People’s perceptions from Jabal el-Hussein to Zarqa camps. An analysis of access to water and inequalities in two Palestinian refugee camps of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Sammanfattning: With population growth, urbanization and political instability affecting the MENA region, people in Jordan have been facing a number of challenges. From the Israeli-Arab war of 1948 until 2011, with the Syrian crisis, waves of refugees arrived to Jordan fleeing conflicts. Additionally, man-made issues such as mismanagement of resources and a top-down approach in the decision-making have worsened the situation of natural resources such as water. For these reasons, this paper aims to address the issue of access to water from the point of view of Jordanian citizens living in refugee camps established in 1949. To do so, I conduct structured interviews through surveys with open and closed-ended questions in two camps, Jabal el-Hussein camp, inside the capital city, and Zarqa camp, in the outskirts of the homonymous city. In particular, the aim is to investigate how access to water can differ within the two communities, awareness regarding the local water-related issues as well as people’s understanding of other areas’ realities. Through quantitative approach, this project will deepen our understanding of Jordan and its experience regarding the tight connection existing between environmental issues such as water scarcity, the concept of water as human right and social distribution of resources.