JENIN REFUGEE CAMP

The Jenin camp was established in 1953, within the municipal boundaries of Jenin. It currently sits on .423 square kilometres. Most of the camp's residents came from the Carmel region of Haifa and the Carmel mountains. Due to camp’s close proximity to the refugees’ original villages, many of the refugees still maintain close ties with their relatives inside the Green Line. Many of the camp’s residents work in the agricultural sector around Jenin. Like other West Bank campus, it was established on land UNRWA leased from the government of Jordan.

All shelters are connected to public water and electricity infrastructure, and nearly all are connected to the municipal sewerage network.

The camp came under Palestinian control in the mid-1990s, but was the subject of intensive violence during the second intifada. The Israeli army entered the city and camp of Jenin in April 2002, declared them a closed military area, prevented all access, and imposed a round-the-clock curfew. Fighting inside the camp lasted 10 days, during which the Israeli Army prevented ambulances, medical personnel and humanitarian workers from entering the camp. Clashes led to the deaths of at least 52 Palestinians, of whom up to half may have been civilians, and 23 Israeli soldiers. Many more were injured. Approximately 150 buildings were destroyed and many others were rendered structurally unsound. Around 435 families were rendered homeless. Even as plans were launched to rebuild the camp and the UAE donated land to expand the camp, regular military incursions, repeated curfews, Israeli closures on the camp and Palestinian armed groups’ threats to the project team’s security posed serious obstacles to reconstruction. The project’s manager, Iain Hook, was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper while in the UNRWA compound in the camp in November 2002.

Registered Refugees

• Total: 16,209 (December 2007)
• Average family size: 5.1
• Poverty rate: 60.6%; 46.5% in absolute poverty
• Unemployment rate: 24%; affected by demand reduction and increased debts
• Average monthly income: NIS 1,865
• Average Age: 23.2
• Demographic Profile

UNRWA Education Programme

• Schools: 2 single-sex elementary/preparatory schools. The boys’ elementary school operates on a two-shift basis.
• Pupils: 2753

UNRWA Relief and Social Services Programme

• Food distribution centre: 1
• Social Safety Net (SSN) Programme beneficiaries: 372 families
• UNRWA collects trash and disposes of it outside the camp

UNRWA Microfinance Programme

• Loan beneficiaries: 15 residents
• Total value: $20,339

UNRWA Health Programme

• UNRWA health centre: 1, with 7,426 active family files
• 1 physiotherapy unit
• Other health centre: 1 private dental clinics

UNRWA Emergency Programme

• 2,206 families receiving emergency food and cash assistance
• 130 beneficiaries of emergency employment programme

Community Services

• 1 Community based Rehabilitation Centre

• 1 youth activity centre

• 3 children’s center

• 4 kindergartens

• 1 women’s programme centre

• 1 mosque

• 1 playground