The Nahr al-Bared refugee camp still has not recovered from the devastating war in 2007 during which it was destroyed.  The Lebanese Army has been keeping a tight grip on the camp and the 20,000 displaced Palestinians who have returned so far.  The army’s siege seriously hampers the camp’s economic recovery, as access is restricted and the area has been declared a military zone.  A recent survey found that the army’s presence and measures are considered a difficulty by 98 per cent of Nahr al-Bared’s business owners.  The army meanwhile justifies its presence as necessary for the preservation of the safety of the people.

In May 2007, the battle between Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese army broke out in Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon.  Amidst heavy fighting, the Lebanese army had systematically destroyed the entire camp by September 2007.  Two years later, nearly all the rubble has been cleared from the “old camp,” the core of Nahr […]

  Celia E. Naylor.  African Cherokees in Indian Territory: From Chattel to Citizens.   The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture.  Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008.  Illustrations, maps.  xii + 360 pp.  $55.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8078-3203-5; $22.50 (paper), ISBN 978-0-8078-5883-7. Debates about the citizenship status of Cherokee freedmen […]