A Walk Through Jabaliya, March 2009

A very raw capture & edit; taken whilst walking through the streets of Jabaliya in the Gaza strip, March 2009.

Jabalia camp is located north of Gaza City beside a village of the same name. The camp was established after the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict for 35,000 refugees who had fled from villages in southern Palestine. The refugees were at first provided with tents, which UNRWA later replaced with cement block shelters with asbestos roofs.

The camp covers an area of 1.4 sq. km. The shelters, which usually consist of two or three small rooms, a small kitchen and bathroom on an area of maximum 40 sq. m, are packed closely together. Narrow alleys and pathways, some less than one meter wide, run between the shelters. The camp lacks basic infrastructure. Solid waste is collected by UNRWA's sanitation labourers. Water is supplied by the local municipality or comes from UNRWA and private water wells.

The first Palestinian Intifadah started in Jabalia Camp in December 1987.

Prior to the closure of the Gaza Strip in September 2000, most of the refugees worked as labourers in Israel or locally in agriculture in nearby farms in Beit Lahia. Some own small shops in the camp and a few work in small businesses.

The registered refugee population is 106,691 persons.

(taken from: http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/gaza/jabalia.html)

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