STORY: Palestinian refugees in Jordan yearn for returning home
SHOOTING TIME: June 19, 2024
DATELINE: June 20, 2024
LENGTH: 00:03:24
LOCATION: Amman
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Saleh Banat making Arabic coffee and the refugee camp
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): SALEH BANAT, Palestinian refugee
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): SALEH BANAT, Palestinian refugee
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): KHALED ARAR, Palestinian refugee
5. SOUNDBITE 4 (Arabic): GAITH MOUSA, Palestinian refugee

STORYLINE:

As the world marks World Refugee Day on June 20, Palestinian refugees in Jordan said they dream of returning home and hope for better living conditions.

"I wish to return to my homeland, Palestine, and leave the camp because life there revives the soul, as my father described it to me," said Saleh Banat, a resident of Jordan's Baqa'a refugee camp for Palestinian refugees, which is some 27 kilometers to the north of Amman.

He told Xinhua that he used to visit Jerusalem before its occupation in 1967 and remembers its tourist, religious, and heritage landmarks.

Saleh, also known as Abu Muhammad, said he worked in several professions to make ends meet and has over the years worked in construction, then he turned to making walking sticks for the elderly, as well as coffee grinders and portable coffee roasters for making Arabic coffee.

Abu Muhammad recounted his life's struggle, working and raising his seven sons and five daughters, educating them, and securing their future.

"All my children are married, and I live with my wife in our humble home built from concrete walls and roofed with zinc sheets insulated with wood," he said.

Abu Muhammad narrated his journey by making coffee grinders and canes, saying he started this as a hobby until he mastered the craft.

"Since childhood, I have been making Arabic coffee, roasting green coffee beans, and grinding them with a coffee grinder, which produces a beautiful melody when the pestle hits the body of the grinder," he said.

He noted that the demand for coffee grinders has significantly declined recently due to a move away from authentic Arab heritage. He now focuses on making canes and walking sticks for the elderly, working with old traditional methods where making one cane takes a whole week in his workshop, which is part of his home.

Abu Muhammad handles the wood with great delicacy and skill, producing beautiful canes that elderly people rely on. Each cane sells for 50 dinars, equivalent to 70 dollars.

He mentioned that life is currently difficult because job opportunities have decreased, and the demand for his canes has significantly dropped over the past ten years.

His seven sons work in services, agriculture, and freelance jobs, and they help him overcome life's difficulties, he added.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): SALEH BANAT, Palestinian refugee
"Baqa'a camp was miserable in the beginning, but the camp's situation gradually improved and became good, and everything was available in it, including vegetables, electricity, and water, but we want more work to increase the purchasing power."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): SALEH BANAT, Palestinian refugee
"I hope that this issue will be resolved and that all refugees will return to their homelands and every person will return to his homeland, and the area in which he used to live."
   
UNRWA offers health and education services through its centers and schools. However, the economic life in the camp has deteriorated due to inflation and youth unemployment, he said.

He noted that UNRWA's services in providing financial and food aid have declined over the past seven years due to reduced funding. The ongoing war in Gaza has also affected regular services as UNRWA focuses more on Gaza residents and global funding has decreased.

Khaled Arar, a 67-year-old lawyer, who was born in Qalandia which is adjacent to Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1957, said his family was displaced to Jordan after the 1967 war and, with the large influx of Palestinian refugees, several camps were installed in Al Hosn in Irbid, Jerash and other areas.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): KHALED ARAR, Palestinian refugee
"We have no goals other than the right of return. Our only goal is to return to Palestine and live in our country. We realize that this refugee camp is an emergency camp, and this camp must end one day. It is a witness to the Isreal's occupying Palestine. It remains a witness to history, but the camp's people, they seek, and their only goal is to return to Palestine."

Arar said the camp was established in 1968 through cooperation between UNRWA, the German government, and Caritas Association on fertile land that was previously used for grain cultivation.

"Tents were distributed to families at that time, and we suffered greatly due to the lack of paved roads, sinking into mud during the winter, making life extremely harsh during this season," he said.

He added that the camp was divided into areas named after Jerusalem, Nablus, Hebron, and Al-Karama.

He stated that the camp residents rely on several sectors outside the camp, trade, agriculture on adjacent lands, as well as in government service jobs. Arar noted that the camp residents are keen on education despite the lack of government jobs available to them, except in health and education sectors.

The camp residents aspire to return to their homeland and do not seek to compete with Jordanians for sovereign jobs such as the army, security services, and internal affairs, he said, calling for better services.

"I have 12 children, all of whom hold university degrees, but none of them work in government jobs because some government jobs are prohibited for camp residents, especially after the disengagement from the West Bank," he said.

According to UNRWA, more than 130,000 people have registered in the camp until 2023. Arar said the refugees have come to the third and fourth generations, adding "All of them aspire to return to their homeland, and despite the current ease of life, their eyes are set on historical Palestine, not just parts of it."

Expressing hope of returning to his homeland, even if it is for a short period of time, Gaith Mousa, 85 years old, said he was displaced in 1948 with his family.

When he moved to Amman with his family, they lived in schools, and the government moved them to Jerash Camp. Due to floods that hit the tents, they were moved to Damieh Camp in the central Jordan Valley. Due to the war of attrition between Jordan and Israel, they were moved to Baqa'a Camp, he said.

He added that he lived for 40 years in the camp with all its hardships, describing life in the camp as very difficult, especially in winter as the streets were unpaved, and they suffered from mud and extreme cold.

Mousa said he worked in contracting and construction and moved out of the camp to the Ain Al-Basha area near the camp due to overcrowding, where he bought a piece of land and built a building for himself, his children, and grandchildren.

SOUNDBITE 4 (Arabic): GAITH MOUSA, Palestinian refugee
"What I wish in this life is to cross the bridge and smell Palestine and die there, this is my only wish left in this life."

He said he "is optimistic about returning to Palestine and believes it will happen even if only one Palestinian remains."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Amman.
(XHTV)