"For the first time in 50 years I now feel there is hope that the
Palestinian people will one day be free," said 33-year-old Aqel, one
of around 1.8 million Palestinian refugees living in neighbouring
Jordan.

"It has raised hopes that the time will come when the occupation of
Palestine will end."

Amid the poverty and hopelessness of the squalid camps they inhabit,
even young Palestinians who have never set foot in the holy land
yearn one day to return. Many keep the keys to family homes their
parents and grandparents left behind after the creation of Israel in
1948.

Israel's plans to end a 38-year occupation of Gaza, which it captured
along with the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East war, sparked
jubilation among many of the 4 million Palestinian refugees scattered
in Arab countries.

Chanting "Today Gaza and tomorrow Jerusalem", scores of Palestinian
refugees took to the streets of Lebanon's largest camp, Ain
al-Hilweh, on Monday to celebrate.

Brandishing rifles in the air and performing the traditional dabke
dance, they hailed the evacuation as a step toward their eventual
return to their homes in what is now Israel.

"O God, the withdrawal gives me hope the Israelis may withdraw from
the rest of the Palestinian lands and of our return back to our
original homes," said Yasseen Ibrahim, a baker in the crowded camp on
the outskirts of Amman.

Amer Saleem, a teacher in the same camp, said: "Palestine is our land
and it's our homeland which Israel has to leave sooner or later."

PALESTINIAN VICTORY?

For many of the inhabitants living in makeshift homes with corrugated
iron roofs, the sight of Israeli civilians leaving settlements the
World Court has judged illegal, inspired feelings of nationalist
pride and defiance.

Some said the pullout was a victory for militant groups led by Hamas,
which waged armed attacks against Israeli civilians.

"It is the Israeli blood that was shed that forced (Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel) Sharon to retreat and the more the resistance grows
the more Israelis will leave our occupied land," said Khaled Abu
Natour, a grocer in Jordan's Baqaa camp.

Others are less optimistic. They say a long and bitter conflict lies
ahead and fear Israel will give up Gaza but consolidate its hold on
the West Bank to prevent the emergence of a viable Palestinian state.

"I believe the withdrawal leaves no more than a prison for the people
of Gaza because they have no borders or airport," said Sheikh Ahmad
Abu Sadad, living in the Jordan's Jerash camp.

Refugees also have their own concerns. They fear any future peace
settlement will forego any right of return for millions of
Palestinian refugees to land now inside Israel. They also fear
exclusion from a future Palestinian state.

"I am happy they are leaving, but I will dance in the street only
when Jerusalem is back to us and we are back to it," said Um Nidal, a
mother of 12 living in a camp near Damascus.

"I am willing to give all my sons to the resistance to make this
happen." (Additional reporting by Ali Hashisho in southern Lebanon
and Inal Ersan in Damascus)

Abdullah is concerned that if Israel fails to leave the West Bank,
which Palestinians want as part of a future state, Jordan may be
pressed to settle tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees living in
camps scattered across the region, including Syria and Lebanon.

"I know and do appreciate the fears of some of you that plans may
exist to redraw the map of the region and to settle some historic
issues at the expense of Jordan," Abdullah told an impromptu meeting
with members of parliament, Cabinet and former prime ministers before
he left for Russia.

"We are talking about the issue of resettlement and an alternative
(Jordanian) homeland," he said.

Jordan already hosts 1.8 million Palestinian refugees and their
descendants displaced in two wars with Israel since 1948.

The government argues that accepting more refugees may disturb this
country's fragile economy and its demographic balance.

Abdullah's remarks appeared aimed at Jordanians, who become increasingly
suspicious about Israel peace intentions.

Speculation is rife in Jordan and other Arab capitals that Israel,
which has begun withdrawing Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, may
stop at offering any more territory to the Palestinians in the future.

Abdullah urged Jordanians to confront any plan aiming to "deprive
Palestinians of their right to return to their homeland or establish
their independent state on Palestinian soil, and nowhere else."

"If such a plan exists, it is a plot against the Palestinian people
as much as it is a plot against Jordan," he said. "I should not be
alone in confronting such a plot, if it exists."

On Monday, Abdullah told Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in a
telephone call that the Gaza withdrawal was a "positive step and must
be a starting point for pulling out of the West Bank.

A spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in Jordan told United Press International the survey will be
carried out where refugees live in camps in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon,
the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The spokesman, who did not want to be identified by name, said the
survey was to provide 62 donor countries and 30 international refugee
organizations with solid statistics on the needs of Palestinian
refugees.

He added the survey will start Sunday in Jordan, where 1.8 million
registered refugees live in 13 camps, and later expand to other host
countries.

The Geneva-based UNRWA was formed in 1950 to provide social,
educational and health services to Palestinians who were forced to
flee their homes in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war when the Jewish state
was established

"For the first time in 50 years I now feel there is hope that the
Palestinian people will one day be free," said 33-year-old Aqel, one
of around 1.8 million Palestinian refugees living in neighbouring
Jordan.

"It has raised hopes that the time will come when the occupation of
Palestine will end."

Amid the poverty and hopelessness of the squalid camps they inhabit,
even young Palestinians who have never set foot in the holy land
yearn one day to return. Many keep the keys to family homes their
parents and grandparents left behind after the creation of Israel in
1948.

Israel's plans to end a 38-year occupation of Gaza, which it captured
along with the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East war, sparked
jubilation among many of the 4 million Palestinian refugees scattered
in Arab countries.

Chanting "Today Gaza and tomorrow Jerusalem", scores of Palestinian
refugees took to the streets of Lebanon's largest camp, Ain
al-Hilweh, on Monday to celebrate.

Brandishing rifles in the air and performing the traditional dabke
dance, they hailed the evacuation as a step toward their eventual
return to their homes in what is now Israel.

"O God, the withdrawal gives me hope the Israelis may withdraw from
the rest of the Palestinian lands and of our return back to our
original homes," said Yasseen Ibrahim, a baker in the crowded camp on
the outskirts of Amman.

Amer Saleem, a teacher in the same camp, said: "Palestine is our land
and it's our homeland which Israel has to leave sooner or later."

PALESTINIAN VICTORY?

For many of the inhabitants living in makeshift homes with corrugated
iron roofs, the sight of Israeli civilians leaving settlements the
World Court has judged illegal, inspired feelings of nationalist
pride and defiance.

Some said the pullout was a victory for militant groups led by Hamas,
which waged armed attacks against Israeli civilians.

"It is the Israeli blood that was shed that forced (Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel) Sharon to retreat and the more the resistance grows
the more Israelis will leave our occupied land," said Khaled Abu
Natour, a grocer in Jordan's Baqaa camp.

Others are less optimistic. They say a long and bitter conflict lies
ahead and fear Israel will give up Gaza but consolidate its hold on
the West Bank to prevent the emergence of a viable Palestinian state.

"I believe the withdrawal leaves no more than a prison for the people
of Gaza because they have no borders or airport," said Sheikh Ahmad
Abu Sadad, living in the Jordan's Jerash camp.

Refugees also have their own concerns. They fear any future peace
settlement will forego any right of return for millions of
Palestinian refugees to land now inside Israel. They also fear
exclusion from a future Palestinian state.

"I am happy they are leaving, but I will dance in the street only
when Jerusalem is back to us and we are back to it," said Um Nidal, a
mother of 12 living in a camp near Damascus.

"I am willing to give all my sons to the resistance to make this
happen." (Additional reporting by Ali Hashisho in southern Lebanon
and Inal Ersan in Damascus)

Al-Baq’a camp, considered the largest refugee camp for Palestinians in the Diaspora was established in 1968 to absorb the Palestinian refugees who left their temporary camps in the Jordan Rift Valley area established after the 1967 war, with the escalating level of confrontation on both banks of the Jordan River between soldiers of the Zionist occupation and the Palestinian Fedayeen.

Noteworthy is that this camp among ten camps in Jordan has attracted the attention of researchers, scholars, human rights organisations, NGOs, and political parties; local, regional and international.

Al-Baq’a camp for refugees is considered one of the largest concentrations of the Palestinian Diaspora, not only in Jordan, but also in all the countries hosting refugees. On an area of 14.1 square km live 13800 families, forming the 120 thousand strong population of the camp, where each family lives on an area of 96 square metres.

The camp like others suffers many problems, whether in healthcare or services, of these are the following:

The worsening condition of dwellings, small area, overcrowding, high occupancy of the single unit or room, result in a lack of health and minimum standards suitable for human dwelling.

Narrowness of roads, paths, alleyways with many potholes, cracked and open sewage channels, stagnant water, open gutters, which are a constant source of pollution, and places for rats and vermin, and other harmful pests and insects.

Quantities of mounting rubbish of different types, and the unavailability of resources to collect and dispose of it using modern means, and insufficient quantities of containers to collect it in.

A small percentage of camp inhabitants rear domestic animals and birds in their homes, like; goats, rabbits, poultry, and pigeons. As these form a source of income for many families, which complicates matters, where no-one can demand an end to this practice, rather some organisations advance loans to the refugees, encouraging raising animals, which is something economically commendable, but the smallness of the dwellings, and the absence of proper guidance on how to deal correctly with these animals may cause an environmental problem.

Widespread livestock enclosures or what the camp inhabitants call Souq Al-Hal-lal in the eastern part of the camp. These animals roam freely on the roads and alleys of the camp, preventing the inhabitants from planting trees on the roads and alleys, as these animals destroy the saplings and any other plants, in addition to the environmental pollution and inconvenience to the inhabitants, these animals cause.

Health:

In the camp are three health clinics run by UNRWA providing medical services to all the camp inhabitants. In these clinics, 12 doctors work in addition to one dentist and around 57 nurses and registered midwives.

However inhabitants complain of a scarcity in the majority of medicines, and that they are forced to buy medicine from private sector pharmacies, which is an added burden on their already overburdened shoulders.

The clinics also face massive pressure because of the many patients, and so a sick person may wait for about two hours before being seen by the doctor.

Some of those who have used the clinics assert that the level of services provided are not up to par, and that the examination is done so rapidly and inaccurately. The camp inhabitants demand that full time specialist doctors are made available.

Also the examination in the eye clinic is done using signals, as there is no equipment for that examination. If the patient needs to have spectacles made, then they have to go to Al-Bashir government hospital in the capital Amman.

The problem of overcrowding in the market and the problem of stalls

One of the problems that Al-Baq’a camp faces is the souq (the market) and its chaotic spread of stalls in such a disorganised manner that causes traffic jams and severe congestion in the market. Not only the inhabitants of the camp who come to this market, people from other surrounding areas also do so. Shop owners have demanded the services committee to do its job and find a solution to the problem of stalls.

Some traders say that the chaotic, disorganised, and congested state of the market is holding up traffic and the free circulation of shoppers. As for the market stall area, which was set up by the services committee a few years ago, it is in its original unsanitary state and isn’t used by the market stall sellers.

The traders have demanded that the services committee find a solution to the problem of stalls, not just move them elsewhere, rather organise them such that people can shop quite easily.

One of the market’s frequent shoppers considered the presence of stalls as a source of income for its owners, however they had become chaotic and disorganised.

He added that he and others do buy from these stalls because of their reasonable prices, which are within the means of the majority of people.

In the meantime, the owner of one stall called on the services committee to invest in the stalls area of the market, and not leave it in its abandoned state, especially as it had cost the committee large amounts of money to create.

Camp services committee

Al-Hajj Ata Al-Waheedi, head of the services committee of Al-Baq’a refugee camp said: “The committee proposed solutions to the problem of the marketplace, and these are being studied. The committee began an operation to organise the market in September, on the basis of a bidding process as an investment undertaken by a local agency. He added that the committee in cooperation with the local authority of Ain Al-Basha, and the police post, is working to organise the market using measures to reduce the congestion in the public interest. Al-Waheedi affirmed that the committee in going about its duties takes a view of sympathy and pity for the situation of those who own these stalls, knowing the reduced and difficult circumstances of some.

Al-Waheedi revealed that the committee will be opening bidding on the construction of a market and commercial storage units on a piece of land belonging to Al-Baq’a football club, having completed a joint technical study with the department of Palestinian Affairs, and Ain Al-Basha local authority. The committee will start work on it if it feels commitment to move to the new marketplace on the part of the stall owners.

Sanitation and hygiene

The problem of sanitation in Al-Baq’a camp is still one that causes sleepless nights for many of the inhabitants of the camp, who lay the blame on the camp services committee.

The residents demanded that the committee provide sufficient rubbish disposal units, in addition to allocating a place for waste disposal units outside the camp boundaries rather than in the bus terminal, as it gives a distasteful, uncivilised image to the camp, especially when the camp receives a huge number of visitors and shoppers daily.

A number of shop owners also insisted that the services committee fulfil its role in closely supervising cleaning, especially in the market, as they pay one dinar monthly in return for this service.

A worker in one of the restaurants close to the bus terminal said: the committee is doing its job, but the rubbish scattered in front of his restaurant was due to the bus terminal which sees passage of a huge number of people. A shop owner said that cleaning services were not sufficient and not satisfactory, although he pays the services committee for providing this service.

One foreign worker in a shop said that the committee is doing its job as regards cleaning, but the disparity in quality of service from one place to another is due to the whims of the cleaning workers, who clean one place and disregard another, he requested that the committee closely watch the workers and their adherence to their job requirements.

The head of the services committee of Al-Baq’a refugee camp, Al-Hajj Ata Al-Waheedi, affirmed that the committee gives the issue of cleaning great importance, and the preoccupation of the services committee is serving the resident, and that the camp was part of this country, and so must be looked after and so give a good image of it.

He added that the committee in order to preserve hygiene, had appointed four workers on top of those appointed by UNRWA, carrying out cleaning duties daily from eight in the evening to midnight, especially in the area of the bus terminal.

Al-Baq’a sports club

Al-Baq’a club is considered one of the largest sports clubs in Jordan, and plays a noticeable role in serving the camp inhabitants, as the club has more than one objective other than sport. It is a social club, cultural centre, while also caring for orphans in the camp through a committee set up for the welfare of orphans, providing educational and civic programmes, as well as aid packages to them.

The club also undertakes notable activities to spread the culture of “Return” and adherence to homeland, rejecting all the initiatives and documents that seek to take away that right, by organising forums, debates, and cultural fairs. The cultural committee of the club has annually held Palestine culture week aiming to maintain the Palestinian issue alive in the hearts of its sons.

The club has sports teams at the forefront of the sports league in Jordan. The football club is fourth in the league of premier clubs. The volleyball team is one of the top teams in the first division, as for the boxing team it has been at the top of the Kingdom championship for the last 25 years.

Al-Baq’a Park

At a cost of 78,000 Euros, the director of the Department for Palestinian Affairs inaugurated the children’s park built by the department in cooperation with an Italian NGO (Institute for Inter-University Cooperation). The establishment of this park comes as part of the project for constant improvement of living conditions of Palestinian refugees in camps in Jordan. The children’s park in Al-Baq’a camp is considered the first of its kind in Palestinian refugee camps. It is a welcome outlet for the children such that they may enjoy themselves in a secure and healthy environment, rather than making the streets their playground.