Welcome to Baqa'a Refugee Camp

Baqa’a was just one of six “emergency” refugee camps which was set up in Jordan in 1968, to accommodate the Palestinian refugees and displaced persons, who left the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a result of the 1967 Arab-Israeli “six day” war.

In "this warren of cinder blocks, cement and corrugated tin roofs, it is where 120,000 of Jordan's Palestinian refugees now live", with the camp itself being the largest in Jordan and when it was first established, according to the United Nations had around 5,000 tents for around 26,000 Palestinian refugees.

Due to the harsh winters in Jordan, UNRWA replaced the tents with 8,048 prefabricated shelters between 1969-1971 with special contributions from the Federal Republic of Germany. Most of the camp's inhabitants have since then constructed more durable concrete shelters to replace the prefabs.

UNRWA provides education, health and relief and social services through 23 installations operated by 688 Agency staff. UNRWA runs 16 schools for 15,659 enrolled pupils in 2006/2007, with a teaching staff of 525. The schools run on a double shift basis in 8 school buildings;

The Agency runs two clinics and one mother-and-child health care clinic staffed by 10 doctors, 3 dentists, and 59 nurses and assistants for about 1,300 patients daily; 4,213 refugees receive special assistance through the Agency's special hardship case programme.

With two women's programme centres running courses in sewing, hairdressing, computers, information technology, physical fitness, English language, legal consultancy and handicrafts. These centres, in addition to one kindergarten and one nursery, are run by local women's committees with financial and technical support from UNRWA. The UNRWA also supports the work of a community rehabilitation centre which provides facilities for 350 refugees with disabilities.

Among the various government and international agencies operating within Baqa’a, there is also the “Baqa’a Club“, which is located in-between the Baqa’a bus station and the main market and boasts its own premier league football team, championship boxing team, a Palestinian cultural school and welfare support project for the camps orphans, among many other highly impressive projects.

There is also Al Masmya Women Association which was established in 1987 and provides activities and services to underprivileged women of Baqa‘a. The Association has become a central “meeting point” for the women in the area because of the social, cultural and extra-curricular activities, which further maintains and upkeeps the identity of the refugee population.

Like allot of the organisations operating within the camp, the main features of most organisations within Baqa’a, focus particularly on the preservation of the Palestinian identity, the right of return, the preservation of cultural heritage and tradition, but also the empowering of the camp’s residents.

The Baqa’a Refugee Camp is located just 20 km north of Amman, and was once visited by former Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who during the 1980’s spoke at the camp and described how: "Having been round a number of the streets and called into some of your homes, I have seen the conditions under which you are living and may I say I marvel at the health and cheerfulness of the children."




Pictures taken by Hussein Al-alak