Husseiniyeh (Gathering) Refugee Camp

Husseiniyeh, sometimes referred to as a mukhayyam (camp), and sometimes as a tajammuʿ, or gathering, is considered to be the second largest community of Palestinian refugees in Syria (after the Yarmouk refugee camp) and also the most recently established one. It was initially settled by displaced Syrians who had fled from the Golan Heights after it was occupied by Israel in the June 1967 war, and who came mainly from the Golan village of Husseiniyeh. After that, Palestinian refugees also started to settle there, especially those from the nearby Jaramana refugee camp, after municipal authorities decided to demolish many homes in that camp to clear the way for the construction of the Damascus airport highway and the southern expressway around Damascus. As a Palestinian community began to take shape and grow in the area, the Palestinians who had settled there began to refer to it as “Husseiniyeh Camp” for symbolic reasons and out of patriotic sentiment. Still, its status remains unofficial; the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) does not recognize it as one of the Palestinian refugee camps it administers.

Origins of the Camp

Husseiniyeh Camp was established as a residential community in 1982 on land in the Western Ghouta, to the southeast of the Syrian capital Damascus. It is thirteen kilometers away from the city center, and was initially constructed over an area estimated to be somewhere between three and five square kilometers. It is bordered on the north by al-Dhiyabiya, another community of displaced Syrians from the Golan. Husseiniyeh Camp is bordered by Hosh Qweil to the east, Najha to the south, and Hosh Sahya to the west.

The area where the camp was built had remained uninhabited, until a number of Syrian and Palestinian refugee families acquired, separately, plots on the site and built their homes. Palestinians chose to move to the area due to its proximity to Damascus and the availability of saleable land that could be used for construction, Then the pace of construction quickened as Palestinians from Jaramana Camp moved there when their homes were demolished, starting in 1984, and then in 1994, 1997 and 2004. All told, an estimated 8,910 Palestinian refugees were transferred there from Jaramana Camp.

Population Size and Demographics

In 1983, no more than 200 people came to settle in Husseiniyeh; by 1995 there were 17,000. The first official census was conducted in 2004, at which time approximately 28,384 people lived in the camp. After the construction of the second suburb in Husseiniyeh, known as Husseiniyeh Suburb Expansion Project, the population grew to 90,000 by 2010. Palestinian refugees made up about 51-57 percent.

The residents of the camp include Palestinians who had been living in Jaramana and other camps. Its Syrian residents include low-income people who needed affordable housing, those who were forced out of Quneitra in the Golan Heights during the June 1967 war, and those who had been living in other Syrian regions, such as Damascus, the Damascus Countryside Governorate, and Idlib Governorate.

Palestinian residents of Husseiniyeh who left Jaramana Camp originally came, as those who remained in the latter, from the Palestine villages of the Hula Valley in the subdistrict of Safad (al-Salihiyya, al-Khalisa, Qaytiyya, al-Dawwara, al-Zawiya, al-Mansura, al-Abisiyya, al-Khisas and al-Muftakhira) and the villages of the Tiberias district (al-Hamma and Lubya). They also originate from the same clans from Safad and Tiberias: al-Wuhayb, Kirad al-Baqqara, Kirad al-Ghannama, Arab al-Masaʿeed, al-Zanghariyya and al-Talawiya. The rest of the Palestinian residents living in the Husseiniyeh are originally from Haifa and its surrounding villages (al-Tira, Ijzim, and al-Tantura) and Sulam in the Nazareth district.

Infrastructure

The Palestinian refugees who sought shelter in Husseiniyeh built their own homes in a process that had to be completed in stages, given their meager funds. Their dwellings were close to one another, which meant they had little privacy. Many of them were like rural dwellings, lacking access to basic utilities.

The streets in the camp are narrow and inadequately maintained by the local municipal authorities. They are full of potholes that are dusty in the summer and muddy in the winter.

Water

The site of Husseiniyeh has little groundwater, and the camp has a shortage of water. Municipal services are inadequate, and so the problem is ongoing. Camp residents have been forced to install water tanks and pay for water deliveries, despite their inflated prices.

Sewage Disposal

Inadequate sewage disposal is a major problem in the camp. This problem is exacerbated during the winter, when the streets and alleyways of the camp turn into swamps of putrid water. Though the municipal authorities have overhauled the sewer networks within the camp, the quality of service remains unsatisfactory.

Electricity

Electricity was made available to camp residents only in 1985, when a power station was established. As the population of the camp grew, more distribution stations were set up, but the electrical grid connected to the camp is unreliable; frequently it breaks down and the power supply is diverted.

Socioeconomic Conditions

Economic conditions in the camp are poor, and poverty is prevalent; the only exceptions are families who have a member who works for UNRWA. These families are considered middle class. Lack of access to public transport and the unstable transportation costs are major challenges for men and women who work outside the camp and university students.

Labor

More than two-thirds of Husseiniyeh Camp’s working men and women are employed outside the camp; the men work mostly as laborers on building and construction sites or as low-level staff in government offices, especially those within the Damascus Countryside Governorate; camp women work as domestic.

Basic Services

Healthcare

For their healthcare needs, the residents of Husseiniyeh Camp rely primarily on a dispensary established by UNRWA and a state-run health center, which provides a variety of healthcare services such as vaccinations, basic tests, and monitoring of some medical conditions. Another state-run medical center in the camp specializes in pediatric patients who are below normal weight; it is open once every fifteen days. These medical centers are not sufficient to meet the healthcare needs of the residents, and there are no state or private hospitals in the immediate vicinity of the camp. The two closest medical facilities are the Khomeini Hospital, located in the Sayida Zeinab area, about two kilometers away, and the Emirates Hospital, also known as Zayed Hospital, about five kilometers away. The Khomeini Hospital was out of service for a while because of clashes between opposition and Syrian regime forces after 2011.

Some diseases, such as sickle cell anemia, thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), thalassemia (abnormalities in hemoglobin), vitiligo (loss of pigment on patches of skin), and immune deficiency are widespread among camp residents. Among pregnant women, miscarriages and preeclampsia (mid-pregnancy hypertensive disorder) occur frequently.

Education

UNRWA runs six schools in Husseiniyeh Camp that operate out of three buildings on a double shift (morning/evening) system: the Beit Jala Junior High School for girls, the al-Aqsa Primary School for boys, the Rafah Primary School for girls, the Ijzim Primary School for boys, the Qalqilya Primary School for boys, and the Hittin Primary School for girls. There are also a number of primary and junior high government schools run by the governorates of the Quneitra and Damascus Countryside, in addition to one high school. The camp has a number of kindergartens, such as the one named after the martyr Mahmoud al-Soudi and run by the Martyr Majid Abu Sharar Foundation, and one named after the martyr Hanaa Shahrour run by the Bisan Foundation. There is also the al-Aqsa Kindergarten run by UNRWA and several private kindergartens, including the Raneem Kindergarten.

Social Relations

The Palestinian refugees in Husseiniyeh are considered to have a good relationship with their immediate environment. This is primarily due to the many mixed marriages that have led to an intermingling between the camp’s residents, especially that Syrians and Palestinians have lived as neighbors in the camp since its establishment.

Camp Administration

In the beginning, no official institution or agency had a role in managing the affairs of Palestinian refugees in Husseiniyeh. As the land area settled by them grew and the population rose, however, the General Authority for Palestinian Arab Refugees in Syria (GAPAR) conducted a population census to better provide the basic services required by camp dwellers. It also opened a center in the camp through which residents could access services more easily. At the same time, UNRWA offers a number of services to the Palestinian refugees in the camp through its educational establishments, healthcare facilities, and social services centers.

The Husseiniyeh Camp is subject to the administration various municipalities. The Quneitra Governorate has jurisdiction over the people that came from its province and reside in the camp; the Damascus Countryside Governorate has jurisdiction over residents who are originally from this province; and the Damascus Governorate has jurisdiction over the affairs of the housing project it established in the camp.

Because several authorities have administrative jurisdiction inside the camp, the services provided to these residents are suboptimal, as each authority shifts the responsibility of providing services to another.

The Camp post-2011

Following the outbreak of the war in Syria, and the clashes between the Syrian army and armed factions that took control of the region in which Husseiniyeh Camp is located, properties and public establishments in the camp suffered severe damage. Residents had to flee from the area in October 2013. In the latter half of 2015, the Syrian army regained control of the area, and subsequently, the people of the camp gradually returned to it.

In UNRWA’s view, the return of Husseiniyeh residents to the camp was a “rare success story in the Syrian conflict,” as a large number of people belonging to the Palestinian families who had lived in the community (around 6,000 families in total) were able to return to their homes starting in August 2015, for the first time since they were forced to leave in early 2013. UNRWA began to offer microfinance loans to help these families to rebuild their lives. The agency planted 100 trees in different parts of the camp to celebrate the return of residents.

Civil Society Institutions

UNRWA took the initiative to launch projects in Husseiniyeh Camp for youth and women, such as the Youth Support Project, which aims to develop their professional and technical skills in order to enable them to obtain jobs available in the labor market, and the Women’s Center, whose purpose is to grow women’s craftwork and professional capabilities in sewing and cooking and to teach them computer literacy. Several NGOs that work as relief organizations also work in the camp. For example, the Nour Foundation sponsors activities addressing social issues, such as the sixteen-day campaign to combat gender-based violence, and development-related activities, such as computer and design courses. The Arab Cultural Center, affiliated with the Syrian Ministry of Culture, organizes a number of varied activities in art, general culture and heritage, especially those related to Palestine. It also welcomes those who want to use its facilities to organize activities and events.

The Palestinian residents stand out as the most politicized segment of Husseiniyeh. Their political and militant activity is expressed through the Palestinian factions that have offices. This political activism is also manifested in political rallies and popular marches organized to commemorate major national occasions, such as Nakba Day on 15 May and Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on 17 April. Moreover, the factions within the camp also try to keep pace with the major developments occurring in the Palestinian cause and its struggle for national liberation.