Articles
The
document published by the Lebanese
Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC), which
is attached to the office of the Lebanese
Presidency of the Council of Ministers, is
considered one of the most important
documents in which the Lebanese of almost
all political affiliations made a common
approach on how to deal with Palestinian
refugees. It was published in January 2017,
and was entitled, “A unified Lebanese vision
for the Palestinian refugees affairs in
Lebanon.” This was the fruit of over 50
meetings held by the Working Group formed by
LPDC, along almost two years.
The importance of this document lies in its
comprehensiveness, dealing objectively with
most of the issues of the Palestinian
refugees in Lebanon, and that most Lebanese
political forces approved it and ratified
it. These are the Future Movement, the
Progressive Socialist Party, Hezbollah, Amal
Movement, Free Patriotic Movement, the
Lebanese Forces, and even the Lebanese
Phalanges Party, which approved most of its
articles, but did not sign it. Hence, the
document practically represents an
overwhelming majority of all sects (Sunni,
Shia, Christians, Druze…), making it easier
for its recommendations to be converted into
laws and resolutions. However, two years
since its launch, no practical procedure was
taken to alleviate many aspects of the
sufferings that the document admitted and
has offered reasonable approaches to deal
with.
This document was preceded by another,
issued by the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue
Forum of the Common Space Initiative, in
which representatives of several major
Lebanese parties, and a number of Lebanese
and Palestinian specialists, participated.
After a labour of two years, and on 29
October 2013, this document was issued,
offering good solutions and approaches for
the treatment of Palestinian refugees in
Lebanon.
The aggravation of the Palestinian refugee
crisis, their continuous suffering over many
years, their deprivation of several human,
civil, social and economic rights –
guaranteed in international human rights
systems and treaties, along with the slow
and disruptive pace of solution procedures –
even those agreed upon, form a phenomena
that characterises the situation of
Palestinian refuge in Lebanon.
The Palestinians in Lebanon are deprived
from their right to work in many jobs,
professions and disciplines, hence they have
a hard time to earn their living, including
most of those with university majors. This
suffering began in 1963, and over time more
procedures were enacted, complicating and
aggravating it, especially in 1982 and
afterwards. Then, some Lebanese forces tried
to solve the issue, however, the procedures
remained few and easily disrupted.
In 2005, the then Labour Minister Trad
Hamadah announced the easing of work permit
restrictions on Palestinians, and in 2010,
the Lebanese parliament granted Palestinian
refugees the right to work and claim free
work permits for employment in the private
sector, and to claim retirement indemnities.
But despite paying their full contributions
to the social security fund (23 per cent for
foreigners including Palestinians, and seven
per cent for the Lebanese), the new
amendments did not include health coverage,
maternity benefits or family allowances.
They also did not lift the ban on the
syndicated professions in Lebanon, and they
are many (medicine, engineering, law,
accounting… and others), where only the
Lebanese could apply. Consequently, the
Palestinians actually did not apply for work
permits and social security… and most of
them continued to work illegally, if they
found an opportunity to work in the first
place.
In 2001, this problem was aggravated when
the Lebanese parliament issued a law denying
the Palestinians the right to own property
in Lebanon. Consequently, they have become
unable to bequeath their property (that was
already owned before 2001) to their heirs.
This suffering led to a mass emigration
drain in the Palestinian refugee society in
Lebanon. Many emigrated, especially
university graduates and professionals, in
search of livelihood, decreasing their
numbers in Lebanon. The number of UNRWA
registered refugees in Lebanon is about
550,000, whereas their actual number barely
approaches half this number (250,000). It
should be noted here that in 2017, the
Lebanese census of Palestinian refugees
residents in Lebanon is placed the number at
175,000.
The suffering of Palestinian refugee camps
(RCs) was aggravated by the strict measures
taken by the Lebanese authorities under the
pretext of maintaining security and
preventing unauthorised construction…, they
tightened the entry and exit controls, and
prohibited the entry of building materials
except in some very rare cases. This was
implemented at a time when the RCs were
suffering from serious overcrowding, poor
housing conditions and insufficient
infrastructure. The measures caused further
increase in unemployment rates leading to
the widespread poverty, and attempts by
various parties to recruit the refugees in
order to disrupt the security and stability
of the country.
Security and sectarianism were at the core
of dealing with the refugees on the ground.
Moreover, the lack of proper regulation of
work has led the Lebanese state to lose many
sources of income, for the refugees were not
integrated into the official system of work
to ensure their natural rights, and to
receive from them the appropriate taxes and
fees.
The LPDC document has tackled most of the
problems mentioned above, and has adopted
four reference frameworks: Committing to the
Lebanese Constitution and the National
Accord Document, guaranteeing the Lebanese
greater national interests, committing to
the Human Rights system, and confirming the
values of sovereignty, independence, and
coexistence. It introduced suitable
definitions of the Palestinian refugee and
resettlement, which were controversial among
the Lebanese. The definition of refugees
included the refugees of 1948, who are
registered with the UNRWA in Lebanon; those
registered at the Ministry of Interior and
Municipalities; and undocumented Palestinian
refugees identified by the Lebanese
authorities within the Non-ID category. As
for the resettlement of refugees, it was
defined as granting Palestinian refugees the
Lebanese nationality collectively, or
individually, by virtue of an imposed
decision in the context of a regional or
international settlement.
The document rejected resettlement (as did
the Palestinians), believed in preserving
the human rights of Palestinian refugees,
granting them their economic and social
rights, enhancing the RCs conditions, and
“humanising” security procedures, where
dealing with RCs should not be limited to
the security aspect, but must also include
political matters, services and human right
issues. The Working Group agreed on the
Palestinians’ right to work and have social
security, which would cover medical
treatment and other services, and on the
need to address the right to own property,
without providing full and clear details of
this approach.
The document positively agreed on the
Palestinian refugees’ right of peaceful
political action, and called for
facilitating the activity of civil society
organisations working to enhance the
Palestinian national identity within legal
frameworks. It supported the existence of
representative committees in RCs that would
provide services to the refugees.
It was pointed out in the document that
these rights must be granted as long as they
take into account Lebanon’s greater
interest, human rights conventions, the
interests of Palestinian refugees in
Lebanon, and the Lebanese realistic
abilities.
It is clear that various Lebanese sides feel
the dangers of resettlement and the need to
coordinate with the Palestinians to confront
it. They know, as well, the deficiencies in
the Lebanese laws and regulations concerning
the Palestinians, and the ensuing problems
that negatively affected the Lebanese
environment itself, whether politically,
economically, socially or security wise. As
a result, this document was designed to
present suitable solutions to many issues.
As for the Lebanese state of affairs, it is
burdened with its own concerns, problems,
internal balances and external
interventions, thus making the Palestinian
refugees’ case of least priority, placing it
on a long waiting list to reach the
parliament. One notes that the agreement on
a president took more than two years, the
prime minister-designate could not form the
government even after nine months has passed
since the elections, and “collecting the
trash” took months of negotiations and
bargains, and the same case applies on
electricity… and applies on others.
Consequently, those concerned with the
Palestinian refugees must know that they are
dealing with a system that is slow, having
sects and parties that are politically and
materially sensitive, and affected by
regional and international factors.
In such a system, it is easy for any party
to obstruct procedures under different
pretexts, in a country that is basically
based on consensus and on building internal
alliances in which some parties are forced
to respond to the requests or concerns of
their partners and political allies, albeit
contrary to their own convictions.
Experience has shown that many parties speak
individually of their support of refugees
and about alleviating their suffering, but
do not take any effective steps in the
Parliament in that regard.
The document has stated that one of the
criteria to be committed to Palestinian
rights is taking into consideration Lebanese
realistic abilities. This is a correct
statement, however, assessing these
abilities is controversial, for some parties
may be strict in their interpretation of the
document thus emptying it of its content.
Furthermore, the ministers exercise broad
powers in their ministries, and as a result,
they can disrupt any procedure or reduce its
impact, according to the positions of their
parties, their own interpretation of the
text (which has many interpretations), and
by exploiting loopholes in the texts.
It’s important to emphasise that the issue
of the rights of Palestinian refugees is no
longer an issue that can be postponed or
shelved, and that it is in the interest of
the Lebanese and Palestinian parties to
solve it. In addition, the sufferings of the
Palestinian refugee community have negative
impact on the whole Lebanese community.
At the same time, the Palestinians in
Lebanon and all those who support their
rights, must not stop their initiatives,
follow ups, and hard work, in order to bring
the Palestinian refugees issue to the fore
of the agendas in Lebanon. Secondly, they
must build trust with Lebanese parties that
have their own concerns, by presenting facts
and information that would ease these
concerns and overcome the negative
historical legacy. Thirdly, the refugee
issue can be presented within the context of
searching for the common ground that is in
the interests of all parties. Fourthly,
there’s nothing wrong if one starts with
consensus issues and those which can be
easily implemented, and then move to more
complex issues. Fifthly, crystallising
procedures into laws and the unequivocal
drafting of legislations is very important
to prevent the use of ambiguity or loopholes
to disrupt or impede the integrity and
smooth implementation.
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The
document published by the Lebanese
Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC), which
is attached to the office of the Lebanese
Presidency of the Council of Ministers, is
considered one of the most important
documents in which the Lebanese of almost
all political affiliations made a common
approach on how to deal with Palestinian
refugees. It was published in January 2017,
and was entitled, “A unified Lebanese vision
for the Palestinian refugees affairs in
Lebanon.” This was the fruit of over 50
meetings held by the Working Group formed by
LPDC, along almost two years.The importance of this document lies in its comprehensiveness, dealing objectively with most of the issues of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, and that most Lebanese political forces approved it and ratified it. These are the Future Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party, Hezbollah, Amal Movement, Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces, and even the Lebanese Phalanges Party, which approved most of its articles, but did not sign it. Hence, the document practically represents an overwhelming majority of all sects (Sunni, Shia, Christians, Druze…), making it easier for its recommendations to be converted into laws and resolutions. However, two years since its launch, no practical procedure was taken to alleviate many aspects of the sufferings that the document admitted and has offered reasonable approaches to deal with.
This document was preceded by another, issued by the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Forum of the Common Space Initiative, in which representatives of several major Lebanese parties, and a number of Lebanese and Palestinian specialists, participated. After a labour of two years, and on 29 October 2013, this document was issued, offering good solutions and approaches for the treatment of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
The aggravation of the Palestinian refugee crisis, their continuous suffering over many years, their deprivation of several human, civil, social and economic rights – guaranteed in international human rights systems and treaties, along with the slow and disruptive pace of solution procedures – even those agreed upon, form a phenomena that characterises the situation of Palestinian refuge in Lebanon.
The Palestinians in Lebanon are deprived from their right to work in many jobs, professions and disciplines, hence they have a hard time to earn their living, including most of those with university majors. This suffering began in 1963, and over time more procedures were enacted, complicating and aggravating it, especially in 1982 and afterwards. Then, some Lebanese forces tried to solve the issue, however, the procedures remained few and easily disrupted.
In 2005, the then Labour Minister Trad Hamadah announced the easing of work permit restrictions on Palestinians, and in 2010, the Lebanese parliament granted Palestinian refugees the right to work and claim free work permits for employment in the private sector, and to claim retirement indemnities. But despite paying their full contributions to the social security fund (23 per cent for foreigners including Palestinians, and seven per cent for the Lebanese), the new amendments did not include health coverage, maternity benefits or family allowances. They also did not lift the ban on the syndicated professions in Lebanon, and they are many (medicine, engineering, law, accounting… and others), where only the Lebanese could apply. Consequently, the Palestinians actually did not apply for work permits and social security… and most of them continued to work illegally, if they found an opportunity to work in the first place.
In 2001, this problem was aggravated when the Lebanese parliament issued a law denying the Palestinians the right to own property in Lebanon. Consequently, they have become unable to bequeath their property (that was already owned before 2001) to their heirs.
This suffering led to a mass emigration drain in the Palestinian refugee society in Lebanon. Many emigrated, especially university graduates and professionals, in search of livelihood, decreasing their numbers in Lebanon. The number of UNRWA registered refugees in Lebanon is about 550,000, whereas their actual number barely approaches half this number (250,000). It should be noted here that in 2017, the Lebanese census of Palestinian refugees residents in Lebanon is placed the number at 175,000.
The suffering of Palestinian refugee camps (RCs) was aggravated by the strict measures taken by the Lebanese authorities under the pretext of maintaining security and preventing unauthorised construction…, they tightened the entry and exit controls, and prohibited the entry of building materials except in some very rare cases. This was implemented at a time when the RCs were suffering from serious overcrowding, poor housing conditions and insufficient infrastructure. The measures caused further increase in unemployment rates leading to the widespread poverty, and attempts by various parties to recruit the refugees in order to disrupt the security and stability of the country.
Security and sectarianism were at the core of dealing with the refugees on the ground. Moreover, the lack of proper regulation of work has led the Lebanese state to lose many sources of income, for the refugees were not integrated into the official system of work to ensure their natural rights, and to receive from them the appropriate taxes and fees.
The LPDC document has tackled most of the problems mentioned above, and has adopted four reference frameworks: Committing to the Lebanese Constitution and the National Accord Document, guaranteeing the Lebanese greater national interests, committing to the Human Rights system, and confirming the values of sovereignty, independence, and coexistence. It introduced suitable definitions of the Palestinian refugee and resettlement, which were controversial among the Lebanese. The definition of refugees included the refugees of 1948, who are registered with the UNRWA in Lebanon; those registered at the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities; and undocumented Palestinian refugees identified by the Lebanese authorities within the Non-ID category. As for the resettlement of refugees, it was defined as granting Palestinian refugees the Lebanese nationality collectively, or individually, by virtue of an imposed decision in the context of a regional or international settlement.
The document rejected resettlement (as did the Palestinians), believed in preserving the human rights of Palestinian refugees, granting them their economic and social rights, enhancing the RCs conditions, and “humanising” security procedures, where dealing with RCs should not be limited to the security aspect, but must also include political matters, services and human right issues. The Working Group agreed on the Palestinians’ right to work and have social security, which would cover medical treatment and other services, and on the need to address the right to own property, without providing full and clear details of this approach.
The document positively agreed on the Palestinian refugees’ right of peaceful political action, and called for facilitating the activity of civil society organisations working to enhance the Palestinian national identity within legal frameworks. It supported the existence of representative committees in RCs that would provide services to the refugees.
It was pointed out in the document that these rights must be granted as long as they take into account Lebanon’s greater interest, human rights conventions, the interests of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, and the Lebanese realistic abilities.
It is clear that various Lebanese sides feel the dangers of resettlement and the need to coordinate with the Palestinians to confront it. They know, as well, the deficiencies in the Lebanese laws and regulations concerning the Palestinians, and the ensuing problems that negatively affected the Lebanese environment itself, whether politically, economically, socially or security wise. As a result, this document was designed to present suitable solutions to many issues.
As for the Lebanese state of affairs, it is burdened with its own concerns, problems, internal balances and external interventions, thus making the Palestinian refugees’ case of least priority, placing it on a long waiting list to reach the parliament. One notes that the agreement on a president took more than two years, the prime minister-designate could not form the government even after nine months has passed since the elections, and “collecting the trash” took months of negotiations and bargains, and the same case applies on electricity… and applies on others. Consequently, those concerned with the Palestinian refugees must know that they are dealing with a system that is slow, having sects and parties that are politically and materially sensitive, and affected by regional and international factors.
In such a system, it is easy for any party to obstruct procedures under different pretexts, in a country that is basically based on consensus and on building internal alliances in which some parties are forced to respond to the requests or concerns of their partners and political allies, albeit contrary to their own convictions. Experience has shown that many parties speak individually of their support of refugees and about alleviating their suffering, but do not take any effective steps in the Parliament in that regard.
The document has stated that one of the criteria to be committed to Palestinian rights is taking into consideration Lebanese realistic abilities. This is a correct statement, however, assessing these abilities is controversial, for some parties may be strict in their interpretation of the document thus emptying it of its content. Furthermore, the ministers exercise broad powers in their ministries, and as a result, they can disrupt any procedure or reduce its impact, according to the positions of their parties, their own interpretation of the text (which has many interpretations), and by exploiting loopholes in the texts.
It’s important to emphasise that the issue of the rights of Palestinian refugees is no longer an issue that can be postponed or shelved, and that it is in the interest of the Lebanese and Palestinian parties to solve it. In addition, the sufferings of the Palestinian refugee community have negative impact on the whole Lebanese community.
At the same time, the Palestinians in Lebanon and all those who support their rights, must not stop their initiatives, follow ups, and hard work, in order to bring the Palestinian refugees issue to the fore of the agendas in Lebanon. Secondly, they must build trust with Lebanese parties that have their own concerns, by presenting facts and information that would ease these concerns and overcome the negative historical legacy. Thirdly, the refugee issue can be presented within the context of searching for the common ground that is in the interests of all parties. Fourthly, there’s nothing wrong if one starts with consensus issues and those which can be easily implemented, and then move to more complex issues. Fifthly, crystallising procedures into laws and the unequivocal drafting of legislations is very important to prevent the use of ambiguity or loopholes to disrupt or impede the integrity and smooth implementation.
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Your Comment is Received .. Thank You
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