Syria-Iraq: The Desert Camps -

Following the war in Iraq millions of refugees fled the country. Palestinian refugees, denied access to other countries, have been trapped in harsh desert camps at and on the border between Syria and Iraq.

See the UNHCR video story of Al-Tanf Here

Latest Photos from the camp

MAP is working hard to help these refugees and bring global attention to their plight.

Al-Waleed Camp

Al-Tanf Camp

Syrian-Iraqi Border Refugee Camps

Map of Syria-Iraq

Palestinians in Syria - Historical Snapshot

On the 8th and 9th of July MAP's consultant paid a monitoring visit to Neirab refugee camp and Ein el-Tal refugee camp, situated in the north of Syria, close to Aleppo. The visit was arranged by UNRWA and included a briefing on the situation and history of the Palestinians in the north of

About 35,000 Palestinians live in the north of Syria. Most of them fled from Haifa and villages around Haifa. They arrived by train, which is the reason why most of the Palestinian refugee camps are located along the railway. Today 9,000 Palestinians live in Aleppo and in surrounding villages. About 18,000 Palestinians live in Neirab camp and 5,500 in Ein el-Tal.

Neirab camp (near Aleppo airport) is one of the worst camps for Palestinian refugees in Syria and one with the highest density. When they arrived in 1948, they were put up in World War II barracks, which were substandard shelters and considered a temporary solution. The camp has since expanded in a confined area but many refugees have lived in these barracks for almost 60 years. They have an average of 25-squared-metres for an entire family and are subject to very little daylight and extreme temperatures changes. The General Authority for Palestinian Arab Refugees (GAPAR) and UNRWA decided to improve the living conditions in rehabilitating the barracks area in Neirab. In order to do so, some refugee families would have to move out and their barracks would be destroyed. It was decided to build additional houses in the second refugee camp near Aleppo called Ein el-Tal. Thus, Phase I of the Neirab Rehabilitation Project (NRP) which started in 2002 consists of an extension and improvement of Ein el-Tal. It has a total budget of almost 10 million USD, which does not take into consideration construction and implementation undertaken by the Government of Syria totalling 6.5 million USD. The donors are Canada, Switzerland and the United States.

The main problem in Neirab camp, as told by the area relief and social service officer Emad Jadiba, is the high population density which leads to social problems due to the lack of privacy. About 4,000 refugees live in containers/barracks, which are substandard. A second major problem is the lack of jobs, especially among the youth. UNRWA is the only agency working in the camp. They run women's, youth and disability programs. Having one health centre in the camp with only two doctors and one dentist in charge, the overload of patients is a major problem in the health sector.

Ein el-Tal ist situated on a hill with much more space for the refugees. The camp was built in the beginning of the 60s as Neirab camp couldn't host any more refugees. Ein el-Tal is an official inofficial camp, which means, that it is not considered as a refugee camp because it is seen as an extension of other refugee camps and was built later, but the presence of the UNRWA in the camp is still accepted by GAPAR.

The NRP is implemented now in two phases. Phase I will enable 1500 refugees to move from Neirab to Ein el-Tal. Phase I with 300 new houses and community infrastructure is nearly completed now. UNRWA is now rolling out Phase II., which should give housing for another 5000 refugees from Neirab.

Although the visit in Neirab made clear how difficult the living conditions in this refugee camp are and how limited UNRWA's support is, the successful implementation of NRP will open up some brighter perspectives for these refugees in the near future.