Punctuated Humanitarianism and Discordant Politics

Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to the history and central concepts of the book. It highlights the conceptual challenge that long-existing refugee camps pose for common understandings of camps and humanitarianism. It describes the beginnings of United Nations’ relief to displaced Palestinians. Considering the dilemmas of long-term humanitarianism, it introduces the term “punctuated humanitarianism” to capture the movement between emergency circumstances (the humanitarian situation) and extended, chronic need (the humanitarian condition). The chapter also explores Palestinian refugee politics in these conditions, identifying a discordant politics that has multiple, sometimes contradictory registers and aims. Refugee politics has been a politics of suffering, of aspiration, of existence, and of refusal.