There are 380,000-400,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon. Official accounts made by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in 2001, number 382,973 registered refugees. They are Palestinians or descendants of Palestinians that were expelled or fled their homes in northern Palestine during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and who have been denied the right to return. For the past 57 years, they have resided in the 15 refugee camps administered by UNRWA or in Lebanese towns and urban areas. In total they account for 10% of the population of Lebanon, a large percentage in a densely populated country divided by politics dominated by religious and ethnic groups.
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bourj al shamali
Bourj el-Shamali camp is located 3 km east of Tyre in south Lebanon and has 17,927 registered Palestine refugees. The camp was set up after the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict to provide tented shelter for Palestine refugees mainly from Hawla and Tiberias in northern Palestine. UNRWA started providing services in the camp in 1955. The camp suffered a great deal of damage during the years of civil conflict and much work still needs to be done to improve the infrastructure. While most shelters were built with concrete blocks, there are also many makeshift shelters with zinc roofing. Sewage and wastewater runs into open storm run-off drains along roads and pathways. Unemployment is extremely high in Bourj al-Shamali: men find seasonal work in agriculture and construction as manual workers. Women work in seasonal agriculture and as house cleaners. (Data as of 30 June 2001 provided by UNRWA.)
living conditions
There are numerous factors, which affect the very poor living conditions of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon:
1. Absence of civic rights: Refugees in Lebanon are denied their civic rights - refugees are treated neither as foreigners nor nationals, severely limiting their ability to work or travel freely, as work and travel permits are issued sparingly.
2. Lack of access to social services: Palestinians are excluded from Lebanese public services (medical, educational, social security) and are generally unable to attend Lebanese schools and universities.
3. High unemployment: The overall unemployment rate for Palestinians in Lebanon stood at 40% in 2000 and at 60% for camp residents. Palestinians are forbidden to work in all but the most menial of positions. Decision no. 289/1, issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on 18 December 1982, set out the categories of employment closed to foreigners, which range from banking to barbering. Economic hardship has been further exacerbated both by a sharp decline in workers' remittances from the Gulf States after the Gulf War and by the PLO's inability to pay indemnities to the families who lost a son or father to war.
4. Low housing conditions: Building and rebuilding in and around the camps is strictly controlled and legally regulated, relegating many refugees to substandard housing in over-crowded and unsanitary conditions. Building material is often not allowed to enter the camps, severly restricting supply of construction materials.With the passing by the Lebanese Parliament of revisions to Law 11614 (1969) with regard to ownership of real estate by foreigners, one of the clauses forbids "anyone who does not have citizenship in a recognized state" from owning property. This excluding clause mainly affects Palestinians forced by low income and need for UNRWA services to live in the camps. The majoirty of upper and middle class Palestinians have acquired foreign or Lebanese passports that shield them from the exclusion clause. As camp boundaries are non-expandable, and building inside them is restricted, Palestinian familied in camps accomodate their expansion by trying to buy apartments or land plots outside. This is now illegal, forcing many just to rent.
5. Lack of political representation: The priorities of the PLO have shifted; priority is given to the West Bank and Gaza, leaving the issue of the refugees in Lebanon unresolved, as was demonstrated by the closure of the PLO Office in Beirut in 1982.
6. The International Political Context: The Palestinian Right of Return is enshrined in UN Resolution 194. The United Nations Palestine Conciliation Committee (UNPCC) was established in 1948 under Resolution 194 to facilitate the return or resettlement - and compensation of - Palestinian refugees based on their individual choices. However, after several years, the UNPCC ceased to provide protection to Palestinian refugees. This was due, in largely due to Israel’s opposition to the return of refugees and also to the lack of international will to uphold basic principles of international law applicable to Palestinian refugees. In 1949, UNRWA was created to carry out relief programs for Palestinian refugees. Unlike the UNPCC, UNRWA was not empowered to guarantee the safety, security or legal and human rights of the refugees. However, since Palestinian refugees had a UN agency exclusively devoted to their relief, they were not covered by the 1951 Convention on Refugees. This loophole means that Palestinians - the largest single refugee group in the world - have been denied the access to the protection that is offered to other refugee groups.
7. Shift in the priorities of international donors: Focus has shifted away from funding relief projects in Arab countries hosting Palestinian refugees to emergency and development projects in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, after the signing of the Oslo Agreements – this has particularly affected refugees in Lebanon dependent upon foreign aid. Budget cuts have resulted in UNRWA having to diminish its services in health and educational fields.
The result: All 15 official refugee camps in Lebanon suffer from serious problems - no proper infrastructure, overcrowding, poverty and unemployment. The high number of refugees enrolled in UNRWA’s special hardship program in Lebanon has served as a barometer signalling the poor socio-economic conditions in which Palestinian refugees live. UNRWA registered 10.7% of all Palestinian refugees in Lebanon as “special hardship cases” during 2000 as greater numbers of Palestinian refugees were unable to meet their most basic needs for food and shelter. This is the highest in all of UNRWA’s fields of operation.
the right of return
The political process, that started with the singing of the 1993 Declaration of Principles, between Israel and the PLO did not make explicit references to refugee rights as set forth in UN General Assembly Resolution 194, Security Resolution 237, and international law.
To find out more about Palestinain refugee rights and possible durable solutions for the refugees, please check: www.badil.org
