Rashidieh Camp

Rashidieh camp is named after the area in which it is located, by the sea. It is located about 5 km south of the coastal city of Tire in southern Lebanon. It is one of the largest Palestinian camps in Tire. Rashidieh camp is about 12 km away from the Palestinian border. It is the closest to Palestine among the twelve camps in Lebanon. Its area is about 2 square kilometers. The population is 11,000 refugees, the origins of most of them goes back to the villages of Fara, Umm al-Faraj, Suhmata, Deir al-Qasi, Alma, and other Palestinian areas. Rashidieh is in fact two camps: the old and the new; The first was established by the French occupation forces to house the Armenian refugees who came to Lebanon in 1936. In 1949 UNRWA rented the land from the Lebanese government, and the Palestinian refugees settled in it after it was abandoned by the Armenians. As for the second, it was established by UNRWA in 1963 to receive refugees, most of whom were residing in the Gouraud camp in the city of Baalbek, in the Bekaa. Accordingly, the refugees there are divided into the residents of the old camp, and the residents of the new camp.

Since 1967, the first armed Feda’yeen (commandos) appeared in the Rashidieh camp, and training camps affiliated to the “Fatah” movement, the People’s Liberation Forces and other Palestinian factions were established. Since then, the Isra*eli forces shelled Rashidieh camp, from the ground, sea and air.

Rashidieh camp had a unique experience with the resistance, as his children stunned the world in resisting the Isra*eli enemy during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, as they were called by the media “the children of RPG.”