Misplaced Pages

Dheisheh Camp
Refugee Camp
Arabic transcription(s)
• Arabic	مخيم الدهيشه
• Latin	ad Duheisha Camp (official) Dheishe Camp (unofficial)
Dheisheh Camp, 2018
Dheisheh CampLocation of Dheisheh Camp within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°41′38″N 35°11′3″E / 31.69389°N 35.18417°E / 31.69389; 35.18417
State	State of Palestine
Governorate	Bethlehem
Government
• Type	Refugee Camp (from 1949)
Area
• Total	1,000 dunams (1 km or 0.4 sq mi)
Population
• Total	8,805
• Density	8,800/km (23,000/sq mi)

Dheisheh (Arabic: مخيم الدهيشة) is a Palestinian refugee camp located just south of Bethlehem in the West Bank. Dheisheh was established in 1949 on 0.31 square kilometers of land leased from the Jordanian government. The camp was established as a temporary refuge for 3,400 Palestinians from 45 villages west of Jerusalem and Hebron displaced in the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight which occurred during the 1948 Palestine war. The camp had a population of 8,805 in 2017.

Six decades of natural population growth have expanded the camp's dimensions into an area between 1 and 1.5 square kilometers. The exact dimensions are subject to periodic debate between residents, UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority. The latter two are required to provide services to residents, depending on their resident status within the camp.

Although initially living in tents, the residents have since constructed homes. Many streets are now paved, while still remaining very narrow. According to UNRWA, the entire camp is connected to the municipal water and electric systems of Bethlehem, yet 15% of the camp remains unconnected to the local public sewage system. These homes make use of communal percolation pits.

Name

There are several alternative transliterations of the Arabic name "الدهيشة", including "Deheishe", "Deheisheh", "Duheisha", "Dheisha", and "Dhaisha". "Dheisheh" is the spelling UNRWA uses.

History

The Dheisheh refugee camp was established after the 1948 Palestine war, to accommodate those displaced in the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. The camp was built on land that had been owned by a subsidiary of the Jewish National Fund. The people who gathered in Dheisheh originated from more than 45 villages west of Jerusalem and Hebron.

Towards the end of the 1950s the UNRWA started to build very simple living units: A single room of 10 square metres, 10 cm thick and 2.45 m high walls, a steel roof and a floor made of rough concrete. Refugees began to build their own houses so as not to live in the UNRWA's shacks any longer.

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Dheisheh has been under Israeli occupation. During the years between Israeli occupation in 1967 and the camp coming under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction in 1995, Dheisheh was under curfew an average of 3.5 days a month, at one point lasting for 84 consecutive days. Throughout the First Intifada, a six-metre high barbed wire fence was installed around the camp, and thirteen of the camp's fourteen entrances were barricaded.

On 15 April 1989, during the early months of First Intifada, Imad Karaka was shot dead by Israeli soldiers. The following day the army broke up a group of youths gathered outside Karaka's home. During the incident Nasser Ibrahim Elkassas, aged 16, was shot in the back and died shortly afterwards. Because of the curfew Elkassas' funeral was held in Atras. It was here that a soldier shot bystander Rufaida Khalil Abu Laban, a 14-year-old girl. She died almost immediately. In March the following year Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin wrote to MK Yair Tsaban stating that the incident occurred when an army patrol tried to disperse a curfew-breaking riot; they ran out of rubber bullets and the sergeant in command fired two plastic bullets, "deviating from operational orders", one of which killed the girl. The Military Advocate General recommended that the battalion commander "give him a severe dressing down for deviating from orders." A medical examination found that Rufaida had been shot in the back of the head at close range.

On 23 February 2015, during an operation to arrest a resident of the camp, Israeli soldiers shot dead a 19-year-old man.

Majid Faraj, the Palestinian Authority's chief of General Intelligence since 2009, was born in Deheisha Camp in 1962. He is a long time member of Fatah. He first experienced an Israeli prison at the age of 15 and has spent a total of six years in Israeli custody. His father was shot dead by the IDF in April 2002 during Operation Defensive Shield.

Population

The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 4,149.

Current population figures for Dheisheh are subject to disagreement between the respective census studies of the Palestinian National Authority and UNRWA. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the camp was estimated to have population of 9,399 in mid-year 2006, following natural population growths from 8,829 persons in 2004 and 9,114 persons in 2005. In January 2009, the Population, Housing, and Establishment Census 2007, undertaken by the same Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, on behalf of the Palestinian National Authority, reported the following statistics for the year 2007:

Of note is the absence of approximately 700 persons from the estimated 2006 figure compared to the 2007 reported figure. Also, the 2007 reported figure is less than the initial figured reported by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics for 2004.

UNRWA reported the following statistical figures for Dheisheh, as of 30 June 2008:

The discrepancy regarding the camp's population is influenced by several issues, most significant of which are the disagreements over the accepted dimensions of the camp and the status of unregistered residents. Residents of the camp are not taxed on their properties within the camp, and this results in disagreements as the camp community's population and geographical size continue to grow. The tax policy regarding the camp has resulted in the immigration of Palestinians who are not registered refugees with UNRWA. Accurate figures for these immigrants is non available.

Additionally, registration with UNRWA is voluntary and thus can not be expected to account for all eligible refugees living within the camp.

Based on the UNRWA statistics, Dheisheh is the fourth largest refugee camp in the West Bank, behind Balata, Tulkarm, and Askar (in that order). Dheisheh is thus the largest camp outside of UNRWA's Nablus district.

By comparison, Dheisheh camp would be the sixth largest after Balata, Askar, Tulkarm, Jenin, and Qalandiya (in that order), based on the figures reported by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Local organizations

A number of local as well as international organizations offer humanitarian services within Dheisheh camp. Many of these organizations have a particular focus. A few of them are listed above.

The Karama Organization is a local organization aiming at providing leisure activities for children living in the camp.

The Ibdaa Cultural Center has the aim of creating a positive atmosphere for children in the camp.

The Future Vision Society for the Development of the Abilities (AREEN) is another organization located in Dheishe camp. This non-profit organization seeks to provide a better future for the children and youth in the camp, especially for girls.

References

1. ^ Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
2. ^ Dheisheh refugee camp profile UNRWA
3. The perspective from the street Al Jazeera
4. Witness: Israeli Forces Invade Bethlehem Archived 2014-05-25 at the Wayback Machine Ma'an News Agency
5. Archived December 10, 2010, at the Wayback MachinePalestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
6. Projected Mid-Year Population for Bethlehem Governorate by Locality 2004- 2006 Archived 2008-06-16 at the Wayback Machine Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
7. Dheisheh Camp Profile UNRWA
8. ^ Population, Housing, and Establishment Census 2007 Census Final Results in the West Bank - Summary
9. Michael Fischbach (2008). Jewish Property Claims Against Arab Countries. Columbia University Press. p. 86.
10. Palestine & Palestinians. Beit Sahour: Alternative Tourism Group. September 2008. p. 207. ISBN 978-9950-319-01-1.
11. B'Tselem May 1989 - 1st Information Sheet. link to pdf. p.6
12. Talmor, Ronny (translated by Ralph Mandel) (1990) The Use of Firearms - By the Security Forces in the Occupied Territories. B'Tselem. download pp. 75,81 MK Yair Tsaban to defence ministers Yitzhak Rabin & Yitzhak Shamir, 84 medical report
13. Ha'aretz 24/2/2015
14. Ha'aretz
15. Perlmann, Joel (November 2011 – February 2012). "The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version" (PDF). Levy Economics Institute. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
16. Projected Mid -Year Population for Bethlehem Governorate by Locality 2004- 2006 Archived 2008-06-16 at the Wayback Machine Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
17. Total Registered Camp Population - Summary Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
18. "Karama Goals". Archived from the original on 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2010-03-22.
19. "スロージューサー(低速ジューサー） 愛用者が語る、おすすめはコレ！". Archived from the original on 2018-10-12. Retrieved 2019-11-27.

Further reading

• Grossman, D. 1988. ‘A man is like a stalk of wheat’ in The Yellow Wind, Pan Books Limited: Farrar Straus and Giroux

External links

• Karama Organization
• Ad Duheisha Camp (Fact Sheet), Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, ARIJ
• Ad Duheisha Camp Profile, ARIJ
• Ad Daheisha Camp aerial photo, ARIJ
• The priorities and needs for development in Ad Duheisha camp based on the community and local authorities’ assessment, ARIJ
• Dheisheh, articles from UNWRA

v t e Palestine refugee camps locations and populations as of 2015
Gaza Strip 518,000 UNRWA refugees  West Bank 188,150 UNRWA refugees  Syria 319,958 UNRWA refugees  Lebanon 188,850 UNRWA refugees  Jordan 355,500 UNRWA refugees Al-Shati (Beach camp) 87,000 Bureij 34,000 Deir al-Balah 21,000 Jabalia 110,000 Khan Yunis 72,000 Maghazi 24,000 Nuseirat 66,000 Rafah 104,000 Canada closed Aqabat Jaber 6,400 Ein as-Sultan 1,900 Far'a 7,600 Fawwar 8,000 Jalazone 11,000 Qalandia 11,000 Am'ari 10,500 Deir 'Ammar 2,400 Dheisheh 13,000 Aida 4,700 Al-Arroub 10,400 Askar 15,900 Balata 23,600 'Azza (Beit Jibrin) 1,000 Ein Beit al-Ma' (Camp No. 1) 6,750 Tulkarm 18,000 Nur Shams 9,000 Jenin 16,000 Shu'fat 11,000 Silwad Birzeit Sabinah 22,600 Khan al-Shih 20,000 Nayrab 20,500 Homs 22,000 Jaramana 18,658 Daraa 10,000 Hama 8,000 Khan Danoun 10,000 Qabr Essit 23,700 Unofficial camps Ein Al-Tal 6,000 Latakia 10,000 Yarmouk 148,500 Bourj el-Barajneh 17,945 Ain al-Hilweh 54,116 El Buss 11,254 Nahr al-Bared 5,857 Shatila 9,842 Wavel 8,806 Mar Elias 662 Mieh Mieh 5,250 Beddawi 16,500 Burj el-Shamali 22,789 Dbayeh 4,351 Rashidieh 31,478 Former camps Tel al-Zaatar  ? Nabatieh  ? Zarqa 20,000 Jabal el-Hussein 29,000 Amman New (Wihdat) 51,500 Souf 20,000 Baqa'a 104,000 Husn (Martyr Azmi el-Mufti camp) 22,000 Irbid 25,000 Jerash 24,000 Marka 53,000 Talbieh 8,000 Al-Hassan  ? Madaba  ? Sokhna  ?
References "Camp Profiles". unrwa.org. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Retrieved 2 July 2015.

v t e Bethlehem Governorate
Cities	Beit Jala Beit Sahour Bethlehem (Beit Lahm)
Municipalities	Battir Beit Fajjar al-Dawha Husan Jannatah (Rakhme, al-Asakra, Khallet al Karaneen, Al ‘Ukab, Harmala, and Abu Njeim) al-Khader Nahalin Tuqu' al-Ubeidiya Za'atara
Villages	'Arab al-Rashayida Artas Beit Ta'mir Dar Salah Hindaza Jab'a Jubbet ad-Dib Juhdum Jurat ash Sham'a Khallet al-Haddad Khallet al-Louza Khirbet Beit Zakariyyah Kisan al-Ma'sara al-Maniya Marah Ma'alla Marah Rabah Nuaman Umm Salamuna ash-Shawawra Wadi al-Arayis Wadi Fukin Wadi an-Nis Wadi Rahhal al-Walaja
Religion	Chapel of the Milk Grotto Chapel of the Shepherds' Field Church of Saint Catherine, Bethlehem Church of the Nativity Mosque of Omar (Bethlehem) St. George's Monastery, Al-Khader Al-Hamadiyya Mosque Monastery of Saint Theodosius Mar Saba Rachel's Tomb
Refugee camps	Aida 'Azza Dheisheh
Other	Solomon's Pools ‘Ayn Fashkhah

• Populated places established in 1949
• Bethlehem Governorate
• Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank
• Bethlehem in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict