A mong the hills of northern Jordan, three miles west of the Roman ruins of Jerash, a sprawling settlement is home to more than 40, Palestinian people. Set up as an emergency shelter to accommodate 11, Palestinians forcibly displaced from Gaza during the Arab-Israeli war, Jerash camp — known locally as Gaza camp — was intended as a temporary solution. The initial clusters of tents have since evolved into a more permanent settlement, where generations of refugees have grown up.
Jordan hosts the largest number of Palestinian refugees in the world and most of the 2. But the Palestinians who arrived in remain stateless. Without national IDs, they cannot find work, own property or receive state benefits. Born in Rafah a few weeks before the war broke out, his parents fled from Gaza to Jordan carrying him in a blanket.
They had sought refuge in Gaza camp firmly believing that their exile would be shortlived. But three generations of the family have now spent their entire lives in the camp. Now in his late 50s, Yahya and his family yearn to return to a homeland most of them have never seen.
Dressed in a black thobe with a Jordanian red-and-white keffiyeh around his head, Yahya sits on a threadbare sofa in his living room, watching Palestinians in Gaza celebrating the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on television.
For Yahya, this ceasefire, after days of war and 46, lives lost, is too late; 40 members of his family were killed during the war, their homes reduced to rubble.
