Children of Catastrophe: Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America [Paperback]

Jamal Kanj's biography provides an invaluable prism through which to comprehend the simple truth that Israelis and Palestinians both love the same land. Transcending facile black-white thinking, he humbly weaves his life story as a refugee in Lebanon into often misunderstood facets of Middle East politics. By honestly portraying heart-rending stories of his family's pain, he lifts the veil that continues to obscure Palestinians' humanity and dignity. For anyone wishing to grasp the contradictions and complexity of the Middle East, this book is required reading. --Dr George Katsiaficas, author of 'The Imagination of the New Left' and 'The Subversion of Politics'

Jamal Kanj's 'Children of Catastrophe: Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America' is a moving and powerful narrative. Its gripping details are weaved through personal and collective accounts, which relay the story of Palestinian Diaspora through the life of the author and his family. Kanj's personal story of the refugee camp of Nahr El Bared paints an unmatched picture of the realities that shaped the impoverished refugee camp, from its early formations to its violent presence. Such narratives are of immense import, for such accounts humanize a place, and a people who have been seen for too long as mere subjects of statistical data and academic discussion. There are people, faces, personal tragedies and triumphs, dreams that were crushed and others waiting to be fulfilled in Nahr El Bared - as well as in the rest of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and elsewhere. Kanj tells the stories of these resolute people, steadfast even in their weakest moments, through his own. --Ramzy Baroud, author of 'The Second Palestinian Intifada' and 'Searching Jenin' Jamal Kanj s Children of Catastrophe: Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America is a moving and powerful narrative. Its gripping details are weaved through personal and collective accounts, which relay the story of Palestinian Diaspora through the life of the author and his family. Kanj s personal story of the refugee camp of Nahr El Bared paints an unmatched picture of the realities that shaped the impoverished refugee camp, from its early formations to its violent presence. Such narratives are of immense import, for such accounts humanize a place, and a people who have been seen for too long as mere subjects of statistical data and academic discussion. There are people, faces, personal tragedies and triumphs, dreams that were crushed and others waiting to be fulfilled in Nahr El Bared as well as in the rest of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and elsewhere. Kanj tells the stories of these resolute people, steadfast even in their weakest moments, through his own. --Ramzy Baroud, author of The Second Palestinian Intifada and Searching Jenin

Jamal Kanj's 'Children of Catastrophe: Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America' is a moving and powerful narrative. Its gripping details are weaved through personal and collective accounts, which relay the story of Palestinian Diaspora through the life of the author and his family. Kanj's personal story of the refugee camp of Nahr El Bared paints an unmatched picture of the realities that shaped the impoverished refugee camp, from its early formations to its violent presence. Such narratives are of immense import, for such accounts humanize a place, and a people who have been seen for too long as mere subjects of statistical data and academic discussion. There are people, faces, personal tragedies and triumphs, dreams that were crushed and others waiting to be fulfilled in Nahr El Bared - as well as in the rest of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and elsewhere. Kanj tells the stories of these resolute people, steadfast even in their weakest moments, through his own. --Ramzy Baroud, author of 'The Second Palestinian --Ramzy Baroud, author of The Second Palestinian Intifada and Searching Jenin

(Children of Catastrophe - Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America. Jamal Krayem Kanj. Garnet Publishing, Reading, UK. 2010.) Children of Catastrophe is a work of courage, love - of family, friends, and country - persistence, grief, sorrow, joy, anger, bravery, fear, and frustration - in short it encompasses all the emotions that not only are part of life, but a large part of life for a child born and raised in a refugee camp. Nahr el Bared refugee camp was established in 1949 after the nakba in Palestine. Set near the northern border of Lebanon with Syria, the camp existed, grew, and to a degree, thrived and prospered until it was destroyed by the Lebanese army in 2007. Nakba and Ethnic Cleansing The first sections of Jamal Kanj s story outline very quickly the events of the nakba, with references to the even longer history of Zionism going back to 1896 and a declaration from Theodore Herzl concerning the endeavour to expel the poor population across the border unnoticed, procuring employment for it in transit countries, but denying it any employment in our own country. Demographics has always been a problem for the Jewish state and give the lie to the democratic claim of the Jewish state. Jamal quotes Joseph Weitz, the head of the Jewish National Fund in 1940, saying, Not one village must be left, not one tribe. The transfer must be directed at Iraq, Syria, and even Transjordan. Ben Gurion, from whom comments about peaceful coexistence can be found, nevertheless felt and understood the problem created by a resident Arab population, indicating that the UN partition plan does not provide a stable base for a Jewish state....There can be no stable and strong Jewish state so long as it has a Jewish majority of only 60%. Jamal ends his introduction with notes concerning the life of survivors : the refugees have indefatigably remained part of a nation, without the state. This becomes a heavily ironic comment in comparison with the declared and possibly mythological exile of the Jewish people over two thousand years. This is perhaps the underlying theme to the work, that the Palestinians have remained part of an enduring nation in exile. The dispossession and the challenge to survive have become their very identity and a key component of what it means to be a Palestinian. Camp Life Life in the camp was deprivation by circumstance yet that deprivation was tempered by the idea that it is not possible to lack what you have never experienced. Protected as best as possible from life s hardships by his parents, the family lived a relatively normal life. For Jamal, this was all too true, as his early life centred on life in the camp, and life was normalized by what we had and not by what was lacking. Higher education and a skilled trade became goals for the children of the camp. Daily life consisted of fetching water for washing and cooking on a daily basis from a communal water tap. Firewood was important, gathered from local farmers fields and hedges from around the camp, or from the beaches of the Mediterranean where the camp was located. Bread making was another daily requirement. These activities, done mainly by Jamal s mother, were also one of the main sources of news and gossip in the camp. Jamal describes his personal economy, digging up sand and aggregate from the beaches for construction, selling scrap metals and rendered animal bones for fertilizer products. Farm labour on nearby Lebanese farms provided another source of funds. Fishing with rod and line, latter supplanted by dynamite, provided food and funds. Never accepted as citizens, the refugees were extremely limited with any economic or personal contact with Lebanese society, although as time passed, not only did the refugee camp become somewhat self-supporting and innovative in both a tech --Jim Miles, Palestine Chronicle

Anyone who believes you can't change history has never tried to write memoirs. A telling quote from David Ben-Gurion, Zionist leader and first Prime Minister of Israel. At the time of writing, the US-mediated peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials have come to a standstill. The 52-year conflict has boiled down to what it has forever been: a war between media and memoir. That s what gives Children of Catastrophe , a relatively straightforward account of life as a refugee by Jamal Krayem Kanj, its intrinsic value. Born ten years after the Nakba (the catastrophic expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland in 1948) Kanj s memoir shares his memories of life growing up in Northern Lebanon s Nahr el Bared camp, controversially demolished by the Lebanese army in 2007. His descriptions of the camp s economic and social structure are detailed and pragmatic, from collecting water from the camp s well as a child to AK47 training with the PLO as a teenager. Unexpected treasure includes Kanj s first-hand evidence of the dynamite fishing and other damage that has destroyed Lebanon s Mediterranean coastline. The book s subtitle Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America , however, is slightly misleading only a few of the book s 200-odd pages touch on Kanj s transition to America. At times Kanj tells his story so matter-of-factly it is amusing (on his return from a UN-sponsored journey to Jerusalem, he does not dwell on how it feels to leave behind his ancestor s homeland, but how comfortably he slept through his transatlantic flight). Kanj is not trying to change history , only to draw attention to what is too often ignored, or may later be forgotten. --Natasha Dirany, Timeout Beirut

Jamal Kanj was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon ten years after the creation of the state of Israel. He moved to the United States in late 1977, and has been active in various local and national political organizations. He is a cofounder of the Middle East Cultural and Information Center in San Diego and served as the Secretary General for the US chapter of the General Union of Palestine Students. Today, Kanj is a professional engineer who works on water infrastructure management.