In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the ways refugees in displacement manage to organize themselves and act upon their needs. The growing recognition in the UN system of the importance of localization of aid and the potential role played by local actors has given refugee-led organizations (RLO) a space to grow. In this paper, we analyze refugee agency and solidarity through the organization of the refugee communities in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. In doing so, we examine: (1) the reasons behind the creation of these organizations and their dynamics; (2) the role of host states toward this drive to organize refugee communities; and (3) the patterns, forms, and structures that these organizations take in providing humanitarian services, as well as community support and empowerment.
This paper, based on personal interviews, analysis of Egyptian administrative regulations, and observation of practice of international and regional agreements on refugees, considers the effects of displacement on the Palestinians’ legal status and hence on the way they have conducted their livelihoods in Egypt. While Arab countries have offered to provide temporary protection to Palestinian refugees, as a result of political developments, including relations between the PLO and the host states, the rights afforded to Palestinians in Arab host states have varied greatly over time. Palestinians in Egypt, since 1978, do not receive assistance from the government of Egypt and do not have access to any of its public services. Palestinians also do not receive any assistance or protection from UN bodies in charge of refugee issues. Both regional and international pledges and agreements have not been respected. The ambiguous legal status of Palestinians has affected their livelihoods inmany ways. It has rendered their residence insecure and in many cases illegal. This has affected employment and education opportunities, as well as freedomofmovement and association. The deprivation of rights and the unstable legal and economic conditions of Palestinians in Egypt has placed them in a state of “limbo.”
The Deep Past as a Social Asset in the Levant (DEEPSAL) project, conducted in 2015 by the Council for British Research in the Levant, examined two communities in southern Jordan, Beidha and Basta, who live near significant Neolithic archaeological sites. The project collected information on the communities' current socioeconomic conditions, their relationship with local cultural heritage and how that cultural heritage currently benefits or hinders them. The information was used to inform nascent strategies to utilize the sites sustainably as development assets and suggest alternative strategies as necessary. The results showed that a tourism-based strategy is suitable for Beidha but there was a need to focus on basic business skills. For Basta a tourism-based strategy is currently unsuitable, and efforts should rather focus on supporting educational activities. The results of the project are presented here within the context of archaeology's increasing interest to use archaeological resource to benefit local communities, and outlines lessons for that effort.
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