Immigrant camps (Israel)

The Immigrant camps in Israel (Hebrew: מחנות עולים plural Mahanot Olim) were temporary refugee absorption camps, meant to provide accommodation for the large influx of Jewish refugees and new Olim (Jewish immigrants) arriving to Mandatory Palestine and later the independent State of Israel, since early 1947. The tent camps first accommodated Holocaust survivors from Europe, and later largely Jewish refugees from Middle East and North Africa. By early 1950, immigrant camps were converted into ma'abarot, where living conditions became better and tin dwellings replaced tents.