Palestinian camp residents sceptical over Bush visit

Many residents of Qalandia refugee camp, just outside Ramallah, felt more frustrated than excited by the recent visit of US President George W Bush to Israel and the West Bank. Others were simply apathetic.

"He is leaving office by the end of the year. So what difference does this visit make? It won't change anything for us," Majdi, a camp resident in his early 20s, told IRIN. He echoed the sentiments of many people who felt the visit, which came as a follow-up to the Annapolis conference last year, would not have any tangible results.

Israeli opinion polls showed that they too did not believe the presidential trip would produce any changes.

During his visit, Bush, defying public scepticism, said he planned to push for a peace accord before he leaves office, as he believed the differences between the two sides could be solved.

"I want Bush to come and visit the camp and see how we live, what the conditions here are," said Abdel Salam, aged 20, as he pointed to sewage in the streets, broken roads and cramped living areas. "Would he like to live like this? He would be shocked by what he would see here."

Had the US president entered Ramallah via the main crossing point - a terminal, known as Atarot in Hebrew or Qalandia in Arabic, which is part of Israel's West Bank barrier - he would have passed the rundown camp. Instead, he went through a smaller crossing used mainly by diplomats and aid workers to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Two main concerns

For the 12,000 refugees at Qalandia, an approximately 2sqkm plot of land, their main concerns are split between the immediate need for better living conditions and their long-term political aspirations.

"The camp is very overcrowded," said Mariam, a middle-aged woman whose family originated in Jaffa, in what is now Israel. "There are no employment opportunities here. People are poor," she said.

Abdel Rauf, 18, recently completed a three-month stint with UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, as part of its job creation programme, and is now unemployed.

"It's very hard to find work now. Maybe only as a day labourer, doing hard physical work," he said. He would like to resume his studies to pass his matriculation examinations and get a better job. However, "the future for us looks like unemployment, idling on the streets or in the coffee shops," the young man said.

Photo: Shabtai Gold/IRIN

Main street of Qalandia Camp

While most people in Qalandia, where Abbas's Fatah Party is dominant, back the ongoing negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli leaders, many are doubtful.

"I support the negotiations, but on condition that they lead to change," said Abu Ziad, who was born in Jaffa, but fled with his family in 1948 to the camp.

"I hope the peace process will remove the checkpoints, so I can reach customers in nearby villages," he said from inside his small carpentry shop. The Israeli-imposed movement restrictions had harmed his business, he said.

Qusai, a teacher with a more hardline view, said he opposed the negotiations: "I'd tell Abbas not to talk to [Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert. Maybe, if things changed, like the removal of [Israeli] settlements or prisoner releases, I would change my mind," he said.

Residents say any final status agreement will have to include a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, and most felt that only a fully implemented right of return would satisfy them. One man expressed himself: "The return is my dream. I want to live in my parents' village. The Israelis have confiscated the land, but they cannot confiscate the dream."

"The refugee issue will be the hardest part in the peace process," said Fatima, a registered refugee. The Israelis and Palestinians could not agree at all on the thorny issue, she said.

Israel has said it will not allow a full right of return to its territory as that would change the demographics inside the Jewish state. During his visit, Bush said the matter would be solved through the foundation of a Palestinian state, as well as compensation.

Fatima lives with her husband and three children in the camp. Her family used to be larger, but two of her children, Yasser, then 11, and Samir, aged 15, were killed by the Israeli military in separate incidents in 2001. "We hope for peace in the end," she said, grasping her young daughter's hand. She added in a whisper: "We are tired of this bloodshed."

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