<html>
<body>
<h1><font size=4><b>Disembowelling Palestinian Right of Return: America’s
Dog in Lebanese Fight</b></font></h1><font size=3>05. Aug, 2010<br>
</font><font size=1>
<a href="http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2010/08/disembowelling-palestinian-right-of-return-americas-dog-in-lebanese-fight/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2010/08/disembowelling-palestinian-right-of-return-americas-dog-in-lebanese-fight/<br>
<br>
</a></font><font size=3><b>By Dr. Frankin Lamb<br><br>
Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp, Beirut<br><br>
</b>“Some members of Parliament prefer that the camps explode and
then they will insist that “Palestinian security problems must be
resolved before Parliament can consider giving them civil rights”meaning
several more years of delay. That would be a disaster for all
concerned.”<br><br>
‘Ahmad’, Resident of Al-Buss refugee camp, Tyre, Lebanon<br><br>
Following some initial optimism after MP Walid Jumblatt’s June 15
introduction of draft legislation that would exempt Palestinians
from the Kafkaesque work permit process, grant them the right to
own a home outside their oxygen scarce ‘sardine can’ camps,
and allow them to receive some worker paid earned
social security benefits, progress has dramatically slowed
.<br><br>
During last week’s Parliamentary session Head of the
Administration and Justice parliamentary committee, MP Robert
Ghanem, reiterated his request to Berri and Parliament for a
two-month “rest period”. Premier Saad Hariri called for postponing
the voting for “two months or two months and a half.” Several other
members asked the same. Parliament Speaker Berri quickly agreed and
postponed voting on the subject until August 17, adding that “…the
law will not pass unless it enjoys consensus among Lebanese
parties.”<br><br>
Some supporters of Palestinian civil rights see problems with more
delays and with Berri’s “no passage of civil rights without
consensus”. What is meant by consensus? A simple majority
plus one, two-thirds or..? “ Does it mean taking no
legislative action on Palestinian civil rights unless and until MP
Jumblatt can agree with MP Sami Gemayel-normally polar
opposites on important issues? Others argue that Berri has no
authority to require ‘consensus’ as it would likely mean any proposal
will deteriorate into the lowest common denominator with virtually
no rights being granted. Under the Lebanese Constitution, a law
passes when it receives one more vote in favor than against and what is
needed for passage is not determined by the Speaker. Some in
Parliament are insisting on a straight up or down vote on bills
presented on the subject of Palestinian civil rights. If
Jumblatts or any other draft law garners 65 votes out of 128
it passes.<br><br>
A review of Lebanon’s Parliamentary history shows that virtually
all of Parliament’s important decisions have been made by a
straight up or down vote, not ’consensus’. Surely one
very important vote was the one that took place on August 17,
1970. The Parliamentary vote margin that elected
‘consensus’ candidate Suleiman Frangieh President of Lebanon
over Elias Sarkis was one vote, a result of last minute vote
switches engineered by Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt.
Forty years later to the day, August 17, 2010, the
‘consensus’ vote” on Kamel’s son Walid’s historic Palestinian Civil
Rights bill is scheduled for a vote. A propitious
sign? Enshallah!<br><br>
Ambivalence has spread around Parliament despite two additional
measures being offered. One was introduced in
Parliament in early July by the Syrian Socialist National Party
(SSNP). This draft law most closely reflects internationally mandated
civil rights for refugees and of all the proposals to date
the NSSP draft is what Parliament should enact to finally
remedy six decades of civil wrongs. If enacted it would
remedy the serial discriminations by successive Lebanese
governments since the 1969-1982, “Ayyam al-Thawra” (“the Days of
the Revolution”) , when Palestinian refugees had many more
employment prospects and benefited from improved camp living
conditions. The SSNP proposal is a preferred “one package”
solution that will avoid a protracted piece by piece process
and would largely finish this urgent problem.<br><br>
Faced with two substantive draft bills, the right wing
Christian parties, often at odds, have joined ranks with
Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s (“If it were up to me I would grant
Palestinians their rights tomorrow”-April, 2010) Future Movement
(“Muqtaqbal) to slam on the Parliamentary brakes. All
the March 14th coalition except the Phalange Party have
accepted this draft bill which currently has the most support in
Parliament probably because it offers the refugees the least civil
rights. According to its sponsors, the draft must be studied
more before formally considered. A draft being
circulated reveals that those refugees with a Palestinian ID
Card approved by the Lebanese General Security can receive a
temporary residency permit including a 5 year ‘laissez passer’ travel
document but not the approximately 5000 non-ID’s who came in the
1970’s following Black September. Regrettably, this draft bill keeps the
work permit and only amends Article 59 of the labor law
in order to waive work permit fees for Palestinians. Nor does
it allow participation in the 25 Syndicated Professions because it
retains the impossible to meet Reciprocity requirements.<br><br>
Some MPs are dexterous in their efforts to limit civil rights granted to
Palestinians. MP Robert Ghanem, argued on 7/19/10 that work permits
are good for Palestinians “because they will preserve the refugee
status of Palestinians in Lebanon. We fear that if we exempted the
Palestinians from a work permit, we will drop their refugee status and
this does not come in line with their interests.” MP Ghanem surely
is aware that being allowed to work is very much in line with the
refugees interests and has nothing at all to do with “dropping their
refugee status.” In fact they do not have refugee status as provided by
international law. That is one of the main problems. Lebanon
considers Palestinians variously as “foreigners”, “special category
of foreigners” and other times a “Palestinian refugees” without allowing
them the legal rights that their refugee status warrant.<br><br>
With respect to Social Security benefits, the March 14 proposal
requires that refugees pay into the Lebanese Social Security Fund
but allows only for end of service and a family allowance payment. Its
specifically forbids sickness, accident or maternity benefits to
Palestinian refugees. Without health and accident coverage
the incentive to even seek a work permit wanes. This ‘consensus’
proposal is more of a gesture than a solution and unless redrafted
remains a bare bones proposal that will do little to provide
internationally mandated civil rights. Nor will it satisfy the
pursuit of genuine rights among Lebanon’s Palestinians,
increasingly insisted on by the international community. Many
Palestinians and their supporters are critical of this latest proposal
and see it as offering ‘a little something’ that will allow
its supporters to say, as one MP boasted last week: , “we will finally
have achieved something for the refugees and anyhow, how much more
can we be expected to squeeze from our flesh for these
Palestinians?”<br><br>
<b>No Enshallah please! Just tell us Yes or No ok?<br><br>
</b>Meanwhile scores of Palestinians protested outside Parliament
last week as Palestinian frustration continues to mount in the camps over
delays in granting civil rights. Parliamentary Speaker Nabeh Berri’s
office when pressed for a statement whether Parliament would take
action this summer on the various bills would only offer a one word
response: “Enshallah”<br><br>
As a foreigner in Lebanon this observer has come to really despise
the Arabic word ‘Enshallah’. True, it sounds nice
enough and more likely than not it comes from lips with a
smile, and the literal translation is good also: “God willing”.<br><br>
However in reality, it’s a deadly and vicious expression that every guide
book publisher on Lebanon has a moral duty to warn their readers
about. For the real meanings of “Enshallah” are: , “probably
not”, “almost certainly not going to happen”, “forget about it
fool”, or simply, “no way and go away!” So if one is presented with
the response, ‘Enshallah’, whether by the office of the Speaker of
Lebanon’s Parliament , or from someone you might be
asking out on a date or trying to get something done in Lebanon, or
tying to get civil rights legislation enacted into law, one has a big
chance of being disappointed.<br><br>
In Lebanon’s Parliament, about the worst thing that can happen to a
members pet legislative initiative is to have it placed in “the Enshallah
drawer”, meaning it is set aside for ‘Enshalleh’ consideration sometime
in the ‘Enshallah’ future. Often never to be heard
from. Some fear this is what may happen to proposals to grant
Palestinian refugees their internationally mandated right to work
and to own a home.<br><br>
<b>Other reasons for Parliamentary delay?<br><br>
<br>
</b>Some Parliament watchers speculate that certain members seek to delay
granting Palestinians civil rights until the Special Tribunal for
Lebanon hands down expected indictments, concerning the 2005
assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. They calculate the
STL announcements will dramatically increase Lebanese-Palestinian
tensions. Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MP Michel Aoun (Free
Patriotic Movement leader), no advocate of any meaningful civil rights
for Palestinians, is warning of a US ‘green lighted’ Israeli
invasion of Lebanon if the STL indicts “uncontrolled” Hezbollah members.
Others claim the main problem is that Lebanon cannot move beyond the
1975-1990 Civil War and raising in Parliament the subject of Palestinians
brings up also many painful memories that most of the confessions
wish to forget.<br><br>
While some political analysts in Lebanon think there is a chance
that Parliament may well ease the restrictions on the right to
work, there is still strong opposition to granting Palestinian refugees
the internationally recognized right to own real property or even a
single home–an international right allowed in all other countries.
As a scare tactic on this issue the specter of ‘Naturalization’ is again
raised even though it has nothing to do with home ownership.<br><br>
<b>If Israelis can buy homes in Lebanon why not Palestinian
refugees?<br><br>
</b>There is no shortage of Lebanese politicians who will explain
why Palestinian home ownership is out of the question including the claim
that there is simply not enough land in crowded Lebanon for
foreigners to be allowed to purchase any. Kataeb-Phalange bloc MP Elie
Marouni told his followers on Bastille Day last week
“that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon will never be naturalized
as long as there are Christian believers who will sacrifice
themselves for the sake of Lebanon. We don’t have the space.” His
colleague and Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel warned the day
before that “granting Palestinians the right to own property would
lead to their naturalization”.<br><br>
Neither of these leaders, has explained why during the
half century (1948-2001) when Palestinian refugees were allowed to own
property the question of “naturalization” was never an issue. There
was no problem. The fact is that the assertion that
‘naturalization’ would be the result of a refugee family owning a
home is false and it is was invented solely for the
reason that it provides ‘raw meat’ for detractors who
basically don’t want any rights for any Palestinians no matter what
the facts are.<br><br>
According to Lebanese Human Rights Ambassador Ali Khalil: “Fanning the
coals of ‘naturalization’ is a recent bogeyman meant to scare Christians
who already are nervous because their numbers continue to shrink.
Generally more affluent than other sects, they are able to leave
Lebanon for better prospects. If Palestinians were able to work and
became a bit more affluent many of them would leave also but that fact
appears lost on those who prefer to keep them in squalid camps in Lebanon
rather than allowing them to work and perhaps move out of
Lebanon.”<br><br>
The ‘not enough land for foreigners’ claim is faulty on two
grounds. Regarding population density, in Saida’s Ein el
Helwe Camp, the largest of the 12 in Lebanon, approximately 90,000
refugees are tightly packed into less than 1 km sq. area whereas the
average Lebanese population density is close to 350 persons per sq,
km.<br><br>
Foreigners buy as much land in Lebanon as they wish and can afford
despite the ‘legal’ limitations for foreigners of 3,000 sq. meters
in Beirut and 5000 sq. meters outside Beirut. Foreigners regularly
ignore the “law” and sometimes pay bribes to purchase whatever land
they want and sometimes even citizenship.<br><br>
Free Patriotic Movement leader and Hezbollah ally MP Michel Aoun is
calling for a new law to reclaim property from foreign owners in response
to complaints about his voicing strong objection to granting
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon the right to own property.<br>
“We can’t issue a law that gives the Palestinians the right to own
property, but we can issue a law to reclaim properties owned by
foreigners,” Aoun said with a straight face, adding
that “Christian parties didn’t act with prejudice when the issue of
civil rights for Palestinian refugees was raised. “Our stance is
similar to that of the Phalange Party and the draft law would only be put
to the vote of the parliament after being studied,” Aoun added. Some in
Lebanon are waiting to see if General Aoun’s “No buying a
little bit of Lebanon” law gets introduced in Parliament and what the US
Congress and Arab league reaction will be if it does.<br><br>
<b>BayIt BeyLebnan? (Hebrew for ‘your home in Lebanon?’)<br><br>
</b>The Israeli-American Likud banker and warmonger Irving I.
Moscowitz, financial backer of the archeological tunnel in east Jerusalem
and supporter, financially or otherwise, of virtually all Zionist
groups developing stolen Palestinian land including his own
properties in Maale Adumim, Har Homa in Palestinian east Jerusalem and
Beitar Illit is claimed to have moved into the real estate market
in Lebanon.<br><br>
Regarding occupied Palestine, Moscowitz has for years advised would be
investors, (ignoring the Geneva Conventions and settled International
law) at Jewish only “real estate fairs” in American and European
Synagogues : “Your investment is insured, protected and 100% legal.
You should consider strengthening your portfolio and Israel’s
future!”<br><br>
Moscowitz is said to expect competition for
Lebanese land from Lev Leviev, who the NYT refers to as ‘the missionary
mogul”. Leviev, now the world’s largest cutter and polisher
of diamonds, also specializes in illegal real estate developments
on stolen Palestinian land. Leviev’s , Leader Management and
Development, is currently building the settlement of Zufim on Palestinian
land in the illegally occupied West Bank. When asked recently by Ha’aretz
Daily if he has a problem building on expropriated Arab land
he replied, “For me, Israel, Jerusalem, Lebanon are all the
same.”So are the Golan Heights. As far as I’m concerned, all of Eretz
Israel is holy. To decide the future of Jerusalem? It belongs to the
Jewish people. What is there to decide? Jerusalem is not a topic for
discussion.”<br><br>
Both tell associates that with their American partners, they are moving
into the Lebanese real estate market which they find attractive. If true,
Lebanon’s Parliament might want to consider using some of the
extra time they have extended themselves this summer, currently
being devoted to sounding the ‘chicken little sky is falling’ alarm
about Palestinians wanting to exercise their internationally mandated
civil right to own a home pending their return to Palestine.
Parliament should investigate claims that “American”
companies”, some with 100% Israeli stockholders are buying up
Lebanese land and using bribes to avoid Lebanese law.<br><br>
‘Darwish’, a school teacher in South Lebanon explained this week what
many Palestinians feel:<br><br>
“My family home and property were stolen by Zionist thugs in
Akka in 1948 and also our cousins home outside Jerusalem. If
you look at the current advertisement in Israeli newspapers,
(‘Darwish shows a copy of an ad he printed off the internet from
Haaretz.com that reads, “Own a little piece of Switzerland” which
describes a quaint Swiss like scene, and it shows a bucolic vista that
Darwish claims was his family’s village, now a Zionist colony.) so
you see this is my problem. In Palestine our home was stolen
and in Lebanon I cannot own one. Worse than this, it bothers me and
my family that Zionists can now sell my land in Palestine to foreigners
while as a Palestinian in Lebanon I cannot buy a temporary
home. Israelis can invest their profits from our stolen Palestinian
land and they can build homes in Lebanon and sell to other
foreigners, but Palestinians can’t buy a home here. We have heard
that some of the same “American and European” companies that sell
our Palestinian land to foreigners in Palestinian now operate in
Lebanon. One ‘American’ company is reported to have 11
stockholders. All of them Israelis”.<br><br>
Parliament appears to be ‘playing’ the Palestinians this
summer, as well as ‘playing’ the international community that
expects more courage, compassion and respect for
international human rights from a gifted people.
Parliament risks degrading Lebanon in the process and
its leaders should schedule a straight up vote without
further dilatory tactics such a ‘more study’ and ‘building
near unanimous consensus’ that appears designed to produce the lowest
common denominator which means that without political will and
courage it will likely produce not much at all. Regarding six
decades of annual calls for ‘more study of this sensitive problem’
there are already more than 30 studies completed just since 2000.
They unanimously conclude what nearly every ten years
old in Lebanon understands needs to be done and that is to
grant the internationally mandated right to work, to own,
inherit and bequeath a home, and access to some social
security protection without further dilatory tactics.<br><br>
<b><i>Franklin Lamb</b> volunteers with the Palestine Civil Rights
Campaign and can be reached at
<a href="mailto:fplamb@palestinecivilrightscampaign.org">
fplamb@palestinecivilrightscampaign.org</a>.</i> <br><br>
<br><br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>