Bourj el-Barajneh

Bourj el-Barajneh (Arabic: برج البراجنة‎, "Tower of Towers") is a municipality located in the southern suburbs of Beirut, in Lebanon. The municipality lies between Beirut International Airport and the town of Haret Hreik.

In the June 7, 2009 parliamentary election in Lebanon, Bourj al-Barajneh voted in the Baabda electoral division.

Its local population are mainly Shia Muslims but due to its cheap housing and hospitable locals, it has acquired a sizable Sunni, Kurdish, Iraqi and other poor and/or refugee populations that reside mainly in and around the local Palestinian refugee camp.

The Bourj el-Barajneh Refugee Camp is located at the edge of the municipality. The League of Red Cross Societies established the camp in 1948 to accommodate an influx of Palestinian refugees from the Galilee in present-day northern Israel. The camp was laid siege to by the Israeli army and Lebanese Christian Phalangists during 1982, after Israel invaded Lebanon earlier that year. It (and other Palestinian Camps) was also laid siege to by Amal militia from February 1984 to February 1987 for the control of West Beirut. According to UNRWA more than 15,000 Palestinian refugees live in the camp, though originally only 10,000 were planned to live in the one square kilometer site. Another estimate puts that number at 20,000.

The town was founded by Arab settlers. It is known as the Barajneh after a rebel who killed a slave of Fakhr-al-Din II (1590-1635).^{[citation needed]}

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bourj el-Barajneh.

• CEPAL.ca Bourj el-Barajneh refugee camp
• Burj El-Barajneh Refugee Camp, articles from UNRWA.
• Time Magazine - "On The Brink of Cannibalism. 23 February 1987.
• Burj el-Barajneh Camp: A Photo Essay. Alternative Media Centre of Québec (CMAQ), 7 November 2005.

v t e Palestinian refugee camps locations and populations as of 2013  Gaza Strip 1,221,110  West Bank 741,409 refugees  Syria 499,189 refugees  Lebanon 448,599 refugees  Jordan 2,034,641 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 Aqabat Jaber 6,400 Ein as-Sultan 8,083 Far'a 7,600 Fawwar 8,000 Jalazone 11,000 Kalandia 11,000 Am'ari 10,500 Deir 'Ammar 2,400 Dheisheh 2,189 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 camp 18,000 Nur Shams 9,000 Jenin camp 16,000 Shuafat camp 11,000 Sbeineh 22,600 Khan Eshieh 20,000 Neirab 20,500 Homs 22,000 Jaramana camp 18,658 Daraa camp 10,000 Hama camp 8,000 Khan Dannun 10,000 Qabr Essit 23,700 Latakia Camp 10,000 Yarmouk 148,500 Ein el-Tal 6,000 Bourj el-Barajneh 17,945 Ain al-Hilweh 54,116 El Buss 11,254 Nahr al-Bared 300 families Shatila 9,842 Wavel 8,806 Mar Elias 662 Mieh Mieh 5,250 Mieh Mieh 5,078 Beddawi 16,500 Burj el-Shemali 22,789 Rashidieh 31,478 Zarqa camp 20,000 Jabal el-Hussein 29,000 Amman New Camp (Wihdat) 51,500 Baqa'a 104,000 Husn (Martyr Azmi el-Mufti camp) 22,000 Irbid camp 25,000 Jerash camp 24,000 Marka 53,000 Talbieh 7,000