State of Palestine. West Bank. Balata Camp. Palestinian refugees. Daily life. A family watches a young man digging a hole with a pickaxe in order to bury chickens' droppings under the ground. Balata Camp is a Palestinian refugee camp established in the northern West Bank in 1950, adjacent to the city of Nablus. It is the largest refugee camp in the West Bank. Balata Camp is densely populated with 30,000 residents in an area of 0.25 square kilometers. In 1991, Balata Camp was living under Isreal's occupation and rules as part as the Occuppied Territories. In the 1980s and 1990s, Balata residents played a leading role in the uprisings known as the First Intifada and the Second Intifada. Balata Camp is since 1993 under palestinian authority, located in the A zone. The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA) was the interim self-government body established to govern Areas A and B of the West Bank as a consequence of the 1993 Oslo Accords. Following elections in 2006, its authority had extended only in areas A and B of the West Bank. Since January 2013, the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority uses the name State of Palestine on official documents. © 1991 Didier Ruef
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