Al-Shati ( ar, مخيّم الشاطئ), also known as Beach camp, is a

Palestinian refugee camp Camps are set up by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to accommodate Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, who fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestinian ...

located in the northern

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

along the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

coastline in the

Gaza Governorate The Gaza Governorate ( ar, محافظة غزة '), also alternatively known as Gaza City Governorate, is one of the 16 Governorates of Palestine, located in the north central Gaza Strip. Gaza is claimed by the State of Palestine, but the land is ...

, and more specifically

Gaza City Gaza (;''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (1998), , p. 761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza...". ar, غَزَّة ', ), also referred to as Gaza City, i ...

. The camp's total land area consists of 520 dunums.Beach Camp

United Nations Relief and Works Agency The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians displaced by the 1948 ...

(UNRWA) According to the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ar, الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني) is the official statistical institution of the State of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures a ...

(PCBS), al-Shati had a population of 87,158 inhabitants in mid-year 2006, while the

(UNRWA) reports a population of 78,800 registered

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

. The camp is the third largest refugee camp in the Palestinian Territories.

History

Al-Shati was established in 1948 for about 23,000 Palestinians fleeing the cities of

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

, Lod and

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

as well as surrounding villages during the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

. In 1971, Israeli authorities demolished over 2,000 shelters for the purpose of widening the roads for security reasons. About 8,000 refugees were forced to leave the camp to the nearby housing project in Sheikh Radwan in

.Badil
The Continuing Catastrophe --1967 and beyond

Economy

Before September 2000, when Israel closed off its border with the

due to the violence of the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. ...

, the majority of al-Shati's work force were laborers in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

or worked in agriculture. Today, some refugees work in workshops and sewing factories. A sizable number of the camp's 2453 families depend on fishing for income. It contains a sewage system, a health center and 23 schools (17 primary, 6 secondary).

People from Al-Shati

Ismail Haniya Ismail Abdel Salam Ahmed Haniyeh; sometimes transliterated as Haniya, Haniyah, or Hanieh (born 29 January 1962) is a senior political leader of Hamas and formerly one of two disputed Prime Ministers of the Palestinian National Authority. Haniy ...

, ''de facto''

Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority The prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority was the position of the official head of government of the Palestinian Authority government, which operated between 2003 and January 2013, when it was officially transformed into the State ...

Rashid Masharawi Rashid Masharawi (also: "Rashid Mashrawi") ( ar, رشيد مشهراوي) is a Palestinian film director, born in Gaza in 1962 to a family of refugees from Jaffa. He grew up in the Shati refugee camp. Rashid Masharawi lives and works in Ramall ...

, filmmaker *

Said Seyam Said Seyam ( ar, سعيد صيام; 22 July 1959 – 15 January 2009), first name also spelled Saeed and Sayed and last name also spelled Siam, was the interior minister of the Palestinian government of March 2006. He joined Hamas and became ...

, assassinated

Interior Minister of the Palestinian National Authority The Ministry of Interior and National Security is the branch of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) cabinet in charge of the security and the statistics of the population of the Palestinian National Authority. The Palestinian Central Bureau of ...

based in Gaza *

Yasser Elshantaf Yasser Elshantaf ( ar, ياسر الشنتف , ; born January 20, 1983) is a Palestinian- German entrepreneur and political activist. Early life and education Yasser Elshantaf was born in Al-Shati camp in Gaza Strip. His parents became refugees ...

, Palestinian businessman living in Germany

References

External links

Beach
articles from

UNWRA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians displaced by the 1948 P ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shati, Al- Populated places established in 1948 Palestinian refugee camps in the Gaza Strip Neighborhoods of Gaza City

History

Economy

People from Al-Shati

See also

References

External links