Day 6 (July 7) - Aroub Refugee Camp

After our tour of the occupation the day before, on July 7 we set out to see what life is like for Palestinian refugees. We visited Aroub Refugee Camp, just south of Bethlehem.

On the drive to Aroub, we saw the wall and settlements that surround Bethlehem – the city cannot expand (as a city naturally would) and Palestinian access (to Bethlehem and to their agricultural land in the surrounding area) is restricted by these barriers. In addition, the road we travelled from Bethlehem to Aroub is controlled by Israelis, and it is closed to Palestinians between 10 and 20 times every week, sometimes for an hour, sometimes for a day. It is very unpredictable, and you can imagine how difficult this makes it for people to get to work or school consistently in Bethlehem. I admit I complain a lot about the state of public transit in Canada, but my commute faces nothing like this.

When I picture a refugee camp in my mind, I see tents, dust, heat. I think of the cause of the refugees – drought, conflict, illness – and the temporary nature of the camp (although even camps like Dadaab are challenging this characteristic). This is all based on media, of course – I hadn’t, before this day, visited a refugee camp. Aroub challenged many of my images.

 Aroub Camp was established in 1949, right after the Nakba. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) says that there are 10,400 people on the less than half a square kilometre of land, although numbers we heard that day went as high as 12,000. The UNRWA runs three schools in the camp (one for boys, two for girls) and provides health services. Lots of UN blue throughout the camp, actually. And Palestinian flags. There are two tall Israeli guard towers nearby, and Israeli forces sometimes close the main entrance to the camp. There are buildings, not tents – the camp looks like its own little city – but on closer inspection, there is still a temporary nature to the place. In the most incredible example of hope and faith I have heard in a long time, many of the refugees who fled in 1948 still have the keys to their homes. They will return, one day.

We spent the morning cleaning up a school yard. And… no, I have no interesting insights about picking up garbage. It was nice to feel a bit helpful, though, and we had a good opportunity to speak with our local guide for the morning. His grandparents were Bedouin and came to Aroub when it opened to escape the violence.  He is 20 years old, so has lived in the refugee camp his entire life. He told us of the challenges of being a student in a refugee camp, of the daily visits of soldiers to the camp and of the frequent arrests of children (more on this later).

Photo: Sabeel

We had lunch at our guide’s house – mjadarah (so good for vegetarians!), with yogurt and salad on the side. We stayed in the refugee camp for the afternoon to hear about child detainees… more about that in the next post :).

photo: Sabeel