Jordan's camps for Palestinians

Jordan has the largest concentration of Palestinian refugees, with nearly two million in 13 camps.

The BBC's Dale Gavlak describes her experiences of some of the camps.

Some younger Palestinians say their future is in Jordan

The oldest and largest of the Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan is Baqa'a camp outside the capital, Amman.

There, some 120,000 Palestinians live within about one square mile radius.

The tents of 1948 - when Palestinians fled fighting following the creation of Israel - have long given way to concrete structures.

Baqa'a teems with people - a rabbit warren littered with tiny flats and shops piled on top of each other.

Many of the camp's roads are unpaved, so residents trudge through the mud in winter rainstorms.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency runs schools and health clinics that cater to the needs of the refugees.

But the camp is also known to be the most radical among those in Jordan, with a number of Islamist groups operating from within its boundaries.

Many camp residents oppose peace dealings with Israel.

Middle-class dreams

By contrast, the Wihdat Camp has become an almost middle class suburb of east Amman.

Metal-shuttered one- and two-storey buildings do a brisk trade in mobile phones, live chickens, salted almonds and coffee.

But you also find chemists stocking the latest European and American brands.

For many Palestinians living in Wihdat, especially the youth, middle-class dreams have replaced aspirations of an independent homeland.

They say their future is in Jordan and a number have married Jordanian citizens.

But for these and other Palestinians living in camps here, it is difficult to find proper jobs with reasonable incomes.

For all, the conflict with Israel seems never-ending.

They believe that future generations will continue to be raised in the camps as long as there is little change in Israel's policy.