The Architecture of 'Temporary' Solutions
FIRST INSTANCE: The Legacy of 'Temporary' Camps (1948 - Present) The concept of 'temporary' housing for displaced Palestinians dates directly to the 1948 Nakba, which saw over 750,000 Palestinians expelled or flee their homes. Refugee camps, initially conceived as transient solutions by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and various Arab states, rapidly congealed into permanent communities.
For example, by the mid-1950s, camps like Jabalia in Gaza or Yarmouk in Syria, though initially canvas tents, had evolved into concrete structures, yet retained their 'temporary' legal status. This designation, codified in international aid structures, served to prevent naturalization in host countries while simultaneously denying a right of return – trapping generations in a liminal state.
Records show that by 1967, many of these 'temporary' camps were already decades old, housing hundreds of thousands with no end in sight to their displacement (UNRWA historical archives, 1960s). REPETITIONS: Normalizing Displacement & Control (1967, 1982) The 1967 Six-Day War created a new wave of displacement and 'temporary' arrangements. In Gaza, the Israeli military administration often dictated
where and how displaced populations could reside, often consolidating them into specific areas to facilitate easier surveillance and control. Later, during the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, the 'temporary' nature of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon did not protect residents; instead, their statelessness and lack of sovereign protection made them particularly vulnerable to violence and