning social skills’, and ‘striving for academic success’. It appears
from the data that actions supporting and furthering these processes are applied
consciously and deliberately by refugee children from a very early age.
Theme One – ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’
The question ‘Why do Palestinian refugee children go to school and learn?’ is central to
the substantive focus of this study which, it will be remembered, relates to the manner
in which refugee children and their families deal with their engagement with education.
The most common answer given, ‘inaho al dakhilina’ or ‘it is inside us’, may be broken
down into two separate areas of enquiry. Firstly, the concept ‘inside’ infers the
existence of an interior or intrinsic quality, ‘inside, inherited, inside your thoughts’
(11G2). Other descriptions, such as ‘in their blood’ ( 33J12), are even more vivid. The
metaphor of blood conveys the explicit understanding that what is ‘inside’ is not only
deeply ingrained in the psyche, but is also a necessary part of continued existence.
Secondly, from the concept ‘us’ emerges the idea of separateness, which suggests that
Palestinian refugees see themselves as a distinct group or entity. This is supported by
commonly heard phrases such as ‘for us, the Palestinians, especially refugees’ (4D1) or
‘being a Palestinian child, especially living in a refugee camp’ (12C1). The idea of
being a separate entity entails the existence of particular conditions or attributes. These
were defined by members of the group in various ways, for example, ‘We are a special
people. We have to laugh and cry at the same time’ (22J2). Looked at together, the
concepts ‘inside’ and ‘us’ point to the idea of a cohesive group which has been imbued
with a collective identity. For the purposes of this study, the group will be identified as
“Palestinian Refugees’.
From a very early age, camp children were aware of their reality as members of the
group ‘Palestinian refugees’. The three properties, identified as ‘respecting the
established social order’, ‘wanting to learn’ and ‘enduring everything’, emerged clearly
through the words of school children as young as twelve. For example, the importance
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of education in a society where many of the adults are incarcerated or killed was
explained by a twelve year old girl:
When girls haven’t any person to defend them, such as her father or mother or
brother, she must have a degree to continue her life, to be able to fight others by
education. When I get older I want to be educated. To help the others and to find
a good job. (26J5)
A fifteen year old boy, starting Grade 11, explained the importance of studying in the
prevailing economic conditions:
When I was young, my father wanted me to study. He told me: Go study and it
became like a routine for me. So, if from young your parents teach you how...it
will be OK with you. It’s very important for all children because you know
especially in this time in Palestine there is no work. There was just a little bit of
work and all of it was in Israel, but all the relationship with Israel is gone now.
You know I hope to be a doctor, a surgeon. So I have just my education to have
that hope. (10A7)
The data indicate that children as young as ten and eleven were already aware of the
relationship between education and their lives as Palestinian refugees. The substance of
the first main theme, ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’, will emerge through the following
explication of its three properties, the first of which concerns the nature of the social
group within which the children grow up.
Property One – ‘Respecting the established social order’
The particular group under consideration, ‘Palestinian Refugees’, has been shown to
regard itself as standing apart from the surrounding mainstream groups. ‘All the
families, they have the same problem. They are refugee, they are poor, they must
support each other to manage to continue their lives’ (23J2). As a ‘special’ group,
facing special difficulties, there is evidence that the importance of the established social
order is heightened in the perceptions of all generations of camp refugees. When
phrases such as ‘Many times my father told me...’ emanate from older adults, they have
an almost mythical overlay, heightening the cultural relevance of the information they
contain. That information is often of a cautionary nature, intended to direct the actions
of subsequent generations.
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Respect is a two way process between the generations. The responsibility for providing
the opportunities for study initially rested with the older generation as explained by a 75
year old man, ‘I have to endure and bear all the things so that we have our children
educated and they have jobs’ (18A10). In return, the next generation accepted the
responsibility for learning, as the following comment from a 40 year old man
demonstrated, ‘Look, because we are here we must study. That’s what in the past my
father taught me. I continue to teach my children. It’s very important’ (22J1).
The following generation accepted education as unquestioningly part of the
responsibilities that came with social order, ‘it’s how the fathers have raised the kids –
it’s important to get educated. It’s part of our culture’ (9G1), whereas the attitude of a
teenager who dropped out of school shows that he regrets breaking the established code,
‘I didn’t give care for my parents, I decided to leave and now I am unhappy’(30J9). All
of the preceding comments give the established hierarchical social order as the basis for
engagement with education.
Respect was accorded to those who were educated and also to the educators. According
to a Headmistress born in 1947:
In the fifties when you enter any house you will see many certificates on the
walls. The mother will say “Look, my child, my daughter, my son, look at his
certificates, he is clever!” (20A11)
Teachers were such a vital part of the structure of a community which believed deeply
in the importance of learning that:
During the wedding parties they used to sing for the teachers because they were
valuable in society. If they asked who married your daughter, you said, Oh! A
teacher! (20A11)
Despite being a Headmaster himself, 6A4 demonstrated that social obligations persisted
into adulthood:
For me, because my parents teach me to respect the others, so I have to respect
the teachers. If I saw some of my teachers now, if I am smoking, (I am a smoker
by the way) I have to put my cigarette away, not to smoke in front of them. It’s a
kind of respect. (6A4)
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The accepted social hierarchy is further evident in the following story related by 22J1, a
fifty year old man who did not enjoy school and wanted to leave. Now a successful
professional man, the story illustrates his parents’ determination for him to be educated:
When I am go in the house, go back from the school, daily my mother is talking,
“You must to do the exercises and to read in the house what you are took in the
school, you must to learn it now and do the exercises, after that you can go play.
But before you go to play, you must to read it!” When I am not read, she tell my
father and my father he can coming talk me, make for me a problem. Sometime
he gave me in my face – like that! (22J1)
Within the hierarchy of authority headed by the father figure, the mother played a
central role in guiding the behaviour of the children, followed by a ranking of siblings.
This is illustrated by the continuation of 22J1’s story:
I remember when I have exam, I have percent 49, I am not pass it. I am afraid to
talk my father because I not pass the exam. I put the paper for the exam in my
pocket and I forget it. I had two trousers, just two trousers. I use the trousers for
a week. On Thursday my mother wash them and I use the other one. By chance I
forget it, the paper in my pocket, and she catch it. She don’t know what it
means, she ask my brothers: “What’s this? It is important for (his name) or not
important?” “Wow – what he have?” - My brother tell my father! I hope you
don’t put yourself in myself in the past! Coming my father, gave me – doosh-
very good! (22J1)
Outside the home, the authority structure extended to the school, as explained by 6A4, a
man in his forties:
The Headmaster - he had the power to punish. He can ask my parents to come
and this is not easy if my parents come. If I tell my father to come to school, he
will beat me. (6A4)
The preceding examples demonstrate that it was not enough for the children of the first
and second generation born in the camps to merely attend school, but that within the
social hierarchy of family and teachers the importance of successful engagement with
education was clearly understood.
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Cultural gender differences which had traditionally kept village women from education
lessened over time within the refugee group, partly because it remained under external
pressure. The old social order can be seen in the stories of second generation refugee
women who did not complete their schooling, such as 2A2 who said, ‘my father was
old, my mother wanted me to help at home. She had 10 children.’ Similarly, 3A3 gave
home duties as her reason for not studying, ‘my mother made me do a lot of things at
home. So I was tired. I had 15 brothers and sisters. I was in the middle.’ 27J6M
explained the changing attitude - ‘Traditions and habits were different from now. It’s
more important now to continue, for a woman.’ She ascribed the difference in society to
being ‘open to other cultures’ (27J6M). Others ascribed the change to the place of
women within a social group where men are often missing through incarceration or
early death, as explained by a father: ‘Here the girls more than the boys going to
university, because if she be alone, she have to go to work, to found job’ (21A12), or, as
quoted above, from the twelve year old girl, ‘when girls haven’t any person to defend
them, such as her father or mother or brother, she must have a degree to continue her
life, to be able to fight others by education’ (26J5).
The explications given above demonstrate the evolving attitudes towards education
from the inception of refugee life in 1948 and the swift assimilation of education as part
of the structure of the accepted social order. With the importance of education for all
refugees, regardless of gender, unchallenged by the social hierarchy, the second
property of the main theme ‘ Being a Palestinian Refugee’ shows that in the perceptions
of the group ‘Palestinian Refugees’, education came to be understood as not only
necessary, but also as highly desirable.
Property Two – ‘Wanting to Learn’
The second property, described in vivo as ‘Wanting to Learn’, appears to be connected
to the physical and economic reality of being a refugee. This is illustrated by strikingly
similar views expressed by two refugees separated by geography and age. A 62 year old
woman from the West Bank said:
After 1948 the Israelis moved everyone from his own villages. So we lost the
land. We had nothing to do, we were in camps. So the only thing we can do is
learning, education. (20A11)
A 30 year old man from Gaza confirmed the point, saying:
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Imagine you lost everything, you lost cities, you lost families, you lost
everything...... so it’s inside the kids, it’s in the kids that they want to go and
educate and do something in the future, that’s why. (9G1)
From these statements, it can be seen that the desire to learn has become an intrinsic
cultural characteristic, initially established through default by the groups’ historical loss
of socio-economic status, and then confirmed and instilled into the group ‘Palestinian
Refugees’ through social absorption.
In tracing the emergence of the properties of ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’, it becomes
apparent that ‘wanting to learn’ was already established among the peasant farming
families before they became refugees in 1948. The peasant farmers ascribed their lack
of education to the circumstances of their occupation, first by the Ottoman Empire and
then by the British Mandate, from which can be inferred an already existing desire for
learning. Two of the original refugees from Aida Camp confirmed this view by stating:
The Turkish government didn’t want us to be educated. In the villages they
didn’t encourage any education…there were no schools. There was a small
house and people who wanted their children educated paid for the teacher. They
gave him bread, honey, wheat – anything that was available at home they paid
for the teaching. (16A8)
There was no government for education. The people who didn’t have money for
the teacher could pay him anything, wheat, rice, anything. That was because we
wanted to be educated. Our parents were under the Turkish rule. Education in
the Turkish rule was better than the British. The British didn’t encourage us for
education. And so the parents, we want our children to be educated, to be better
than us, to have a better life than the lives we have lived. (18A10)
However, once in the camps, when education became available through UNRWA after
1950, there was no question about the refugees’ desire for schooling their children.
Asked why she wanted her children to be educated when she hadn’t been, an original
refugee replied in outrage ‘Do you want them to be stupid? I want them to be better than
me!’(17A9), whilst a man from Jenin said ‘My father could not read or write, but many
times he told me there is a big difference between who can and cannot read’(22J1).
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For the first generation of children born in the camps, their parents’ desire for them to
learn was absorbed in conjunction with the circumstances of dispossession into which
they were born. Education ‘became our main thing in life – it’s a need. I saw my
father’s life – very hard life’ (23J2). It appears that assimilation of ‘wanting to learn’
occurred with rapidity, as understood from the sentiments of a Gazan born in the second
decade of refugee life who said, ‘You feel something is missing when you are not
educated. You go higher steps, always go higher and higher. This is really inside
everybody, all Palestinians’ (11G2).
This speed of assimilation was confirmed through the participants born in the camps
after 1967, whose schooling occurred before and during the 1st Intifada. It is clear that
wanting to learn was by then ‘part of the psychological character of the Palestinian
people’ (33J12). That participant alluded to the fact that the younger children accepted
schooling without thinking because by that time the parents and oldest children were
literate. A woman from Aida also demonstrated this view point saying ‘something
inside us told us – you have to go to school, you have to learn, you have to go’ (3A3).
Although forced breaks in the educational process were a frequent occurrence, they did
not affect the ultimate desire for education. In fact, the effect of the curfews and
closures in the 1st Intifada appears to have increased the desire of children to go to
school. 9G1and 12C1 both expressed the feeling that because ‘we spent long days
sitting at home because the schools were closed, the only way to be out of the house
was to be at school, so it was something we really wanted to do’ (12C1).
Wanting to learn was offered as the reason that two women who abandoned their
education because of the 2nd Intifada and marriage later returned to study. 1A1 said
‘One of the reasons I go back to school to learn is that I am always trying to find
something to improve my knowledge,’ while 31J10 explained that she returned
‘because I want to learn, to read everything, I liked education and learning from young’
(31J10).
For those born in the last two decades of the 20th century, the desire to learn appeared
unequivocal. School was considered by many as merely a basic requirement, ‘the least
thing you can do here is to go to school from first grade to 12th grade’ (4D1). The use of
‘ambition’ to denote forward movement in the process of learning appeared to be a
component of wanting to learn and was often coupled with an expression of enjoyment,
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‘I like studying, I like education. Because always I am ambitious, I always look to be
more and more, to reach more levels and I always preferred (wanted) to study at
university’ (25J4), while for 14AlF it was ‘very important to be a student in a class
because my ambitions were unlimited. I wanted to study English. I want to study not
just English but many languages.’ To him, the opposite of ambition was ‘dropping out’
which ‘would never happen here. It’s a tradition in our country. If you don’t want to
study, you have to find a job’ (14AlF).
The affirmation by the youngest participant, aged eight, ‘I like to study. I like the
teachers. I like everything!’(29J8) sums up the place of education in the perceptions of
the group ‘Palestinian Refugees’. That the refugees’ desire to learn has had to overcome
considerable challenges has been touched on above and will become yet more evident
through the explication of the third property of ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’,
‘Enduring everything’. Along with adaptability, persistence and resilience have
emerged as essential characteristics in the relationship between education and refugee
life.
Property Three – ‘Enduring everything’
Although the interviews and discussions with participants specifically did not aim to
elicit opinions of a political nature, the property of ‘enduring everything’ emerged as a
constant sub text to the perceptions and actions of all four generations of participants.
Over the course of sixty two years of engagement with education in the camps, the
challenges and discomforts endured by the refugees in connection with education have
escalated at times to very real, often mortal, dangers. It is through the persistence with
which these challenges and dangers have been accepted and responded to that the
concept of ‘endurance’ is revealed.
As has been discussed in previous chapters, Palestinian peasant farmers were
historically no strangers to hardship and endurance, partly due to the very nature of
subsistence farming as a mode of existence. In addition, they were no strangers to the
hardships of occupation, as shown by the following comment from a 75 year old
refugee, ‘They suffered the Turkish rule and then the British rule – and they are still
suffering!’ (18A10). However, for the first refugees to have survived their loss of land
and livelihood with sufficient fortitude to regroup themselves under a new mode of
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existence within the camps was a major accomplishment in itself. The circuitous paths
from their villages to the camps were complicated by hunger, exposure to extreme
weather, and fear coupled with loss of dignity and identity, concepts summed up in the
following statement:
Before the war, before we were chased out of our villages we didn’t depend on
any government for anything. We had farms, we had chickens, we had cattle.
We depended on our selves. After we moved here we lived in tents. Every seven
families shared one tent. After that, in winter, all the water was on us. And we
stayed. (16A8)
Attempts to return to their lands to harvest their crops met with harsh penalties
including death, ‘They still have their keys. Many of my relatives tried to go back and
the Jewish killed them’ (20A11). Not everyone could endure the circumstances as 24J3,
born just after 1948, described:
Afterwards my father went inside (Israel) and he work in his land by money.
They paid him. The Jewish paid him to work on his own land. He wanted that
only because he didn’t want to leave his land. My father after that was broken in
his mind for this problem. (24J3)
It is evident that the adjustment of existence, from mainly illiterate but independent
farmers to dependant tent city refugees, swiftly centred itself on an understanding of the
potential and importance of education for their children. This was clearly articulated by
a seventy-five year old refugee from Aida camp, who said:
I have 11 children. Nine of them have finished their Bachelor. That wasn’t
because I am rich. I haven’t a shop, I haven’t any land. But I have to endure and
bear all the things so that we have our children educated. (18A10)
For the early refugee children, the circumstances within which their learning took place
afforded few facilities, both in the tent schools and in their dwellings. The paucity of
facilities continued even after the tents had been converted to breeze block buildings
during the first decades in the camps, directly affecting the attempts of students to
assimilate the still unfamiliar culture of education. Describing conditions in Jenin camp
in the 1960’s, 22J1 said:
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My family, we were 7 male and 2 girls and my father and my mother and we
had 2 rooms. And the light – not like today – electricity. We had light – like in
the gas – and not clear in the night. And we were near the light when we are
studying. (22J1)
Large families were standard, for example in Jenin 23J2’s family had ‘six sons and 3
sisters. Just we had one room, one kitchen and small yard, we had candles. I don’t know
how, but I managed to study’ (23J2).
The same held true for Aida camp in Bethlehem, where 6A4 said,
‘We were 11 in the family. We were all in 2 rooms. Some of my friends and my
partners in that time, there was no electricity or water, so they were study on the
candles or a gas lamp.’ (6A4)
Nevertheless, engagement with education was successfully undertaken by the first
generation born in camps, with the essence of engagement captured in a statement by
24J3, who asserted that:
Who want to study, he study. In a tent, or small house, or big house, or on the
street. It’s not a problem with the place. The problem is that you have the spirit
to study or not. If you have the spirit to study, you will be successful. (24J3)
Active suppression of students and teachers, familiar from British Mandate times,
manifested as a central issue as the twentieth century wore on. The use of threatened or
actual imprisonment to disrupt teaching and learning is reflected in the education stories
of several of the participants. In some cases, as with 24J3 and 21A, prior imprisonment,
followed by the threat of further incarceration, led to the abandonment of education
altogether. Both these men however, one jailed while at university in the 1970’s and the
other while at school during the 1st Intifada in the late 1980’s, continued to persist with
educating their own children, both male and female. The contribution of families,
relatives and the refugee community was vital to supporting the resilience of students
persisting with their education. 31J10 remembers being in tears because she could not
do her primary school maths homework and had no one to help her as her father was in
jail. Undaunted, her mother went to the street and asked a neighbour to come to the
house and help.
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Destruction of property added to the challenges students endured. Later in her life,
following a period of incarceration, 31J10 lost all her notes and books just before her
Tawjihi (matriculation) exams when her house was completely destroyed in Jenin in
2002. Once more initially in tears, ‘after three days I look for my books. I don’t find
them, but I bring other books from our neighbours. I study, I do the exam and I have a
good mark’ (31J10).
Again, the community rallied to help 12C1, at university during the second Intifada,
‘I threw all my books and said I don’t want to go on. But friends and neighbours
in Birzeit convinced me to give it a try. It (the Intifada) affected us very much
but we thought this is the only good thing we can do in such circumstances.’
(12C1)
The concept of endurance was demonstrated equally by students and families, as in the
case of 11G2, whose university studies had to be pursued in Romania because of a
Palestinian political decision to boycott Egyptian Universities in 1979, a choice which
caused hardship to both students and families in Gaza. In his words:
My Dad was an employee and he spent a fortune in order to get me study in
Romania ...you can’t say what financial difficulties he faced in order to let me
go and continue my study and have the challenge. (11G2)
Travel restrictions also caused interruptions, as with 4A6 who in 1987 was unable to
travel to Jordan to sit final exams for his undergraduate course. However, he persisted
over a period of years until he finally reached his higher degree studies in 2006.
Curfews and closures during both Intifadas interrupted education at schools and
universities. 1A1 was an undergraduate at the start of the 2nd Intifada but ‘they closed
the university. After that I married, I had my first son’ (1A1). It was not until several
years later that she was able to resume her studies, complete them and become a teacher
herself.
Very few of the younger participants referred to the political situation, despite being
regularly affected by it, often through incursions into the camps at night or in the early
morning. From Jenin camp, 25J4 suggested refugees are disadvantaged as they are more
often disturbed at night by soldiers than other students. However, the following two
statements show the use of the concept of ‘normal’ as a measure of the children’s
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acceptance of the elements of their situation that they could not change. To 14 year old
29J8, disruptions resulting from the occupation were ‘normal’, while 15 year old 10A9
said, ‘Sometimes I do not stay focussed so I throw the book. But after everything gone
back to his normal, I get back to study.’
In summary, it appears that endurance has become so ingrained in the culture and habits
of the group ‘Palestinian Refugees’ that refugee students accept what is unchangeable in
their environment, preferring to dwell upon the constructive areas of their lives by
persisting with and enjoying their education. In doing this, they are respecting the
values of their society and protecting its traditions, at the same time as laying the
ground work for their adult lives.
Theme Two - Building the future
Evidence from the data shows that securing a future for the group ‘Palestinian
Refugees’ involves maximising individual human potential to contribute to the
collective need. ‘Building the Future’ depends on producing successive widely
knowledgeable, socially responsible and vocationally qualified generations of
Palestinians. The overall objective is ‘to be a generation educated’, as stated by 12 year
old 26J5. The use of the word ‘growing’ when connected to the future, used by 9G1 in
the following statement, suggests that a proactive position is required:
More or less, it’s part of our culture, let’s say, it’s part of our family education,
family raising. It’s how the fathers have raised us as kids – it’s important to get
educated, this is your future, you have to grow your future. I’m a poor man, so
you have to continue to raise this money and to grow your future. (9G1)
Children as young as 11 year old 7A5 were clear about the need to build the future and
furthermore, that education was a path towards the future. ‘Every year you have
knowledge more than the year before. If you didn’t stay at school you would forget
everything you have learned. You would not continue life’s steps. You will have no
future’ (7A5).
In other words, there is an acknowledgment of being on a path to the future, a
perception that knowledge is essential to building that future and that school is the
means to acquire knowledge.
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Property 1- ‘Acquiring knowledge of the world’
Within the collective understanding of the group ‘Palestinian refugees’ ignorance, as the
opposite of knowledge, is treated as highly undesirable and even dangerous. This was
clearly stated by a fifty three year old refugee from Jenin camp, who cautioned that
‘knowledge is good – ignorance is very, very bad’ (22J24). As explained by two Aida
Camp refugees in their seventies, the concept of danger in ignorance arose from the
original refugees’ belief that ignorance caused them to leave their land. ‘We were not
educated. We didn’t know what will happen to us. If we were educated we wouldn’t
have left our villages’ (18A10), and ‘In the past we were living a simple life. We didn’t
know any politics, anything about other countries, just our lives. We planted trees,
raised animals. Now we are listening all the time to the radio about the news’ (17A9).
Moreover, instead of trying to cover up their ignorance, the original refugees explained
it to their children and grandchildren, as described by a 40 year old man from Jenin
camp:
My grandfather told me, “We thought we will go out for a while and we will
return.” So they left many, many things behind them. My grandfather, he told
me about these stories, they thought just for a short time and they will turn back.
And until this moment, they are waiting to return. (23J2)
In this way, ignorance became the focus of cautionary tales and entered the mythology
of the refugees’ own narrative as an enormously negative concept, the corollary of
which was the high value of knowledge.
This understanding of the dangerous polarity of ignorance and knowledge emerges
clearly from the following explanations by two participants from the first generation
born in the camps. From two geographically distant camps in the West Bank, they both
compared the 1948 Dier Yassin massacre with the 2002 Jenin camp incursion. A
woman from Aida camp explained:
Dier Yassin, this is the first reason why they fled (in 1948). They were afraid for
their families so they ran away. Now they understand it was a strategy to make
them leave their land and to destroy the villages. Look at Jenin (in 2002) – no
one left, they stayed. Now they stick to their land. In ‘48 they didn’t think like
that so they left. Because they were not educated, they were naïve, so they ran.
(20A11)
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The man from Jenin camp whose parents had fled in 1948 said:
My father was ignorant, someone came to him and told him, “Oh, Israeli
soldiers come and kill you and make something with your wife, leave your house
and go away to the mountains and after that, turn back again at the night .”
When they leave, they cannot turn back again. My parents left because they
didn’t learn, and they advise me, “You must learn!” They told me, “Believe us,
but our land, we lost our land by this - because we didn’t learn good. If we are
learn and know everything we are not left our land and go outside.” And now
you know, because we are learn and know everything surround us, when the
soldiers of the Israelis come to Jenin Camp and they damaged it, we are stay
here, we are not go so far. Knowledge is good – ignorance is very, very bad.
(J24)
Literacy, as a step towards gaining knowledge was recognised as essential by the first
refugees, as it allowed them to become better informed so they could judge the world
around them more clearly. 20A11, born in 1948, recalled about her school days:
The first motivation is to know how to write and read. My parents didn’t know
how to read and write so they wanted to convince me. Our parents thought that
it’s a must that any child should go to school. Now people think for themselves,
they use their minds. Now they speak to each other, make conversation, find out
the reasons why. (20A11)
From the second generation born in camps, 23J2 felt that:
Study is very important for us. Without study you cannot know anything
surround you. But if you study, if you learn, you know all the things, you can
read the newspaper, you can read any book you want, your sense is very good.
(23J2)
It should be noted that the type of knowledge under discussion in this section is not
primarily related to employment. For the daughter of J24, continuing education went
beyond the need to widen opportunities for employment. She explained:
If I want a job now, because I was in jail, I find it. But I prefer to study in
university. Someone who learns, he knows everything in life. If you don’t learn
there is a wall around you. If you learn you are not alone in the world. I (will )
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know how to understand another people, from another culture, another country,
how to do everything in my life. (31J10).
The perception that knowledge is important has not abated within the third and fourth
generations. 1A1, a thirty five year old Open University student, stressed it was
important for her to ‘learn how to get information from other sources’. 12C1 was clear
that education had facilitated his ability to understand the world from the point of view
of other cultures, saying ‘I wouldn’t be happy not being able to watch say, the BBC,
being able to understand ... what’s going on’, while 9G1 recognised the value of his
position working for an international media agency, assisting with the dissemination of
information between Palestine and the outside world. The importance of world
knowledge continues to be recognised by the younger generation as explained by 25J4
‘It’s important to be in touch with others, to learn new information, new ideas and new
cultures, about others, not just around us’ (25J4).
The connection between acquiring knowledge and making a meaningful contribution to
society emerged as an important driving force behind the refugees’ attitude to
education. To ten year old 8A6, who was able to explain that ‘in future if I want to be
something or someone, I must have knowledge’, the context of ‘being something or
someone’ was located within her social group, rather than in any achievement she might
make for her individual welfare. Thus, an understanding of the need to show
responsibility for the welfare and continuance of their society was demonstrated by all
the generations included in this study.
Property 2 – ‘Accepting social responsibility’
The development of a person who will be able to contribute to society, whatever his or
her actual job or profession, was identified an essential component of each person’s
ability to give ‘service’ to the group ‘Palestinian refugees’. The concept of service is
described by two men in their fifties from Jenin camp. ‘I want to talk about my children.
All the time I told them - just your duty (homework), if you want to help your country,
just care about your education’(23J2). In the following quote, another father gives
credit to uneducated workers, but explains the value of further education to society:
When you are studying and learning and you pass maybe BA, MA, and PhD,
you know very well about the situation. You can give, you can be effective for
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the Palestinian people in the country here. More than the normal people who is
start working and just he is working hard, difficult work. If I am studying I will
be very effective, very good man and I can talk very well and I can give very
well service, here. (22J1)
It is interesting that in the interview with this man’s daughter, at a different time and
place, she recollected her father saying, ‘Take the degree and be good in the
community. Not to go to the streets and be mechanics. Always spend your time in
studying, better than to spend your time in guns or other things’ (25J4).
Using the metaphor of fighting, 22J1 added:
My father and my family, they talk to me, “You must to learn and to study to be a
good man in the future and you can help all Palestinian people when you are
finished the school, and you can fight in the Palestine to help many Palestinian
peoples here.” (22J1)
‘Fight’ is not used with a military meaning in this instance, but as an example of using
education as a strategy in the struggle for the future. A member of the Palestinian
Refugee Advocacy Agency, Al-Badil explained:
Our National Movement since the very beginning has taken education as a great
weapon to encounter the enemy. We have a very good Arabic saying – ‘you can
find a thousand to carry a gun, but you can’t find two to lead the idea of the
guns’. (15AB)
In other words, as stated by a young teacher from Jenin, ‘to be an educated person is one
of the best ways to confront the occupation. The people can reach their voice and show
the world about Palestinian people’ (33J12).
The use of education in the struggle for survival was explained by many of the
participants using the term ‘case’. ‘Case’ has legal overtones, that is, it can be argued, in
comparison with a ‘cause’ which can be fought for using arms and military strategy. One
of the participants from Gaza explained:
We seek to be competitive with students all over the world, in order to be
outstanding, because we have a case. We have to show ourselves because we are
in the case, and we have to do something more than others. That is what we learn
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and is inside us. So this is the challenge. You’ll find it in hundreds and thousands
of families. You go, you find, you try everything in order to get education. (11G2)
The school aged children recognised the concept that as part of the group ‘Palestinian
refugee’, each individual contribution is important in that it will add to the collective
strength of the group, thus contributing to a future which to them is of paramount
importance. A 12 year old girl from Jenin camp believed that the importance of
becoming ‘an educated generation’ was that ‘in future when we marry our children will
be as educated as us’(26J5). She believed an educated person is better positioned to
render service both to the community and to herself. ‘I want to help people. When I get
older I want to be educated. To help others and find a good job’ (26J5). The concept of
service may also be more specifically directed, as with 29J8 who aimed to be a lawyer
to help ‘find solutions to problems about the soldiers and related to politics. My uncle
was in prison so I decided to find a solution to this problem and fight for him’ (29J8).
The social consequences of being uneducated were explained by 5KhY from the Islamic
University in the Gaza Strip, who believed ‘If people don’t stay at school they become
failures and this leads them to be bad people sometimes.’ He also outlined economic
consequences, by explaining that apart from being general failures, school drop outs
would ‘at the least, get low ranking jobs’ (5KhY). In addition to understanding their
potential value to society as enlightened and educated people, young refugees also knew
that they would have to be in a position to support their existing and prospective
families. Education was seen as the answer, by providing them with the best chance of
developing their personal economic capital.
Property Three - Seeking economic viability
The peasant farmers who lost their lands and livelihood in 1948 were unable to provide
a means of living for their children and thus education became one pathway to
economic survival, as explained by a 48 year old refugee:
My parent have no lands, we don’t have a business, so the only thing I can do is
just to study, to have a certificate which qualifies me to have a job. This is the
only solution I have. (6A4)
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The concept of ‘human capital’ was outlined by the participant from Al Badil:
Palestinians have not had for the last 300 years any kind of national structure
that has stabilised, for example industry, public sector, so on. So a kind of
compensation for the loss of the general public structures is to have education as
a capital. It’s an investment, it’s a capital. (15AB)
This belief was repeated on numerous occasions, such as by the following two young
professionals, ‘Palestinian people have just the school. School will define their future’
(9G1), and ‘For me going to school and university was the best investment a person can
do. In order to get a good job you have to be educated’ (12C1).
University students were clear about the relationship between completing school and
future opportunity. A Hebron University student felt school was just the first step ‘It’s
important to complete yourself. To study at school helps you to complete higher study.’
Once again, the influence of the family in the process of engagement was made
apparent, as she added, ‘especially these days, all mothers make a lot of concern on her
children to have a high mark, because the economic situation is bad and they need to
work to improve their situation’(13H1).
A Bethlehem University student from Deheisha Camp made a similar connection,
saying:
Yes it’s very important (to stay at school for 12 years). It’s the least thing you
can do. Any time you have the leaving certificate, the Tawjihi we call it, if you
want to go anywhere in the world you can study in the university. If you left the
school at the 10th grade and ten years later you don’t have any work and you
wanted to go to university, they will tell you ‘You don’t have any certificate’. So
that’s one thing. The other thing, sometimes in some of the work they need at
least the Tawjihi certificate. If there was less than Tawjihi you don’t have
anything guaranteed. The least thing you can take and finish is the Tawjihi.
(4D1)
Of interest is the manner in which J3, from the Arab American University in Jenin,
linked her economic capital with her ability to serve her community. ‘It’s important to
get a degree. It’s important in this situation first of all to find a job, how much more
beautiful when you are able to help people and draw the smile on their face’( J3).
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The statement above shows the manner in which the two main themes, ‘Being a
Palestinian refugee’ and ‘Building the Future’, underscore the perceptions and actions
of young members of the group ‘Palestinian Refugees’. It demonstrates their combined
awareness of being part of a society with particular needs and their acceptance of the
necessity to develop themselves into viable, functional contributors to the future of that
society.
The preceding explication of the two main themes, ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’ and
‘Building the Future’ has demonstrated the high priority placed by the group
‘Palestinian Refugees’ on protecting its cohesive identity and pursuing a viable future.
From the earliest days in the camps, the refugees have used education as a powerful
strategy in achieving these goals. In the following explication of the main strategy
‘Being Educated’, the conscious and deliberate manner in which the group approaches
the ground work of protecting the present and ensuring the future will become evident.
Main Strategy: Being Educated
In Palestinian culture, as in the wider Arab culture, children’s learning of behaviour,
morality and religion takes place within the family, with the father, mother and close
relatives integral to the process. Therefore, for children to have described school as ‘the
second home’ (26J5) invested school with an importance far above a place of solely
academic learning. The data show that while at school, in addition to aiming for
academic success, students consciously engaged with processes aimed at building social
responsibility and developing their sense of self. School thus became the ‘coal face’ at
which their development as individual contributors toward the collective strength of
their people took place. Self esteem was understood as one vital component of being a
constructive member of the community, learning to accept personal responsibility for
their own actions was seen as another. In addition to achieving academically where
possible, establishing a reputation at school as a caring, attentive and industrious student
was a way of building self esteem. In other words, a perception existed that it was not
only academic achievement that denoted eventual success as a person, an important fact
in a society within which young people may be prevented from completing their studies
as a result of poverty, early marriage or imprisonment. The deliberate element in the
process of growing personal capital at school became evident through the assurance
with which children were able to describe the strategies they used to achieve these ends
as premeditated and organised.
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Process One – Developing self
The perception that school is a means to establishing self esteem was expressed by a
university graduate from Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, who stated that ‘school had a
significant role in paving my personality. It helped me in getting self respect and
confidence’ (5KhY). Similar views were found in the West Bank, where a mature age
university student from Aida camp said ‘It is something lovely to have a degree. Maybe
because you feel special, you feel not ordinary person’ (1A1). Self esteem was linked
from an early age to reputation, that is, gaining respect from others at school or in the
community. A graduate from Callandia camp explained that ‘in order to gain respect
among people in your society you have to be educated’ (12C1) and this was
corroborated by the graduate from Gaza who said ‘school is important, as being not
educated is a kind of stigma. You get more respected the more educated you are’
(5KhY). Without their benefit of hindsight, a grade six girl expressed a more pragmatic,
school centred view by saying, ‘the important thing is that the teacher will look to me as
a good student’ (7A5).
Taking personal responsibility for their own learning, both at school and at home, was
understood by the students as a vital part of their self development. Within crowded
classrooms, containing groups of anywhere between thirty and sixty students, seated on
shared fixed benches in front of a chalkboard, the students needed to have strategies in
place to enable effective learning. In many UNRWA schools seating was determined by
the teacher, often depending on the height of the students, with the shortest at the front
and the tallest at the back, leaving no opportunity for enthusiastic students to move to
the front. Therefore, concentration was the primary strategy used, as elaborated by 7A5
who said ‘I listen and hear and keep myself aware of nothing else’ or 26J5, ‘I don’t
listen to the noise of girls around me.’ Of the boys, 10A9 said ‘I stay focussed with the
teacher. Sometimes I talk with my partner, but not that much’ but ‘if my partner is lousy
and I can’t understand anything from the teacher I get away from him’, while 29J8
claimed ‘a person, if he wants to study, he wants to study. He doesn’t care (about noise
from other students)’. 28J7 used three strategies, ‘communication with the teacher,
make preparation for the lesson, and keep attention with the teacher.’ She explained that
if a student was disruptive the girls ‘try to keep her silent or if she doesn’t stay silent tell
the teacher about her.’ Asking the teacher questions was another important strategy,
however the timing of the questions asked depended on the individual teachers. 26J5
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said ‘I at the same time ask the teacher through the lesson’ while 7A5 waited until
‘when the teacher ends the class there is 10 minutes. I ask questions, then I know if I
understood or if I have to study more.’
Outside school, as well as being a strategy for academic achievement, homework was
seen as an area in which the students learned to accept responsibility for their own
performance. Significantly, the word ‘homework’ was translated as ‘duty’ by the oldest
generation of refugees, and as such it had become an established part of young people’s
responsibilities. Within large families, living in constricted spaces and in which the age
range of the children was widely spread, the task of finding a place and time for
homework appeared to be taken on by the students individually. There is no doubt that
the majority of students received encouragement to perform the task, particularly from
mothers, who recognised that ‘with homework we learn that we have things to do and
we are restricted to do these things. It makes us feel and act that we have
responsibilities.’(3A3). Assistance when needed from parents and older siblings was
also customary. Nevertheless, the student participants were clear about their personal
routines and made their own choices, preferring to be ‘independent - by yourself’
(29J8). The latter’s chosen order was ‘eating, watching TV, then studying’, exactly the
same choice as 8A6, ‘I eat, watch TV and after that I study.’ 10A9 preferred to ‘have a
rest and take my lunch. After that, I write my homework,’ leaving his relaxation
activities until his homework was finished. 28J7 left hers until later, ‘I organise
everything to study at night. Start at 6pm.’
Choices were also made by the students about the order of tasks undertaken during
homework. 26J5 chose to ‘make the hard homework first. When I finish the hard
homework, and at the end I have questions I can’t answer, finish other homework, after
that ask another person about those questions.’ 28J7 finished her set homework ‘to
make sure I understand the lesson well’ after which she made ‘preparation for the next
lesson.’ But if she had an exam she felt ‘the most important is the exam. Then I start the
others.’ When 26J5 had an exam, she planned to ‘make play time short, make rest short,
then study hard to increase marks.’ 7A5 explained ‘I have a diary. When I have
homework I get it all ready. If I have an exam, I give the exam the whole time’. 10A9
said ‘before the exam I study maybe 2 or 3 hours.’
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Process Two – Learning social skills
The importance of developing self and gaining respect from others was understood side
by side with an understanding of the importance of according respect to others. This
included the family, teachers, the peer group and the wider group of Palestinians, as
explained by 10A9, ‘everyone has his respect’. Being part of a class in the school
community was seen by students as a way of developing social skills, a way of learning
‘to be a good person, to help each other and other students, to be polite and to take the
love from other students’ (28J7).
Social learning was described by the participants as including the ability to both listen
to and learn from others, as well as having the confidence to offer information to them.
To the university students, the process they had undergone in school was appreciated
through hindsight. 1A1 explained, ‘In class there are a lot of things to learn, not to have
just information. You learn communication, how to make your personality, how to learn
to get information from other sources. There’s a lot of things in the class.’ This was
reiterated by 4D1:
Of course, it’s very important, it’s like you will be raised in a community, you
learn the value of being in a community, learn how to listen, learn how to value
what you’re listening to, you know how to exchange your ideas and how to hear
the others, and you know how to convince and they convince you. (4D1)
In talking about her final two years of schooling in the government system, 4D1 added,
‘You get to know other people and communities. Like for my example, I was in a grade
of 45 girls, 45 girls are coming from, let’s say, thirty villages and that’s different, thirty
villages.’ (4D1)
31 J10 pointed out:
If I learn alone in my house I will not experience things with my friends in class.
I know a lot of things from other people. And maybe teacher pay attention for
some point in one student, I take this and understand it. (31 J10)
5KY1 from Gaza summed up the ability to communicate as a two way process by
saying that being a member of a class ‘helped me build up a good rapport with new
people.’
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However, in contrast to the positive factors mentioned, 5KhY1 cautioned that ‘If people
don’t stay at school they become failures and this leads them to be bad people
sometimes.’ 4D1 gave an explanation of how not attending school could lead to
becoming a non functional member of society by saying:
If you are not going to school what else will you do? You get to learn nothing,
you get to know nobody, ..... you don’t become to realise who you are, what’s
your identity. You don’t know what is going on around you. It’s something you
will be missing a lot if you don’t go to school. (4D1)
Process Three – Achieving academic success
Within the school system, exams were considered intrinsically important ‘because we
revise the subjects and we have increased our knowledge’(8A6). However, a more
powerful motivation for accruing marks through performance in tests and exams
appeared to be the consequent increase in personal educational capital. The concept
‘taking good marks’ was explained by 7A5, an 11 year old girl: ‘The important thing is
that I take good marks. If you want to specialise in a good subject, you have to have a
high mark.’ Achieving good marks was thus used as a deliberate strategy to advance the
children on the path to their future: ‘Exams are important for marks, and if I get much
marks at school I will have my hope’ (10A7). In addition, they were also used by some
of the children to prove their value as students, and therefore worthwhile to keep at
school, as made clear by another 12 year old girl whose strategy for staying at school
was ‘to keep my marks at a high level’ (26J5).
Competition in attaining marks and ranking in the class was high and appeared to
contribute to the enthusiasm with which the children worked at school from an early
age. For example the youngest participant, eight year old 34J13, enjoyed an ongoing
competition for top place in the class with a peer. Marks were referred to by a 14 year
old boy as his initial reason for studying in the early grades, he believed his motivation
at that time was ‘to collect marks and grow bigger’(29J8). Additional motivation for
obtaining high marks were the certificates and prizes awarded by the UNRWA and
Government schools in assemblies, a source of pride and happiness to the students and
their families.
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Bearing in mind that within each camp society students, teachers and families are
mostly known to each other, the importance of each individual’s place as a functional
community member becomes clearer. The part school plays in socialisation was
summed up by 11 year old 7A5, who said ‘school gives us our reputation, our social
relationship with others, how to communicate with others’ (7A5). The combination of
self esteem, academic achievement and acceptance of social responsibility added up to a
powerful source of motivation and personal reward for the application of the strategies
explicated above. The layers of self, family and community are clearly outlined in the
following statement from 4D1, ‘It’s important to feel good around your friends and
achieve good things to show to your family. For myself, I would first feel good to
myself, to make myself happy, because I always get angry if I did not get good marks.
Then I make happy for my mum and my friends. Mum was a teacher; I wanted her to
feel proud of me.’
Conclusion
This chapter has presented the findings of the study through two main themes, ‘Being a
Palestinian Refugee’ and ‘Building the Future’ and the main strategy ‘Being Educated.’
It has shown that the engagement with education of Palestinian refugees and their
families is informed by cultural perspectives arising from the body of knowledge and
experience that is ‘Being Palestinian’. Engagement with education has been understood
as a series of processes and actions which Palestinian refugees undertake as a
consequence of their perception that education is essential in order to ensure the
establishment of a viable future for their families and society, within the external
limitations imposed on them as members of the group ‘Palestinian refugees’. Young
refugee children accept without question the societal norm that has put education ‘in
their blood’ and which allows them to start dealing with their engagement with
education in a positive and joyful manner. As refugee children mature, they deal with
their engagement with education in an increasingly proactive manner, perceiving it as
part of their own personal contribution towards establishing a collective future for
themselves and their society.
In the next chapter the two main themes ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’ and ‘Building
the Future’ will be discussed in the light of literature relating to engagement with
education and cultural factors affecting resilience and coping.
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CHAPTER SEVEN
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
Introduction
In this chapter a discussion of the two main themes identified in the previous chapter,
‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’ and ‘Building the Future’, will seek to contribute to
generating theory about how Palestinian refugee families living in the UNRWA camps
of the West Bank and Gaza Strip deal with their engagement with formal education at
school level.
In discussing the first emergent theme, ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’, the manner in
which the socio-cultural composition of the group has had a direct bearing on
engagement with education will be investigated. The three main properties of the first
theme were ‘respecting the established social order’, ‘wanting to learn’ and ‘enduring
everything’ and the discussion will focus on them in the light of literature relevant to
cultural understandings of coping with difficulty and of engagement with education.
The discussion of the second theme, ‘Building the Future’, will introduce the element of
extrinsic motivation arising from students’ circumstances as refugees living in a
situation of conflict. The importance of proactivity in channelling young people’s
attitudes towards the value of education and in increasing their capacity for resilience
will become apparent.
Theme One – ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’
The findings indicate that camp refugees see themselves as a group apart, in other words
a society within a wider society. A strong sense of cohesion between camp refugees,
even those from different economic strata within each camp, in thought and action, and
in behaviour and expectations has been highlighted in Chapter Six through the main
theme ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee.’ In addition to the psychological sense of cohesion,
camp refugee society is ethnically and culturally homogenous. The reasons for this are
not only historical but have also evolved from externally constructed factors.
Firstly, the initial groupings of refugees in particular camps originated from similar
areas in historical Palestine and came from the same class and background, namely the
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peasant farmers of the different regions (W. Khalidi, 1992). The percentages of refugees
currently living in camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip indicate that over the
intervening sixty two years many refugees have chosen to move out of the camps
altogether (PASSIA, 2010). However, the cultural predisposition for remaining in clan
and family groupings of origin has meant that movement of refugees between camps
has generally taken place only for marriage purposes. In addition, the physical
difficulties of movement between the West Bank camps and between the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip for political reasons have increasingly restricted potential exchanges.
Secondly, the ongoing suppression of Palestinian infrastructure and economic activity
(Quigley, 2005) has created unemployment and poverty which has inhibited upward and
outward movement of much of the camp population. Although the amount of
unemployment has fluctuated, dependant on the changing political situation over the
sixty two year period, since the 1990’s it has become an increasingly significant barrier
to movement as the overall poverty of the refugee population has steadily increased
(Oxfam, 2008; Wildeman, 2009).
Finally, the lack of movement into camps from the outside world has further reinforced
the homogenous nature of society. Immigration of non-indigenous people into Palestine
is extremely limited and has usually taken place only through marriage, for example
those marriages contracted by Palestinians studying in foreign countries. Over the last
twenty years, increasingly stringent restrictions on the movement of foreign workers
and visitors into the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have similarly restricted immigration
from that quarter (Cook, 2009).
The homogenous ethnic and cultural composition of camp refugee society has a direct
bearing on student engagement with education. Newmann notes cultural diversity in a
student body as a negative factor, citing ‘the more cohesive, sustained support for
students’ investment in school work’ available in homogenous societies (Newmann,
1992, p. 3). West Bank and Gaza Strip refugee children are nurtured and sustained by an
ethnically homogenous group that has spanned centuries of existence in its indigenous
geographical area. As a result of this background, although they are displaced persons
and refugees living in a situation of ongoing conflict, they do not have to deal with
burdens faced by many refugee children living in foreign countries, such as adaptation
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to a new environment and culture and learning a new language (Hamilton & Moore,
2004).
Property One – ‘Respecting the social order’
The first property of the main theme ‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’ was ‘Respecting the
social order.’ The findings from this study show that in spite of having exchanged the
historical, agrarian basis of their socio-economic structure for an economically
depressed urban camp dwelling existence, camp refugees have perceived immense
value in preserving their traditional social structures throughout their sixty two years of
dispossession (Bowker, 2003; Sayigh, 1979). This has encouraged a social conservatism
(Dabbagh, 2000) which is based on a steadfast belief in the value of the traditional
mores, rules and practices of their original society as the most effective basis from
which to face the challenges of the world around them. According to the literature, this
social conservatism is a by product of their physical dislocation from past ways of life
and an attempt to preserve continuity in times of danger and uncertainty (Bowker, 2003;
Hilal, 2006; Johnson, 2006).
At the base of Palestinian social organisation is the family. Social organisation based on
family ties has been identified as ‘a way to preserve the continued identity of dispersed
communities’ (Hammami, 1993, p. 286) and according to Johnson ‘one such key value
in the Palestinian context of insecurity and risk is clearly kinship solidarity and its
contribution to individual, family and national survival’ (Johnson, 2006, p. 55).
Therefore, the fact that at the start of the 21st century, Palestinian society in general has
survived its sixty two year fracturing and continues to be family oriented, belief centred,
and morally and socially conservative, appears to be in part a consequence of the
deliberate implementation of protective measures by the collective group ‘Palestinians’
in the interests of their continued existence as a cohesive entity (Bowker, 2003; Said,
2003).
The basic mores of modern Palestinian refugee society are still founded on traditional
family and collective values, dating back the era in which the villagers lived as
subsistence farmers (Barakat, 2007). However, far from being static, Palestinian
refugee society has shown an ability to adapt where necessary. Such changes as have
evolved appear to have been adopted in order to strengthen and empower the group as a
whole. An example particularly relevant to this study is the prioritisation of education
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and the decision to become a literate and knowledgeable society as a defence against
further dispossession. An extension of that prioritisation has been the acceptance by
refugee society of the equal inclusion of girls in education, leading to gender parity in
UNRWA primary and early secondary schools by the 1960’s (UNRWA, 2010e).
Education has therefore placed women in a stronger position to contribute as fully
functional members to a group which has remained under constant threat.
Family in the context of this study has been shown to have three strata, the clan or
hamula, the wider or extended family and the nuclear family. As described in Chapter
3, the clans were led by their most senior male figures, on whose authority major
decisions were taken for all members of the clan. The influence of the clan permeated
down through its wider, extended families to the basic nuclear family. Although in the
modern context the influence of the clan has lost its economic relevance, the findings in
Chapter 6 consistently indicate the importance of all three strata of family to camp
refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In contemporary times, kinship has become a
major form of social security available to refugee families. A child is born as a member
of a nuclear family, but more importantly, belonging to a wider group. This is the basis
of the continuity and solidarity that allows him or her to grow and develop as an
individual within the protective mores of society. The strength of this tie to the group
endures throughout the child’s life and is kept relevant by the political, economic and
psychological conditions surrounding the child, in particular those resulting from
conflict, poverty and trauma.
It is therefore of particular note to this study that the focus on the individual, commonly
found in Western societies, is completely foreign to the underlying ethics of Palestinian
society (Barakat, 2007; Dabbagh, 2000; Taraki, 2006). Furthermore, according to the
findings of this study, it has not yet gained currency within camp society. Therefore the
acceptance by children of societal norms, such as the belief in the importance of
education, is facilitated by what Newmann refers to as ‘the power of socio-cultural
orientation’ and which he sees as one of ‘the most important factors affecting student
engagement’(Newmann, 1992, p. 17). Palestinian refugee society contains ‘stable
supportive communities and cultural continuity’, conforming the ‘irreducible needs’ of
children described by Brazelton and Greenspan’s framework (Freisan & Brennan, 2005,
p. 297). Furthermore, within the nuclear family, the conservative nature of society leads
to ‘limit setting, structure and expectations’, again mentioned as positive by Brazelton
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and Greenspan. Known and accepted rules and boundaries form the frame within which
‘close-knit and often supportive’ (Dabbagh, 2000, p. 11) families provide a nurturing
environment in which children can grow and mature.
The nature of interaction patterns between parents and children in the nuclear family
appears to have a direct bearing on children’s understanding of the importance of
education in general and to their initial attitude towards engagement with education.
Results from studies into adolescents’ coping mechanisms show the components of the
‘ideal’ family include effective and positive communication; parental support for
adolescents; freedom of expression of feelings and opinions; discussion of issues and
conflicts; cooperation and trust between parents and adolescents; and freedom for
parents to express concerns about likely consequences (Frydenberg, 1997, p. 109).
Although this description relates to the Western family, within the traditional structure
of the camp families the findings show that many of these conditions are present.
Despite the overall patriarchal and hierarchical nature of the nuclear refugee family,
interaction between the different generations generally consists of a two-way flow,
between parents and children. Parental support for children early in life forms the basis
of the social structure, leading unquestioningly to reciprocation as the children mature.
It is important to understand that this two way support is both emotional and practical,
responding with fluidity to need as family circumstances alter. On the emotional level,
the commonality of the challenges and trauma that Palestinian refugees of differing
generations face on a regular basis lessens the potential divide in understanding between
the generations. On the practical level, for example, parents would normally make
sacrifices to fund their children’s education, however, when parents are absent or
incapacitated, the children may in turn make sacrifices in order to assume a family
provider role in their place.
Observations made during this study confirmed that within the boundaries of accepted
gender differences and based on the observances of hierarchical traditions, cooperation
and trust between parents and children appeared to be high. The concept of group values
extended to all members of society and therefore children were not excluded from
participating in family discussions regardless of the level of importance or difficulty.
Again within the accepted norms, children were free to express their opinions. This was
evident in the interviews conducted during this study in which members of the family
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were present while the children were voicing their feelings and opinions. In fact, the
level to which the children were openly articulate was not affected either by the
presence of, or interjections by, peers or parents.
That effective and positive communication exists within the nuclear family was also
demonstrated through the mention of similar goals and objectives by members of the
three generational families in the study. There was no hesitation in acknowledging
indebtedness to the older members of the family for points of views or explanations of
behaviour, nor was there any evident desire or need to strive for different or original
points of view on behalf of the younger generations. In fact, one of the school age
participants, 10A7, referred in depth to the detrimental effects of apparent breakdowns
in communication within the family, which he perceived as a negative part of modern
life. The findings confirmed that consultation amongst the family; referencing the
family and making choices within the expectations of the family were the accepted
norm.
A picture thus arises of families in which expectations of both parental and child
behaviour are understood and conformed to, including traditions and rules that are
respected and in general remain unquestioned. This gives a secure and known
framework within which the children can grow and develop. The literature in general
affirms the psychological and emotional value of socio-cultural conformity and stable,
authoritative, yet supportive and nurturing, family structures (Boyden & Mann, 2005;
Frydenberg, 1997; Newmann, Wehlage, & Lambourn, 1992; Ungar, 2005) whilst
specific research on Palestinian children found that parental love and proper discipline
increased a child’s resilience by increasing their creativity and cognitive capacity
(Dabbagh, 2000; Punamaki, 1997).
Property Two – ‘Wanting to learn’
The importance of education to Palestinian refugee society has been constantly affirmed
throughout this study. The findings indicate that the reasons for this are threefold:
historical, in that a pre-1948 desire for education already existed amongst the peasant
farming class; economic, due to the shift in socio-economic status that came with
dispossession from the land; and political, as the struggle for the Right of Return under
UNGA Resolution 194 became increasingly protracted. They also indicate that over the
four generations of refugee life the belief in the value of education has become absorbed
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into the culture and currently manifests itself as an unquestionable facet of ‘Being
Palestinian.’ It has been noted that during interviews the younger participants rated
school in a place of honour as the ‘second home’ and, furthermore, had trouble
conceiving of a society in which education was not one of the most important things.
In fact, the impact of the home environment on children’s engagement with education is
accepted in the literature as vital. According to Newmann, the importance of the home
in inculcating a belief in the value of education is paramount (Newmann et al., 1992).
Lambourn et al quote the positive factor of ‘authoritative parenting’ and describe how
parents are able to nurture the belief in education ‘by emphasising it and becoming
involved in it’ (Lambourn, Mounts, & Steinberg, 1992, p. 157). The findings presented
in Chapter Six have consistently demonstrated the effort expended by refugee parents,
even those who were illiterate, on encouraging their children’s completion of homework
and successful test and exam results. Furthermore, in refugee families which often had
up to ten or more children, successfully schooled older siblings also played a major role
in the process, both as role models and supporters, where help with homework was
needed.
In addition to the status of education within the home, community belief in the value of
education is also crucial with regard to children’s attitudes. According to Newmann, if
children perceive education as validated by society and therefore something ‘deserving
their commitment’ they are more likely to engage successfully at school (Newmann et
al., 1992, p. 19). UNRWA teachers, refugees themselves, are familiar with students and
their families within the camp communities, thus further reinforcing the ‘collective
sense of vision or purpose about education’ that comes with the teachers’ ‘engagement
with school as a social unit or community’ (Louis & Smith, 1992, p. 147).
Property Three - Enduring everything
The findings in presented in Chapter Six indicate that engagement with education has
taken place within a context necessitating a high level of endurance and tolerance of
stressors and difficulties. Overall, a correspondingly high level of resilience in dealing
with challenges was demonstrated throughout the study, with participants consistently
focussing on future possibilities and achievements rather than demonstrating passive
acceptance of problems. It will be remembered that older participants were comfortable
referring directly to their privations and sufferings whereas the younger participants
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appeared to minimalise them, claiming to view them as a ‘normal’ part of life. It is
therefore of value to investigate the underlying factors affecting the levels of coping and
resilience shown by the Palestinian refugees living in camps in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip.
The literature notes that concepts of resilience and coping are often constructed from the
point of view of European and North American culture, more specifically ‘inherent in
much of the literature is a view of childhood that is informed by the context of white,
middle class family life’ (Boyden & Mann, 2005, p. 10). In addition, Western culture
and its literature tend to be ‘predominantly centred on the individual’ (Dabbagh, 2000,
p. 12). However, the culture within which camp refugee children in this study have
been raised is group oriented and family centred, and as has been stated, is indigenous
to their historical background as Eastern Mediterranean Arab village dwellers of the
peasant class. In generating substantive theory on how camp refugees in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip deal with engagement with education in the context of the conflict and
trauma experienced by the families in their everyday lives, it is very important that this
divergence in cultural approach should be recognised. In commenting on the group
based approach it is relevant that Giacaman notes that young people in the West Bank:
comprehend and rationalise their experiences and their own vulnerability in
terms of the experiences of others who are worse off than they are. This relative
measure may be posited as one way of coping unconsciously employed by
young people to help them accept realities and manage their lives in trying
times. (Giacaman et al., 2004, p. xii)
In a study in which the perspectives of the participants are central, the fact that there are
cultural differences in the interpretation of trauma, and in ways of coping (Anderson,
Hamilton, Moore, Loewen, & Frater-Mathieson, 2002, p. 2) must be taken into account
when looking at the participants’ ability to ‘endure everything’. Resick asserts that
changes in expectations in the industrialised world over the last two centuries have
culminated in a lack of expectation that ‘sudden and catastrophic events can or will
happen’, leaving people open to high levels of stress and trauma when catastrophes do
occur (Resick, 2001, p. 29). As evident from the historical background of the camp
refugees, disastrous and sometimes catastrophic events have formed an integral part of
their lives and the lives of their ancestors over a considerable period of time, both before
and after 1948. According to Hoshmand, ‘pretrauma levels of normalcy cannot be
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assumed for groups that have experienced historical trauma, oppression and culture
loss’ (Hoshmand, 2007, p. 31) and therefore the relative value of ‘normal’ or ‘aadi as
understood by the young participants in this study should be considered when making
assessments of their capacity for coping in situations of stress and conflict.
The levels of trauma experienced by participants in the study are high. In the West Bank
during the second Intifada, Dabbagh referred to ‘the enormity of suffering endured......It
seemed every household had stories to tell about house raids, imprisonments, beatings,
torture and dispossession’ (Dabbagh, 2000, p. 11).
Psycho-social research in Gaza divided trauma for children ages six to sixteen into three
domains as follows:
The first domain covers witnessing acts of violence such as the killing of
relatives, home demolition, bombardment, and injury of others. The second
domain covers hearing experiences such as hearing of the killing or injury of
friends or relatives. The third domain covers personal traumatic events such
being shot, injured, or beaten. (A. Thabet et al., 2008, p. 6)
According to Folkman, cognition, coping and social support is a dynamic process
(Resick, 2001) In other words, there is an interaction between the way individuals
perceive traumatic events and deal with their stress level and the way their community
sees them. Coping thus has a large cultural component. As stated above, Palestinian
refugee society nurtures its children within a strong community tradition which provides
a cohesive support framework, not just during periods of heightened conflict or danger,
but at all times.
In fact, children are active participants in refugee society from an early age and the
contribution of a high degree of responsible action is expected from and accepted by
them. Observations made during the study confirm that within families sibling support
in caring for babies and younger children is undertaken by both genders. Girls usually
take part in home duties, while boys often accompany their fathers and uncles in
outdoor activities such as looking after shops, or street selling. There is also a high
degree of openness within the family, with very little exclusion of children from
discussion of major events affecting the group. This is complemented by an acceptance
of children’s right to articulate self expression, both verbally and by physical response
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to their situation, the latter which often manifests through taking part in political events
and carrying out acts of resistance, despite dangers involved.
This picture corresponds in many ways to Frydenberg’s ‘functional family climate’
which she associates with ‘functional styles of coping’ (Frydenberg, 1997, p. 101).
According to Resick, ongoing community support and acceptance of children and
young people’s coping styles during less traumatic times is important in that it helps to
develop and strengthen the methods of coping which they utilise during times of
heightened conflict and trauma (Resick, 2001, p. 118). Hoshmand asserts that the
‘psychological sense of community, neighbourhood cohesion and community
competence’ form a social capital (Hoshmand, 2007, p. 37). Specifically referring to
Palestinian children, Dabbagh refers to the importance of ‘the strength of the family;
religion and community’ (Dabbagh, 2000, p. 81) whilst Punamaki highlights the
importance to resilience of ‘children feeling loved and nonrejected at home’ (Punamaki
et al., 2001).
Theme Two – ‘Building the future’
The second theme outlined in Chapter Six was ‘Building the Future.’ The idea of
‘building’ the future infers that the future cannot be taken for granted, rather that it must
be constructed and worked towards, thus encapsulating a proactive stance within the
theme. The three properties of ‘Building the future’ set out the manner in which the
building enterprise could be undertaken, that is by producing widely knowledgeable,
socially responsible and vocationally qualified generations of Palestinians. Formal
schooling was the forum through which the children interviewed believed they were
undertaking the task of ‘taking life’s steps’ (7A5) towards ‘becoming a generation
educated’ (26J5).
As has been discussed above, Palestinian refugee children are culturally positioned from
early childhood to accept formal schooling as a natural, unquestionable part of their
lives, indicating that their initial motivation is intrinsic. However, the findings
demonstrated an increasing understanding of the link between education and securing a
future for the group ‘Palestinian refugees’. In other words, by midway through primary
schooling, the responses of the participants began to indicate an awareness of extrinsic
reasons for the importance of education.
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At this point it is useful to look at the position of children within Palestinian refugee
society. From an international perspective it is important to recall that camp dwelling
Palestinian refugees are the human face of the ‘inalienable right to return under UNGA
Resolution 194’ (Badil Resource Centre, 2007a). As such, refugee children are
inextricably interwoven into the ‘final status issues’, which have impacted and continue
to impact on all of the various efforts to resolve the Middle East conflict (CMEP, 1999;
UN Security Council, 2010). Children and young people under 29 form a substantial
percentage of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
(Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 2007). However, the importance of children
does not merely correspond to the size of their demographic, as in Palestinian society in
general children are valued, not only as symbols of the future, but as the actual
embodiment of the future: ‘They are, symbolically and materially, the reservoir of hope
for Palestinian society, a locus for its aspirations for freedom and independence’
(DCIPS, 2007 p.13). Within the conflict itself, it appears that this point has not been
lost on either side, thus rendering children as vulnerable as their parents and families to
military interventions, whilst correspondingly according them a direct role as players in
the struggle.
The findings reported in this study indicate that from an early age the majority of
children interviewed felt a need to help or assist their families and society. The
children’s understanding that their society exists under special conditions is absorbed
from several directions, each of which serves to corroborate the other, rendering it
unsurprising that children are able to come to such a conclusion at a young age. Firstly,
the conditions that children confront on a daily basis in both the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip are well recorded and corroborated by Palestinian, Israeli and International
Human Rights and advocacy organisations such as Al Haq, Al Badil, B’tselem, Save the
Children, and DCI/PS. Secondly, the children are members of a society in which open
discussion within the family groupings is a norm, thus positioning them to fully
understand the impact of the events they witness on members of both their nuclear and
extended families. Thirdly, refugee children attend schools run under the aegis of the
United Nations. Whilst UN regulations through UNESCO disallow any inciteful
materials in the curriculum, the children’s understanding of Human Rights and the
Rights of the Child is heightened through extra-curricular activities and high status
events, such as the 2008 visit of UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon to Aida Camp
Basic Girls School in Bethlehem. Finally, West Bank and Gaza Strip refugee camps in
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general are the frequent recipients of national and internationally funded and staffed
non-governmental organisation programmes, whose work with families and children
broadens the children’s understanding of their rights and of the issues which dominate
their lives.
It thus appears that the position of Palestinian refugee children within their society,
together with their unfolding understanding of the place of that society in the ongoing
regional conflict, provides the basis of the additional extrinsic reasons propelling the
children toward seeing education in a highly positive light. The desire to be in a position
to support one’s own family and then to be able to help one’s wider society, as
articulated by the young participants in this study, acts as a powerful inducement
towards meaningful engagement with education. The descriptions given by the
participants of their involvement with education are evidence of the ‘psychological
investment in learning’ which Newmann links to true engagement, as compared to mere
motivation (Newmann et al., 1992, p. 12). The existence of personally developed
strategies used by the participants in order to ensure the best possible chances of success
at school are further evidence of their investment in the learning process, demonstrating
‘an inner quality of concentration and effort to learn’ (Newmann et al., 1992, p. 13).
However, despite the powerful combination of intrinsic factors and extrinsic reasons
which lie behind Palestinian camp refugee students’ successful engagement with
education, it should be borne in mind that their engagement occurs in the midst of a
situation of conflict, stress and often trauma. Therefore, the link between the proactive
element in the students’ outlook and their resilience in engaging with education should
be considered. In the introduction to the Mind Matters curriculum package booklet
Enhancing Resilience, The Australian Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged
Care defines resilience, as ‘the capacity to cope with change and challenge and to
bounce back during difficult times’ (Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged
Care, 2000, p. 9). The following are amongst the factors identified as enhancing
resilience: ‘the use of optimism and positive habits of thought; the promotion of feelings
of mastery and control; positivity – feeling good about self and culture’
(Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, 2000, p. 15).
Studies conducted in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have indicated that positive
thinking, optimism and consideration of group needs have been major factors impacting
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on resilience. Specifically related to Palestinian children during times of intensified
trauma, a study from the Birzeit Institute of Community and Public Health found that
even after the ‘devastating effects’ of the Second Intifada in the West Bank young
people continued to show ‘psychological fortitude’, that is to have and express
aspirations and dreams, no matter how bad the situation (Giacaman et al., 2004, p. 76).
In a study on resilience conducted in the Gaza Strip in 2008, the success indicators were
similarly connected to positivity and social values (A. Thabet et al., 2008). Related
more directly to proactivity, a study conducted between 1993 and 1996 in Gaza found
that post traumatic stress disorder was higher in children who responded passively to
high level of violence (Punamaki et al., 2001). Hart found that giving young people the
chance ‘to make a valuable contribution, for the benefit of themselves and their
communities’ was a positive indicator in stopping ‘despair and social breakdown’ (Hart,
2002, p. 5). In studies of high school students conducted during and after the First
Intifada in the Gaza Strip, Barber attributed their resilience to the power of cultural
norms and values, the psychological meaning that the conflict had for the child
participants and their level of ideological commitment to the underlying cause (Barber
in Dabbagh, 2000, p. 82).
Conclusion
This chapter has discussed the two main themes constituting the findings of this study,
‘Being a Palestinian Refugee’ and ‘Building the Future’. The discussion of the first
theme looked at the homogenous composition of West Bank and Gaza Strip camp
refugee society; its conservative nature, adhering to long established, traditional social
values; and the importance of all generations of the family within society, factors which
according to relevant literature are directly related to the refugees successful
engagement with education.
The importance of a proactive approach to education and to life in general underlay the
discussion of the second theme. The high degree of resilience shown by young refugees
in engaging with education under conditions of consistent adversity resulting from
occupation and conflict appears to be related to their desire to assist their families and
society with the long term goal of ensuring the continuance of their people and the
development of their nation.
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The final chapter presents a summary of the study reported in this thesis, including the
conclusions arising from the discussion of the findings. It will point out some
limitations of the study and discuss implications arising from the research findings for
theory, policy and practice.
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CHAPTER 8
CONCLUSION and IMPLICATIONS
Introduction
This chapter will firstly summarise the aims, context and findings of the study. It will
then consolidate the conclusions drawn from the discussion of findings with regard to
the engagement with education of Palestinian refugees living in camps in the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip. Finally, it will draw implications for both theory and practice from
the conclusions, and suggest areas for future research.
Education is universally acknowledged as a fundamental component of any enlightened
society. Evidence of this can be found in two of the eight United Nations Millennium
goals, designed to reduce world poverty. Millennium Goals Two and Three seek to
empower underprivileged communities through assisting them to achieve universal
primary education and to eliminate gender inequality in education, respectively (United
Nations, 2010). With direct relevance to this study, the literary scholar Edward Said
summarised one facet of the Palestinian attitude to education in his assertion that culture
is ‘a way of fighting against extinction and obliteration.’ In writing of the ‘arsenal of
cultural resistance’, he referred to ‘the power to analyse… the questioning of authority
… the search for alternatives’ (Said, 2003, p. 160). The higher order thinking skills of
analysis, evaluation and synthesis, components of Said’s arsenal, are attributes of
educated and informed people, who are therefore better positioned to build and sustain
their collective identity under circumstances of adversity. At a more prosaic level, most
Palestinians see education as ‘an investment in the future and a path to better life’
(DCI/PS, 2001, p. 77), in other words as a way of building human and economic capital.
Whichever motivation for education is perceived as the most immediate, a lack of
engagement with education, ‘a construct used to describe an inner quality of
concentration and effort to learn’ (Newmann et al., 1992, p. 13), severely limits the
effectiveness of the learning process. With that proviso in mind, the aim of this research
was to contribute to theory relating to engagement with education through the central
research question ‘How do Palestinian refugee families living in the United Nations
(UNRWA) refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip deal with their engagement
with formal education at primary and secondary level?’
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Summary of the study
Within the education process as a whole, engagement is one of the most elusive features
of student behaviour to pin down and encourage. Yet according to Newmann, writing
about American High Schools in the late 20th century, disengagement formed ‘the most
immediate and persisting issue’ relating to student disenfranchisement from schooling
(Newmann, 1992, p. 2). The issue remains current, as demonstrated in the opening
statement of the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement 2010 website, which states
that ‘student engagement is linked with high-quality learning outcomes’, again
acknowledging its importance, this time in the field of higher education (AUSSE,
2010).
Research into a population which has demonstrated successful engagement with
education was therefore considered of potential value to the theoretical field of enquiry
and this study sought to develop substantive theory related to the engagement with
education of Palestinian refugees living in UNRWA camps in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. The appropriateness of this particular group to the research lay in the fact that
despite being at the centre of a long running conflict, the Palestinian population living in
the Occupied Territories and East Jerusalem as a whole showed a literacy rate of 93.5%
in 2006 and furthermore had satisfied two of the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals by achieving and maintaining universal basic education and gender
equality in education (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 2007).
The central research question ‘How do Palestinian refugee families living in the United
Nations (UNRWA) refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip deal with their
engagement with formal education at primary and secondary level?’ was approached
through the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism. This choice allowed
opportunities for uncovering the socio-cultural meanings which underpinned the
perspectives and actions of the refugees with regard to their dealings with education.
Field work took place during a period of four years, from 2007 to 2010. The participants
in the study were selected with the intention of securing a range of perspectives from
both geographical and generational points of view. Refugees aged from seventy five
down to eight years old, resident in ten camps across the West Bank and in the Gaza
Strip took part in semi structured interviews which formed part of the data analysed
through grounded theory methods. Data collected from the interviews during 2007 and
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2008 were supported by data from non participant observation and document analysis
which took place across the four year period.
The study was contextualised by investigating two distinct, yet equally important, areas
which have contributed to the psycho-social makeup of contemporary Palestinian camp
refugees in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and which, therefore, shed light on the
refugees’ motivations and resilience where education in general is concerned. Firstly,
the long history of education in the wider Middle East region including Palestine, dating
back to Islamic, Christian and Ottoman eras, is interwoven into the cultural heritage of
the region. Despite the fact that education was limited to the elite, urban classes over
most of the history considered in this section of the study, it formed the basis for both
religious and governmental structures and therefore was of consequence in the lives of
all populations in the region. The availability or corresponding withholding of schooling
and education set patterns of motivation which persisted down to the middle of the 20th
century, at which time the Palestinian refugees were created. Secondly, an
understanding of the historical background of Palestinian village farmers was
considered important for providing insights into the contemporary culture of their
descendants, the post 1948 refugee group included in this study. Traditions and social
structures which have been retained and adapted have formed the bedrock of the
perspectives and actions of young people and their families in the camps. Cultural
understandings and traditional responses to difficulty, stress and trauma have been
interwoven into the reactions which camp refugees show to the challenges and
vicissitudes within which they undertake their education, thus directly affecting their
levels of engagement.
The literature featured and reviewed in the study was selected to elaborate on the
perspectives of Palestinians related to their own culture, history and lives. In presenting
the Palestinian narrative of the events of the past one hundred years, a clearer
understanding was sought of the cultural beliefs and psychological orientations that
have contributed to the actions and processes undertaken by contemporary camp
dwellers, particularly those, including the participants of this study, still living in their
indigenous geographic area. Literature generated by the United Nations, the
International Red Cross and other non-governmental organisations directly involved in
the lives of Palestinian refugees was also considered helpful in this regard.
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Review of main findings
The findings from Chapter Six were discussed in Chapter Seven under two main themes
that had been generated from the analysis of the data, ‘Being Palestinian’ and ‘Building
the Future’, and the main strategy ‘Being Educated’. They indicated that education has
become an inextricable part of ‘Being Palestinian’ and ‘Building the Future’, the
ultimate goal of which is to be a socially functional, morally strong and well educated
community, in preparation for the time when a just resolution is made to their refugee
status. As discussed in Chapter Three, conflicts have been ongoing in the refugees’
indigenous land since the demise of the Ottoman Empire, in the early twentieth century
and therefore, the refugees’ perspectives and strategies regarding conflict are deeply
ingrained into their cultural being and philosophy.
‘Being Palestinian’
The West Bank and Gaza Strip refugees in this study live in UNRWA camps sited
within their indigenous geographic area of origin. They have been effectively sealed in
by the political situation, thus preserving in the main the racial and cultural
homogeneity of their original society. The majority of camp refugees are the
descendants of peasant farmers who, as refugees from clusters of pre 1948 villages,
tended to collect in specific camps. None of the camps are geographically very distant
from the villages of origin and some camps are actually within sight of the refugees’
ancestral lands, constantly reinforcing their connection to the past. Contemporary
refugee society reflects the social conservatism of its past, maintaining traditions of long
established rules with clearly delineated boundaries. These are, in the main,
unchallenged except where adaptation has been considered necessary for protective
reasons, as with the adoption of education as a strategy of nation building and cultural
preservation. In the frequent absence of stable governmental social infrastructure, the
extended family has preserved its importance as a social security net, protecting those in
extreme need as a result of the ongoing conflict and reflecting and strengthening the
group orientation of society.
‘Building the Future’
However, in spite of the deliberate decision to uphold traditional values as part of the
struggle for continued national existence, the conservatism of refugee society has not
contributed to an inward looking or backward society. Knowledge of the region and
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wider world is considered vital to survival and is accessed in several ways. Free
provision of education by the United Nations allows all refugee children to participate
in schooling until the ninth grade. In addition, the high level of literacy amongst
refugees ensures that communications technology, which is widely available and
particularly necessary in the Occupied Territories because of movement restrictions, is
constantly utilised. Finally, the fact that Palestinian refugees are the world’s largest
single group of refugees, spread worldwide, ensures a steady flow of information into
the camps from relatives overseas. Therefore, despite its conservatism, Palestinian
society is both outward and forward looking.
‘Being Educated’
As a result of the above factors, refugee children are supported in their engagement with
education through being part of a group oriented, socially conservative, ethnically and
culturally homogenous society which sees education as essential to its continued
existence. In the early years of schooling, young children demonstrate an intrinsic belief
in the importance of education, absorbed through the beliefs and values prevalent in
their home environment. Older children are additionally extrinsically motivated to
continue their engagement with education through their unfolding understanding of the
Palestinian ‘case’. They are sustained in their engagement by the steadfastness and
resilience which results from their belief in the existence of a future containing an
eventual just resolution to the case and by their desire to be a functional part of that
future. In addition, the engagement with education of Palestinian refugee children is
characterised by the personal investment many children make through their choice of
strategies, both at school and at home, calculated to result in the highest possible
success rate in formal schooling.
Resilience
As identified above, ‘Being Educated’ is seen as vital in preparing for successful self
determination once the conflict has been resolved, thereby playing a central role in
aspiring to the future. Sumud or steadfastness, cherished as a national characteristic by
Palestinians, combines elements of patience and resilience. One facet of sumud, relevant
to this study, is the ability to preserve the ideological and physical structure of ‘normal’
life by continuing to live it, whatever challenges are met with. In the face of ongoing
stress and trauma arising from military conflict and occupation, an extremely high
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resilience is demonstrated by Palestinian refugee adults and children in maintaining
their socio-cultural beliefs and values, including the belief in the value of education.
The extent of their resilience can be in part explained by cultural orientation and
expectations of ‘normal’, which differ from contemporary Western standards. However,
it is clear that the absolute belief in the justice of the Palestinian refugee ‘case’, as
supported by the United Nations and International Humanitarian Law, plays a major
part in the refugees’ ability to cope, survive and thrive under increasingly difficult
conditions.
Young participants in this study did not focus on the perpetrators of their difficulties
and challenges. They acknowledged that difficulties, stressors and trauma existed in
their lives, but there was little sense of a negative antagonist driving their actions.
Instead, there was a strong sense of motivation through the desire to assist their own, the
society of which they form a part. This fundamentally positive orientation which lay
behind their perspectives and actions appeared to allow young people a psychological
freedom to be immensely constructive where education was concerned. Instead of
blaming others for their problems, they sought ways to adapt and circumvent problems
encountered in order to preserve the forward momentum in their overall plan to become
educated. Thus the emergent themes in the study contained clear elements of some of
the main features of sumud, which may be characterised as ‘preserving’ and
‘persevering’.
In sum, the findings indicate that Palestinian refugee families living in refugee camps in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip deal with their engagement with formal education at
primary and secondary level through the power of positively fuelled aspirations. As
individual parts of a caring and nurturing collective society, their belief in the value of
the end result of their engagement with education as beneficial to both themselves and
their society sustains them through hardship, conflict and trauma.
Limitations of the study
Although this study was conducted over a period of four years during which non
participant observation occurred within refugee camps, in the homes of refugees, at
camp cultural centres and in the main cities of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the size of
the actual participant sample and the number of camps covered were a small percentage
of the available whole. Nevertheless, the similar threads in perceptions and processes
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revealed during the course of field work by participants of different ages living in
different geographical locations indicate that the limitation of sample size may not have
compromised the inferences which emerged from the data.
The use of interpreters for approximately a third of the interviews was mitigated by the
fact that each interpreter was firstly a participant in his or her own right, thereby being
familiar with the overall intention of the interviews and secondly a refugee from that
particular camp. Similarities in local English usage across the camps assisted in
extracting clear nuances from the translated Arabic. For example, ‘reputation’, which
was a matter of importance to the school children interviewed, was consistently
translated as ‘fame’. Once the ‘key’ was found to the local usage, a truer understanding
of the participants’ intended meanings was available. Unfortunately however, a far
greater limitation was the researcher’s lack of ability to understand either informal
conversations in public places or the ubiquitous ephemeral graffiti which form a main
avenue of Palestinian expression, both of which would have contributed further to the
appreciation of cultural meanings.
In terms of subject matter, early on in the field work two limitations were decided on
which helped to maintain the focus on perspectives and actions relating specifically to
engagement with education. Firstly, this study did not elicit information about activism.
Therefore, despite evidence during the field work of young refugees’ involvement in
protests and demonstrations and the relevance of previous studies focussing on the
positive effects of activism on young people’s resilience and coping strategies,
questions relating to that particular avenue of supporting their communities were not
included during second round interviews or sought during purposive sampling.
Secondly, this study has not included specific discussion of Islam and its impact on the
psychology and resilience of the refugee families and children. Instead, religion has
been interpreted as a component of the total cultural heritage which has contributed to
the particular characteristics emerging through the data, such as positivity, proactivity
and constancy of beliefs and values.
Two main features of the Palestine refugee issue limit the generalizability of the
findings of this study to other refugee populations. Still unresolved after sixty two
years, the Palestinian refugee case is the longest running one of current times (Badil
Resource Centre, 2006b). Despite this longevity, the well preserved memory of the
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Nakba or the catastrophe of dispossession, has kept the urgency of the issue alive
(Chatty, 2002). The long background of struggle has clarified and focussed the issues,
based on the Palestinians’ belief in the rightness of their case and the justice of their
point of view. This clarity of focus has strengthened the refugees’ resilience and ability
to function under adverse conditions (Barber, 2008). Another unusual feature of the
Palestinian case is that the West Bank and Gaza Strip refugees still live in their
indigenous land, speaking their native language and surrounded by their traditional
culture. Much of the strength and positivity they bring to their dealings with life arises
from this and therefore refugees who have migrated to different countries and who have
to deal with the problems of acculturation would not have access to similar sources of
resilience.
Implications of Research Findings
Implications of research findings for theoretical literature
A substantial volume of theoretical literature dealing with the response of children and
young people to trauma is available. Much of this literature outlines the importance of
taking into account the effect of cultural background on resilience factors and coping
strategies (Barber, 2008; Boyden & Mann, 2005; Hart, 2002; Resick, 2001). The
variation in the effect of risk factors is also understood to be contingent on pre-trauma
conditions, the length and extent of trauma and support factors post trauma (Resick,
2001). Research on individual factors such as the psychological disposition of the child,
his or her relative position within the family and predisposition to accepting available
support mechanisms has also been carried out, both generally and with reference to
Palestinian children (Giacaman, 2004; A. Thabet et al., 2008; Waldfogel, 2004).
However, much of the available research centres on theory relating to the actual and
potential negative impacts of stress and trauma on families and children without taking
into account the children’s ‘active contributions to their well-being, coping, and very
survival’ (Boyden & Mann, 2005, p. 20).
In his studies carried out during and after the First Palestinian Intifada of 1987 – 1993,
Barber identified that young people’s ability to ‘contribute to and sacrifice for the
struggle was an essential element of their identity’ (Barber, 2008, p. 302). The
generation of young people in Barber’s studies are now the parents of children who
have grown up during the even more violent Second Intifada and the subsequent spikes
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of increased violence in the conflict. In the case of Palestinian camp refugee children,
through the theoretical concept of positively fuelled aspirations, this study has identified
the value of communally held dreams and goals to young peoples’ psychology of
coping and surviving. It appears therefore that there is a place for development of
theory specifically relating to the relationship between the maintenance of community
positivity and optimism and the psychology of children brought up under ongoing
extreme conditions of conflict.
Implications of research findings for practice
Palestinian children refer to many things as ’aadi (normal) when explaining or
justifying their actions and opinions. ‘Normal’, in the context used by the children,
conveys a sense of unremarkable, expected, and every day. However, history shows
that in reality, within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip the divergence of ‘normal’ from
that which is considered acceptable under International Humanitarian Law and by UN
Human Rights Charters has steadily grown over the last sixty two years. Nevertheless,
the Palestinian refugees’ resilience and optimism has allowed their definition of
‘normal’ to adjust in inverse ratio to the abnormality of the actual situation on the
ground. In other words, the acceptance of the abnormal as normal has been consistently
accomplished over time, with minimal disruption to societal culture and values.
However, it is possible that the continued and escalating pressure of the conflict may yet
put the concept of ‘normal’ outside the reach of Palestinian children. Such an erosion of
young people’s belief in the existence of ‘normal’, currently one of their main resilience
mechanisms, is likely to have serious psycho-social consequences, including
disengagement from education, characterised by Newmann as ‘detachment, isolation,
fragmentation, disconnectedness, estrangement or powerlessness’ (Newmann, 1992, p.
16). It is evident that all of the above quoted characteristics would be highly undesirable
in a population containing a large percentage of youth.
The problems arising from the conflict which are affecting the status of ‘normal’ are
recognisable on several levels, from physical to psychological and economic. On the
physical level, the ground area of refugee camps, determined at their inception, has
meant that natural growth has resulted in extremely cramped conditions generally,
including lack of space in UNRWA schools, leading to over large classes and double or
triple shift schools (UNRWA, 2010a; UNRWA/UNESCO, 1998, 2002, 2006). In
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addition to the increasingly cramped conditions within camps, outside the camps in both
the West Bank and Gaza Strip the natural growth in population, combined with
shrinking borders and militarily imposed building regulations, leaves little possibility
for expansion (ICRC, 2010; UNICEF, 2010). In all areas of the Occupied Territories,
the military conflict has affected the availability of school buildings, either through
closure, appropriation for use as military facilities or destruction (Oxfam, 2008;
UNRWA, 2010c, 2010e). Overcrowding is one factor leading to increasing problems in
classroom behaviour, which must directly affect students’ ability to concentrate and
engage effectively (Wildeman, 2009).
Recent studies have associated reduced performance at school with the effects of
trauma, highlighting reduced concentration, attention and participation in class activities
(El Majdalawy, Thabet, & Vostanis, 2009). Another factor affecting classroom
behaviour, which has been observed by social workers and community centres, is an
increase in violence within the school, family and community (Chatty & Lewando
Hundt, 2005; Halstead & Affouneh, 2006). Attributed to the overall increased violence
of the conflict, the upsurge of domestic and community violence (Giacaman, Rabaia, &
Nguyen-Gillham, 2010; Haynes, 2010) is adversely affecting learning environments
both at school and in the home (Save the Children, 2004). In particular boys have
become less manageable, displaying hyperactive behaviour in classrooms, with poorer
performance in their schoolwork (Ging, 2007; A Thabet, Abu Tawahina, & Vostanis,
2009).
The economic downturn and increased poverty levels affect all parts of the refugee
community, including parents, teachers and students. At the simplest level, families
cannot afford to keep their children in school and require them to leave to contribute as
wage earners or to get married (Ma'an News Agency, 2010). Teachers who earn less
whilst battling increasingly difficult conditions, both within the school and outside,
become demoralised, which negatively affects their own engagement with the education
process (Louis & Smith, 1992). Decreasing health amongst the poorer refugees also
impacts on education, as unhealthy and undernourished children are less able to
concentrate and more likely to fail, thus affecting their overall motivation to learn
(UNICEF, 2010; UNRWA, 2010b).
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Results of the worsening situation have already been documented by the Palestinian
Central Bureau of Statistics. A recent report highlighted the falling number of young
people enrolled in school, higher dropout rates and increased poverty (PCBS in Ma'an
News Agency, 2010). Regardless of the fact that Palestinian refugee children are
historically and culturally well positioned to deal with high stress levels and to
constantly adapt to the worsening situation, a point must come at which the level of
trauma exceeds their coping capacities. The shifting baseline of ‘normal’ cannot keep
shifting without grave consequences for children and young people, both generally and
with regard to their engagement with education.
This study has theorised that Palestinian refugees deal with their engagement with
education through prioritising positively fuelled aspirations within the nurturing of a
close and supportive socio-cultural group. The success of that engagement is
demonstrated by the high adult literacy of the general population and the strong levels
of achievement demonstrated in formal education (Palestinian Central Bureau of
Statistics, 2007; World Bank Middle East and North Africa Development Group, 2006).
The importance of maintaining the currently high level of involvement with education
in the young Palestinian refugee population is critical to both the Palestinian people and
to the region in general. The existence of a large, undereducated and radicalised
youthful population would see a drop in the essential quality of Palestinian life, in
addition to being a backward step for regional security. Therefore the current favourable
cultural and social conditions which foster engagement with education should be
protected at all costs, whilst the highly negative amounts of stress and trauma resulting
from the conflict should be removed.
In terms of both policy and practice, it is recommended that action should be taken at
the earliest opportunity by all concerned parties, national and international, to alleviate
the situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Lessening the negative social and
psychological effects of the conflict to allow a more realistic level of ‘normal’ to exist
in the children’s lives would be the barest minimum needed to preserve the current level
of engagement with education. A resolution of the conflict, including a settlement of the
future of the refugees and the removal of military conflict from the children lives
altogether, would be the optimum solution.
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Recommendations for future research
This study has identified that young Palestinian refugees are partially sustained in their
engagement with education by their understanding of the history and circumstances that
have created the environment within which they grow up. A high prioritisation on the
value of learning, together with a cultural propensity for actively seeking information
from all available quarters, ensures that their knowledge is not limited by the physical
boundaries imposed on them. However, schools have tended to be ‘a hub and lever of
conflict’ (Barber, 2008 p.297) and as far back as the British Mandate of 1922 – 1948
have been the subject of restrictions and military encroachment, whilst the learning
process has been disrupted for both teachers and students by threats, movement
restrictions, incursions, imprisonment and death. It is reasonable, therefore, to describe
the act of going to school in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as politicised and by
extension, the students who take part in the learning process with such determination as
similarly politicised (Badil Resource Centre, 2006a; DCI/PS, 2001; Rigby, 1995; Save
the Children, 2004; Shaloub-Kervorkian, 2007).
It will be remembered that the focus of this study was limited to the perceptions,
processes and strategies underlying the way in which Palestinian refugee families dealt
with their engagement with education, and that the additional effects of politicisation
and activism on the students’ ability to successfully engage were not fully investigated.
However, as the conflict continues to lengthen and broaden, now including the internal
divisions between Palestinian political parties, it may become useful to investigate the
potential effects of changes in the balance of young peoples’ psychology on their levels
of engagement with education. Currently, young people are part of the continuum
which connects their history with the driving motivation of belief in a just future for
Palestine. There is, however, a possibility that this positive motivational factor may
become diluted and weakened by both the internal Palestinian political struggle and the
external conflict with Israel.
In the course of this study, all of the young participants described their motivations as
centred on their own society and its wellbeing, rather than as responding to the actions
of a perceived antagonist. This focus indicates that while young Palestinians may
already be politicised, they are not as yet radicalised. The point at which the most
powerful symbol in children’s minds ceases to be the positive image of an attainable
homeland and is replaced by the negative image of a military oppressor may become the
132
turning point at which they lose the steadfast optimism currently inherent in their
outlook on life. Children and young people would then move from being merely
politicised towards the far less psychologically healthy and more dangerous state of
radicalisation.
Therefore, future research into potential changes in perspectives impelling young
Palestinian refugees either towards education, or away from it, would form a useful part
of any enquiry into the ongoing effects of the conflict within which they live on their
desire and ability to learn. Two areas of relevance to such research would be those not
included in this study, that is, the impact on education of the political activism that
young people are in engaged in and secondly, the part played by religion in their desire
to learn. Given the importance of successful engagement with education both generally
and to the Palestinian population in particular, such research would add to theoretical
knowledge and have implications for future policy and practice.
Conclusion
This chapter has presented a clarification of the intentions of the study and the
methodology through which it was undertaken. In summarising and discussing the
findings, theory has been suggested regarding how Palestinian refugees living in camps
in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip deal with their engagement with formal education
at primary and secondary school level. The importance to engagement with education of
positively fuelled aspirations, in other words, aspirations arising from positive rather
than negative perspectives as well as values has been highlighted. Information presented
in the chapter has also confirmed the immense value to young people of stable
communities and families regarding their development of resilience and coping
strategies, which are then able to be applied to their schooling in both ‘normal’ and
extreme circumstances.
Implications arising from the findings of the study have suggested that further research
is warranted into the balance of positively-fuelled, group inspired motivation with the
effects of continued stress and trauma arising from armed conflict. The possibility of a
psychological switch from being a value based and educated group to an educationally
disenfranchised and radicalised group has been mooted as an undesirable, yet
foreseeable, consequence of continued oppression and escalated conflict in the
Palestinian Territories. However, despite their adverse circumstances, the current reality
133
in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip shows that, for the time being, Palestinian refugees
continue to be a remarkably optimistic, positive and forward looking group, who
maintain an absolute belief in the value of education. For most Palestinian refugee
children, engagement with education is one of the happiest and most productive facets
of their young lives.
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APPENDIX A
Aide-Memoire for Interviews
Intentions
What are the intentions of Palestinian refugee families living in the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip with regard to engaging with formal education?
What reasons do they have for these intentions?
What do you think about school education?
What do you think about primary school education?
What do you think about secondary school education?
Why do you think that?
School Attendance
Is it important to go to school?
Is it important to be in a school class?
Why do you think that?
Learning in classrooms
What do you think is important about class work?
What do you think about teachers?
What kind of behaviour do you think is right for classrooms?
Why do you think that?
Completing homework
What do you think about homework?
Is it important to do homework?
Why do you think that?
Undertaking exams
What do you think about school exams?
Is it important to have school exams?
Is it important to do well in school exams?
Why do you think that?
Staying at school
Is it important to stay at school?
Why do you think that?
What do you think would happen if you did not stay at school?
Why do you think that?
Graduating from school
What do you think about graduating from primary school?
What do you think about graduating from secondary school?
Is it important to graduate?
Why do you think that?
147
Strategies
What strategies do Palestinian refugee families living in the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip use to achieve these intentions?
Why do they use these strategies?
School Attendance
How do you make sure you can get to school physically?
What steps do you take to make sure you can afford school financially?
Why do you choose those steps?
Learning in classrooms
How do you make sure you can learn in class?
How do you stay focussed on your lessons?
Do you do what your teachers ask?
Why do you choose to do those things?
Completing homework
What do you do to make sure you can complete your homework after school?
Why do you choose to do that?
Undertaking exams
How do you prepare for exams?
What things do you do to give the best chance of success in exams?
Why do you choose to do those things?
Staying at school
What things do you do to make sure you can stay at school?
Why do you choose to do those things?
Graduating from school
What steps do you take to reach graduation?
Why do you choose those steps?
What is the significance of these intentions and strategies?
What reasons do they give for this significance?
What outcomes do they expect from pursuing their intentions and strategies?
What are the reasons for these expectations?
148
APPENDIX B
Information sheet for participants in English
Dear Sir/Madam
On behalf of Mrs Gillian Kerr-Sheppard, I am writing to invite you to participate in a research project that is being conducted as part of her Master’s in Education degree in the Graduate Research School at the University of Western Australia. (UWA).
The title of the research is Engagement with Primary and Secondary Education in Palestinian Refugee Camps within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the aim of the research is to generate a theory about how Palestinian refugee families living in refugee camps within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip manage their engagement with formal education at primary and secondary level.
The insights generated by this research have great potential to offer useful guidance for Australian educators working with young people who have also dealt with situations of conflict and displacement.
In order to conduct the research two kinds of data collection are required. Firstly, the research will involve interviews with refugee families, including grandparents, parents, older siblings and school students. Secondly, document analysis will be important. This could include students’ work, teachers’ reflective diaries or parents’ report comments if available. Art, craft and performing arts works would also be of great value.
The research will involve you in interviews with Mrs Gillian. These interviews will be semi-structured, in depth interviews, which may last for up to an hour, depending upon how much information you wish to convey. You may be involved in more than one interview during the duration of the project. All interviews will be audio recorded and then transcribed by Mrs Gillian and you will be given the opportunity to review the information collected in the interview once it has been transcribed. You will be asked to choose an assumed name for use throughout the research and any information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will not be made available publicly. If you wish to withdraw at any time during the process, you may do so without prejudice. All data collected will be stored securely in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Western Australia following completion of the research. You will be provided with a copy of the Information Sheet and Consent Form for your personal records.
If you have any questions that you would like to raise with me about the study, I will be pleased to answer them. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Simon Clarke Mrs Gillian Kerr-Sheppard
simon.clarke@ uwa.edu.au [email protected]
Tel: 0061 8 6488 2398 Tel: 0522338709
Fax: 0061 8 6488 1052
149
APPENDIX C
Information sheet for participants in Arabic
موافقة ولي امر المشترك
أرجو أن تشاركوا السيدة جيليان كير ش�يبارد ف�ي ھ�ذا الجان�ب م�ن بحثھ�ا م�ن الدراس�ات العلي�ا ف�ي جامع�ة أوس�تراليا .الغربية
ا<قبال على التعليم ا:بتدائي والثانوي ف�ي مخيم�ات ال6ئجئ�ين ف�ي الض�فة الغربي�ة وقط�اع "إن عنوان ھذا البحث ھو ھ��دف م��ن البح��ث ھ��و اس��تنتاج عب��رة ع��ن ھ��ذا الش��عب المص��مم عل��ى العل��م بك��ل جدي��ة رغ��م إن وض��ع إن ال" غ��زة
.ال6جئين غير مستقر في المخيمات
إن مفھوم ھذا البحث ھو إعطاء فكرة للش�عب ا<وس�ترالي ع�ن التص�ميم والجدي�ة وكيفي�ة ال�تعلم تح�ت ظ�روف معين�ة .في ظروف وتعقيدات مشابھة لھؤ:ء في فلسطين خصوصاً للمدرسين الذين يتعاطون مع ت6ميذ قد مروا
ا<ول ھو مقاب6ت م�ع الع�ائ6ت ف�ي مخيم�ات اللج�وء، م�ن ض�منھم . إن ھذا البحث يتطلب طريقتين لجمع المعلوماتالثاني ھو تحليل المعلومات التي تتض�من عم�ل الط�6ب والمعلم�ين باWض�افة إل�ى . اVباء وا<قارب وأطفال المدارس
.لي في حال توفرهتعليق ا<ھا
.ا<شغال اليدوية والفنون الجميلة أيضاً تأخذ دوراً مھماً جداً في ھذا البحث
ھذه المقاب6ت ستكون مع السيدة جيليان ومن الممكن أن تتطلب ساعة من الوق�ت عل�ى ا<كث�ر، ك�ل ھ�ذا يتوق�ف عل�ى . مقابلة مع الشخص نفسه خ6ل ھذا البحث كمية المعلومات التي تتبادلونھا كما أنه من الممكن أن يتطلب أكثر من
كل المقاب6ت ستكون مسجلة على آلة تسجيل للصوت، ث�م ي�تم تحويلھ�ا كتابي�اً عل�ى ال�ورق حي�ث تس�مح لك�م الفرص�ة .لdط6ع على محوى المقابلة
أي ش�خص م�ن قد تسألون أن تختاروا اسماً وھمياً خ6ل المقابلة، والمعلوم�ات تك�ون ف�ي س�رية تام�ة ول�ن تب�اح أم�ام.الشعب
.أما إذا أردتم اWنسحاب خ6ل المقابلة <ي سبب كان ف6 تترددوا
إن كل المعلومات والبحث سيكون مخزناً بطريقة سرية في الجامعة في أوستراليا الغربية، وي�تم تزوي�دكم بنس�خة م�ن .ا:ستمارة التي تم تعبئتھا :حقا
.أكون حاضرة لdجابة عليھا في أي وقتفي حال وجود أي استفسار حول ھذ الموضوع، س
.وتفضلوا بقبول فائق اWحترام والتقدير
Dr. Simon Clarke Mrs. Gillian Kerr-Sheppard
[email protected] [email protected]
Tel: 0061 8 6488 2398 Tel: 0522 338709
Fax: 0061 8 6488 1052
150
APPENDIX D
Consent form for participants
PARTICIPANT CONSENT FORM
Project: Masters of Education by Research
Graduate Research School
The University of Western Australia
Title: Engagement with Primary and Secondary Education in Palestinian Refugee Camps within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
I ___________________________________________ (the participant) have read the information supplied and any questions I have asked have been answered to my satisfaction.
I agree to participate in the research, realising that I may withdraw at any time without prejudice.
I understand that all information provided will be treated as strictly confidential and I have been advised as to what data is being collected, what the purpose is, and what will be done with the data upon completion of the research.
_____________________ _________
Participant’s signature Date
The Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Western Australia requires that all participants are informed that, if they have any complaint regarding the manner, in which a research project is conducted, it may be given to the researcher (mobile: 0522338709), or alternatively to the Secretary, Human Research Ethics Committee, Registrar's Office, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009(telephone number 00 618 6488 3703). All study participants will be provided with a copy of the Information Sheet and Consent Form for their personal records.
151
APPENDIX E
Consent form for parents and guardians
PARENT/GUARDIAN CONSENT FORM
Project: Masters of Education by Research
Graduate Research School
The University of Western Australia
Title: Engagement with Primary and Secondary Education in Palestinian Refugee Camps within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
I ___________________________________________ (parent/guardian) of
_____________________________________________ (the participant) have read the information supplied and any questions I have asked have been answered to my satisfaction.
I agree to the participation of my son/daughter in the research, realising that he/she may withdraw at any time without prejudice.
I understand that all information provided will be treated as strictly confidential and I have been advised as to what data is being collected, what the purpose is, and what will be done with the data upon completion of the research.
_____________________ _________
Parent/guardian’s signature Date
The Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Western Australia requires that all participants are informed that, if they have any complaint regarding the manner, in which a research project is conducted, it may be given to the researcher (mobile: 0522338709), or alternatively to the Secretary, Human Research Ethics Committee, Registrar's Office, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009(telephone number 00 618 6488 3703). All study participants will be provided with a copy of the Information Sheet and Consent Form for their personal records.
152
APPENDIX F
Consent form for Minors
MINOR’S CONSENT FORM
Project: Masters of Education by Research
Graduate Research School
The University of Western Australia
Title: Engagement with Primary and Secondary Education in Palestinian Refugee Camps within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
NAME ______________________________
� I agree to talk about my school and my education.
� I agree that this discussion can be recorded.
� I understand I can stop the interview at any time.
� I understand about Mrs Gillian’s research project and why she is
talking to me.
� I understand that she will not use my real name and that the
information I give her is confidential.
Signature ___________________________________
The Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Western Australia requires that all participants are informed that, if they have any complaint regarding the manner, in which a research project is conducted, it may be given to the researcher (mobile: 0522338709), or alternatively to the Secretary, Human Research Ethics Committee, Registrar's Office, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009(telephone number 00 618 6488 3703). All study participants will be provided with a copy of the Information Sheet and Consent Form for their personal records.