Palestinian refugee camps

Palestinian refugee camps were established after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War to accommodate Palestinian refugees who fled from the war.

This article lists the current Palestinian refugee camps with current population and year they were established.

The UNRWA defines a Palestinian refugee as::"Palestine refugees are persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War."

UNRWA provides facilities in 59 recognized refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It also provided relief to displaced persons inside the State of Israel following the 1948 conflict until the Israeli government took over responsibility for them in 1952.

For a camp to be recognized by UNRWA, there must be an agreement between the host government and UNRWA governing use of the camp. UNRWA does not itself run any camps, has no police powers or administrative role, but simply provides services to the camp. Refugee camps, which developed from tented cities to rows of concrete blockhouses to urban ghettos indistinguishable from their surroundings, house around one third of all registered Palestinian refugees. UNRWA also provides facilities in other areas where large numbers of registered Palestinian refugees live outside of recognized camps.

UNRWA's services are available to all those living in its area of operations who meet this definition, who are registered with the Agency and who need assistance. UNRWA's definition of a refugee also covers the descendants of persons who became refugees in 1948. The number of registered Palestine refugees has subsequently grown from 914,000 in 1950 to more than 4.3 million in 2005." [ [http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/whois.html UNRWA:Palestine Refugees] en icon ]

Lebanon

The total number of registered refugees is 409,714. [http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/lebanon.html]

There are 12 official camps with 225,125 refugees.

**1955, Beddawi, 15,695
**1948, Burj el-Barajneh, 19,526 [http://photos.cmaq.net/main.php?g2_itemId=12049] [http://www.monitor.upeace.org/archive.cfm?id_article=30]
**1955, Burj el-Shemali, 18,134
**1956, Dbayeh, 4,223
**Dikwaneh, destroyed
**1948, Ein el-Hilweh, 44,133
**1948, El-Buss, 9,840
**Jisr el-Basha, destroyed
**1952, Mar Elias, 1,406
**1954, Mieh Mieh, 5,078
**Nabatieh camp, destroyed in 1973
**1949, Nahr al-Bared, 28,358 destroyed in 2007
**1963, Rashidieh, 24,679
**Sabra destroyed
**1949, Shatila, 11,998
**1948, Wavel, 7,357

Syria

There are 10 official camps with 119,776 refugees.

**1950, Dera'a, 5,916
**1967, Dera'a (Emergency), 5,536
**1950, Hama, 7,597
**1949, Homs, 13,825
**1948, Jaramana, 5,007
**1950, Khan Dunoun, 8,603
**1949, Khan Eshieh, 15,731
**1948, Neirab, 17,994
**1967, Qabr Essit, 16,016
**1948, Sbeineh, 19,624

Additional unofficial camps in Syria:

**1955-6, Latakia camp, 6,534 registered refugees
**1957, Yarmouk (Damascus), 112,550 registered refugees
**1962, Ein Al-Tal, 4,329 registered refugees [http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/syria/eineltal.html]

West Bank

There are 19 official camps with 176,514 refugees.

**1950, Aida, 4,151
**1949, Am'ari, 8,083
**1948, Aqabat Jabr, 5,197
**1950, Arroub, 9,180
**1950, Askar, 13,894
**1950, Balata, 20,681
**1950, Beit Jibrin, 1,828
**1950, Camp No.1, 6,221
**1949, Deir Ammar, 2,189
**1949, Dheisheh, 10,923
**1948, Ein as-Sultan, 1,888
**1949, Far'a, 6,836
**1949, Fawwar, 7,072
**1949, Jalazone, 9,284
**1953, Jenin, 14,050
**1949, Kalandia, 9,188
**1952, Nur Shams, 8,179
**1965, Shu'fat, 9,567
**1950, Tulkarm, 16,259

Gaza Strip

There are 8 official camps with 478,854 refugees.

**1948, Beach camp (Shati), 76,109
**1949, Bureij, 30,059
**1948, Deir el-Balah camp, 20,188
**1948, Jabalia (Jabaliya), 103,646
**1949, Khan Yunis, 60,662
**1949, Maghazi, 22,536
**1949, Nuseirat, 64,233
**1949, Rafah camp, 90,638

References

Maps

* [http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/images/map.jpgMap from UNRWA]
* [http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/300/307/pal-camps/lebanon-refugee-camps.gifCamps in Lebanon]
* [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/atlas_middle_east/occupied_map.jpgCamps in the occupied territories]

External links and references

* [http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/camp-profiles.html UNWRA Camp Profiles]
* [http://www.pulitzercenter.org/openitem.cfm?id=700 Photo Essay: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon, William Wheeler and Don Duncan World Politics Review, 11 March 2008]