The Shuafat Refugee Camp (RC) in Jerusalem is unique, not only because it is the only Palestinian refugee camp in Jerusalem, but also because it has the distinction of being the only location where the three main issues at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian overlap: refugees, security, and Jerusalem.
As refugees, the inhabitants of Shuafat RC are part of a problem that, from an Israeli perspective, challenges the fundamental legitimacy of Israel’s creation, with the refugees’ demand for the “right of return” being irreconcilable with the continued existence of a Jewish state of Israel.
With respect to security, Shuafat RC is an overcrowded and impoverished Palestinian “ghetto” in the heart of Jerusalem whose inhabitants defy Israeli control; it is thus perceived as a potential security threat by Israeli authorities (despite the fact that the camp has never been a source of major security problems).
Finally, since Shuafat RC inhabitants are legal residents of Jerusalem, they are part of the demographic threat to a truly Jewish capital of the state of Israel, and the very existence of Shuafat RC – an extraterritorial Palestinian island whose residents have generally defied Israeli control and rejected Israeli authority – challenges in the most basic way Israel’s claim to sovereignty and control of the city.
For all of these reasons, Israel has in the past tried to ignore the existence of Shuafat RC and today is constructing a security barrier that excludes Shuafat RC and its residents from the city.
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