Sheikh Jarrah and Beit Qad: the history of two UNRWA out-of-camp housing schemes

Abstract In the early 1950s, United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) built two out-of-camp housing schemes, one urban, twenty-four twin houses in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, and the other rural, thirty-two small rooms for farmers in Beit Qad, near Jenin, West Bank. These are two examples out of numerous small housing schemes for Palestinian refugees. The history of these schemes has been overlooked, maybe due to their smallness, unclear status, and the tendency to focus on refugee camps. This article explores the rationales for building these houses and how some of the refugees responded to the schemes, a micro history combining files in the UNRWA archive and interviews. These houses represent an important phenomenon in UNRWA’s work, both because of its current significance as inhabitants of Sheikh Jarrah have been under threat of eviction, and as it highlights aspects of UNRWA’s work between ‘Relief’ and ‘Works’. A closer look at these projects helps understand fundamental issues at stake, such as approaches to solutions to encampment and refugeehood.