The quarter of Sheikh Radwan was established to the north of
the city so as to evacuate Shati Camp and resettle the refugees whose houses were
demolished by the Israeli occupation authorities, in the first stage. In the second stage,
anyone else who wanted to move from Shati Camp to Sheikh Radwan Quarter had to demolish
his house in order to obtain a house there. The goal behind this project was to resettle
the refugees and put an end to their case, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
The project was
started in 1973 and continued at different stages. The residents, at first did not take
interest since this process harms their case as refugees. However, as a result of the
increase in the population, and because the house which the head of the family got in the
50s remained as it was despite the large increase in the number of the family members (20
people, sometimes, live in a two-room house), people moved to Sheikh Radwan.
At the
beginning, the Gaza Municipality refused to provide services for the few residents who
settled there. Later, in 1975-1976, Project (A) was implemented; the Israeli occupation
authorities built houses which consisted of two rooms, a kitchen and utilities. After
that, they modified their policy and followed the "build your own house" plan.
They offered the head of the family 250 square meters of land, and the head of the family
built his house according to his own desire. Sheikh Radwan Project (A) was completed in
1973. It contains 1,000 housing units, a shopping center, a school, a mosque, and a
clinic.
In October
1978, the implementation of Sheikh Radwan Project (B) started. It stretched to the east
and north of the previous project. The land was distributed - two families were given an
area of 250 square meters. Thus, the project would absorb 2,200 families. This project is
considered an extension of the Nassr and Northern Rimal quarters. The project was
completed, especially in the eastern part, by the end of the 80s and the beginning of the
90s.
A project for
constructing buildings for housing was implemented in Salah Khalaf street, to the northern
end of the city. Construction covered most of Nassr and Rimal Shamali quarters. The area
of this project has reached 700 dunums where 22,000 people, at present, live. |
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Sheikh Radwan Pool |
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