Alquds Charitable Society

Description of Shu'fat Refugee Camp

Shu'fat Refugee Camp is situated 4 km from Jerusalem. It hosts 22.000 residents, 9.872 of whom are officially registered as refugees by UNRWA, but a proper census has never been carried out.  On average, the families are composed of 7,73 persons and the average age is 17.  Shu'fat Refugee Camp was created in 1966, when the Jordanian Government and the UN attracted the initial inhabitants with promises of new houses and lands to cultivate. More refugees arrived in 1967 when the Israeli army occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank: the camp quickly became over-populated. The Israeli government built colonies in the area immediately surrounding the camp, and these have continued to grow ever since. This has crippled the development of Shu'fat Camp: it is poor and isolated, and it cannot offer employment possibilities or any leisure space for children and families.

 

Every year the population growth rises not only thanks to the birth rate, which is already 6.3 per 1000 inhabitants, but also due to migration to the camp township.  In fact, a constant flow of exiles from Jerusalem has joined the 1967 refugees. These are either people who have been evicted from their houses by force or people who could no longer sustain their existence there because of the policy of gradual pauperisation and social isolation targeting East Jerusalem. These migrants are almost in worse psychological, economic and social conditions than the original refugees: 90% of them live under the minimum standard of poverty set by the UN, and for them the camp represents their last option.