East of Nablus, for over half a century, the camp has become painfully rooted into Palestinian memory. During this time, Palestinian refugees have suffered, slowly making the painful transition from life in tents to the age of revolution. Yet they have refused to allow their story to become merely a humanitarian tragedy begging for the Agency’s compassion and its food aid card; they continue to cry out reproaching humanity’s conscience in a thunderous voice: “We are people who, even if humiliated by exile, will not be satiated except by their country’s bread”.

The Story of a Refugee Both sections of ‘Askar camp, new and old, lie to the east of Nablus, on an area of 209 dunums.

This area was especially set aside for the building of a camp which would later be developed and built-up in 1952. Prior to this, it was simply a collection of isolated tents inhabited by Palestinian refugees, forced to flee their homes and land by the Haganah and Argon’s campaigns of terror, and dispossessed of their lands and homes.

The camp’s inhabitants originate from a large number of the towns and villages of Palestine 1948, but many of its largest families come from the towns of al-Lid, Yaafa, and Al-‘Awja. As well as these towns, some of the camp’s inhabitants are originally Bedouins who were forced out of the Palestinian desert, such as the Bedouins of Abu Sitta who came from Bi’r as-Sab’, and those of Abu Kushk, as well as those who originally come from the al-Jamaseen, Yazour, Sheikh Mounis, and other Palestinian villages which enjoyed peace and security before being invaded by Zionist gangs in the Nakbah of 1948.

The inhabitants of this camp - both its old section and its new, built in 1964 - number 145,000, with the old section accommodating 9,000 and the new one – not yet officially recognised by the UNRWA as a Palestinian refugee camp despite its being the larger of the two – 6,000, dunums.

This lack of official recognition is one of the many problems the camp faces, as it is consequently denied services and aid granted to official refugee camps, despite the fact that it is bigger, in terms of population, than the officially-recognised camp of Al-‘Ain in West Nablus. In fact, ‘Askar refugee camp is denied a great number of facilities, and is unable to offer its inhabitants any form of education, which undoubtedly has a dangerously adverse impact on the lives of more than 1,200 pupils of primary and middle school stage, not to mention those at secondary school and university level. Sources in the camp’s Services Committee point to the fact that these young children are forced to walk exceedingly long distances to get to the Agency’s schools in the old section of ‘Askar camp in difficult conditions which have only been aggravated by the recent deterioration of security and increase of activity by Zionist settlers and the Israeli occupation.

Once the pupils manage to arrive at school, they face problems of overcrowding and shortage of teachers, and the school divides the pupils into 2 groups, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. This denies the pupils the right to a full and adequate education, a problem which the camp administration describes as the most acute and urgent amongst all the other problems they face, and is considered the highest priority in the camp’s struggle.

The Committee adds, “we have demanded the establishment of a school, and 8 dunums of land have already been allocated for this, yet the Agency still refuses to build it, saying that the camp is not officially recognised like other refugee camps. This is in addition to the lack of funding and difficulty of finding anyone to adopt this project, since possible donors to the building of schools have certain conditions, such that they choose the school’s location and have it built according to their wishes”. The problems faced by ‘Askar camp and its inhabitants are not restricted to the lack of schooling, health and youth facilities.

The camp’s refugee population also suffers from a high level of unemployment, and, although the inhabitants work in many economic sectors, the majority (70%) occupy manual jobs in Palestine 1948, with only 10% working as government employees, 6% owning their businesses, 5-6% in local jobs and the rest in other fields. With the recent Palestinian uprising, these workers have become unable to travel to work in Palestine 1948 due to the myriad of checkpoints, security barriers, and road closures. Consequently, camp authorities have confirmed that the unemployment rate in the camp has soared to 67%. Legendary Steadfastness With the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising, ‘Askar refugee camp has found itself in a one of the most strategic and critical positions, overlooking Nablus and linking it with surrounding areas.

The camp is also close to the tomb of Youssef, a constant hotspot for clashes between Palestinian civilians and the Israeli army, making it the scene of resistance activities and a target for revenge attacks by the Israeli army and the settlers. According to the camp’s Services Committee, 45 civilians have been killed in the last 3 years, while more than 100 languish in Israeli prisons. More than 20 houses have been demolished, and 52 people rendered disabled, by occupation forces. Countless families have been forced to endure tragic conditions during the uprising, amongst which is the Bashkaar family. The family’s four males have all been imprisoned by the Israeli authorities.

In the Qatnaani family, five sons have been arrested, while the sixth was martyred by occupation forces. The family suffers from the absence of a breadwinner after the sons were arrested and the father was shot and paralysed by a bullet in his spinal cord, rendering him unable to work. One of the sons, who was released after having his administrative sentence prolonged several times, is partially disabled (45%), and is in urgent need of an operation to remove platinum and another to extract shrapnel from his kidney. ‘Askar camp is a vivid embodiment of the daily suffering endured by the Palestinians.

Israeli oppression is compounded by chronic unemployment, overcrowding, and an old infrastructure in urgent need of maintenance and repair. According to the Committee, nearly 700 homes in the old ‘Askar camp and 470 in the new camp need to be torn down and rebuilt as they are completely inadequate for accommodation. 1,115 such houses have not been repaired since being built, and the Committee emphasizes that they are all in urgent need of maintenance and repair.