Shuafat Camp

The Shuafat Camp

The Shuafat refugee camp is located northeast of Jerusalem in an area of ​​(203 acres) 5 kilometers east of the city center of Jerusalem, surrounded by settlements bordering on the south with the French Hill, north with Pizgat Ze’ev and the village of Anata on east and west.

The Shuafat refugee Camp was built in 1965 for the jordanian military and in 2015 has it 50 anniversary. In 1967 the camp was used to house the arrived refugees. Since then it has been growing both in population and in size, on one hand because families have grown and on the other because many people have come to live in the camp as it enjoys a special status that ensures social services of the City of Jerusalem as well as a blue identification card (Blue ID) allowing people to move freely throughout the country, unlike the inhabitants of other camps in the West Bank which has generally a simple green identification card that allows them to move only within the West Bank.

For this reason the Shuafat refugee camp is the most coveted of all camps as it enjoys many administrative but also social privileges.

There has been a huge increment on the population density since the original refugee camp was built. The initially structures were thought for 10,000 people and there are now a days 32,000 people living on surface of just 1 km2.

Around the camp it has grown the so called “neighborhood” that consists of three new areas of additional population that hosts the second and third generation which no longer fit into the original camp. The neighborhood is widening around the camp and consists of three sectors: Ras Hamis with 15,000 inhabitants, Ras Shehada with 15,000-18,000 inhabitants and Dahyt Salam 18,000-20,000 inhabitants. In total, the neighborhood has 56,000 inhabitants, which together with the inhabitants of the original camp, make a total of more than 85,000 people in about 4 km2.

 

Welcome to Shuafat Camp !!