A new issue is being raised nowadays in the new Lebanon: Lebanon that emerged in the aftermath of the so-called March 14th uprising and the independent Lebanese decision. That issue relates to the human and civil rights of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon: a case that has been hidden under the political carpet for more than five decades; either under the pretext of the fragile demographic formula in Lebanon, or by raising the slogan of rejecting the resettlement of the refugees in the country. Both pretexts are kind of partisan or factional manipulation, practiced by Lebanese individuals and groups long known for their denial of the basic human rights; whether granted to the Palestinian refugees, the Lebanese minorities or any other residents of Lebanon.
It is neither logical nor sensible to enforce on the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon a long list of items of what jobs are banned or prohibited to them, the building materials that should never be allowed into their camps or the areas the Palestinians are not permitted to enter. These lists are flagrant violation of international agreements and conventions, which grant for all categories of refugees a wide margin of freedom and facilitations that equalize those of the legal residents or citizens, if not occasionally surpass them – considering the hard human and psychological circumstances suffered by the refugees and taken by consideration by the more civilized countries – especially when these refugees were uprooted at gunpoint from their lands and homes – as has been the case with the Palestinian refugees of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are not asking for the “VIP refugee status”- enjoyed by refugees in Europe or USA, who turned up to be a heavy economic and political burden on their host countries. Palestinians only seek to lead a dignified life in the 11 camps scattered all through the Lebanese territories, to lift the ban imposed on many jobs, allow them to build enough rooms for generations of their homeless descendants, and ending the restriction of construction materials reaching the camps and providing the necessary healthcare required for those living in the shantytowns, called refugee camps.
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While certain groups are raising the issue of Palestinian weapons in and outside the camps for political mundane purposes, one of which might be using this issue as a cover for potential provocative campaigns against the refugees – that very question could only be solved through dialogue and negotiations between relevant parties – namely the Lebanese government and Palestinian Authority, to reach a common Lebanese-Palestinian strategy similar to the upcoming one that would be emerging between the Lebanese authorities and the Hizbullah militias
On the other hand – it should be noted that initiating more official Lebanese positive gestures towards Palestinian refugees, aiming at improving their living conditions and dealing, brotherly and sympathetically, with their suffering, on the basis of human dignity, will virtually contribute to facilitating a solution for the issue of Palestinian weapons according to the international legitimate resolutions, Lebanese sovereignty and protecting the safety and security of the Palestinian refugees in their Lebanese camps.
What might serve to alleviate the Lebanese anxieties are these statements continuously declared by Palestinian refugee spokesmen, recognizing the favors of Lebanese state, rejecting the resettlement option – and sticking to the right of return no matter how long the time passes. Underscored too should be these spokesmen’s insistence on their support of the integrity and sovereignty of the Lebanese state over its soil, the non-interference in the internal Lebanese affairs or harming the delicate factional Lebanese balance.
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Mohammed Shaker Abdallah is the editorial page editor at Al-Quds.