Abstract
Palestinian refugee camps in the occupied West Bank share the same geographic space as adjacent urban neighbourhoods but remain socially, politically and institutionally distinct. This study examined whether refugee camp residence is associated with greater exposure to human rights violations, political violence, deprivation and poorer mental health. A cross-sectional survey of 3000 Palestinian adults was conducted in 2025 across three refugee camps and neighbouring urban areas. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted. Overall, 77.1% reported at least one human rights violation, 91.7% deprivation, 77.1% personal exposure to political violence, 81.1% witnessed political violence and 30.0% dissatisfaction with mental health. Compared with urban residents, refugee camp residents had higher odds of reporting any human rights violation (aOR 1.52, 95% CI 1.28–1.81), personal (aOR 3.48, 95% CI 2.54–4.78), household (aOR 4.24, 95% CI 3.62–4.98) and witnessing political violence (aOR 4.48, 95% CI 3.52–5.69), deprivation (aOR 1.60, 95% CI 1.34–1.91) and dissatisfaction with mental health (aOR 2.51, 95% CI 1.97–3.19). The results suggest that health inequities experienced by Palestinian refugee camp residents are produced through the cumulative effects of structural violence, deprivation and systematic human rights violations rather than by spatial location alone.