Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief [Hardcover]

This book examines the leading role of the Quaker American Friends Service Committee in the United Nations relief program for Palestine Arab refugees in 1948-1950 in the Gaza Strip. Using archival data, oral histories, and biographical accounts, it provides a detailed look at internal decision-making in an early non-governmental organization.Introduction: The Palestine Arab Refugee Problem and the International 1. Studying the Palestine Arab Refugee Problem 2. The Quakers and the American Friends Service Committee 3. The AFSC in the Middle East 4. AFSC in the Field: December 1948-December 1949 5. AFSC and The Politics of Regional Development 6. AFSC, the Economic Survey Mission, and Regional Development 7. The AFSC and UNRWA: The End of UNRPR 8. International Security and the Question of 'Reintegration' 9. Assessing the AFSC as an Early NGO 10. Conclusions

Author Asaf Romirowsky: Asaf Romirowsky is a Middle East historian. Author Alexander H. Joffe: Alexander H. Joffe is an archaeologist and historian.

'Romirowsky and Joffe trace the involvement of the American Friends Service

Committee (AFSC) a Quaker organization founded long before 1948 to assist civilians caught up in the maelstrom of war in its pivotal role as relief provider to Arab refugees in Gaza under the auspices of the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees (UNRPR). Painstakingly combing through personal memoirs, cables, and diplomatic communiqu?s, the authors construct a rich history of the immediate post-1948 period. [ ] As the authors illustrate, both field personnel and those at the policy-making level within [the] AFSC understood that the refugees were being used as pawns by the Arab governments in their propaganda war against Israel. [ ]This ill-conceived approach continues to this day, sustaining the most powerful weapon in the Arab arsenal against the legitimacy of the Jewish state.' -Susan M. Jellissen, Belmont University, USA, Middle Elc,