Refugees top headlines … Shameful under-estimation

Palestinian refugee camps recently occupied a large space in the national debate on reform, participation, representation, elections and rights (the incomplete and acquired). Remarks made by "dignitaries", "elite" and "representatives" hit the front pages of daily newspapers, and "unusually" enjoyed major headlines in the first pages too. Let's start first with a methodological observation related to "the camp" as a symbol of Palestinian asylum and which bears witness to the persistence of those people to enjoy their rights to return to their homeland… In this sense, forcing the refugee camp into the national debate or using it as a pressure card or counter-pressure, does not best serve the refugee camps, their symbolism and the issue of their children… Nor does it serve Jordan nor Palestine either. Let's agree on taking this issue out of one that is only about dispute and strife. Let's entrench our national unity under the slogan of "the right of refugees to return to their homeland and compensate them for the suffering, loss and damage caused to them". However, this does not mean that the inhabitants of these refugee camps are not Jordanian citizens… They are by virtue of the fait accompli which preceded the unity of the two banks which is "mass naturalisation"  based on its legal and constitutional requirements… They became Jordanian citizens more than two thirds of a century ago and they are now the fourth generation of Jordanian citizens. I do say citizenship because this comes before the national identity number and is more important and cannot be affected by it. The fourth generation of these citizen/refugees take their place on the citizenship register which governs and decides the rights and duties system. They are  "Jordanians of Palestinian origins"… They are not merely on the fringes of society.  This is a shameful underestimation…  They are the foundations of the Jordanian state, its economy, culture and renaissance. Some of them have chosen to remain in the refugee camps, often for economic and social reasons, but most of them --nearly 85 percent -- live outside the camps. You can hardly find a country or a village not inhabited by a group of these people who have shown loyalty to their citizenship which cannot be denied by anybody. Non of these citizens has any problem with the regime. They are just like most Jordanians, having problems and demands relevant to politics, rights and treatment, especially regarding political rights, education, and employment. Most importantly -- perhaps -- is their everyday dealings with state services and security institutions, where they feel discriminated against which is indicated by the rise in their complaints in recent years. They are entitled to participate in various events taking place in the country, whether they belong to the opposition or are loyal to the regime, as long as it is done in a legitimate and peaceful manner. The inhabitants of these refugee camps have refrained from participating in youth and public movements in the streets, and have not been a force in the demonstrations. This phenomenon is due to several reasons which we don't have time to go into here. Their lack of attendance was heavily criticised, and they were accused of passivity and "indifference" and even when one of them does take part, accusations of strife are levelled against them. These citizens are too smart and experienced to be dragged into games, and are too self-aware to let themselves be underestimated by naïve investigative journalists.  Such pointless statements belonged to the pre-Arab Spring era with its hollow propaganda. During the past months, the writer of these lines met with the children of these refugee camps, from Madaba to Irbid, from Amman to Zarqa. The real image is not as portrayed. Camps are not there to support a party or a group… Camps are the incubators of a political, intellectual and social variety… Camps have a heightened degree of awareness, rejecting exaggeration as expressed by media coverage. Refugee camps deserve better treatment, considering the level of intelligence of their inhabitants. They are proud to have generations of physicians, engineers, activists, political, social, cultural and artistic leaders, despite the hardships and humiliation of asylum… Be kind to our refugees.