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Let’s Not Experiment with the Syrian Refugees

 Al-Nahar, Lebanon, Originally posted in Arabic on March 8

 

It is hard to digest these statistics, but the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is believed to have reached 2 million individuals, when Lebanon’s entire population is 4 million people! In other words, every third person in Lebanon today is a Syrian refugee.

This requires immense resources, particularly international ones, to deal with the problem. Unfortunately, what we are witnessing today is a complete refusal on behalf of international bodies and agencies to assist the Lebanese government.

Just like the Palestinian refugees of 1948, the Syrian refugees are sent to temporary camps without the proper living conditions they need, let alone any hope for a better future. And just like the Palestinian refugees, they will grow new generations of hopeless and frustrated youth, who will resent their host country and act against it.

I am not even talking about the possibility of the Islamic State reaching these frustrated individuals and infiltrating new countries in the Middle East. Have we learned nothing from history? We cannot afford to experiment with the Syrian refugees by hoping that everything will simply be okay. We must rehabilitate those who lost everything they had in life, including their loved ones.

In a recent donor conference in London, some $11 billion were raised to assist Syrian refugees.

This is an important step, but it is not enough. Most of this money will likely not even reach the Lebanese government. The United Nation, as well as world governments, must step in and help.

Today it might be Lebanon’s problem, but tomorrow, it will be that of the entire Western world. – Naila Tawini