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 (Israel), Northern District, near City of Acre, Acre. The location of the moshav roughly corresponds the former Pa ...

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

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.

References

External links

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
{{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