Rafah Camp (Arabic: مخيم رفح or معسكر رفح) is one of eight Palestinian refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. It is located in the Rafah Governorate along the Egyptian-Palestinian Authority border. It was established in 1949 and currently forms part of the city of Rafah. During the period of its establishment, it was the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, however its population has decreased due to migration to the Tall as-Sultan camp, an extension of Rafah camp, which was set up to absorb refugees repatriated from Canada Camp.
According to the UNRWA, the camp has a population of 99,000 inhabitants, This figure includes (in contrast PCBS census data) Tall as-Sultan. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 2006 mid-year estimate for Rafah Camp alone is 59,983, for Tall as-Sultan 24,418. The camp is the second largest refugee camp in Palestine. There are 31 schools (20 primary, 11 secondary) run by the UNRWA.
Famous quotes containing the word camp:
“A healthy man, with steady employment, as wood-chopping at fifty cents a cord, and a camp in the woods, will not be a good subject for Christianity. The New Testament may be a choice book to him on some, but not on all or most of his days. He will rather go a-fishing in his leisure hours. The Apostles, though they were fishers too, were of the solemn race of sea-fishers, and never trolled for pickerel on inland streams.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)