Why Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon See No End in Sight for Their Suffering
NAHR AL-BARED, LEBANON – Without a political and legal solution, Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon will remain impoverished and at the mercy of international aid organizations who seek to depoliticize their suffering, according to experts on the crisis in Lebanon’s camps where they say the Palestinian people have been abandoned. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are among the most disadvantaged groups in a country suffering from a catastrophic economic crisis: 73% of Palestinian refugees live in poverty, in contrast to 45% of Lebanese, according to a United Nations survey conducted in July 2021. The situation is even worse for Palestinian Refugees from Syria (PRS), 90% of whom live in poverty. Yet, despite these daunting statistics, little to no attention has been turned to the 12 refugee camps in which roughly 400,000 Palestinians live in Lebanon. The issue was quickly sidelined when an explosion, followed by a shooting that killed four civilians, rocked the Burj al-Shamali camp in December, sparking fears of all-out warfare. At the time of the chaos, I was told by Mohammed Khatib from the Ain Al-Hilweh refugee camp that “the violence exists because the Palestinians live in an unbearable environment in Lebanon.” A history of subjugation, exploitation,
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