"But in conversations along the streets of Jordan's 10 camps, the Palestinians tell a story, however anecdotal, of a landscape where secular politics has withered, Islamic activism is ascendant and, perhaps more important, a sense of dejection, even nihilism, is rising, with uncertain consequences. "Look at my face and tell me what it expresses," said Abu Amira, a 55-year-old with short-cropped hair and a trimmed gray beard. "There's not one person who laughs here." Traffic snarled the street outside his storefront. "Hope, these days, has died.""