Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon Deserve to Live With Dignity—Ali Hweidi

Special Report Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon Deserve to Live with Dignity By Ali Hweidi

PHOTO BY ALI HWEIDI

As Lebanon plunges deeper into one of the world’s worst economic meltdowns, Palestinians living in the Burj Barajneh refugee camp, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, endure extreme poverty, overcrowding and a lack access to basic services. DECADES OF SUFFERING

LEBANON IS ONE of five locations, along with Jordan, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with Palestinian refugee camps where the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) provides health, education and emergency assistance services. Even before the influx of refugees from Syria, it was one of most challenging countries for UNRWA to work in—and for Palestinians to reside.

In 2020, around 470,000 Palestinian refugees were registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with 45 percent of them living in the 12 official Palestinian refugee camps, and the rest in 150 other communities throughout the country. While UNRWA recognizes the refugees living outside the camps, it cannot officially recognize the areas in which they live, in accordance with its agreement with the Lebanese state. Therefore, UNRWA schools, offices and clinics are exclusively inside the overcrowded camps.

Historically, Lebanon has made it clear that the Palestinian refugees have no right to permanent settlement. UNRWA noted, “Palestinians in Lebanon do not enjoy several important rights; for example, they cannot work in as many as 39 professions and cannot own property (real estate). Because they are not formally citizens of another state, Palestine refugees are unable to claim the same rights as other foreigners living and working in Lebanon.” Because of this UNRWA has become the refugee lifeblood.

However, UNRWA is itself under fire and underfunded as it remains mired in controversy over who and how many are considered a Palestinian refugee. Some speculate that the defunding of UNRWA by the Trump administration, and the United Arab Emirates dramatically reducing its contributions after signing the Abraham Accords, is part of Israel’s strategic plan to “disappear” its refugee problem. Unfortunately, the price is paid by the refugees’ dignity and denial of basic human rights.

For decades, the Palestinian refugees’ hardships in Lebanon have accumulated. In general, all the Palestinian camps suffer from overcrowding, unemployment, poor housing conditions, inadequate infrastructure, as well as a lack of access to justice. The Lebanese restrictions placed on the refugees from having economic and social rights has made it more difficult to improve their situation or to participate in public life, even before the current series of crises.

After the Oslo agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993, the Palestinian National Au-

thority (PNA) became more focused on the needs of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. This led to a decline in the provision of services at all levels, including Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) hospitals in the camps, the payment of doctors’ and nurses’ salaries, and shortages of staff, medical services and equipment. PRCS now mostly relies on the support of INGOs (international nongovernmental organizations), which is not enough to cover all the needs. In addition, due to its financial crisis, UNRWA cannot provide enough services.

OVERCROWDED CAMPS

NGOs, political factions and popular committees denote the existence of around 29,000 Palestinian refugees displaced from Syria now living in the existing camps.

The arrival of new refugees to live in already overcrowded areas is a major health and quality of life concern. For example, Ein El Hilweh Camp in southern Lebanon is an area of 1.7 sq. km (roughly 0.657 sq. miles), where more than 100,000 people live, out of whom 80 percent are Palestinian refugees from 1948 and the rest are Palestinian refugees from Syria or Syrian refugees. Consequently, there are not sufficient areas for children to play or for families to have privacy and recreation.

According to a field study done by UNRWA with funding by Japan in 2015, one third of the Palestinian refugees suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma and respiratory diseases. Even then, the unemployment rate had reached 56 percent and the poverty rate 71 percent. It has gotten worse since the study was done.

Often more than one family lives in the same house, making COVID-related health issues, as well as the social and economic situation, worse for all. There is no possibility for families to add rooms. In 1997, building materials were prohibited in five camps in southern Lebanon—Rashidieh, Burj Shemali, El Buss, Ein El Hilweh and Mieh Mieh—without obtaining a permit from the Lebanese army. Any attempt by a refugee to bring a cement bag into any of these camps will result in arrest and accusations of smuggling; they will be forced to pay large amounts of money.

Even if a refugee has the means to live outside the camp, the Lebanese parliament ratified Law No. 296, in which a Palestinian refugee is deprived of the right to own real estate. The law also deprives any refugee from the inheritance of properties registered in their name prior to 2001.

SYRIAN REFUGEES COMPLICATE THE CRISIS

Syrian refugees are registered in Lebanese records with UNHCR, while Palestinian refugees displaced from Syria are registered only in UNRWA records. Both Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and from Syria depend mainly on UNRWA services.

According to UNRWA’s recent report “Palestine Refugees in Lebanon: Struggle to Survive,” about 73 percent of Palestinian refugees live below the poverty line and 58 percent have had to reduce the size and frequency of their meals. 87.3 percent of the Palestinian refugees from Syria living in Lebanon were already living below the absolute poverty line in 2020, and 11.3 percent exist in a state of abject poverty.

Currently, the unemployment rate among Palestinian refugees is about 90 percent, as per estimations of civil society organizations acting together with the Palestinian popular, local and political committees and factions.

Although the Lebanese Minister of Labor, Moustafa Bayram, talked about facilitating work for Palestinian refugees, it needs to be legitimized by the Lebanese parliament. But Bayram’s suggestion was rejected by the former Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and the former Minister of Labor Sejaan Kazzi, who saw it as paving the way for the resettlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and argued that it is contrary to the Lebanese constitution.

AN INCREASE IN DEPRESSION

Amid the accumulation of suffering, with no end in sight, cases of depression are increasing, as is the divorce rate and acts of violence. Parents are running out of options to increase income or decrease expenses, and the rates of child labor, school dropouts and early marriages are rising. Families are also searching for any means of immigration abroad, especially to Europe. They’re selling everything to pay illegal smugglers, knowing that most attempts fail. They are looking for security, stability and a better life.

Because of the growing hardship, there has been an increase in deep depression, especially among the youth. They are facing a lot of difficulties for their future, such as lack of motivation for education and no hope to work because of restrictions. There is fear that they are vulnerable to exploitation by political factions or criminals both inside or outside the camps, potentially threatening the fragile civil peace in Lebanon.

LIVING IN DIGNITY HAS BECOME ONLY A DREAM

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon unanimously agree that the international community has let them down by keeping them as refugees for more than seven decades.

It is their right to live with dignity as human beings until they return to their country. This right is a dream they imagine day and night. Yet, sorry to say, there are no indicators to give them hope that this dream will come true soon. ■

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