[News] Palestinian refugees - Can Lebanon Clean Up Its Act?
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Mon Apr 12 12:29:06 EDT 2010
http://www.counterpunch.org/lamb04122010.html
April 12, 2010
Can Lebanon Clean Up Its Act?
Hiba's Story
By FRANKLIN LAMB
Ein el Helwe Palestinian Refugee Camp, Lebanon.
More than six decades after their expulsion from
Palestine, Lebanons unwanted refugees just might
be granted some basic civil rights. Granting even
the most elementary and normally taken for
granted civil rights to Palestinians in Lebanon
wont be easy and it may not be pretty. Yet there
is undeniable and growing Lebanese and
international resolve for Lebanons politicians
to end a dark bleak chapter in Arab brotherly relations.
The disturbing paradox of Lebanon depriving its
refugees of the most elementary civil rights,
some of which are even granted Palestinians by
their arch-nemesis, the Zionist occupiers of
their own country, is increasingly being
condemned in Lebanon. In addition, there is the
gaping contradiction between the sweet words and
the clarion trumpeting calls by groups wanting to
liberate Jerusalem and all of Palestine and
enforce the internationally mandated Right of
Return (UNSCR 194), while at the same time
appearing to avert their eyes from the very ones
seeking to return and who exist in abject
squalor, humiliation and indignity, thus
appearing to tolerate their brothers and sisters
degradation. These contradictions are motivating
an expanding panoply of Lebanese leaders, civil
society organizations, side by side with local
and international NGOs, to demand civil rights
legislation from the current Cabinet and
Parliament. What civil rights advocates seek is
compliance with basic international law and
indeed Lebanons Constitution, both sources of
law mandating civil rights for Palestine refugees
including the right to work and to own a home.
In plenty of Lebanese neighborhoods, polite
society often avoids the subject of haydoulik
(they) when a foreigner mentions the teeming
and squalid Palestinian camps, or brings up the
subject of yet another local media or NGOs
report detailing the alarming and accelerating
deterioration of the worlds oldest and largest
refugee population. Close to half of Lebanons
Palestinian refugees are crammed into 12 camps
and 27 unofficial gatherings. Of the original
120,000 who were forced across the full length of
the Palestine-Lebanon border during the 1948
Nakba, their offspring now number close to
450,000some 425,640 of whom are registered with
the United Nations Refugee Works Administration
(UNRWA) as of April, 2010, and some also with the
Lebanese Ministry of Interior. Since 1948,
roughly 22 per cent of the refugees in Lebanon
have left loved ones and family members to seek
jobs abroad so as to remit their foreign earnings
back to the fetid camps. Lebanon leads the world
in the amount of per capita in bound remittances,
a significant contribution to its Gross Domestic Product.
The Untouchables
According to a Sunni Muslim family in the Sanayeh
area of Beirut who has a long history of support
for the Palestinians, including two sons who
fought with the PLO against Israeli forces in
1982-83, a father who used to hide sensitive PLO
documents inside his apartment walls as Israeli
forces searched West Beirut house to house in the
fall of 1982, and a mother who prepared home
cooked meals during the summer of 1982 for Abu
Ammar (Yassir Arafat) and Abu Jihad (Khalil al
Wazir) and their office staffs, between 90-95 per
cent of Lebanese have never been inside a
Palestinian camp. A teen-age member of the same
Beirut family snarled to this observer, Not
since the ( 1982 ) Sabra-Shatila Massacre has a
group of our Lebanese brothers visited a
Palestinian camp!, referring to the right wing
Phalange Lebanese groups who conducted the camp
slaughter after being egged-on and equipped by
the occupying Israeli military leadership
including Israels then Minister of Defense, Ariel Sharon.
With the exception of Druze leader, MP Walid
Jumblatt, and a couple of Hezbollah members of
Parliament, and one from the Saad Hariri Future
Movement, not one member of the 128 member
Parliament or the 30 Member Cabinet has
acknowledged visiting a Palestinian refugee camp
in the past five years, according to a March 2010
survey taken by the Sabra Shatila Foundation and
the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign-Lebanon. For
some of Lebanons population the very idea of
going inside a camp in enough to produce an exaggerated grimace.
As shocking as it is true, Lebanon by refusing to
even allow Palestinians the right to work in
dozens of professions or to own homes, stands in
clear violation of no fewer than 43 international
legal obligations contained in treaties,
conventions, the 1948 Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, which Lebanon played a major role
in drafting, international customary law, and indeed its own Constitution.
The arguments against granting civil rights to
Palestine refugees are numerous, with some as
imaginative as they are spurious. They vary
widely depending on who from which of the 18
confessions is discussing the subject.
Some arguments for the status quo currently being
heard by advocates working to change Lebanons
right to work and home ownership laws include the following sampling:
If we grant civil rights to our Palestinian
Refugees it could interfere with their Right of Return!
How are Palestine Refugees in Lebanon deprived
of the civil right to work since some do manage to find a job illegally.
The Palestinian refugee population poses a
security risk for Lebanon and before any civil
rights are discussed this must be resolved.
Palestinians are Sunni Muslim and giving them
civil rights will interfere with the fragile
sectarian balance among Christian, Druze and Shia Muslims.
Why shouldnt Lebanon take more time considering
civil rights for the Palestinian Refugee
families? At least their children are being
looked after in UNWRA schools and are fine. Their
elders must be more patient and havent the
Palestinians caused many of their own problems.
Lebanon needs more time to straighten out the
situation with the Palestinians. Also, dont
forget, Lebanon is quietly issuing Identification
Cards to the 5000 plus Palestinian refugees who
have never had either UNRWA or Interior Ministry
registrations subjecting them to arrest at any
time. So arent we making solid progress?
Since all other foreigners need work permits,
how has the requirement that Palestine Refugees
obtain a work permit unfairly affected Palestinians right to work in Lebanon?
Lebanese women also are deprived of civil
rights. They must get theirs before Palestine Refugees are given any.
Palestinian refugees dont contribute to
Lebanons economy so why should Lebanon allow them the right to work?
Lebanon is a very small country and we cannot
afford to allow refugees to own a home, given our
limited available housing space.
If Lebanon grants civil rights to the
Palestinian Refugees, they may become too
comfortable and seek permanency in Lebanon via Naturalization (Tawtin)
An analysis of these and other arguments against
granting civil rights to Palestine refugees will
be considered in a future instalment of this
discussion but should any of these arguments
prevail with Parliament, a least a quarter
million Palestinian refugees in Lebanon will
remain deprived of achieving much more than
subsistence during their wait and struggle to return to Palestine.
Miss Hiba Hajj
One of the hundreds of thousands wretched refuse
facing continuing condemnation is a gifted 15
year old named Hiba Hajj, born and raised in the
teeming 90,000 plus resident Ein el Helwe
Palestinian Camp, in the 6000 year old town of Saida Lebanon.
Hiba, is a savvy, totally charming, hijabed
Palestinian youngster who lives with her large
family near the Sharia Bustan Yahoudi (Jewish
Park Street) area of Ein el Helweh (Eye of the
Beauty or Source of sweet water). Hibas
neighborhood is named after the Jewish community
that used to live in the quarter before Zionist
colonials invaded Palestine. Most Jews who stayed
in Lebanon after 1948 left during the 1982
Israeli invasion and the subsequent 18 year
occupation-fewer than 30 are thought to remain in the country today.
To this foreign observer, when Hiba (gift from
God) relates her story of dreams defered, she
becomes every Palestinian Refugee in Lebanon and
her personal and anguished narrative embodies the
urgency and historical imperative for Lebanon to
immediately grant the most elementary civil
rights for her and Hibas close to 450,000 fellow Palestinian refugee.
Like many of her friends, Hiba, reputed to be one
of the best female teenage football players and
long distance runners in Lebanon (she runs an
approximate 5 minute 20 second mile on her slower
days) is considering dropping out of school to
help support her family , whose income has
plummeted since the recent fighting between camp
factions because, as she explains to an American
visitor, people are too afraid to enter the camp
to have their cars fixed at her fathers auto
repair shop. The American Embassy has instructed
the Lebanese army which has blocked off seven
entrances to the camp and mans checkpoints at the
four remaining entrances to Ein el Helwe, not to
allow American passport holders inside the camp for their personal safety.
Hiba often spends her free time at her sister
Zeinas home, filled with four squirming babies,
which is located in the explosive no-mans-land
known as Taamir, between the boundary of Ein
al-Hilweh and one of the Lebanese army checkpoints that overlooks the camp.
Hibas peers consider her an expert on the camps
factions, that range from the Saudi Wahhabi
Takfiri groups who she says, want to kill us
Muslims and anyone else who dont follow their
Wahabist version of our religion, to Osbat
al-Nour (League of Light), Ansar Allah (Followers
of God), Fatah al Islam remnants on the lam from
the 15 week battle at Nahr al Bared in the summer
of 2007, Jund al-Sham (Soldiers of Greater Syria)
Islamic Jihad, Asbat-al-Ansar (League of
Followers) seven or eight Palestinian factions
including Fatah, Hamas, the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmad Jebrils
Syrian bankrolled Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine-General Command, the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(DFLP), the defunct Saiqa, along with some
upstart secretive and well armed global jihadist
cells sporting new heavy weapons from Iraq
according to camp officials, courtesy of US military inventory shrinkage.
Hiba acts crazy sometimes, her older sister
anguishes, and our family worries about her. I
have seen her walk into the center of a gathering
of young fighters, many of whom she knows from
rival gangs while they are yelling and
threatening to shoot each other. Just last month
she grabbed a boys AK-47 from him just as he
took aim at a rival and she screamed at the boys
to go home and read the Koran! And they left without firing one shot
Hiba needs to stay in school where she is an
excellent student but like so many Palestinian
teenagers she sees no point because she can do
nothing with an advanced education. For all her
energy and dont blame others just make your own
life the way you want it attitude Hiba grows
introspective and seems sad as she explains to
visitors what she would like to do with her life.
Like all Palestinian refugees born in Lebanon,
Hiba is stateless and unprotected, brought up in
the misery and hopelessness of a Lebanese
Palestinian refugee camp. This sweet kid, like
all Palestinian refugees, has no civil or
political rights in Lebanon. She is barred from
working in over 70 professions, cannot own or
inherit property, is subject to I.D. checks every
time she enters or exits the camp, and has no
access to public healthcare or public education.
No Palestinian need apply
Her brother Ahmad explains: " To start off, if
you are a camp kid in Lebanon that is a big
strike against you. For us we feel there is
nothing here. Our country is there (he points in
the direction of the Palestinian border 35 miles
South). There is nothing to do here, maybe play
games on the internet if you can find somewhere
with a connection-if you go and play games at the
internet place, you're happy that you did
something for the day. Some of my friends accept
a small salary and join a militia group."
Refugee-camp teenagers like Hiba once fuelled the
anger and resistance to Israel occupying their
land. Not now says Ahmad "Much of that anger
has turned into depression, increasing drug use,
gang violence, dropping out of school, domestic
violence, feelings of hopelessness. "
My sister wants to become an eye doctor, he explains, She has no chance.
Today, Palestinians in Lebanon continue to suffer
from draconian measures which the Lebanese state
claims are needed to prevent them from becoming permanent guests.
As of February 10, 2010, the following dozens of
jobs remain off limits to Palestinians in Lebanon
per Ministry of Labor Regulation No. 10l1--either
because they are restricted to Lebanese
nationals, or are forbidden due to the
Reciprocity requirements. Since Palestine is not
recognized by Lebanon as a country it is
impossible to fulfill the Reciprocity
requirement, since the job seeker must be
licensed in his recognized country and his
country must allow a Lebanese to work at the same
job. In addition, a Palestinian job seeker must
have been a very expensive and difficult to
obtain work permit by the Lebanese government..
The Minister of Labor can theoretically exempt a
person from the laws for certain jobs if the job-seeker:
* has been residing in Lebanon since birth
* has a Lebanese mother
* has been married to a Lebanese woman for more than one year.
* or if he or she is from a recognized country
that allows Lebanese nationals to do the same
job, i.e. the barrier of Reciprocity again.
The jobs that Hiba and her fellow refugees are
barred from include the following updated forbidden careers:
Archeology Guide, Banking and administrative
work of all kinds, particularly:
Manager-Assistant manager-Staff
manager-Treasurer-Accountant-Secretary Manager
Clerk-Documentalist-Archivist, Computer
worker-Commercial representative-Marketing
representative-Forman-Warehouse
keeper-Salesman-Jeweler-Tailor-Darning worker
with the exception of darning carpets-Electrical
installations-Mechanics and maintenance-Painters,
Glass panes
installer-Doorman-Watchman-Driver-Waiter-Hairdresser-Electronic
work-Arabic food chef, All technical professions
in the construction sector and its derivatives
such as tiling, coating, plastering, installation
of aluminum, iron, wood or decoration works and
the like-Teaching at the elementary, intermediate
and secondary levels with the exception of
foreign language teacher when necessary,
hairdressing, Ironing and dry-cleaning
upholstery, publishing, printing, Engineering
work in all specialties, Smithery and upholstery
work. All kinds of work in pharmacies, drug
warehouses and medical laboratories. In general
all occupations and professions which can be
filled by Lebanese nationals- money changer, real
estate agent, attorney, physician, dentist, taxi
driver or driver training instructor, registered
nurse or assistant nurse, or other job in the
Medical field, dentistry, health controller, any
job in the engineering field, licensed health
controller, medical laboratory worker, clinical
health industry jobs, prosthetic devices fitter,
certified accountants, dental laboratory science
technician, jobs relating to nutrition and meals,
topography, physiotherapy, veterinary medicine.
The only four jobs listed by the Lebanese
Ministry of Labor that are open to Palestinian refugees are:
1. midwife
2. financial brokerage firm owner
3. roving photographer
4. land surveyor.
All Palestinian job seekers for the available
four jobs are required to have been issued the
nearly impossible to obtain work permit.
This scheme by Lebanon is among the most
egregious easily preventable massive human rights
violations imaginable, given what the largest and
oldest refugee population on earth has been
through, according to Dr. Suoheil El-Natour,
long time analyst of the Palestinian camp
populations in Lebanon, and director of a Human
Development Center (HDC) in Mar Elias camp.
Meanwhile, Hiba has promised her family and the
Palestine Civil Rights Campaign-Lebanon that she
will stay in school through the current academic
year to see what Parliament will do about
allowing Palestine refugees some basic civil
rights. She has joined the PCRC from her camp and
recently emailed her colleagues in Shatila Camp
to get to work on the Petition drive to Parliament with the following message:
Failure is not an option for us, our only choice is success.
The online version of the hard copy Petition can
be signed at:
<http://www.petitiononline.com/ssfpcrc/petition.html>http://www.petitiononline.com/ssfpcrc/petition.html.
Franklin Lamb is a researcher and volunteer with
the PCRC in Lebanon. He can be reached at
<mailto:fplamb at palestinecivilrightscampaign.org>fplamb at palestinecivilrightscampaign.org
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20100412/8a670e1a/attachment.htm>
More information about the News
mailing list