Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

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UNRWA photo and film
archives of Palestinian refugees
Inscribed 2009
What are they
A selection of photographs and films covering all the
stages of the history of the Palestinian refugees, from
their flight from the new state of Israel in 1948 up to
the present day.
Why were they inscribed
During six decades UNRWA has produced and collected
a comprehensive record of still photographs and
film material covering most aspects of the lives and
history of the Palestine refugees, providing a visual
documentary heritage.
Where are they
The Photo Archive, United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Headquarters,
Gaza; Film Archive, UNWRA, Amman, Jordan
The Arab-Israeli War in 1948 forced more than
700,000 Palestinians to flee their homes and become
refugees in camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria
and Lebanon. UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
began its operations on 1 May 1950.
The UNRWA archives hold a substantial body of
photographs of the flight of Palestinians from the
newly created state of Israel in 1948. Some of the iconic
images of Palestinians leaving their homes and arriving
as destitute refugees on the beach of Gaza, in caves in
the West Bank or in the mud of Nahr el-Bared camp
in Lebanon were taken by photographers working for
the United Nations and whose production was given
to UNRWA. The first documentary film ever to be
made about the Palestine refugees, showing starving
children and the squalid living conditions in the camps
in 1950 belongs to the UNRWA archives. The archive
then continues with images from the establishment
of functional camps in the 1950s, the second flight during
the 1967 Arab-Israeli war in which Israel occupied East
Jerusalem and the West Bank, the civil war in Lebanon,
the turbulent periods in the second half of the 1980s
and events up to the present day.
492 UNRWA photo and film archives of Palestinian refugees
The UNRWA photo and film archives also depict the
daily lives of the refugees and the relief efforts extended
to them. The number of registered Palestine refugees
has grown from 914,000 in 1950 to more than 4.4 million
today. The images show the refugee education that
produced the highest standard of learning in all the host
countries, the health services that eradicated diseases and
the vocational training that helped refugees obtain skills to
become breadwinners for their families. The photographs
and films produced over more than half a century have
captured the Palestinians maintaining their culture, their
traditions and their family structure.
The UNRWA photo archives contain around
10,000 photographs, 15,000 colour slides and an
estimated 400,000 negatives with corresponding contact
sheets from 1948 up to the present day. The UNRWA film
archives contain seventy-five films produced between 1950
and 1984, as well as around 400 videotapes with UNRWA
productions and archive material covering a period from
the mid 1970s to the late 1990s.
The first collection of visual material was assembled in
the agency’s headquarters in Beirut. In 1982 UNRWA’s
headquarter was moved to Vienna because of the civil
war in Lebanon. During the Vienna period several staff
photographers and a film division travelled frequently
to UNRWA’s five fields of operations: Gaza, the West
Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. A substantial part of
the archives was created at this time. When UNRWA’s
Headquarters was moved to Gaza in 1996, the photo
archive moved there while the film archive was relocated
to the UNRWA offices in Amman.