REFUGEE CAMP NO. 1  (Beit Ilma)

Camp No. 1 was established in 1950 on 45 dunums beside the main Nablus/Jenin road, and within the municipal boundaries of Nablus. Following the Israeli redeployment in 1995, the camp fell under Palestinian Authority control in "zone A".

The camp is very cramped, there is serious overcrowding, and the narrow alleys are in desperate need of repair. During funerals, the deceased are usually passed through windows from one shelter to another in order to reach the camp's main street.

A serious outbreak of diarrhoea hospitalised several hundred camp residents in the summer of 1998. Contaminated municipal water supplies was the cause of the epidemic and UNRWA's health staff worked day and night to treat the sick and to take patients to clinics and hospitals in other parts of the West Bank.

In 1997, UNRWA constructed two new schools, with contributions from the governments of Saudi Arabia and Sweden, on a plot of land outside the camp's boundaries which was made available by Nablus Municipality.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Registered Refugee Population: 6508
• Special hardship cases: 294 families.
• Number of damaged shelters that have been affected due to the IDF incursions in the West Bank since the beginning of the Intifada till March 2004: 14 houses were affected in which 12 were assisted
• Number of families receiving emergency food rations: 769
• Number of pupils: Male: 621, Female: 647
• UNRWA assisted in renovating 10 houses in the camp.
• A New office for the Public Services Committee was constructed in coordination with UNDP.
• As part of the Job creation program, the western part of the camp was asphalted and part of the drainage system was renovated.