| Deir al-Balah camp | |
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| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | مخيّم دير البلح |
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Deir al-Balah camp
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| Coordinates: | |
| Governorate | Deir al-Balah |
| Government | |
| • Type | Refugee Camp |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Jurisdiction | 12,004 |
Deir al-Balah camp (Arabic: مخيّم دير البلح) is located one kilometer northwest of the center of Deir al-Balah town, of which it is part. (The town is in the Deir al-Balah Governorate, Gaza Strip.) It is designated as a Palestinian refugee camp by the UN General Assembly and the Hamas government although it is a permanent settlement of concrete buildings (and not tents) and has eight schools, sewers, and other municipal services. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the settlement had a population of 12,004 in mid-year 2006.[1] The settlement is the smallest designated as a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.[2] The settlement is built on an area of 0.16 square kilometers (16 hectares; 39 acres (160,000 m2); ).[3] As of March 2005, the population registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was 19,534 persons.[3]
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Originally, the settlement was a camp housing 9,000 refugees in tents and then mud-brick structures, which were replaced with cement block structures in the early 1960s.[2] The current population is about twice that of the original refugee population, most of whom are now dead.
The original residents of the camp, as with most other Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, came from villages and towns in central and southern pre-1948 Palestine.[2]
Before the 2005 implementation of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, the settlement (and town of which it is part) was surrounded by Israeli settlements - Kfar Darom to the north and Gush Katif to the south - and the highly militarized Abul Holi junction that separated the north of Gaza from the south was located on Deir al-Balah land.[2]
In late 1997, the Palestinian Authority demolished several buildings in the settlement in order to extend the main coastal road between the town and the Mediterranean sea.[3] Several families were given small plots of land and some financial compensation in order to build new homes outside the settlement.[3]
There was no sewage system in the original Deir el-Balah camp; Palestinian managed UNRWA constructed one in 1998 with financial assistance from Japan. In the permanent settlement there are eight Palestinian managed UNRWA schools - six elementary and two preparatory - serving about 8,000 students.[2]
Most residents had worked as laborers in Israel before the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada. A minority of residents have also worked as local farm laborers.[2]
Throughout the Al-Aqsa Intifada, the settlement was the site of several Israeli incursions:[4] [5]
In May 2001, a funeral for four-month-old Iman Hejjo, killed by shrapnel during an Israeli attack on Khan Younis settlement, was held in the Deir al-Balah settlement and attended by hundreds of mourners. Her father Mohammed, a policeman, told Reuters that "The killing of my baby will remain as a stigma on the face of Israel and the international community."[6]
On 13 February 2002, Palestinian policeman and settlment resident, Shadi Mustafah El-Hassanat, was killed along with two other policeman after five Israeli tanks raided the eastern part of Deir al-Balah and fired flechette shells at them while they sought refuge in a small room near their post.[7]
Residents of Deir al-Balah settlement have also been involved in attempted attacks on Israeli settlements:
On 22 November 2003, 24-year old Muhammad Suleiman Khalil Sarsur of Deir al-Balah settlement was killed by Israeli security forces while attempting to infiltrate the Netzarim settlement.[8]
On 6 October 2004, 17-year old 'Ali Khaled 'Ali al-Jaru and 21-year old Iyad Fa'iz Yusef Abu al-'Ata, both of Deir al-Balah settlement, were killed by Israeli security forces while attempting to attack the Kfar Darom settlement.[8]
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