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Although Sari Hanafi is the director of Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Centre, Shaml, this work reflects only his views. He expresses his gratitude to Ann Lesch for her editing of this chapter. He thanks the many researchers who critiqued the first draft, including Roula El Rifai, Pamela Scholey, Riina Isotalo, Cedric Parizot and Nadim Rouhana.
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References
G. Agamben, “We Refugees”, <http://www.egs.edu/faculty/agamben/aga mben-we-refugees.html>, 1997, 21–22.
A preliminary and short version of this research was published in Ann Lesch/ Ian Lustick (eds), Exile & Return. Predicaments of Palestinians and Jews, 2005, 57–84.
The idea of social capital has enjoyed a remarkable rise to prominence in both the theoretical and applied social science literature over the last decade. While lively debate has accompanied that journey, thereby helping to advance our thinking while clarifying areas of agreement and disagreement, much still remains to be done. I am not using the term “social capital” in the same way that R. Putnam does. As D. Cohen and L. Prusak in their book In Good Company: How Social Capital Makes Organizations Work, 2001, 9, have commented, not everything of value should be called “capital.” There is a deep danger of skewing our consideration of social phenomenon and goods toward the economic. In this study, we are mainly interested in the family contribution and in the degree of relevance of the familial and ethnic entrepreneurship.
This survey encompassed 2,254 Palestinian households in nineteen communities in the Palestinian Territories in the summer of 1999. R. Giacaman/ P. Johnson (eds), Inside Palestinian Households. Initial Analysis of a Community-based Household Survey, Vol. 1, 2002.
Fafo is the Norwegian Institute for Applied Social Science. The Fafo survey is about the living conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan. In Lebanon it covers a sample of 4,000 households in refugee camps and relatively homogenous refugee areas (O.F. Ugland (ed.), Difficult Past, Uncertain Future. Living Conditions Among Palestinian Refugees in Camps and Gatherings in Lebanon, FAFO Report 409, 2003). In Jordan, the survey employed two methods; a survey of stratified probability sample of about 3,100 households selected from 12 camps, and 13 focus groups. The primary purpose of the focus group discussions was to learn how camp-dwellers perceive economic hardship, unemployment, and work opportunities (M. Khawaja/A. Tiltnes (eds), On the Margins: Migration and Living Conditions of Palestinian Camp Refugees in Jordan, 2002).
S. Abu-Sitta, The End of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. From Refugees to Citizens at Home, 2001.
A. Portes, “Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Contemporary Sociology”, Annual Review of Sociology 24 (1998), 1 et seq.
Giacaman/Johnson, see P. Johnson (eds), Inside Palestinian Households. Initial Analysis of a Community-based Household Survey, Vol. 1, 2002 note 6, 9; see also R. Isotalo, Gendering the Palestinian Return Migration: Migrants from the Gulf and Marriage as a Transnational Practice, paper presented at the Third Mediterranean Social and Political Research Meeting, Florence, 20–24 March 2002.
M. Malki, 2003.
L. Holy, Kinship, honour and solidarity: cousin marriage in the Middle East, 1989.
J. Pedersen et al. (eds), Growing Fast. The Palestinian Population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 2001, 83–84.
M. Heibergand/ G. Ovensen, Palestinian Society in Gaza, West Bank and Arab Jerusalem: A survey of Living Conditions, FAFO-report 151, 1993. The mother plays a more informal role in this process, while the father is the one who makes the final decision.
R. Isotalo, “Yesterday’s Outsiders, Today’s Returnees — Transnational Processes and Cultural Encounters in the West Bank”, in: A. Linjakumpu/ K. Virtanen (eds), Under the Olive Tree. Reconsidering Mediterranean Politics and Culture, 1997.
L. B. Jacobsen/ M. Deeb, “Social Network”, in: Ugland, see note 7.
E. Uehara, “Dual Exchange Theory, Social Networks, and Informal Social Support.”, American Journal of Sociology 96 (1990), 521 et seq., 524, quoted in Jacobsen/Deeb, ibid., 223.
Giacaman/Johnson, see P. Johnson (eds), Inside Palestinian Households. Initial Analysis of a Community-based Household Survey, Vol. 1, 2002 note 6, 36–38.
P. Sletten/ J. Pederson, Coping with Conflict. Palestinian communities Two Years into the Intifada, 2003, 47.
A. Portes, Latin journey: Cuban and Mexican immigrants in the U.S., 1985.
S. Hanafi, Hona wa honaq: nahwa tahlil lil’ alaqa bin al-shatat alfalastini wa al markaz (Here and There: Towards an Analysis of the Relationship between the Palestinian Diaspora and the Center), 2001, in Arabic; Isotalo, see note 16; B’tselem/Ha’Moked, Families Torn Apart: Separation of Palestinian Families in the Occupied Territories, 1999.
A. Ong, Flexible Citizenship. The Cultural Logic of Transnationality, 1999, 20.
S. Hanafi, “Penser le rapport diaspora, centre. La contribution de la diaspora palestinienne à l’économie des Territoires”, in: H. Hassan-Yari (ed.), Le processus de paix au Moyen-Orient, 2000.
I. Saad Al Din/ A. Fadil, Intiqal al’ amalah al’ arabiyya: (The Movement of Arab Labor), 1983; N. Fergany, Sa’yan wara’ al rizq. Dirasa maydaniyya’ an hijret al masriyyin ll’amal fi al aqtar al arabiyya (Striving for Subsistance), 1988. In 1978, a sample survey conducted by Khader and Badran in Jordan found that about half of the remittances from Jordanian workers in Kuwait were channelled towards investment purposes, including 20.5 per cent to education alone, B. Khader/A. Badran, The Economic Development of Jordan, 1987, 41, cited in J. Husseini, Current socioeconomic status of the West Bank camp refugees, paper presented to the Shaml Workshop “Palestinian Return Migration: Socioeconomic and Cultural Approaches”, Ramallah, 2–4 March 2000.
See for example the European Union report, commissioned in 1999, T. Charalambos/ A. Huliaras, Prospects for Absorption of Returning Refugees in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, unpublished report, Institute of International Economic Relations, December 1999.
N. Van Hear, Reintegration of the Palestinian Returnees, 1996.
L. Basch/ N. Glick Schiller/ C. Szanton Blanc, Nations Unbound: Transnational Projects, Postcolonial Predicaments, and Deterritorialized Nation-States, 1994, 22; see the critique by R. Grillo/B. Riccio/R. Salih, “Introduction”, in: R. Grillo/B. Riccio/R. Salih (eds), Here or There? Contrasting Experiences of Transnationalism: Morrocans and Senegalese in Italy, 2000, 19.
Grillo/Riccio/Salih, B. Riccio/ R. Salih, “Introduction”, in: R. Grillo/ B. Riccio/ R. Salih (eds), Here or There? Contrasting Experiences of Transnationalism: Morrocans and Senegalese in Italy, 2000, 19 idem.
Idem.
For example, my findings in the United Arab Emirates are significant in this respect. Few Palestinian businesspeople have any strong conviction that they should leave the Emirates and return to Palestine, even though the partial right of return (family reunification) now exists, albeit to a limited extent. They decided instead to express their feelings of nationalism by contributing to the construction of the Palestinian entity. However, such investment, made in a delicate economic and political situation, indicates that the rationale is not just economic: It concerns prestige and the acquisition of position. 34 economic projects have started since Oslo. From the 75 members of the sample selected for the survey, more than a third invested in territories. This number is considerable, taking into consideration the attitude of the Palestinians in relation to Palestinian-Americans. It seems, in any case, that there is a correlation between proximity and investment. The type of investment is also related to the origin of the people in question. Those of 1948 territories origin (eight in the sample) were stakeholders in many holding companies, such as PADICO and International Salaam Company, since they did not have physical access to the territories. Palestinians of West Bank and Gaza origins behave differently. They associate a relative or a friend in their projects in locus after paying a visit to these territories. Table 3 shows the chosen sectors. For further analysis see S. Hanafi, Business Directory of Palestinian in the Diaspora, 1998; and idem, 2001b.
F. Naqib, Absorption of the Palestinian Refugee: Economic aspect, unpublished paper, 2003, 45.
S. Hanafi, “Contribution de la diaspora palestinienne à l’économie des Territoires investissement et philanthropie”, Maghreb-Machrek 161 (November 1998), Paris, Documentation française. The Palestinian economy and economic development are now so uneven that generalisations based on central data are extremely hazardous. To trace investments from the host countries into the homeland, 600 interviews with Palestinian businesspeople (mainly from Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Canada, Chile, the United Kingdom, and Australia) were conducted during 1995–1997.
MOPIC (Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation), Aid Coordination Department, MOPIC’s 1997 Fourth Quaterly Monitoring Report of Donor Assistance, 1998, <http//www.pna.net>; see table 2.
S. Roy, The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of Development, 1995.
Diverse sources. See Hanafi, see Contribution de la diaspora palestinienne à l’économie des Territoires investissement et philanthropie”, Maghreb-Machrek 161 (November 1998) note 40.
C. Lever-Tracy/ D. Ip/ T. Noel, The Chinese Diaspora and Mainland China. An Emerging Economic Synergy, 1996.
More precisely we can define entrepreneurship as “an attempt at new business or new venture creation, such as self-employment, a new business organisation, or the expansion of an existing business, by an individual, a group of individuals, or an established business” (P.D. Reynolds/ M. Hay/ S.M. Camp, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 1999 Executive Report, 1999, 23).
ILO, Resolution concerning the Measurement of Underemployment and inadequate employment situations, The Sixteenth International Conference on Labor Statistics, Geneva, 1998.
Khawaja/Tiltnes, see A. Tiltnes (eds), On the Margins: Migration and Living Conditions of Palestinian Camp Refugees in Jordan, 2002 note 7, 99. Here we use the ILO classification and the definition of the entrepreneur (ILO, idem).
H. Al-Rimmawi/ H. Bukhari, Population Characteristics of the PopulationRefugee Camps, Ramallah: PCBS and Dissemination and Analysis of Census Findings, 2002, 54, in Arabic.
Hanafi, see Penser le rapport diaspora, centre. La contribution de la diaspora palestinienne à l’économie des Territoires”, in: H. Hassan-Yari (ed.), Le processus de paix au Moyen-Orient, 2000 note 30.
Ong, see note 29, 6.
D. Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1990.
C. Geertz, Peddlers and Princes, 1993.
N. Van Hear, 1997.
Estimated at some US$ 1.5 billion (Central Bank of Jordan, 1992).
Naqib, see note 39, 45.
Khawaja/Tiltnes, see A. Tiltnes (eds), On the Margins: Migration and Living Conditions of Palestinian Camp Refugees in Jordan, 2002 note 7, 28–29.
Sletten/Pederson, see J. Pederson, Coping with Conflict. Palestinian communities Two Years into the Intifada, 2003 note 26, 31.
ICBS, Statistical Abstract of Israel. Jerusalem: Central Bureau of Statistics, 1993, 760.
According to different Fafo surveys. See note 7.
S. Hanafi, Entre deux mondes. Les hommes d’affaires palestiniens de la diaspora et la construction de l’entité palestinienne, 1997; ESCWA, Return Migration. Profiles, Impact and Absorption, 1993.
Isotalo, see note 16.
Those who returned with the PLO were mostly PLO members and their families. They returned in the beginning of 1994 to be involved in building the institutions of the PNA. By now there are tens of thousands of people on the state payroll (if one includes the security services). They are among the higher rank of the PNA administration. R. Heacock, “Al-mahalliune wal’ aidune: Locals and Returnees in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA): A Historical Perspective”, <http://www.birzeit.edu/academics/research/locals>, 2001, described their weight as following: “In the ministries, the directors general are 460 in number according to the archivist of the presidential office, in fact, more like 1000. Up to 65 percent are returnees, depending on sources. The same goes for the perhaps 2000 directors in the ministries. They dominate the executive branch. On the other hand, the inside heavily dominates the PLC, Palestinian Legislative Council or parliament elected in 1996. Although the numbers vary depending on the number of years of exile which define a person as a returnee rather than a local, there are by all counts well over fifty locals in the 88-member body. But its head, speaker Ahmad Qrei’, a returnee who was elected to the PLC from Jerusalem, in turn heavily dominates that body.”
E. Zureik, “The Trek Back Home: Palestinians Returning Home and their Problem of Adaptation”, in: A. Hovdenak et al. (eds), Constructing Order: Palestinian Adaptation to Refugee Life, 1997.
M. Malki/ Y. Shalabi, Internal Migration and Palestinian Returnees in West Bank and Gaza Strip, 2000.
Giacaman/Johnson, see P. Johnson (eds), Inside Palestinian Households. Initial Analysis of a Community-based Household Survey, Vol. 1, 2002. note 6.
Generally, refugees in the Palestinian territories have higher levels of education than non-refugees. Fewer refugees are illiterate or with elementary skills (23 per cent) compared to non-refugees (25 per cent) and have more secondary education (17 per cent) compared to non-refugees (15 per cent) and more postsecondary education (11 per cent) compared to non-refugees (8 per cent). This confirms the importance of UNRWA support for refugees; education and perhaps the refugee population’s ambition to seek educational capital where other forms of capital do not exist. (P. Johnson (eds), Inside Palestinian Households. Initial Analysis of a Community-based Household Survey, Vol. 1, 2002. Ibid., 12).
R. Heacock, “Returnee State”, in: T. Hentsch et al. (eds), The Becoming of Returnee States: Palestine, Armenia, Bosnia, 1999, 57.
S. Tamari, “Palestinian Society”, in: P. Matar (ed.), Palestinian Encyclopaedia, 2000, 370.
Interview with Nazmi Jo’bi, Jerusalem, November 2003.
Interview with Nabil Saleh, Haifa, November 2003.
Z.M.D. Kabha, Barta’a. The Divided Heart, 2003, 69.
M. Totary, The Political Attitude in a Divided Village. The Case of Western Barta’a/Eastern Barta’a, 1999, 13.
This contrasted with Arab voting in general: 51 per cent of Palestinians of Israel supported Arab parties who obtained only 17 per cent of the vote in Barta’a (ibid., 18).
Idem.
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Hanafi, S. (2007). The Sociology of Return: Palestinian Social Capital, Transnational Kinships and the Refugee Repatriation Process. In: Benvenisti, E., Gans, C., Hanafi, S. (eds) Israel and the Palestinian Refugees. Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht, vol 189. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68161-8_1
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