Mar Elias Refugee Camp

Mar Elias refugee camp is located in southwest Beirut, between the UNESCO and the Wata al-Musaytbeh neighborhoods. It is the smallest of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon in terms of area and population. Encircled by barbed wire and crammed with unregulated construction, this small camp is surrounded by modern high-rise buildings. Directly to its east is the St. Elias Orthodox Church and a Greek Orthodox cemetery; the Boubes Mosque is adjacent to the camp, on the western side.

The Origins of the Camp

In 1948, boats carrying Palestinian refugees, primarily from Haifa and Jaffa and mostly Christians, arrived in Lebanon. Rescue teams from the Lebanese government provided them with the requisite care. Initially, these families stayed with relatives or in hotels in Beirut. Later, they were moved to the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Elias Batina, where about 600 refugees lived from 1949 to 1952, with three families to a room; hygiene and essential services were lacking. The situation was somewhat alleviated by the League of Red Cross Societies, which provided healthcare and food aid.

In 1952, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate decided to convert the monastery into a seminary to ordain priests, so the refugees were relocated to a nearby pine forest, which was part of the St. Elias congregation’s endowment, where tents were put up for them. Eventually, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) leased the 5,400 square meter plot of land and began constructing more permanent housing for the refugees. The camp, which became known as the Mar Elias camp, was where Orthodox Christian Palestinian refugees came to live, while the Catholic Palestinian refugees moved to the Dbayeh and Jisr al-Basha camps outside Beirut. In the first few years after the camp was established, many families were able to move to other areas of Beirut. Their places were then taken by other Palestinian Christian families, as well as some Muslim families.

The first families to live in the camp came from different cities and villages in Palestine, including Haifa, Jaffa, and Acre. It is worth noting that until the present time, the distribution of the inhabitants within Mar Elias is not based on the cities and villages from which they originate in Palestine, as has been the norm in other Palestinian refugee camps, where the alleyways and neighborhoods within the camp are named after the cities and villages from which their residents hailed. Although the families who have lived in the camp since it was first founded still live in the same locations within the camp, the general environment of the camp has changed over time.

Despite its small size, Mar Elias camp has four entrances through which residents can enter and exit freely, and there are no Lebanese army checkpoints at these entrances, contrary to most camps in Lebanon. This may be due to the camp's calm and security stability, on the one hand, and its location, on the other.

Infrastructure

When the Palestinian refugees first moved into Mar Elias camp, it was full of pine trees, its terrain was sandy, and the sea was visible from the camp. Over the years, primitive dwellings with corrugated iron roofs (colloquially known as zinco) replaced the tent tarpaulins in a haphazard fashion.

The first inhabitants of Mar Elias planted many trees and plants around their homes, such as guava and mulberry trees, grapevines, and flowers. According to the camp's long-term residents, its streets were once wide enough to accommodate cars, something which became impossible later on. For the water supply, each area in the camp had a communal tap and pools provided by UNRWA, where residents would queue to fill water for their daily needs. The bathrooms were built outside the homes and were basically barrels. With the launching of the Palestinian revolution and the signing of the Cairo Agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Lebanese Army in 1969, camp conditions improved, homes were replaced with concrete and stone structures, and water and other services were delivered directly to homes.

As Mar Elias gradually became more and more overcrowded and the level of UNRWA’s services declined, residents began digging wells to access underground water. However, excessive drawing led to chalky and salty water. In response, the camp's popular committee launched a water desalination project, funded through monthly subscriptions paid by the residents.

Regarding the electrical supply, each home in the camp had an official meter installed by the Lebanese state electrical company, Electricité du Liban (EDL), on the basis of which users were billed for electricity. Today most of these meters have since ceased to function. Moreover, EDL can no longer provide round-the-clock electricity anywhere in Lebanon, including the camp. As a result, camp residents have turned to private electricity generators, for which they pay extra monthly subscription fees.

In 2024, Mar Elias camp suffers from the same problems as other Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, such as insufficient insulation in both the water supply and the electricity network, the piling up of garbage, and flooding during the winter season.

Socioeconomic Conditions

According to UNRWA data, Mar Elias camp had 449 registered refugees in 1958, and 472 in 1975, at the beginning of the Lebanese civil war. Since then, the camp has witnessed several waves of displacement linked to the face-off with Israel or the internal situation in Lebanon. In the period following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the summer of 1982, and then right before and during the War of the Camps (1985-1987), some families from Mar Elias were displaced to different areas within and outside of Beirut. Many of them then ended up emigrating to Europe, the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Australia and were replaced by families fleeing from other Palestinian camps, such as the Nabatiyya camp in South Lebanon, which was bombed by Israel in 1974, and the Tal al-Zaatar and Jisr al-Basha camps, which were destroyed in 1976 during the Lebanese civil war. Also in 1991, many displaced families that had been living temporarily in various parts of Lebanon were relocated to Mar Elias camp.

In that period, the demographic character of Mar Elias camp changed significantly. Residents had various nationalities, religions, and backgrounds. Migrant workers in Lebanon from countries such as Sudan, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia chose to live in the camp due to the relatively low rents in it and its proximity to work in Beirut. Following the outbreak of war in Syria in 2011, displaced Syrians and Palestinian refugees from Syria began to flock to the camp. This large influx of new residents into the small camp led to severe overcrowding, and by 2023, it had become nearly impossible to find any available housing for rent or purchase.

One of the consequences of this overcrowding was the uprooting of most of the pine trees that had once distinguished the camp. The streets became so narrow that they turned into very tight alleys. According to a survey conducted by the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee in 2017, the camp had a population of 1,767 people, of whom 748 were Palestinian and 690 were Syrian, spread over approximately 450 housing units. The camp's population has likely risen to around 2,000 in 2023.

Healthcare

UNRWA oversees health services in the camp. It runs one health center, which is staffed by doctors with different specializations and can offer some medication to patients, especially for . chronic illnesses that are widespread in the camp, such as high blood pressure, cancer, and diabetes.

A private health center, al-Shifaʾ, provides medical services, dentistry, and public health. Three private dental clinics and several pharmacies, including the Dalal al-Moghrabi Pharmacy, are affiliated with the PLO. The camp also has also two medical centers, one run by the Palestine Red Crescent Society, and the other by al-Musawat association, a civil society organization that provides medical services for people with disabilities and accident injuries, including physical and speech therapy, psychological support, and skills development. The association's services are free of charge regardless of nationality.

For their routine hospitalization needs, the residents of Mar Elias usually rely on Haifa Hospital, located inside the Burj al-Barajneh camp. As for surgeries that are considered both complex and costly, UNRWA refers patients to the Sahel General Hospital, al-Rassoul al-Aʿzam Hospital or to the Rafic Hariri University Hospital in Beirut. In 2023, UNRWA could cover only 30 percent of the treatment costs for these cases. Additional financial coverage is provided by the PLO Social Security Office.

Education

Mar Elias camp has two kindergartens, the Ghassan Kanafani Kindergarten and the Ahlam Lajiʾ Kindergarten. There is one elementary school (Grades 1-6), the UNRWA affiliated al-Kabri School, which is mixed gender and has a student population of over 300. Middle and high school students attend two UNRWA schools in the Bir Hassan area: the Haifa and al-Jalil schools. A therapy center for children with special needs is run by the Ghassan Kanafani Foundation.

Youth in the camp are highly educated; many hold advanced degrees. In recent times, however, with the economic crisis Lebanon since 2019 and the significant hike in university tuition fees, school dropout rates are on the rise.

Labor

Most of the camp’s men work outside the camp in precarious jobs in the informal sector or in small business establishments, such as supermarkets, auto repair shops, and construction sites. Some also work in seasonal jobs, particularly during special occasions, such as in the month of Ramadan, when they prepare and sell traditional Ramadan drinks, or in the summer, when they sell frozen items like ice cream. Some women work inside the camp in grocery stores and sell fruits and vegetables at produce stands. Young people work in UNRWA, the PLO, NGOs, or private Lebanese institutions.

Considering its small size, the camp contains a considerable number of stores and small workshops. In 2023, there were around seven grocery stores, two butcher shops, four bakeries, several fruit and vegetable stands, car mechanic garages, metal repair workshops, small cafés, and two barbershops.

Like other Palestinian camps in Lebanon, the residents of Mar Elias experience unemployment, whose severity has increased since the beginning of the economic crisis in Lebanon in 2019, especially among the youth. In addition, Lebanese labor laws deny Palestinian refugees the right to work in a number of professions, which means that university graduates are forced to work jobs that have no relation to their field of study.

Social Relations

Unlike other Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, Mar Elias has a diverse population. This plurality is marked by a sense of harmony and mutual respect among the camp residents, who generally get along with each other. This is particularly evident during religious holidays. For example, Muslims celebrate Christmas exactly like Christians do: they exchange holiday visits and distribute sweets, and the camp is full of the festive Christmas ambiance. Similarly, during Ramadan, the camp is decorated, and children of both faiths participate in all the festivities. Furthermore, due to the small size of the camp, most families know one another, especially those that have lived there for a long time.

The relationship of the camp to its surroundings is practically nonexistent, as it is surrounded by modern, high-rise buildings that are indicative of the social and class status of their residents, which is completely at odds with that of the camp’s residents. There are shops of all kinds that line the whole western edge of the camp, such as car repair shops, grocery stores, cafes, and bakeries that rely mainly on customers from outside the camp that come from other parts of Beirut; in any case, most of the proprietors of these shops are not residents of the camp.

The relationship between Mar Elias and its broader surroundings mainly revolves around its ties with other Palestinian refugee camps in the greater Beirut area, such as the Shatila and Burj al-Barajneh camps. Some residents of Mar Elias work in these camps or have friends and acquaintances there. Moreover, there are familial ties formed through intermarriage between families from the camp and both the Lebanese and Palestinian communities in other areas.

Civil Society Organizations and NGOs

In 2023, the camp had about twenty civil society organizations, including al-Najda Social Foundation, Ahlam Lajiʾ, the Ghassan Kanafani Foundation, the Kayani Project, Beit Atfal al-Sumoud (the National Institution of Social Care and Vocational Training), the Families of Martyrs Association, and Musawat Association. This number indicates that most Palestinian associations have their offices in the camp, due to its location in the capital and the stabile conditions it offers politically and in terms of security.

Mar Elias one of the more culturally active Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, thanks to the Palestinian Cultural Club, which was founded in 1993 by a group of students from the Beirut Arab University to develop awareness among Palestinian and Arab youth inside the camps about the Palestinian cause. It celebrates important Palestinian national occasions, organizes educational courses related to the geography and history of Palestine, holds a variety of cultural gatherings, and screens films. The club also has a library available for residents. At the beginning of 2023, the Dar al-Thaqafa Academy was established and based in Mar Elias camp. In addition to the various cultural events it organizes in the camp, the academy aims to support talented individuals and encourage their creativity, with the goal of enriching the Palestinian and Arab cultural scene.

Administration

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Mar Elias camp was under the direct control of Lebanese authorities. Lebanese police were present inside the camp, keeping a close watch on the activities of refugees. One older resident recalls, "We didn't have the right to even hammer a nail into a wall or wash down the entrance to our houses with water." In the late 1950s, the Lebanese authorities tightened their control over the camp, as they did with all the other Palestinian refugee camps, through the Deuxième Bureau, the intelligence wing of the Lebanese army, whose task was to monitor and prevent any political activity among the Palestinians.

After the launching of the Palestinian revolution and the signing of the Cairo Agreement in 1969, Palestinian political factions took control of the camps in Lebanon, which led to the withdrawal of Lebanese security forces. Since then, Mar Elias has enjoyed relative stability and calm, and the Palestinian organizations, while maintaining offices in the camp, have been keen to avoid armed manifestations.

As in other refugee camp in Lebanon, Mar Elias has been administered by a popular committee, whose members are Palestinian refugees residing in the camp and are nominated for membership to their camp’s popular committee by Palestinian political organizations. The current Popular Committee in Mar Elias camp is made up of Fatah, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

In terms of public services, Mar Elias camp has been under the administration of UNRWA ever since its establishment. Since the 1990s, the Popular Committee has been carrying out the various tasks of administration in coordination with UNRWA, and it is in direct contact with the camp’s residents. It provides them with a range of services, manages the daily affairs of the camp, and resolves problems that may arise among the residents.

Here in Mar Elias, this small camp with its narrow alleyways and array of colors, and its few remaining trees that tell the stories of those who lived there and remind its residents of all that the camp has endured, you can meet children playing as you walk from one alley to the next, and elders who will share their stories of the camp and how it has changed over the years. Its colorful walls and their murals capture the attention of those who pass through it, particularly one of them that bears the following quote from Syrian playwright Saadallah Wannous: "We are condemned to hope." Despite the camp's lack of adequate attention and support, and its need for a comprehensive plan for the rehabilitation of its infrastructure, its residents continue to be known for striving toward coexisting in safety and tranquility.