Al-Hara is attributed to the Al-Damj family, which hails from the city of Haifa and the displaced village of Mansi (Al-Jazeera)

One of the neighborhoods of the Jenin camp overlooking the Marj Ibn Amer plain, west of the city of Jenin in the north of the West Bank. It is one of the neighborhoods known for its resistance to the occupation and its struggle against it for years, especially during the Stone Intifada in 1987, as well as during the invasion of the Jenin camp in April 2002.

Its name, “Haret Al-Damj,” became more prominent after other camps, especially Nour Shams, near the city of Tulkarm, and Al-Fara’a in the city of Tubas, in the northern West Bank, gave the name “Al-Damj” to their neighborhoods.

Its location

Al-Damj neighborhood is located in the eastern side of the Jenin refugee camp, west of the city of Jenin in the north of the West Bank. Its importance lies in the fact that it is directly connected to the city of Jenin, and connects the southern and northern sides of the city as well.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) established Jenin Camp in 1953, west of the city, and called it the “Returnees Camp.” After a while, its name was changed to “Al-Mahatta Camp,” after the Ottoman train station that used to pass under the camp. Then it became known as “Camp.” Embryo".

Before the residents of Jenin camp settled there, they lived in the “Janzour” area near the village of Triangle of Martyrs, south of the city, and due to a large snow wave in 1950, the refugees moved to the camp.

Part of the destruction caused by the occupation in one of the sites of Harat Al-Damj (Al-Jazeera)

Population

The "integration" consists of about 15 Palestinian families, residing in more than 250 houses, and its population is estimated at about two thousand people (of the more than 13 thousand people who live in Jenin camp according to the Palestinian census of 2023 and the camp residents) who reside on more than 10 dunums of the camp's area. Which is estimated at about half a square kilometre.

In addition to the merger, there are other families, including “Salit”, “Siti”, “Al-Azmi”, “Abu Sobeih”, “Abu Hatab”, “Al-Hindi”, “Salama”, “Al-Hariri”, “Barakat”, and “Dabaya”. Its people, like the rest of the camp's residents, come from the city of Haifa and Mount Carmel.

the climate

Haret Al-Damj, like the city of Jenin, is characterized by a Mediterranean climate. It is hot in summer and moderate and rainy in winter, and the mountains surrounding it to the east and west relatively reduce rainy and cold air fronts.

Name it

The neighborhood is attributed to the Al-Damj family, which hails from the city of Haifa and the village of Al-Mansi, which was displaced in 1948. Despite the presence of other families and delegations to the neighborhood, and the departure of some members of the Al-Damj family to nearby areas within the city of Jenin, the Al-Damj family remained in the majority and maintained their presence there, and it continued to bear their name. , and Merge is the name of the family's great-grandfather.

Its features

Al-Ansar Mosque, which is located in the middle of Al-Damj Neighborhood, is its most prominent landmark and also its only one. It was built by the people in 1992. Like the neighborhood, the mosque was destroyed and vandalized as a result of the occupation’s military operations and invasions of the camp.

In 2002, during the April invasion (the Defensive Wall), the occupation soldiers took the mosque as their military barracks throughout the 11 days of the invasion, and wreaked havoc and destruction on it, the most notable of which was the explosions they caused during the military operation that the occupation called “House and Garden” in early July 2023, which It lasted more than 40 hours.

This was followed by the bombing of the mosque with missiles from Israeli Apache helicopters in October 2023, and it said that it targeted resistance fighters there, the most prominent of whom was Asaad Al-Damj, one of the leaders of the Jenin Brigade.

Martyrs and prisoners

Al-Damj Neighborhood witnessed many battles as it turned into an arena of permanent confrontations, and provided martyrs, prisoners and wounded. 1% of the camp’s population was martyred between 2000 and 2006.

Of the approximately 100 martyrs presented by the Jenin camp (60 of them since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation carried out by the resistance on October 7, 2023), at least 20 martyrs rose from it and inside it, including Muhammad Al-Zubaidi, Matin Dhabaya, and Asaad Al-Damj.

Dozens of prisoners from Al-Dajm neighborhood are also languishing in Israeli occupation prisons, and 80% of its families have been presented as prisoners.

Al-Ansar Mosque in Harat Al-Damj (Al-Jazeera)

Economy

The residents of the integration neighborhood depend for their economy on their work in public employment or self-employment through their shops and commercial establishments in the camp and in the city of Jenin, or working in the central vegetable market in Jenin. Others are street vendors, and many work within the Green Line (workers in Israel).

The neighborhood revolution and its resistance

“Al-Damj Neighborhood” had and still has a role in confronting the occupation, and thanks to its geographical location directly overlooking the city of Jenin, it formed the first line of defense for the camp from the eastern side. And by virtue of its advanced location, it also remained a permanent and primary target for the occupation army and its bulldozers, which plowed its streets and demolished its homes in most of the camp’s incursions.

The neighborhood was distinguished by the abundance of its alleys and corridors, the density and close proximity of its houses, and the number of its residents as well, which was the reason for the resistance fighters to barricade themselves in it and dig tunnels in it, to the point that it was called the “Fortress of Resistance” or “Shield of Resistance.”

Many factors prompted the Israeli occupation to invade the Jenin camp, the most prominent of which was the carrying out of a martyrdom operation by the resistance fighter Shadi al-Toubasi, a member of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), in the city of Haifa, killing at least 28 Israelis.

On March 30, 2002 (although some called it the April invasion), the occupation began its invasion of the Jenin camp (Operation Defensive Shield), and Harat al-Damj formed a barricade for the resistance. “General” Mahmoud Tawalba and his companions emerged and were the fiercest resistors in the camp, and for many days confronted the soldiers. The occupation forces killed and wounded them in what was known at the time as the “Haret al-Damj ambush.”

Resistance to the modern era

Al-Damj neighborhood was on the verge of new resistance activity led by the Qassam resistance fighter Hamza Abu al-Hayja in 2014, who barricaded himself inside one of its homes. Israel used massive military force on the ground and used air force during the process of besieging it, and bombed the house with bombs before assassinating him and two other martyrs, Mahmoud Abu Zina and Yazan. Jabbarin.

The neighborhood became more famous, and at least 20 martyrs rose from it and inside it during the years between 2021 and 2023. The most prominent of them was the martyr Asaad Al-Damj, one of the most prominent commanders of the Jenin Battalion, who was injured 3 times, two of which were by Israeli bombing with a drone and the second by an Apache helicopter. The son of Hajj Ali Al-Damj, the dean of the Al-Damj family.

Part of the destruction and bulldozing of the infrastructure of Al-Damj Neighborhood (Al-Jazeera)

Devastation

The Israeli occupation destroyed at least 30% of Al-Damj neighborhood during the 2002 invasion, as its vehicles made their way to the besieged camp through citizens’ homes.

1,200 homes in the camp were completely and partially destroyed, with 450 homes completely and partially destroyed, and 300 homes sustaining minor damage.

Source: Al Jazeera + websites