Shatila refugee camp

Summary

The Shatila refugee camp (Arabic: مخيم شاتيلا), also known as the Chatila refugee camp, is a settlement originally set up for Palestinian refugees in 1949. It is located in southern Beirut, Lebanon and houses more than 9,842 registered Palestine refugees.[1] Since the eruption of the Syrian Civil War, the refugee camp has received a large number of Syrian refugees. In 2014, the camp's population was estimated to be between 10,000 and 22,000.[2]

Shatila in 2019
Shatila in 2003

History edit

Establishment edit

Shatila was set up by the International Committee of the Red Cross to accommodate hundreds of refugees who came there after 1948.[1] They were from villages around the area of Amka, Majd al-Krum and Yajur in northern Palestine.[1]

During Lebanese Civil War edit

The Sabra and Shatila massacre was the slaughter of between 762 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, by the Hobeika-led militia and the IDF in the Sabra neighborhood of southern Beirut and the nearby Shatila refugee camp from approximately 6:00 pm on 16 September to 8:00 am on 18 September 1982.[3]

During Syrian Civil War edit

School in the camp

Since the eruption of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, Lebanon's population has swelled by more than 1 million Syrian refugees. The camp has also swollen with Syrian refugees, receiving mostly the poor Syrians. As of 2014, the camp's population is estimated to be from 10,000 to 22,000.[2]

Management edit

Life in Shatila, a film from 2009

The camp comprises approximately one square kilometer and thus has an exceptionally high population density.[4]

UNRWA operates one health center and two primary schools within the camp. Non-governmental organizations active in the camp include Al-Najda, Beit Atfal Al-Soumoud, Norwegian Peoples' Aid, Doctors Without Borders, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and the Association Najdeh.[5]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "Lebanon - Camp Profiles - Shatila". UNRWA. Archived from the original on 1 August 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Syrian refugees fear permanent exile in Lebanon's camps". BBC News. 3 April 2014. Archived from the original on 24 May 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  3. ^ Malone, Linda A. (1985). "The Kahan Report, Ariel Sharon and the Sabra-Shatilla Massacres in Lebanon: Responsibility Under International Law for Massacres of Civilian Populations". Utah Law Review: 373–433. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  4. ^ "News and media". ifrc.org. Archived from the original on 26 August 2006. Retrieved 23 August 2006.
  5. ^ "Association Najdeh". association-najdeh.org. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2023.

External links edit

  • Lebanon - Camp Profiles - Shatila
  • Windward between Naples and Baghdad
  • Are Knudsen and S. Hanafi (Eds.) Palestinian Refugees: Identity, Space and Place in the Levant. Routledge. 2010

33°51′46″N 35°29′54″E / 33.86278°N 35.49833°E / 33.86278; 35.49833