It has been more than 50 years since the Nakba – the catastrophe that created the first wave of Palestinian refugees and led to the continued suffering of their descendants. In Lebanon, the Palestinians’ half-century of exile has been marked by a 17-year saga of unimaginable violence: the 1975-1991 war, the 1982 Israeli invasions, protracted sieges of Palestinian camps and massacres. Since tenuous peace returned to Lebanon in 1991, the Lebanese have been busy reconstructing their country, buoyed by the hope of a better future. By contrast, the Palestinians in have been facing ever greater socio-economic and political pressures.

The Exile

The creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and the Arab-Israeli war that accompanied it saw the massive displacement and exodus of thousands of Palestinians from their homes. Lebanon would become host to 100,000 of these refugees from the Galilee region in northern Israel. Exile was supposed to be temporary, but with the political impasse that followed the ceasefire, a resolution to the Palestinian refugee problem was not forthcoming and to this day remains elusive. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was founded in 1951 by the United Nations to administer the refugee camps. Over the years to come, the refugees would be relocated to 14 refugee camps across Lebanon, primarily located around the cities of Beirut, Sidon, and Tyre. Please note that today only 12 of these refugee camps remain, two having been destroyed during the war.

Fragile Balance

The Palestinian presence posed problems to Lebanon’s delicate balance of power. Lebanon is a country of confessional and ideological divisions, where sectarianism is formalized with the intent of sharing power in the public sector. Integrating a foreign population was perceived as a threat to the politically dominant in Lebanon, and in consequence, the vast majority of refugees have been prevented from obtaining Lebanese citizenship.

Political Resurgence

The refugee camps were put under constant surveillance by the Lebanese authorities, who feared any political activity would disrupt Lebanon’s fragile stability or invite reprisals from Israel. Eventually this would lead to direct conflict between the Lebanese army and the Palestinian groups. To ease these tensions, the Cairo Accords were signed in 1969, granting the PLO control over the refugee camps and formalizing Palestinian rights to work and residency, as well as outlining the parameters of armed struggle. In 1970, the PLO leadership was expelled from Jordan and relocated to Lebanon, bringing unprecedented political influence to the Palestinians. The PLO developed ministries and offered health, education and employment services to the Palestinians. This new political maturity of the Palestinians in Lebanon inevitably provoked tensions with the Lebanese, and would prove to be an important factor in the civil war.

Conflict and Decline

Lebanon’s civil war broke out in 1975, and saw heavy Palestinian involvement. The refugee camps were not immune to the war, and two were destroyed as a consequence of heavy bombardments and protracted sieges. Israel’s 1982 invasion caused massive damage to many of the camps, and resulted in the expulsion of the PLO from Lebanon, leaving the refugee population vulnerable to many hostile forces. That same year, the camps of Sabra and Shatila would witness a massacre of an estimated 2,000 Palestinians and Lebanese civilians by Lebanese militias allied with Israel. Starting in 1985 and continuing on and off through to the end of 1987, a number of camps were subjected to repeated sieges by militias, a conflict called ‘The War of the Camps’. While none of the besieged camps fell during these battles, damage was extensive and the population traumatized.
As a result of the protracted conflict, thousands of Palestinian families would be displaced. The effects of war on the population have been devastating: nearly 11% of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are currently enrolled in UNRWA’s special hardship program, the highest rate in the region, even surpassing the West Bank. The program has been providing direct material and financial assistance to the most vulnerable groups in Palestinian refugee communities, such as widowed women, the elderly and the disabled.

Constant Pressures

Following the end of civil war in 1991, the unofficial and implicit policy of the Lebanese government has been to contain the Palestinian refugees and to encourage emigration by restricting the population both economically and socially. Through a number of legislative measures and policies, Palestinians have effectively been cut off from Lebanon’s social security net and economy. Since 1962, Palestinians have been categorized as foreigners in Lebanon, and have thus been restricted from working in over 70 professions such as administration, engineering, law and medicine. New legislation passed in 2005 saw these restrictions officially eased, as 50 formerly barred positions were opened up. Despite the changes, high permit fees remain a barrier, while higher income professional jobs such as engineering remain restricted. The political restrictions to employment have had a devastating effect on the economy of the refugee community. At least 40% of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are unemployed, and 60% live below the UN defined line of poverty. Exasperating the economic situation of the refugees is the decline of external funding for local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the camps. While there is a solid network of NGOs in Lebanon as well as in the Palestinian camps, these have seen their funds greatly reduced, as post-war reconstruction becomes less of a donor priority. Furthermore, much donor funding for Palestinian NGOs was lost following the 1993 Oslo Accords, when large amounts of aid were diverted to the newly established autonomous areas of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Lastly, even the UNRWA has seen its funds dramatically reduced, and the organization has had to implement severe austerity measures and service cuts in order to ensure its own survival. The PLO itself has redirected funds away from areas outside of the Palestinian Occupied Territories since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. Thus a critical source of income and support for many Palestinian refugees has been lost.

Uncertain Future

There is little hope in the foreseeable future of any improvement in the quality of life for the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Their right of return to their homeland is not being addressed in any of the limited international negotiations, and their civil rights in Lebanon continue to be ignored and denied. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon thus continue to live without access to basic rights of health, education, employment and decent living conditions. While political negotiations continue, it is imperative to remember that the Palestinian issue is not simply one of securing a state for a people, but also one of basic dignity and humanity, where all people are entitled to fundamental human rights.