Al-Arub refugee camp

One day the whole team went to Al-Arub Refugee camp which is situated outside Hebron on the way to Bethlehem. We realised that we had driven past it several times without actually knowing it was a refugee camp.

8300 refugees coming from 37 different villages in Israel live in Al-Arub. The first refugees arrived in 1948, when the Haganah started invading and attacking the villages then belonging to the newly created state of Israel. Zainab, who is now 76 years old, used to live in Araq Al Manishia, nowadays known as Kyriat Gat, in the Hebron area. She told us that soldiers came at night and entered the houses. Many people died, others fled. She settled in Al-Arub refugee camp with her family thinking that it would be temporary… but she still lives there, in a small house that isn't even "waterproof." The camp was made of tents until 1965 when they started to build permanent structures.

Zainab explained that a lot of families were 'broken' after the 1948 attacks and some people are still missing. Her dream would be to die in her village and to be buried there.

Nowadays, 1800 families live in Al-Arub refugee camp. There are four schools (two funded by the UN and two by the Palestinian Authority), five kindergartens, one clinic, one Center for Children, one playground and one big swimming pool. Food is mainly provided by the UN as well.

Although it looks like a nice and quiet place to live, especially for the children, we mustn't forget that soldier incursions into the camp are frequent and they usually arrest children and teenagers because they have thrown stones or participated in a demonstration. Generally, the soldiers come at night, between 12am and 5am. The camp also faces many medical problems as one clinic and one doctor for more than 8000 people is not enough. Still, the refugees all hope that they can return to their homes one day...