BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee

In Syria, the government provided
land for the establishment of the
original refugee camps, some
of which were located in old
military barracks. A pilot project
was undertaken by UNRWA and
the Syrian government in 2000
to improve the living conditions
of 1,300 families in Neirab camp
in Syria. Following trust-building
consultations, 300 families agreed
to participate, and to relocate from
dilapidated military barracks to
newly-built houses in Ein el-Tal
(some 20 km from Neirab). By
November 2006, UNRWA had
handed 100 new units of the
Assistance
On the roof of a building in Baqa’a refugee camp, Amman, Jordan, November 2006. © Anne
Paq/Activestills.
planned 265 housing units over to refugee families. The Syrian government also provided a new water supply
network to serve houses in Ein el-Tal camp. New two- and three-storey houses will replace the barracks in Neirab
camp. At the request of the refugees and the government of Syria, a clause was added to the agreement stipulating
that participation in the project would not affect the right of return of the Palestinian refugees involved.
In Jordan, refugee camps are located both on state land and land the government rents from private propertyowners.
The government owns less than one-third of the built-up areas of the camps. 83 Following the 1993 Oslo
Accords, several private landowners resorted to the courts to regain access to valuable real estate. None of these
efforts, however, have so far resulted in the removal of refugee camps. The Jordanian government also provides
water, electricity and communications for the camps, and takes care of pathways and roads.
In Lebanon, camps were established on government and private land. In the 1950s, however, some private
landowners resorted to the courts in order to remove Palestinian refugees from their lands. The government
demanded that UNRWA relocate some of the refugee camps elsewhere in Lebanon, and relocate certain refugees
who had settled around the official camps without alternative land having been provided for that purpose. 84
Refugee camps are not permitted to connect to municipal sewerage networks.
Egypt established refugee camps in Cairo (al-’Abbasiyya) and in al-Qantara. A smaller number of refugees
managed to secure private accommodation in the country. The camps were eventually closed in 1949, and
Palestinian refugees found housing mainly in Cairo and Alexandria, or in camps in the Gaza Strip, which was
then under Egyptian control.
In Iraq, Palestinian refugees were originally housed in schools and other public buildings. The government also
rented (or subsidized the rental of) housing for these refugees. In the 1970s, the government built high-rise
apartment blocks to resolve the housing crises in Baghad and Mosul. 85 All national housing assistance came
to a halt in 2003 in the context of the US-led war and occupation of Iraq, and has not been resumed. Since
2003, UNRWA has been co-ordinating the provision of assistance with the UNHCR, and has participated in
delivering emergency assistance to Palestinian refugees stranded on the border between Syria and Iraq.
In the occupied Gaza Strip, approximately two-thirds of refugee campsites are on state land and one-third are
on private land, 86 which was provided to UNRWA by the Jordanian and Egyptian authorities prior to Israel’s
93