Friday, June 11, 2004
Tank lanes built between new Jenin homes
Source: Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz - 06/10/04
The residents of Jenin refugee camp have begun returning to homes destroyed during Operation Defensive Shield. The homes are being rebuilt by UNRWA with a $29 million grant from the United Arab Emirates.
Construction of 100 of the 530 housing units detroyed by the IDF in April 2002 has been completed, and 70 families have returned to their homes, which are better designed than the previous buildings. UNRWA officials say they hope the entire camp will be rebuilt by the end of the summer.
UNRWA decided, after a debate on the issue, to take 15 percent of the original area of each destroyed house and use the area to widen roads so that in the future it would be possible for Israeli tanks to pass more easily.
Many residents opposed this, saying it should be made more not less difficult for Israeli tanks to enter the camp. UN officials decided it would be wiser to leave wider roads so that the houses would not be destroyed again.
In addition, UNRWA moved 100 families to a new area on the outskirts of the camp where new houses were built for them, once again in anticipation of the necessity to leave more space for tanks.
"We have lost the right of return," said one of the camp's committee members this week when he saw the new homes.
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