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Special Report
PHOTO BY ALI HWEIDI
Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon Deserve to Live with Dignity 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. 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
Writer and researcher Ali Hweidi is a Palestinian refugee living in Beirut, Lebanon. 42
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.
DECADES OF SUFFERING
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-
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