Palestinian refugees long standing suffering
Regional-Palestine, Politics, 4/18/2006

Amnesty International spoke about the conditions of Palesintians living in Lebanon. It said "The land area occupied by the 12 Palestinian official refugee camps in Lebanon has remained mostly unchanged since 1948 despite the Palestinian refugee population in Lebanon having swelled from an estimated 100,000 in 1949 to over 400,000 at the present time."

Amnesty International spoke of the limitations which continue to be imposed on the Palestinian refugee community in Lebanon in order to restrict their exercise of human rights and which discriminate against them on racial grounds.

These include restrictions that discriminate against Palestinians in relation to housing rights, the right to work, and right to education.

In many cases, Palestinian families interviewed by Amnesty International indicated that children dropped out of school as they believe that spending many years of education to finish school or university will be wasted as they will not be able to use such education to gain a living.

According to UNRWA There are:
400,582 Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA
between 10,000 and 40,000 Palestinian refugees are not registered with UNRWA but registered with the Lebanese authorities
4,000 to 3,000 are not registered at all
One of the refugees interviewed by Amnesty International has lived with his family in El-Maachouk -- an unregistered gathering in Tyre -- for 32 years where his family moved from Burj El-Shemali (Tyre) to a bigger house. He had left school in fourth grade to support his family when his father was detained during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. He now lives in a small house close to his parents, with his wife and children. His parents' house has one room where the ceiling is made of corrugated metal while the other room has a ceiling made of bamboo sticks topped by mud. "To build bricks in the ceiling instead we need permission from the local authority; the local authority does not give permissions. We could go to the governorate but it does not give permissions either."

Amnesty International said "The actions of the Lebanese authorities, in blocking Palestinian refugees from making improvements to make their accommodation safe, habitable and adequate, violate the duty to respect their housing rights.

In addition, since 2001, Lebanese law has effectively prevented Palestinian refugees from owning property in Lebanon. The law is worded in a manner that almost exclusively prevents Palestinians from owning property. This law and the building restrictions imposed on Palestinian camps and settlements are discriminatory; they violate the human rights of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, including their housing rights and their right to an adequate standard of living. By discriminating against Palestinian refugees in this manner, Lebanon violates its obligations under several international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, (ICESCR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)."

Amnesty International said "The right of return is enshrined in international law and Amnesty International believes that Palestinian refugees should be able to exercise their right of return to their homes and lands. Of the three durable solutions for refugees - resettlement in a third country, local integration, and voluntary repatriation - the third is often recognized as the preferred solution for refugees. However, voluntary repatriation has been inaccessible to Palestinian refugees since their flight in 1948 due to the refusal of the state of Israel to allow them to return to their homes and lands in Israel, or to the Palestinian Occupied Territories."

Previous Stories:
  Conclusion of Al-Qods conference supporting the Palestinians   (4/17/2006)
  Palestinian parliament speaker urges Muslims to take action against Israel   (4/15/2006)
  Hizbullah moral support to the Palestinians   (4/15/2006)
  Algerian Journalist: Arab League is better off being silent on Palestine   (4/13/2006)
  Saad Hariri meets Palestinian leader Ahmad Jibril   (4/4/2006)
  Lebanese ministers inspect Palestinian camps   (3/25/2006)

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