Jordan: "Words have different meanings here."

Our second day in Jordan, we visited the UN Palestinian Refugee camp in Jerash. My first reaction was to compare the camp to Ensenada, Mexico--dirty, poor, crumbling concrete buildings, tons of little kids running around in the dirt. The camp was set up in 1968 after 11,000 refugees were forced to flee from the Gaza Strip area into Jordan. These refugees are denied Jordanian citizenship (even their children born in Jordan) and have no papers, which makes it hard to travel or get jobs. The government gives the camp no assistance--it's all funded by the UNRWA. 

People we talked to in the camp are still holding onto the hope of returning to their homes in the Gaza Strip, clinging onto the UN Resolution 194. We asked one of the leaders if they refugees wanted Jordanian citizenship, would that make things better? 

"No, even if they give us the whole world, it won't replace our homes," he said.

The Jordanian king has done his part, giving regular food packages to the camp, which now has a population of 27,000. Again we asked our camp representative a question: what message would you like to send to citizens back in America? 

"We hope for our kids to be treated like all other kids. We hope to see them happy and healthy." Children in America, he said, can look to their future and hope to be anything they want. Gaza refugee children in Jerash look to their future and feel hopeless. 

We visited the school in Jersah, where a kindergarten class of girls boasted their English skills by shouting at the top of their lungs the names of various clothing items. 

Teacher: "What is this?"

Girls: "THIS IS A SKIIIIIRT!!!!!!"

It was super cute.

Me and Paul in Jerash

Open sewage runs from each crumbling house to the main line, which runs through the middle of the street.

Streets of the camp

Leaving Jersah, I had a few questions still. How long, I wondered, will the refugees hold onto their hope of returning home? How long will the government deny them any papers? Will they eventually be integrated into Jordanian citizenship, or what will happen to them?

- - -

On a lighter note, we then bussed to the Roman Army and Chariot Enactment in the ruins of the ancient Roman city Gerash.

Watching the gladiators

Legion of the Roman army

Gladiator fights

Some of the best preserved ruins in the background

The gang

We then arrived in Aman!

Bruce and I on the roof in our hotel Aman

From the roof, we observed the overflow of prayers from one of the main mosques into the street.

The city of Aman behind me, from the top of the citadel.

While in Aman we had two really interesting lectures, one from a UN rep and one from a Gaza pastor who fled to Jordan. To keep their anonymity and requests for being "off the record," I won't mention names but just give you all some brief points that I found most interesting about the two talks.


First, the US Deputy Counselor at the UN Embassy in Jordan:

-Jordan has been, and is still (under the leadership of King Abdullah II), very committed to a 2-state peaceful solution for the Israeli/Palestinian conflict
-The conflict is at the heart of all topics in Jordan; no matter what you talk about, people want to know your opinion on the I/P issue
-At the current time, the UN is still in the process of "talking about talks"
-Cross cultural issues come into play here, namely the emotionality of the Arabic language and how that can be misconstrued by Western ears
-The solution to the problem will be two-fold: five final status issues that need to be settled (including borders & settlements, Jerusalem, refugees, etc.) and bridging the cultural gap between the Israelis and Palestinians (to prepare the people for peace).
-"Time is on no one's side."

He left us with some closing advice that I thought was helpful, including encouragement to let go of our Western political frameworks while we're here and analyze issues on their own terms. "Words have different meanings here," he said--the context and figurative nature of Arabic makes some phrases difficult when translated. Events today cannot be separated from the past--all things come in the context of those before. He warned us to be wary of simple, singular, broad-sweeping explanations for anything. Everything is more complex than it seems. Finally, he warned that false "facts" will be presented as evidence or justification for certain acts. "Just because something isn't true here doesn't mean it's not sued as evidence and part of the discourse."