A Tale of Jerusalem: Refugee camp in holy city

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We continue with our series on Jerusalem with a story about a Palestinian refugee camp in the East of the city. It isn't governed by anyone, neither Israelis nor Palestinians. Some predict the camp could be a "ticking time bomb" that could become the nucleus of a new uprising. CGTN's Stephanie Freid has this report.

WALLAH ADAWEEN RESIDENT, SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP "There was a park and it was green. Green trees, green grass, there was green everywhere. And there were flowers. And a fountain in the middle."

While visiting her grandmother in a nearby village, a younger Wallah realized she was a refugee.

WALLAH ADAWEEN RESIDENT, SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP "My grandma's house was big so we didn't have to dress modestly inside the house or wear a hijab - the neighbors couldn't see us."

Growing up in Shuafat refugee camp, Wallah shared a four-room apartment with eight siblings, two parents and two sets of grandparents - Fifteen people.

WALLAH ADAWEEN, RESIDENT, SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP "The first time we saw rats we were scared. But then it became normal so we didn't notice them anymore. We had a squat toilet at home and sometimes rats came through there."

Located on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Shuafat is an overcrowded, concrete, "no man's land" - neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority takes direct responsibility for the camp or its approximately eighty five thousand inhabitants.

Built by Jordan in 1966, annexed by Israel in 1967 and walled off by and from Israel in the early two thousands, Shuafat is crime-ridden and piled high with weapons and untreated waste.

The UN refugee agency UNRWA is responsible for the camp and provides medical and food aid and education for refugees.

Wallah left Shuafat a few years ago - she's now a biology student living on the campus of a Ramallah university.

WALLAH ADAWEEN RESIDENT, SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP "When we played hide and seek, this was our hiding spot. The other kids always had to lift me up because I was too short."

STEPHANIE FREID SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP "Wallah's childhood stories are similar to stories of kids growing up all over the world. Like the one about this alleyway where all the kids in the neighborhood were afraid to come because they thought it was haunted."

Or playing "Arabs and Israeli soldiers" until the night it stopped being a game.

WALLAH ADAWEEN RESIDENT, SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP "They were banging on the door when I saw them arresting my brother, I started crying and my mother started crying."

Her brother was sixteen at the time - she was ten.

WALLAH ADAWEEN RESIDENT, SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP "I thought they were going to shoot us that we were all going to be killed."

Raids are common as are homemade laboratories where dealers sell synthetic drugs. Shuafat is a camp that fell through the administrative cracks. Some say there's no solution for improving conditions and some speculate the next Palestinian uprising will explode from here. Wallah has fond childhood memories but seeing Shuafat through 23-year-old eyes she says she isn't sorry for leaving.

STEPHANIE FREID, CGTN, SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP EAST JERUSALEM.