write:The team organized numerous assemblies with the camp community in order to discuss the implications and possibilities of such a transformation. In the beginning the very idea of c

through his or her participation in the development of autonomous governance for the camp. Today
refugees are re-inventing social and political practices that improve their everyday life; the refugee camp has been transformed from a marginalized holding area to an interconnected center of social and political life. It is however crucial that this radical transformation has not normalized the political condition of being exiled.A Common Space in Fawaar Refugee CampMore than sixty years after the ‘roof debate’
or rather
whether building a roof implies blurring the distinction between the camp and the rest of the city and
consequently
normalizing its exceptional political condition –and its embodiment of the right of return– a somewhat similar discussion took place in the Fawwar refugee camp in the south West Bank. However
this time the discussion did not revolve around the replacement of tents with walls or the construction of a roof
but rather around the meaning of a public space within the camp.This discussion was initiated by a UNRWA Camp Improvement Programme[3] proposal to create a common space in the camp. The team organized numerous assemblies with the camp community in order to discuss the implications and possibilities of such a transformation. In the beginning
the very idea of creating a “public square” was outright suspicious for the people of Fawwar. If the camp