Homs (A'ideen) Refugee Camp

The Homs refugee camp, also known as the A'ideen (“Returnees”) Camp, is one of ten camps in Syria officially recognized by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA ). Until the mid-1970s it was called the Thakana (Barracks) Camp because it lies alongside the Khalid ibn al-Walid military barracks.

The Origins of the Camp

The camp was set up in 1949 to the south of Homs on the road to Damascus , on an area of 0.15 square kilometers (15 hectares) rented from the state. Until the early 1970s the borders of the camp were the Homs–Damascus road to the east, the orchards and the railway line to the west, and the military barracks to the north. On the southern side, part of the camp overlooked a tank park and a firing range and part of it bordered on orchards.

As the city of Homs expanded, the camp became part of the city, and the municipality treats it as one of the city's neighborhoods. It now lies close to al-Ba'th University . 

When the camp was established, it housed about 3,500 Palestinian refugees who had been staying in the villages around Homs and had then been moved to the Citadel of Homs and the area around it. Most of them came from the cities or towns of Safad , Acre , Haifa , Jaffa , and Nazareth and from the villages around these cities, such as al-Shajara , Ayn al-Zaytun , al-Tira , Tarshiha , al-Kabri , al-Jish , al-Zib , Lubya , Mi'ar , Amqa , al-Farradiyya , Dayr al-Asad , al-Nahr , Dahariyya , Saffuriyya , Safsaf , Mirun , Sa'sa' , and Kafr Qaddum .

Over time the population of the camp has increased. In 2010, prior to the conflict in Syria, about 20,000 refugees (3,400 families) lived in the camp.

Infrastructure

Initially the refugees were housed in concrete huts, in shelters made of rush matting, or in stables that had belonged to a French army cavalry unit. In 1952 or so, the refugees started building houses out of pumice stone with zinc roofs. Most of the houses were of this form until 1967, when concrete houses were built, some of them four stories high.

Between the foundation of the camp and 1973, three main streets, six meters wide, took shape, as well as a narrower street three meters wide. The camp had three open spaces: the first, at the entrance to the camp on the eastern side of the Amin Mosque, was named for Martyr Ahmed Husni Sharih , the camp's first martyr; the second, which became part of the camp's vegetable market; and the third, off Acre (or Army) Street and Jaffa Street.

As the population increased, the camp expanded southward and westward with four long streets running east–west, and the area known as “the new camp” developed. The eight streets in the camp became known as Acre Street, Jaffa Street, Haifa Street (or Narrow Street), Nazareth Street (or Bakery Street), Jerusalem Street (or Bus Street), Safad Street, Galilee Street, and Palestine Street (a wide street that starts at the camp entrance and runs from Acre Street to Galilee Street). The expansion followed the economic boom in the 1970s, when some of the camp residents bought land nearby on the eastern side of the Damascus road and built on it. This area, sometimes referred to as “the eastern area,” is part of the New Akrama neighborhood .

Families (ranging from six to eight people) live in the camp in houses of between 30 and 96 square meters. When the camp was established, the refugees depended on communal sanitary facilities, and that remained the situation until the early 1970s. There were two water points to serve the inhabitants, and an artesian well was the only source of water until 1968, with a raised cistern that operated for several hours a day. The refugees also dug domestic wells and in 1965 mains water and electricity were extended into the camp.

As the camp expanded and the population grew, the sewage system was found to be insufficient, and it was replaced in 2009 after about thirty years of use. The mains water system that was introduced to the camp in 1969 was replaced in 1998 for the same reason; the state's water meters, used to collect payment based on consumption, were retained.

While the Syrian state is responsible for the camp's infrastructure, UNRWA is responsible for keeping the streets clean, a service that is provided once a day on most days.

Socioeconomic Conditions

In the beginning the refugees worked on farms, construction sites, stone quarries, the Homs oil refinery, the sugar factory, and the nitrogen-based fertilizer factory in the province. Many educated people worked as teachers in the UNRWA schools or in the Syrian state schools. About ten years after the camp opened, when the first cohorts of students graduated from the camp schools, there was a wave of emigration to the Gulf states and Libya to earn money and improve the lives of their families in the camp. With time, as the financial situation of the refugees improved, Jerusalem (al-Quds) Street developed and became the main shopping street in the camp.

Health

An UNRWA clinic was opened in the camp in 1952, with a room for medical tests, a room for examining patients, a first aid room, and a pharmacy. It had a certified midwife and health care programs approved by UNRWA in Syria, including prenatal and postnatal care; mother and child care; and care for school children, adolescents, and the elderly. The pharmacy provides inoculations for newborn and older children in line with the Syrian state's inoculation programs. In 1995 a center for disabilities and special needs was set up, providing physiotherapy and rehabilitating people with special needs so that they can become independent.

For urgent cases that require surgical intervention, UNRWA has signed contracts with private hospitals and pays a part of the costs of treatment. In Syria Palestinian refugees are entitled to free medical treatment in public hospitals on the same terms as Syrian citizens.

In 1971 the Palestinian Red Crescent Society opened another clinic with a first aid room and a doctor’s office. It offered services until 1982, when the society opened the Baysan Hospital in the center of the camp. The hospital has the following departments: first aid, cardiac, resuscitation, childbirth, operations, and outpatient clinics. It serves camp residents and Syrians living in the surrounding area.

The camp also has a number of health clinics, including clinics for gynecology, internal medicine, cardiology, osteology, and dentistry. There are also pharmacies that operate under the Syrian system. No cases of infectious or contagious diseases have been recorded among the camp population.

Education

When the camp was opened, UNRWA opened the Shajara School for Boys and the Ramla School for Girls, which covered the primary and preparatory stages of education. A school in Homs city, the al-Qastal School, operated until the early 1960s. 

The camp now has one school that operates two shifts for students and two schools that operate on a single-shift basis. These UNRWA schools provide primary and preparatory education.

Children from the camp who want secondary and university education go to Syrian government schools and to al-Baath University in Homs. Like Syrian children, Palestinian refugee children are entitled to free education. Camp residents who want vocational training can go to the official vocational secondary schools or to UNRWA's vocational training institute in Homs.

The camp has several kindergartens and remedial centers run by Palestinian factions, which have also given some camp residents scholarships to study abroad.

Administration

The General Authority for Palestinian Arab Refugees (GAPAR), which is part of the Syrian Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, has supervised the Homs camp and other Palestinian refugee camps in Syria in coordination with UNRWA. UNRWA provides agreed-upon services in the camps, while GAPAR provides services such as paving streets and grants financial support to some families and for those who excel at school. It is also responsible for maintaining and improving street lighting, the sewage system, and water and electricity supplies, in coordination with other Syrian state institutions.

Civil Society Organizations

Several associations operate in the camp, some of them attached to UNRWA and some to factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization . There are also nongovernmental organizations such as the Nour Foundation for Relief and Development and the Jafra Foundation , which provide development programs and vocational training, as well as relief aid and financial assistance. The Palestinian Charitable Association (al-Jam‘iyya al-Khairiyya al-Filastiniyya) also provides assistance, in money and in kind, to poor families and to students at all levels of education. The camp has a women's center that offers training to volunteers. But there are no cultural institutions or public libraries in the camp, although several prominent cultural figures grew up there, such as the late poet Ahmed Dahbour , the poet and singer Ibrahim Mohammed Salih (known as Abu Arab), the artist Faris Samour , and the Spanish-Arabic translator Saleh Almani .

The Palestinian Scout Association is active in the camp, with a branch set up in late 1958 under the auspices of the Homs Scouts commissioner, the well-known educator Qasim Zawahiri . It was later transferred to the Haifa branch of the Palestinian Arab Scouts and then became known by its current name.

Sports teams have been organized in the camp and some camp residents have been prominent in sport in Syria, especially in boxing, such as Salim Issawi , Abbas Zeidan , Marwan Sandaqli , Adnan Gharib , and Rashid Hamoud . Footballers from the camp include Adnan Majzoub , who played for al-Karama , and Osama Majzoub and Abu Ali al-Shaabi , who both played for al-Wathba .

The Situation in the Camp since the Outbreak of Civil War

Though the city of Homs suffered greatly from the conflict in Syria, with whole neighborhoods completely destroyed, the camp itself did not sustain physical damage. But many residents, especially the young among them, left the camp in search for a better life abroad. The population decreased from 20,000 to 9,000, but it then increased due to the moving in of displaced families from other Syrian regions. In 2022, there were about 12,000 Palestinian refugees living in the camp and 2,000 in nearby areas. The camp also hosted thousands of Syrians. Since 2011, unemployment, inflation, and security threats have been the main concerns of Palestinian refugees and Syrians in Homs, as in other parts of the country. This has led to an increase in early marriages, child labor, and drug use, as well as violence and mental health problems.