Talbieh Camp (or Talbiyye or Talbiyeh) () is one of the 10 officially recognized

UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA, pronounced ) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fl ...

Palestinian refugee camps Palestinian refugee camps were first established to accommodate Palestinians who were displaced by the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight during the 1948 Palestine war. Camps were established by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency ( ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. It is located about south of

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

, placing it within the main urban area of Al-Jeezah, immediately to the west of where

Desert Highway A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

passes through the town. The refugee camp is also slightly south of the more recently built

Queen Alia International Airport Queen Alia International Airport () is an international airport located in Zizya, 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of Amman, the capital and largest city of Jordan. It is the largest airport in the country, named after Queen Alia, who died in a ...

. The camp covers an area of , making it Jordan's largest refugee camp as far as the amount of

state land In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land, state land, or Crown land (Commonwealth realms). The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries. ...

used, the land was donated by three of Sheikh Mithqal Al-Fayez's sons: Akef, Trad, and Talal Al-Fayez. Other refugee camps in Jordan cover more land overall, such as Baqa'a on and Zaatari on .

History

The camp was one of six emergency refugee camps built in 1968 to accommodate approximately 5,000 Palestinians displaced from the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

in the

Naksa The Naksa (Arabic: النكسة, "the setback") was the displacement of around 280,000 to 325,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, when the territories were captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. A number of Palestini ...

after the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

. When the camp first opened, most of Talbieh's inhabitants were

displaced person Forced displacement (also forced migration or forced relocation) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of perse ...

s as opposed to

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s, and the population consisted of mostly

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

. These two demographic factors made Talbieh different from other refugee camps in Jordan. The Red Lion and Sun Society of Iran donated the tents that originally made up the camp, and later installed concrete shelters. A 2013 study noted that 18 percent of households in Talbieh have a floor area of less than per person, with Talbieh's average household floor area per capita being , the lowest of all Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan.

Demographics

As of 2016, UNWRA reported that Talbieh Camp has a population of over 8,000 UNRWA-registered refugees but its actual population may be larger. Even at the upper estimate of its population, it is the smallest Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan in terms of camp population and one of the least developed. The average household size was 5.3 people in 2012. As of 2013, Talbieh Camp was the only Palestinian refugee camp where young men outperformed young women in terms of completing post-secondary education.

Support facilities

The camp has four schools, including a school for boys and a school for girls, both run by UNRWA, as well as a government-run high school for girls. It also has a women's program center, a health center, and a community-based rehabilitation center. Camp volunteers assist in efforts to combat drug abuse in the community.

References

External links

* * {{Palestinian refugee camps Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan 1968 establishments in Jordan Populated places in Amman Governorate