Palestinian refugee camps


Palestinian refugee camps are camps set up by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to accommodate Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, who fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestinian exodus after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War or in the aftermath of the Six-Day War in 1967, and their patrilineal descendants. There are 68 Palestinian refugee camps, 58 official and 10 unofficial, ten of which were established after the Six-Day War while the others were established in 1948 to 1950s.
Whilst only a third of registered Palestinian refugees live within the boundaries of the refugee camps, Palestinian refugees "show extraordinary social and economic integration outside the camps and informal gatherings". Many Palestinian refugees live in adjacent or nearby "gatherings", defined as “the geographic area, outside the official camps, which is home to a minimum 15 Palestinian households.”
The total number of registered Palestine refugees has grown from 750,000 in 1950 to around 5 million in 2013.

Definition of Palestinian refugee

UNRWA’s mandate is to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees, including access to its refugee camps. For this purpose, it defines a Palestinian refugee as:
UNRWA also extends assistance to the patrilineal descendants of such refugees, as well as their legally adopted children.

Role of UNRWA

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. UNRWA recognizes facilities in 58 designated refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and it also provides facilities in other areas where large numbers of registered Palestine refugees live outside of recognized camps. UNRWA also provided relief to Jewish displaced persons inside Israel following the 1948 conflict until the Israeli government took over responsibility for them in 1952. Refugee camps developed from tented cities to rows of concrete blockhouses to urban ghettos indistinguishable from their surroundings, that house around one third of all registered Palestine refugees.
The funding for UNRWA activities comes almost entirely from voluntary contributions from UN member states. UNRWA also receives some funding from the Regular Budget of the United Nations, which is used mostly for international staffing costs.

List of camps

The camps are divided between five regions:
NameFoundedLocationStatusCoordinatesPopulationArea Density CommentsRefs
Yarmouk Camp1957SyriaUnofficialn.a.2.1n.a.Largely destroyed
Rafah Camp1949Gaza StripUNRWA125,304n.a.n.a.
Baqa'a refugee camp1968JordanUNRWA119,0001.485,000
Jabalia Camp1948Gaza StripUNRWA113,9901.481,421
Khan Yunis Camp1949Gaza StripUNRWA87,8160.549159,956
Al-Shati 1948Gaza StripUNRWA85,6280.52164,669
Nuseirat Camp1949Gaza StripUNRWA80,194n.a.n.a.
Ain al-Hilweh1948LebanonUNRWA59,6600.3198,867
Al-Wehdat refugee camp 1955JordanUNRWA57,0000.48118,750
Marka1968JordanUNRWA53,0000.9257,609
Jaramana camp1948SyriaUNRWA49,0000.031,633,333
Latakia Camp1955-6SyriaUnofficial474000.22215,455
Bureij1949Gaza StripUNRWA43,3300.52981,909
Rashidieh1963LebanonUNRWA34,5840.25138,336
Jabal el-Hussein1952JordanUNRWA32,0000.4276,190
Maghazi 1949Gaza StripUNRWA31,3290.652,215
Jerash camp1968JordanUNRWA29,0000.7538,667
Irbid camp1951JordanUNRWA28,0000.24116,667
Balata1950West BankUNRWA27,0000.25108,000
Deir al-Balah Camp1948Gaza StripUNRWA25,5690.16159,806
Husn Camp 1968JordanUNRWA25,0000.7732,468
Burj el-Shemali1955LebanonUNRWA24,9290.134186,037
Shu'fat camp1965West BankUNRWA24,0000.2120,000
:ar:مخيم قبر الست|Qabr Essit1967SyriaUNRWA23,7000.021,185,000
Tulkarm Camp1950West BankUNRWA21,5000.18119,444
Beddawi1955LebanonUNRWA21,2520.2106,260
Zarqa camp1949JordanUNRWA20,0000.18111,111
Bourj el-Barajneh1948LebanonUNRWA19,5390.104187,875
Souf Camp1967JordanUNRWA19,0000.538,000
Askar1950West BankUNRWA18,5000.119155,462
Al-Nayrab1948SyriaUNRWA18,0000.15120,000
Dheisheh1949West BankUNRWA15,0000.3345,455
Kalandia Camp1949West BankUNRWA14,8000.4235,238
Al-Hassan camp1967JordanUnofficial14,068n.a.n.a.
Jenin Camp1953West BankUNRWA14,0000.4233,333
Jalazone1949West BankUNRWA13,0000.25351,383
Sbeineh1948SyriaUNRWA13,0000.03433,333
Homs1949SyriaUNRWA13,0000.1586,667
Khan Dannun1950SyriaUNRWA12,6500.03421,667
El Buss1948LebanonUNRWA12,2810.08153,513
Al-Arroub1950West BankUNRWA12,0000.2450,000
Khan al-Shih1949SyriaUNRWA12,0000.6917,391
Shatila1949LebanonUNRWA10,8490.04271,225
Nur Shams1952West BankUNRWA10,5000.2150,000
Deraa camp1950SyriaUNRWA10,5001.38,077
Fawwar1949West BankUNRWA9,5000.2735,185
Wavel1948LebanonUNRWA9,4600.043220,000
Hama camp1950SyriaUNRWA9,0000.06150,000
Aqabat Jaber1948West BankUNRWA8,6001.675,150
:ar:مخيم مادبا |Madaba camp1956JordanUnofficial8,597n.a.n.a.
Far'a1949West BankUNRWA8,5000.2632,692
Talbieh Camp1968JordanUNRWA8,0000.1361,538
Ein Beit al-Ma' 1950West BankUNRWA7,5000.045166,667
:ar:مخيم السخنة |Sakhna camp1969JordanUnofficial7,424n.a.n.a.
Am'ari1949West BankUNRWA7,0000.09672,917
:ar:مخيم عين التل|Ein Al-Tal 1962SyriaUnofficialn.a.0.16n.a.Largely destroyed
Nahr al-Bared1949LebanonUNRWA5,8570.19829,581Reconstructed, was 27,000 population
Mieh Mieh1954LebanonUNRWA5,7470.054106,426
Aida1950West BankUNRWA5,5000.07177,465
Dbayeh camp1956LebanonUNRWA4,5910.08454,655
Ein as-Sultan1948West BankUNRWA3,8000.874,368
'Azza 1950West BankUNRWA2,9000.027107,407
Deir 'Ammar Camp1949West BankUNRWA2,5000.16215,432
Qaddura camp1948West BankUnofficial1,558n.a.n.a.
Mar Elias refugee camp1952LebanonUNRWA7250.0054134,259
Silwad1971West BankUnofficial462n.a.n.a.
Abu Shukeidim camp1948West BankUnofficialn.a.n.a.n.a.
Birzeit camp 1948West BankUnofficialn.a.n.a.n.a.

Population statistics

The evolution of Palestinian refugee population is shown below:
195019601970198019902000200420092018
Jordan506,200613,743506,038716,372929,0971,570,1921,758,2741,951,6032,242,579
Lebanon127,600136,561175,958226,554302,049376,472396,890422,188475,075
Syria82,194115,043158,717209,362280,731383,199417,346461,897560,139
West Bank––272,692324,035414,298583,009675,670762,820846,465
Gaza Strip198,227255,542311,814367,995496,339824,622938,5311,073,3031,421,282
Total Registered Refugees914,2211,120,8891,425,2191,844,3182,422,5143,737,4944,186,7114,671,8115,545,540

The number of Palestinian refugees living within the UNWRA registered area of operations is shown below, both those living in camps and those living outside camps:
Registered Persons Registered Refugees in Camps% Registered Refugees in Camps
1953870,158300,78534.6
1955912,425351,53238.5
19601,136,487409,22336.0
19651,300,117508,04239.1
19701,445,022500,98534.7
19751,652,436551,64333.4
19801,863,162613,14932.9
19852,119,862805,48238.0
19902,466,516697,70928.3
19953,246,0441,007,37531.0
20003,806,0551,227,95432.3
20054,283,8921,265,98729.6
20104,966,6641,452,79029.3
20155,741,4801,632,87628.4
20186,171,7931,728,40928.0

The table below shows the population of registered refugees, other registered people, and refugees residing in camps, in 2018. UNRWA's definition of Other Registered Persons refer to "those who, at the time of original registration did not satisfy all of UNRWA’s Palestine refugee criteria, but who were determined to have suffered significant loss and/or hardship for reasons related to the 1948 conflict in Palestine; they also include persons who belong to the families of other registered persons."
JordanLebanonSyriaWest BankGaza StripTotal
Registered refugees2,242,579475,075560,139846,4651,421,2825,545,540
Other registered people133,90258,81083,003201,525149,013626,253
Total registered people2,376,481533,885643,1421,047,9901,570,2956,171,793
Refugees living within official camp borders412,054270,614194,993256,758593,9901,728,409
% living within camp borders18.4%57.0%34.8%30.3%41.8%31.2%

Maps