Nahr el-Bared Camp (NBC) was established in December 1949 by the League of Red Cross Societies to accommodate the Palestinian refugees suffering from the difficult winter conditions in the Beqa’a Valley and the suburbs of Tripoli. Overtime the camp expanded into the adjacent area, or the ‘New Camp’. According to UNRWA’s most recent statistics, there are 31,023 registered refugees in Nahr el-Bared Camp.
 

As armed conflict erupted in May 2007, refugees evacuated the camp seeking shelter, among other places, in the neighboring Beddawi Camp, approximately 12 km south of NBC. Beddawi is a significantly smaller camp that is home to 16,198 refugees registered with UNRWA. The influx of internally displaced people from NBC and the New Camp made the already cramped conditions in the Beddawi Camp increasingly difficult. UNRWA launched a Flash Appeal for $12.7 million to fund the relief effort on June 4, 2007. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora also spoke at the event to urge donor assistance to the unintended victims of the conflict who had to leave their homes.
 

Consistent with its belief that Palestinian refugees are an international responsibility, the Government of Lebanon, on September 10, 2007, appealed to the international community for the post-conflict relief, recovery and reconstruction of the Nahr el-Bared Camp and the surrounding conflict afflicted areas. The Nahr el-Bared Camp and its surrounding areas were presented as a single disaster area, so as to not differentiate the impact the crisis had on the Lebanese and Palestinians. Both communities faced enormous damages and losses. Some of the key attendees included the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, the PLO representative to Lebanon, ambassadors from the Arab region, the Friends of Lebanon Group, World Bank representatives as well as heads of the six municipalities surrounding the camp of Nahr el-Bared. Topics among others covered in the conference were:
 

The conference was a preliminary effort to give donors time to estimate the amount of funds they could raise. Although the donor community responded positively and immediately to UNRWA’s appeal by donating more than half the total sum requested, more funding was needed to continue executing its humanitarian plan.
 

LPDC organized regular meetings with Lebanese and Palestinian political factions, religious leaders, NGOs and civil society activists to provide information and listen to concerns. LPDC’s aim was to encourage unity and resolve disagreements. As the crisis unfolded, LPDC played an important role in delivering the Prime Minister’s messages to the public through mainstream media.

In coordination with the Prime Minister, three committees were created to increase LPDC’s capacity to cope with the national impact of the outbreak of violence. The acting committees were:
 

Saudi Arabia donated $12 million to the families of Nahr el-Bared and Beddawi camps in August 2007.  This money meant that each family from NBC received 2,000,000 L.L. ($1,327) and each family from Beddawi received 1,000,000 L.L. ($663.57). LPDC was designated to coordinate the checks’ distribution with UNRWA, based on UNRWA registration lists. The PLO and the Lebanese Government signed each cheque.
 

The Lebanese Government prioritized the relief effort in the Nahr el-Bared crisis and formed a working group to coordinate and oversee relief activities on the ground. The group consisted of the heads of UNRWA, UNDP, UNICEF, the International Red Cross Federation, the Palestinian Red Crescent, the Lebanese Red Cross, the High Relief Council (HRC), as well as members of LPDC. Daily meetings served as an opportunity to track the progress of the delivery of aid and to coordinate the efforts of the active agencies. UNRWA played a central role in most sectors of the relief campaign including shelter, water and sanitation, health and education. HRC warehouses served as one of UNRWA’s main sources of supplies. UNICEF created child-friendly areas within the Beddawi Camp. It was also the main provider of water for Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Beddawi Camp area. The Lebanese, Palestinian and International Red Cross and Red Crescent coordinated evacuations of refugees from Nahr el-Bared Camp. LPDC was at the front line in coordinating relief efforts, primarily by acting as a facilitator among the stakeholders involved, updating and reporting to the Lebanese Prime Minister the progress on the ground. LPDC had to ensure that there were no discrepancies in distribution of aid and foodstuffs.
 

The Lebanese Prime Minister recognized the importance of having an LPDC- HRC team open a public school as shelter in the Beddawi area near the camp for IDPs and make it “a model school” in the way it was run. In coordination with the development of the working team and implementation of its initiatives, a plan was drafted for the management of the school and passed on to the Lebanese Government. A main priority was creating a comfortable environment for the refugees at the school. Overcrowding was to be avoided at all costs.
 

One important feature of the project was to have the school’s workforce consist of both Lebanese and Palestinian volunteers. This served many purposes including promoting cooperation between the two communities, building a sense of unity, comfort and encouraging interaction and mutual understanding.
 

The Beddawi School for Girls opened as the first shelter on June 7, 2007, filling up within 24 hours. It became home to over 650 people. Work at the school was the collaborative effort of a number of organizations under the management of LPDC. As the school developed a reputation and reached full capacity, more schools opened up to relieve pressure on the camp. Ultimately, LPDC opened eight schools in total and hosted 2,200 IDPs.
 

In terms of meals, LPDC, Future Movement and Rene Mouawad Foundation developed a plan to allow people to cook for themselves at the school with ingredients being supplied daily.

 

LPDC launched an effective media campaign to quell local and national fears. The Media Committee’s aim was to consolidate the messages and positions of the Prime Minister and to devise appropriate media campaigns delivered to targeted audiences. The effort to improve communication with the Palestinian people paralleled the efforts of the Lebanese Prime Minister at the political level. The messages were the following:
 

The campaign was titled “Partners in Responsibility” and had three main messages at its core: “Your evacuation is temporary. Your return is assured. Rebuilding of the camp is guaranteed.” The idea was that the Lebanese and Palestinians were facing together a common foreign enemy and thus were both responsible for keeping the peace at large. A letter was drafted from the Prime Minister’s office individually addressed to refugees. These were delivered to camps all over Lebanon. The letter and the three core phrases of the campaign were the basis of public television and radio messages. Both the television ads and the radio messages featured a voiceover in the Lebanese dialect to appear more personal. Other materials were also produced including T-shirts and caps with the slogan “Partners in Responsibility” featuring the Lebanese and Palestinian flags together. Members of the Media Awareness Committee produced press releases on various aspects of LPDC, High Relief Council and the Prime Minister office’s activities, statements and positions. Moreover, LPDC’s website served as the main hub of information for the Nahr el-Bared crisis, streamlining regular updates on the crisis.
 

As the school year began classes resumed leading to the relocation of the internally displaced persons to temporary housing provided by UNRWA. In a first step, UNRWA offered over two month rental subsidies to displaced families. Another measure UNRWA undertook, with the help of an architectural and engineering consulting company, was a rapid assessment of the New Camp, which did not suffer as much destruction as NBC. An estimated 60% of the buildings were deemed safe for later use, although they might have needed serious repairs