Topic: Nahr al-Bared

Nahr al-Bared (Arabic: نهر البارد‎, literally: Cold River) is a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, 16 km from the city of Tripoli. Some 30,000 displaced Palestinians and their descendents live in and around the camp, which was named after the river that runs south of the camp. The Lebanese Army is banned from entering all Palestinian camps under the 1969 Cairo Agreement.

The camp was established in December 1949 by the League of Red Cross Societies in order to accommodate the Palestinian refugees suffering from the difficult winter conditions in the Beqaa Valley and the suburbs of Tripoli. The camp was established outside any major Lebanese towns or settlements, which left Nahr al-Bared Camp (NBC) more isolated from the Lebanese society than many of the other camps in Lebanon. Despite this, due to its position on the main road to Syria and its proximity to the Syrian border, NBC grew to be a central commercial hub for the local Lebanese of the Akkar region.

In 60 years of living side by side, the people of NBC and the local Lebanese inter-married, built social and economic relations and would visit each other regularly. However, there are some problems between the Palestinian refugees and the Lebanese. The Palestinian refugees are frustrated because of restrictions imposed on them, and the Lebanese are suspicious of the unstable conditions in the camp. During Operation Nahr el-Bared camp, many residents were killed.