The Shatila refugee camp ( ar, مخيم شاتيلا), also known as the Chatila refugee camp, is a settlement originally set up for
Palestinian refugee
Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war ( 1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War ( 1967 Palestinian exo ...
s in 1949. It is located in southern
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
and houses more than 9,842 registered Palestine refugees.
Since the eruption of the
Syrian Civil War, the
refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...
has received a large number of
Syrian refugees. In 2014, the camp's population was estimated to be between 10,000 and 22,000.
History
Establishment
Shatila was set up by the
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
to accommodate hundreds of refugees who came there after 1948.
They were from villages around the area of
Amka
Amka (), also known in Arabic as Amqa ( ar, عمقا), is a moshav in the Matte Asher Regional Council of Israel's Northern District, near Acre. The location of the moshav roughly corresponds the former Palestinian village, depopulated during th ...
,
Majd al-Krum
Majd al-Krum ( ar, مجد الكروم, he, מַגְ'ד אל-כֻּרוּם ''Majd al-Kurum'') is an Arab town located in the Galilee in Israel's Northern District about 16 kilometers (10 miles) east of Acre. The name of the village translates to ...
and
Yajur in northern Palestine.
During Lebanese Civil War
The
Sabra and Shatila massacre
The Sabra and Shatila massacre (also known as the Sabra and Chatila massacre) was the killing of between 460 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, by the militia of the Lebanese Forces, a Maronite Christian Lebanes ...
was the slaughter of between 762 and 3,500 civilians, mostly
Palestinians
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
and
Lebanese Shiites, by the
Hobeika-led militia and the
IDF
IDF or idf may refer to:
Defence forces
* Irish Defence Forces
* Israel Defense Forces
*Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006
* Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917
Organizations
* Israeli Diving Federation
* Interac ...
in the Sabra neighborhood of southern
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
and the nearby Shatila refugee camp from approximately 6:00 pm on 16 September to 8:00 am on 18 September 1982.
During Syrian Civil War
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.
Management
The camp comprises approximately one square kilometer and thus has an exceptionally high population density.
UNRWA
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 ...
operates one health center and two primary schools within the camp.
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
s 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.
See also
*
Naji al-Ali
Naji Salim Hussain al-Ali ( ar, ناجي سليم العلي '; born c. 1938 – 29 August 1987) was a Palestinian cartoonist, noted for the political criticism of the Arab regimes and Israel in his works. He has been described as the greatest ...
References
External links
Lebanon - Camp Profiles - ShatilaWindward between Naples and BaghdadAre Knudsen and S. Hanafi (Eds.) Palestinian Refugees: Identity, Space and Place in the Levant. Routledge. 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shatila Refugee Camp
Populated places established in 1949
Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon
Syrian refugee camps
Articles containing video clips
1949 establishments in Lebanon