Piles of uncollected garbage line the streets of the Shu‘fat refugee camp, which suffers from a severe waste management crisis closely tied to its political abandonment by the city and physical isolation.1 At the time this photo was taken, in 2015, the camp was overwhelmed by waste after both the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the Jerusalem Municipality, who is formally responsible for sanitation, failed to carry out collection for nearly a month. More than a decade later, the situation has only deteriorated, as the neighborhood continues to be excluded from even the most basic municipal services, including proper waste removal.2
At its core, the crisis reflects a gap in responsibility and access. Though physically within Jerusalem’s boundaries, the walled-off camp is functionally excluded, falling between systems rather than being fully served by any one authority. As a result, collection remains inconsistent and under-resourced; while the Jerusalem Municipality is officially responsible for waste collection, because the camp lies within the municipal boundaries, Shu‘fat, like all Palestinian neighborhoods beyond the Separation Wall, often faces systemic neglect. Meanwhile UNRWA lacks the capacity to meet the demands of the camp’s dense population. Ultimately, the sanitation issue is a visible symptom of the camp’s broader condition, where a densely populated community is enclosed by infrastructure that restricts not only movement but also services and consistent governance.
See also Closure and Access to Jerusalem, Neighborhoods beyond the Wall, and The Separation Wall.