Refuge and Resistance: Palestinians and the International Refugee System

Columbia Studies in International and Global History

by Anne Irfan

In the decades after World War II, the United Nations established a global refugee regime that became central to the lives of displaced people around the world. This regime has exerted particular authority over Palestinian refugees, who are served by a specialized UN body, the Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Formed shortly after the 1948 war, UNRWA continues to provide quasi-state services such as education and health care to Palestinian refugee communities in the Middle East today.

This book is a groundbreaking international history of Palestinian refugee politics. Anne Irfan traces the history and politics of UNRWA’s interactions with Palestinian communities, particularly in the refugee camps where it functioned as a surrogate state. She shows how Palestinian refugees invoked internationalist norms to demand their political rights while resisting the UN’s categorization of their plight as an apolitical humanitarian issue. Refuge and Resistance foregrounds how nonelite activism shaped the Palestinian campaign for international recognition, showing that engagement with world politics was driven as much by the refugee grass roots as by the upper echelons of the Palestine Liberation Organization. It demonstrates that refugee groups are important actors in global politics, not simply aid recipients.

Recasting modern Palestinian history through the lens of refugee camps and communities, Refuge and Resistance offers vital new perspectives for understanding politics beyond the nation-state.

315 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 18, 2023

Reviews

[Yolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as part of my immigration politics class and I was very happy to learn more about the Palestinian refugees and their struggle to return to their homeland. From the PLO to UNRWA, the book covers the Palestinian struggle, their strong connection to their homeland, their treatment, and their impacts on refugee camps. This book is a must read for anyone trying to learn more about Palestine and get more of an insight on the lives of the people without a state. The author's argument that the people of Palestine are in fact key players and take action politcally, internationally, and socially is important as we tend to ignore just how much work they have done to get more rights and hopefully one day return to their homeland. With the recent events happening, this book is now more then ever, more important to be read as it will make people realize that Palestinians are an important group of people who deserve respect and that they have had their history defined by struggle but also hope.

[Stephen Heiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

video book review: https://youtu.be/rVZP0X3_XZg

An important book covering UNRWA, an important aspect of how the Palestinians defined who they were and want they wanted post-1948.