More news from Al Tafawk Children’s Center, Jenin Refugee Camp
11th April 2025 More news from Al Tafawk Children’s Center, Jenin Refugee Camp.
I first met Mona in Jenin Refugee Camp in 2018, when I volunteered at The Al Tafawk Children’s Center which she ran. Mona herself grew up in Jenin Camp and is a graduate of the Arab American University, Jenin. The center provided the camp’s only Kindergarten and ran classes for older children to supplement the education provided by the UN run school.
Two days after a ceasefire was announced between Gaza and Israel in January 2025, The Israeli Defence Forces launched an offensive called “Iron Wall” beginning in Jenin Refugee Camp. By March, the camp was uninhabitable and the operation had resulted in the forced displacement of more than 40,000 people from the refugee camps and surrounding communities in Jenin and Tulkarem.
Local authorities have put thousands of residents up in temporary shelters and, along with donors and international organizations, have provided emergency assistance. But Israeli restrictions, insecurity and funding shortfalls are hampering their ability to provide relief. Funding for shelters is running out. Mona, her family and hundreds of others from the camp have been housed at the Arab American University.
Local charities and donors initially brought the families clothes, blankets, mattresses and other essential supplies, Mona told me, but as the numbers grew and time passed, the aid dwindled
And now time has run out. Mona and her family and others have been given notice to leave the university tomorrow - Saturday 12th April. They have no idea where they will go.
Some families are already living in the surrounding countryside. All the children are known to Mona, as they used to attend Al Tafawk when they were living in the camp. Mona asks the children about school, about access to online lessons. They tell her they don’t attend school and cannot access online because they have no electricity. When asked where they sleep they show the makeshift shelters. The children tell Mona they want to return to the camp, they want to go back to the Center and they want to play.
Mona sees these children as her own. She has watched them grow up, she knows the camp like they do and feels that she can represent them, shouting out to the world on their behalf.
Many Palestinian families are coming to terms with the idea that they may never return home. But wherever they go, Mona says she will rebuild the Center. Start again. The children need the center, the children deserve the Center. The children deserve to live in freedom to learn and play.
If you would like to support these children now and in the future, please consider donating to
https://chuffed.org/project/121096-help-keep-open-jenins-al-tawfawk-centre
