JERASH (Gaza) REFUGEE CAMP

Jerash camp, known locally as Gaza camp, was set up as an "emergency" camp in 1968 for 11,500 Palestine refugees and displaced persons who left the Gaza Strip as a result of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The camp covers an area of 750,000 square metres and is situated 5 km from the famous Roman ruins of Jerash. After 1967 the Agency quickly set up facilities for mass supplementary feeding, environmental sanitation services, health services and education in tented schools. Plans for replacing the original 1,500 tents with more durable ones to withstand the harsh winters were dropped in favour of the construction of prefabricated shelters. Between 1968-1971, 2,000 shelters were constructed with support from the Near East Emergency Donations. Over the years many of the camp inhabitants have replaced the prefabs with more durable concrete shelters.

UNRWA provides education, health and relief and social services through 9 installations operated by 177 UNRWA staff.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• The camp’s population is over 27,600 persons, of whom 22,000 are registered refugees; the rest are displaced persons;

• UNRWA runs 4 schools for 4,558 enrolled pupils in 2006/2007, with a teaching staff of 153;

• The Agency's health centre is housed in a building which was donated by the Danish Refugee Council in 1989. It is run by 3 doctors, 1 dentist and 21 nurses and assistants for about 500 patients daily;

• 531 families receive assistance through the Agency's special hardship programme;

• The women's programme centre activities benefits some 620 women annually. The centre has a nursery and a kindergarten and is run by a local women's committee with technical and financial support from UNRWA. There is also a sewing centre in the camp run by the Near East Council of Churches;

• UNRWA supports the work of the community rehabilitation centre which provides services to about 400 refugee children with disabilities. The centre was set up in 1985 with support from Oxfam UK.