Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon: a photopack We also acknowledge the deceased as well as the survivors of the massacre.

The project was supported by the following members of the EMHRN Acknowledgements Human Rights Education Working Group –Ruth Farrugia, Omar Grech, Marit Flo Joergensen, Lina Osseiran Beydoun, Antonia Papadopoulou, Colm regan, UR GRATITUDE AND THANKS IS Mr. Jaber Abou-Hawash, Ms. Kristel Natasha Shawarib, Abdel-Monim Elgak, Halter, Ms. Anika Barnes, Ms. Merrylin Theresia Pedersen and Antonio Stango. OEXTENDED TO THE MEMBERS OF THE Onisko and Mr. Abdallah Ibadi. Thanks are also due to participants in the PHOTOPACK PROJECT COMMITTEE FOR 2003 EMHRN Summer School (held in Furthermore gratitude and appreciation Beirut) for their support and THEIR COORDINATION AND ASSISTANCE is extended to the following Palestinian participation. organisations for their assistance with WITH THE INITIATION AND COMPLETION OF the children’s activities and for feedback Final drafting and design by Theresia THE WORK. during the project workshops: Pedersen of the Danish institute for – Association Najdeh Human Rights, Marit Flo Joergensen of – The National Institution of Social the EMHRN and Colm Regan of 80:20 Care and Vocational Training (Beitt Educating and Acting for a Better World, The photopack committee members in Atfal Assoumoud) Ireland. Lebanon included Mr. Ghassan Abdallah – Child and Youth Center in Shatila (General Director of the Palestinian – The Women’s Humanitarian Our special thanks are due to the people Human Rights Organisation), Dr. Faraj Organisation Sabra and Shatila, the families who Abdallah (Project Director) and Ms. – The Return Center in Lebanon participated, the children of Shatila, the Shiraz Basma (Project Coordinator). The – The Palestinian Human Rights Popular Committees in the Camp and the Director of schools. work would not have been possible Association (Witness) without the professionalism and energy Finally, we acknowledge the financial of both Ms. Rola Badran and Mr. Khaled The project would not have been support of the Euro-Mediterranean Obeid in supporting the fieldwork and possible without the involvement of the Human Rights Network, the Danish the co-ordination of all involved. children of Shatila who provided us with institute for Human Rights, 80:20 Moreover, acknowledgement is extended the inspiration as well as the images; the Educating and Acting for a Better to Mr. Bassam Hubeichi and Ms. Dalal families interviewed during the project; World, Ireland, the Mediterranean Yassine for their assistance in the camp the Popular Committees in camp and the Academy, Malta, the Palestinian during the project workshops. In Director of the schools there, Mr. Khaled Human Rights Organisation, addition, we acknowledge the work of Sarris. Lebannon etc etc etc 2 List of Contents

Section 1 – Introducing the Project and Biladi Section 2 – Exploring the Issues Section 3 – Introducing and Using the Photos to Explore the Issues Section 4 – Further Information

3 SECTION 1 Introduction

ORN OF PALESTINIAN ORIGIN AND In this context, I welcome the of the members of the Euro- opportunity to collaborate with Mediterranean Human Rights Network, CURRENTLY THE GENERAL DIRECTOR OF B colleagues in an educational exercise the members of the Network’s Human A HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION, I AM directed to the international community Rights Education Working Group, the to focus attention on three key issues: Danish Institute for Human Rights and INVOLVED IN PROMOTING THE CAUSE OF 80: 20 Educating and Acting for a Better l who are Palestinian refugees? THE ‘RIGHT OF RETURN’ AND SELF- World. In particular, it is my pleasure to l what is the current status of Palestinian express my personal thanks to my DETERMINATION AS WELL AS HIGHLIGHTING refugees in Lebanon? friends Marit, Theresia and Colm for THE CURRENT SITUATION OF PALESTINIAN l what are the rights of refugees? their help and support.

REFUGEES IN LEBANON. I AM ALSO Through the educational tool of this MR. G HASSAN ABDALLAH , CONCERNED WITH PROMOTING CIVIL RIGHTS photopack, we seek to highlight the GENERAL DIRECTOR , harsh realities of refugee life as well as PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATION FOR REFUGEES THROUGH OUR the grief and the sorrow in one of the (PHRO) PROGRAMMES IN THE PALESTINIAN HUMAN best known refugee camps – Sabra and Shatila – infamous for the massacres that RIGHTS ORGANISATION, ESPECIALLY occurred there in 1982. Throughout the THROUGH HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION, pack we have been concerned to highlight two key political issues – the NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LOBBYING call for Lebanon to grant refugees their AND ADVOCACY AND INTERNAL DIALOGUE most basic rights and the call to the international community to establish BETWEEN PALESTINIANS AS WELL AS mechanisms to implement UN resolution 194 on the ‘right of return’ for BETWEEN PALESTINIANS AND LEBANESE. Palestinian refugees.

It would not have been possible to complete the work without the support

4 We have produced Biladi to share a number of different dimensions of the situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and, specifically, those living in Sabra and Shatila: Editors’ Introduction l some of the history behind their story l some details of the circumstances and situations in which they live today l HIS RESOURCE CAME ABOUT AS A an opportunity to work alongside the l the specific forms of discrimination people (especially the young people) of and exclusion they experience TRESULT OF THE JOINT WORK OF THE the refugee camp – Sabra and Shatila l views and perspectives on the EURO-MEDITERRANEAN HUMAN RIGHTS Sabra and Shatila area is situated in massacre and its legacy southern Beirut, Lebanon and has a total NETWORK EDUCATION WORKING GROUP estimated population of 22,000. The Sabra l the issue of the right to return to Palestine. AND THE PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS and Shatila camp was established by the International Committee of the Red Cross The situation of the Palestinian people ORGANISATION IN LEBANON. in 1949 to accommodate the hundreds of and the denial of most of their refugees who poured into the area from fundamental human rights are well Galilee in northern Palestine after 1948. It highlighted internationally. Less so the is 1 of 12 current refugee camps in situation of Palestinian refugees and the difficulties they face on a daily basis. The The project that finally led to the Lebanon with an estimated population of 8,184 – UNRWA figures, 2004. The total story of the Palestinians in Lebanon is publication of Biladi had a number of controversial and contested – it involves number of Palestinian refugees in levels and dimensions: not just the Lebanese and the Palestinians Lebanon is officially estimated to be but also the Israelis, the Syrians and, of l individuals and organisations from 399,152, approximately 10% of Lebanon’s course, the international community. It very different backgrounds and total population. involves conflicting accounts and views of contexts learning to work together and history, the Lebanese Civil War (1975 – share ideas and experiences Sabra and Shatila is known internationally 1990), the rights of refugees, the right to l specific interest in sharing because the camp was devastated during return to their homes and, ultimately, the the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and methodologies and approaches to overall situation of the Palestinian and was the scene of a major massacre in human rights education that are Jewish peoples. September of that year . During the years learner centred and participative of conflict the camp was frequently Biladi is offered as one contribution to l an interest in learning more about the targeted, which resulted in the destruction engaging with some of these issues and as situation of Palestinian refugees in of property, displacement of refugees and part of a broader consideration of a human Lebanon a siege. rights understanding of such issues.

5 Introducing the Project Process

T THE OUTSET, WE WERE CONCERNED activity was to inform the people of l high school students were also the camp of the project and its involved in the same art activities - a ATO INVOLVE AS MANY PEOPLE FROM potential contribution and also to number of young volunteer SABRA AND SHATILA AS POSSIBLE IN ORDER ensure involvement from young photographers were asked to people. Hundreds of drawings were photograph aspects of the camp that THAT THE FINAL PRODUCT REFLECTED THEIR collected and then sorted out in the highlighted key issues for them - IDEAS AND PRIORITIES AS MUCH AS THOSE workshops (a representative sample social, health, economic, legal and have been included in the pack). environmental issues etc. OF THE ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED.

The project therefore went through a number of different phases before completion – brainstorming and planning sessions, children’s activities, issue-based workshops, fieldwork and input from participants at a Human Rights Education Summer School.

The different processes involved included: l project identification and negotiation l selection of the camp - Sabra and Shatila – the outlining and negotiation of an agreed work plan l art activities involving camp-based children - the aim of this latter

6 l the final selection of photos was made in subsequent workhops and during the Summer School referred to l the project also involved discussion and training on the value of images as an educational tool. In developing this element, an action plan on selecting images and content was agreed l the initial draft was ‘tested’ locally as well as with participants in the Summer School especially as regards the selection of images and themes. Issues such as the concept of the ‘right of return’, key terms such as ‘homeland, stateless or country’ were hotly debated l throughout the project, it was agreed that non-violence and non party These themes were agreed following the l To highlight specific and unique political approaches would guide all testing of the photos using a variety of aspects of ‘Palestinian refugees’ discussion. approaches and activities outlined in the l To use dialogue, discussion and text that follows. education as one means of conflict The final photos chosen relate to the resolution following themes: Agreed Project Objectives l To highlight the important issues of l general housing conditions and the ‘Right of Return’ for Palestinian conditions within the camp l To present and describe the current status of Palestinian Refugees in Refugees to their homeland – Palestine - and the debates l water services and infrastructure Lebanon through a selected camp - surrounding the issue l social networks and ties Sabra and Shatila l To acknowledge and highlight the l To familiarise an international l education and access to health care suffering of many families in Sabra audience with key aspects of the services and Shatila as a result of the Palestinian refugee question through l legal status and the ‘right of return’ massacre. the development and use of a non- l remembrance of the massacre in violent, educational methodology at a 1982. variety of levels

7 SECTION 2 Palestinian Refugees – a brief history

ALESTINIAN ARAB REFUGEES ARE PART Over the course of the 20 th century, the Palestinian refugee population today Palestinian people have experienced numbering over 5 million persons and OF THE INDIGENOUS INHABITANTS OF P several periods of major displacement, constituting nearly two-thirds of the HISTORIC PALESTINE, A LAND STRETCHING beginning in 1947-48 during the first Arab- Palestinian people. Israeli war, followed by a second major FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST EAST displacement in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. If one includes Palestinians displaced for In 1971 many Palestinians were displaced ACROSS THE JORDAN RIVER, AND FROM THE the first time in the 1967 war and from Jordan during what is known as internally displaced Palestinians inside GULF OF AQABA NORTH BEYOND THE SEA OF “Black September”. As recently as 1991 Israel, approximately three-quarters of the GALILEE. TODAY THIS GEOGRAPHICAL AREA some 350,000 Palestinians were displaced from Kuwait during the Gulf War. In Palestinian people have been uprooted IS DIVIDED INTO THE STATE OF ISRAEL addition, Palestinians have experienced from their traditional lands over the past five decades, making Palestinian refugees (ESTABLISHED IN MAY 1948), AND THE WEST internal displacement in 1974 as well as during the Civil War (1975-1990), when the largest and one of the longest standing BANK (INCLUDING EASTERN JERUSALEM) AND two refugee camps were totally destroyed unresolved refugee cases in the world in the north-eastern part of Beirut. THE GAZA STRIP (WHICH ISRAEL OCCUPIED IN today.

1967). Additional displacement has resulted from The majority of these refugees reside Israeli government policies and practices within 100 miles of their places of origin inside Israel and in the 1967 occupied inside Israel and in the occupied West Palestinian territories, including land Bank (including eastern Jerusalem), and Palestinian cities, villages, and most of the confiscation, house demolition, revocation the Gaza Strip but are unable to exercise 19 official refugee camps in the latter of residency status, and deportation, as areas were transferred to a self-governing well as government policies and armed their right to return to their homes and Palestinian Authority in the 1990s under conflict in various countries of asylum in lands of origin. The State of Israel opposes the Madrid/Oslo ‘peace process.’ The area, the region. the return of Palestinian refugees based on however, remains under Israeli the desire to maintain Israel as a “Jewish occupation with the bulk of the land area Palestinian refugees from 1948 and their State” characterised by a Jewish majority under full Israeli military control. descendents comprise the bulk of the and Jewish control of the land.

8 Exploring the History of The Palestinian right to self-determination first recognised in 1919 Palestinian Displacement The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination was first Mass exoduses are caused by multiple and recognised by the League of Nations in 1919. Palestine (which had complex factors. been part of the Ottoman empire until its collapse at the end of the First World War) was among a number of non-self-governing Arab The mass exodus of Palestinians, during territories in the Middle East that were placed periods of conflict as well as in times of under the temporary ‘tutelage’ or relative calm, is related directly to the administration of foreign powers until such a The 1922 Mandate for Palestine ongoing denial of the right to self- time as the peoples of these territories were In 1922, the League of Nations entrusted determination and the persistent violation deemed ‘ready’ for independence. the Mandate for Palestine (considered to of many of the most basic human rights of be “Class A” or closest to independence) the Palestinian people. to Great Britain. Contrary to the intent and purpose of that temporary system (to 1947 – the UN agrees to divide Palestine into two states – Arab and Jewish administer Palestine and its peoples In early 1947, the British government informed the United Nations of its intention to withdraw through to independence) Great Britain from Palestine ending more than two decades of mandatory rule. Despite the fact that the also recognised demands of the League of Nations had recognised the provisional independence of Palestine, the UN General establishment of an exclusive Jewish state Assembly decided to establish a special committee of inquiry to formulate recommendations in Palestine. for the future status of Palestine. Repeated requests by key Arab states to obtain an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning the legal obligation of the UN Under the terms of the 1922 Mandate for to recognise the independence of Palestine under the terms of the League of Nations Mandate Palestine (drafted by the British system were rejected by the General Assembly. government and which also incorporated the 1917 Balfour Declaration whereby the In November 1947 the UN General Assembly adopted a plan (UN General Assembly British government first recognised Resolution 181), based on the recommendations of the majority of the members of the special demands for an exclusive Jewish state), committee of inquiry, for the division of Palestine into two states – one Arab and one Jewish. the British Administration in Palestine was The recommendation was adopted despite the wishes of the majority of the inhabitants of the required to ‘secure the establishment of country. Irrespective of unresolved legal issues, and provisions in the plan for the protection of the Jewish national home’ in Palestine minority rights in each state, opponents of Resolution 181 argued that its terms were through Jewish immigration and inequitable: the proposed Jewish state was allotted 56% of the territory of historic Palestine settlement. As for the majority of the even though Jewish inhabitants of Palestine comprised less than one-third of the population inhabitants of the country (i.e., Palestinian and owned not more than 7% of the land. The collapse of the UN-sponsored initiative, after Arabs), who were referred to as the ‘non- key supporters backed away from implementing it by force, and the subsequent war in 1948 Jewish communities’, the 1922 Mandate led to the depopulation of some 530 villages and displacement/expulsion of some 750,000 only recognised their civil and religious Palestinians. Israel has refused to allow the refugees to return to their homes, apart from a rights rather than political rights, including very small number of family reunification cases. the right to self-determination.

9 Ongoing violations and ‘multiple displacements’ The violation of the human 1967 Israel occupies additional territory rights of Palestinians inside Israel, the 1967 occupied Some twenty years later, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 242, calling upon territories, as well as in Arab Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied in the 1967 Israeli-Arab war, including eastern states such as Jordan, Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Several hundred thousand Palestinians, including Lebanon, and Kuwait has led 1948 refugees, were displaced during the war and have been denied the right to return to their to further cycles of homes and lands in these territories due to Israel’s continued military occupation. Again, only a displacement. While there very small number of Palestinians have been able to return through family reunification. These are no exact figures to territories comprise only 22% of the land of historic mandate Palestine. The United Nations has illustrate the impact of these repeatedly affirmed the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people in these territories. policies, it is estimated that General Assembly Resolution 3236 adopted in 1974, for example, reaffirmed the inalienable right of over three decades of Israeli the Palestinian people to self-determination and the inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to policies of land confiscation, return to their homes and lands from which they were uprooted. house demolition, revocation of residency rights, and deportation, have led to the forced Mass exodus of Palestinians is accompanied by systematic human rights violations displacement of several thousand The mass exodus and displacement of Palestinians is also accompanied by systematic human Palestinians. The 1970 conflict between rights violations. During the 1948 war, the Palestinian Arab population was displaced and the government of Jordan and the PLO, expelled in large numbers by Jewish militias and later by Israeli forces after the unilateral the civil war and Israeli invasion of establishment of the state of Israel in May 1948. through a combination of tactics that Lebanon in the 1980s, and the 1991 Gulf violated basic principles of international law. These tactics included indiscriminate military War, and the violation of basic human attacks on civilians (including those fleeing areas of conflict), massacres, looting, destruction rights of Palestinian refugees residing in of property (including entire villages), and forced expulsion. Israeli military forces later these areas, including the massacre of instituted ‘shoot to kill’ policies at the front lines to ‘prevent infiltration’ - i.e., the spontaneous several thousand Palestinian refugees in return of refugees to their homes. the camps of Sabra and Shatila in Beirut (by Lebanese Christian Phalangists allied Expulsion and internal transfer of Palestinian Arabs continued after the signing of armistice with Israel) has led to further displacement, agreements in 1949 between Israel and its Arab neighbours. Israel subsequently adopted a with many Palestinians having experienced series of laws concerning citizenship and nationality which effectively prevented Palestinian multiple displacements in their lifetime. refugees from returning to their homeland, as well as a series of “abandoned property” laws to dispossess refugees of their property and transfer it to full Jewish control. Many of these same violations of international law were committed against Palestinians during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, leading again to mass displacement and imposed exile.

10 Facts and Figures on Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

ALESTINIAN REFUGEES IN LEBANON CAN 53% of this number (210,155) live in 12 destroyed during its civil war and were registered refugee camps scattered never rebuilt, 1 was voluntarily evacuated PBE DIVIDED INTO THREE GROUPS: throughout the country. The remaining before the war.) number live in non-registered camps (also – REGISTERED REFUGEES (RR) ARE called gatherings) and Palestinian However, Palestinian the Lebanese REGISTERED BY BOTH UNRWA AND THE communities. (Originally, 16 refugee sources claim that 415,000 Palestinian camps existed in Lebanon, 3 were refugees reside in Lebanon. This number LEBANESE AUTHORITIES

– NON-REGISTERED REFUGEES (NR) ARE Palestinian Refugees in Numbers REGISTERED ONLY BY THE LEBANESE Total registered refugees 399,152 GOVERNMENT (AND NOT BY UNRWA) Registered camp population 210,155 – NON-IDENTIFIED REFUGEES (NON-ID) THOSE WHO ARE NOT REGISTERED Official camps 12 (16 of which 3 were destroyed and never rebuilt and 1 was evacuated) WITH ANY AGENCY Elementary and preparatory schools 82

Secondary schools 5 Registered Refugees Enrolled pupils (2001/2002) 40,549 (RR) – 399,152 UNRWA figures for 2004 numbers claim Primary health care facilities 23 that 399,152 Palestinian refugees (approximately 10% of Lebanon’s total Refugees registered as special hardship cases 45,460 population) reside in Lebanon.

11 includes the 387,000 (approximate) Theoretically, the overall number of Though many of the immigrants to refugees registered with the UNRWA, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon falling Europe have permanantly settled down 35,000 non-registered refugees and 5,000 under the above three categories is and those in Arab Gulf states have legal non-identified refugees. The last two around 430,000. However, less than two work permits, many of those in Europe categories – non-registered and non- thirds this number actually live in and all of those in Arab Gulf states still identified, are defined below. Lebanon. The events of the Lebanese retain their status as Palestinian refugees civil war (1975-90), the Israeli invasion registered in Lebanon. While Non-ID (1992) and the camp wars (1985-87), the refugees face the most difficult of Non-Registered Refugees (NR) difficult economic conditions as well as circumstances, all Palestinians refugees – 30,000-35,000 the Lebanese laws against Palestinian are subject to discrimination at a variety refugees (defined as aliens within of levels. There are approximately 35,000 refugees Lebanese law) have led to massive unregistered by UNRWA (42,000 according migration of Palestinian refugees to other international sources). Before towards Western Europe in general and 2004 they were able to benefit from some Scandinavia in particular. minor services provided by UNRWA (but none of the major services as hospitalisation). Since 2004, a temporary UNWRA project funded by the EU allows NR refugees access to hospital.

Nearly half of these refugees were registered by the Red Cross and, consequently, by the Lebanese Government, while the second half was registered by orders of former Prime Ministers (between 1969-1978).

Non-Identified Refugees Non- ID) – 4,000-5,000 This category includes around 5,000 Palestinians who do not possess any kind of ID. This group of refugees does not benefit from UNRWA services and does not receive any assistance from the Lebanese government.

12 The Resolution also affirms two primary solutions for Palestinian refugees: l the right to return to their homes and receive real property restitution and What are refugee rights? compensation for losses and damages l assistance for resettlement in a host state or a third country and real property restitution and compensation CCORDING TO INTERNATIONAL LAW, refugee. These rights and solutions are for losses and damages. accepted norms of international law and REFUGEES HAVE THE RIGHT TO RETURN A refugee practice and have been The General Assembly believed that implemented in numerous other refugee TO THEIR HOMES OF ORIGIN, RECEIVE REAL those refugees who wished to return to cases, such as Bosnia, Kosovo and East their homes of origin should have be able PROPERTY RESTITUTION, AND Timor. to do so when Israel and its Arab neighbours (i.e., Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon COMPENSATION FOR LOSSES AND The United Nations General Assembly and Syria) signed armistice agreements set forth the specific framework for in 1949 marking the end of the 1948 war. DAMAGES. resolving the Palestinian refugee case in UN Resolution 194(III), 11 December 1948. UN Resolution 194(III) reaffirms There are three basic solutions to three basic rights of refugee problems: Palestinian refugees l voluntary repatriation (or return) and two primary l voluntary host country integration solutions. The Resolution reaffirms l voluntary resettlement in a third the right of each country. individual Palestinian refugee to: Of these three solutions only repatriation l return to his/her or return is a right recognised under home of origin international law. Each of the three solutions mentioned above is guided by l real property the principle of voluntariness or refugee restitution choice. In other words, the starting point l compensation for in crafting durable solutions to refugee losses and damages. problems is the wish of the individual Aspects of the social reality of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

Legal and Political Status the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and perhaps In 1989, Lebanon ended seventeen years more surprisingly, has led to negative of civil war, launching a process of The Palestinian people have been stateless consequences on those Palestinian national reconciliation and reconstruct - for the past fifty-seven years (1948-2005). refugees currently residing in Lebanon. ion to mend both social relations While the PLO acts as their national representative, the United Nations has assumed direct responsibility for their livelihood. Through a special UN agency – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), created in 1949) the Palestinian refugee community receives essential social services.

Today, UNRWA offers humanitarian assistance to 3.3 million Palestinians, officially classified as refugees by the agency (UNRWA 2001). However, UNRWA does not provide protection for Palestinian refugees, nor does the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) whose mandate excludes Palestinian refugees from its protection (Article 1d of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees).

The absence of a protection mechanism has proven fatal for many Palestinian refugees living under Israeli occupation in

14 between the multiple parties involved economic conditions, experience of the Interior, Directorate for Political including the Palestinians and to rebuild ongoing lack of basic rights, living in and Refugee Affairs). Still, they are its war-torn infrastructure. Unfortun - dilapidated refugee camps with little termed non-registered refugees because ately, the Lebanese government had hope for the future due to the lack of a the Lebanese government does not little interest in reorganising links with mechanism or monitoring body whereby legally define any Palestinian residing on its Palestinian community, in large part their rights can be protected. Lebanese soil as a ‘refugee’ so this due to the fact that Palestinian refugees registration is merely recognition of were predominately Sunni Muslims and While the situation of Palestinian existence. would tip Lebanon’s religious/social refugees in Lebanon has increasingly balance. come under discussion among members Non-Identified (Non-ID) refugees of the international community, include those refugees who have been The Lebanese Government also excluded conversations are primarily focused on recognized neither by UNRWA nor the Palestinian refugee camps from its the 399,152 UNRWA-registered Lebanese government mainly due to the reconstruction program, refusing to Palestinian refugees (UNRWA 2001). fact that they do not possess any form of rebuild three camps destroyed during valid identification. Non-ID refugees are the war and disallowing the entry of These refugees comprise almost 10% of Lebanon’s total population. The mainly those who came to Lebanon from building materials for the purpose of Jordan in the 1970s and were registered majority live in 12 UNRWA registered reconstruction in others (particularly in Jordan. Later, their IDs expired and refugee camps and their peripheries. those camps in South Lebanon). they could neither renew them through the Jordanian Embassy in Lebanon nor In the absence of an effective protection return to Jordan. They were stuck in mechanism, the policies of various Non-Registered Refugees (NR Lebanon with expired ID papers which Lebanese governments have excluded and Non-ID) no one recognised. Because the children Palestinian refugees from social of Non-ID refugees assumed the same However, there exists another class of reconciliation and physical reconstruct - status, this number continues to grow. ion. The Lebanese government has refugee - those who are not registered enacted laws severely restricting the civil with the UNRWA. Two types of refugee When NR and Non-ID refugees are rights of Palestinian refugees. Examples fall into this category: included in the total count of include restricting the rights of Palestinians who have sought refuge on Palestinians in relation to the right to Non-registered refugees (NR) include Lebanese soil, the number of refugees work, to full education and to the right to those refugees who have not been rises from UNRWA’s 399,152 to roughly a fair trial by denying access to legal aid. registered with UNRWA, in most cases 430,000. Other rights are entirely denied - the because they do not meet UNRWA’s right to own property and form civil definition of refugee (loosely defined as society institutions. those Palestinians who fled in 1948 and their descendents). Non-registered Consequently, Palestinian refugees in refugees have, however, been registered Lebanon live in very poor socio- by the Lebanese Government (Ministry

15 A Brief Look at the Legal Status of Palestinian Refugees

N LEBANESE LAW, PALESTINIANS ARE NOT l the right to education health and social insurance and the right to join syndicates, provided that DEFINED AS REFUGEES (DESPITE CARRYING l the right to a fair trial I their country of origin exercise a policy REFUGEE PASSPORTS), AND SO, ARE NOT l the right to civil representation of reciprocity. As Palestinians are AFFORDED THE BENEFITS TYPICALLY l the right to social services stateless, and do not hold nationality of any country able to meet the required GRANTED TO PEOPLES OF REFUGEE STATUS. principle of reciprocity, they are RATHER, THEY ARE CONSIDERED AS ALIENS, Political and Legal Status of denied the same work-rights as other YET ARE GRANTED EVEN FEWER RIGHTS THAN Palestinian Refugees in aliens employed in Lebanon. THEIR ALIEN COUNTERPARTS BECAUSE OF Lebanon – Ministerial Decision numer 289/1, issued by the Labour Minister Adnan Despite Lebanon’s signature on the THE “RECIPROCITY POLICY”. THIS POLICY Mrowe in 1982 restricted most of the International Covenant on Economic, MEANS, BROADLY SPEAKING, THAT CITIZENS professions to Lebanese citizens only. Social and Cultural Rights (signed in Later on, in 1995, Minister Assad OF COUNTRY A RESIDING IN COUNTRY B ARE 1972), the government continues to pass Hardan with Ministerial Decision GRANTED THE SAME RIGHTS AS COUNTRY A discriminatory laws against Palestinian 621/1 defined the professions that are refugees (defined as aliens within WILL GRANT THE CITIZENS OF COUNTRY B restricted to Lebanese citizens (72 Lebanese law) which overturn the basic according to local unofficial sources RESIDING IN COUNTRY A – AS PALESTINIANS rights envisioned therein. and 46 as to Lebanese sources). Only a ARE STATELESS THEY ARE PREVENTED FROM few exceptions exist in case of a work ENJOYING SUCH RECIPROCITY RIGHTS. The right to work permit. While some Palestinian in principle could benefit from such Various obstacles prevent Palestinians exceptions, they are prevented from from working in Lebanon. doing to, due to the reciprocity policy. Their rights in the following areas are either restricted or prohibited: – Article 59 of the Law of Work for – Palestinian refugees who obtained Aliens (1946) grant alien workers the work permits despite the scant number l the right to work same work rights as their Lebanese of permits offered to Palestinians, l the right to own property counterparts, including the benefit of receive lower wages, cannot be

16 promoted in their posts, and are not appointed lawyer if they cannot afford The right to own property entitled to health and social insurance one. Article 426 offers foreign nationals A new amendment to Lebanese Property and other benefits granted to Lebanese legal aid under the reciprocity principle. Law deprives Palestinian refugees of the employees. As palestinians are deemed stateless and right to own real estate in Lebanon do not benefit from this principle, they (passed in April of 2001). are deprived of the benefits of a law The right to education others are entitled to. In practice, there – The measure requires those who own Two major obstacles prevent Palestinians are two outcomes for Palestinians unable property in Lebanon to be citizens of from participating in higher learning. to afford a legal representative: an “established state” with reciprocal treatment for property ownership – Palestinian refugees must compete – The refugee would be tried without a laws. Because Palestinians are with all other aliens for the scant lawyer. As a result, a refugee stateless, they are barred from number of seats left open for non- sometimes receives maximum owning real estate in Lebanon. Lebanese students in Lebanese verdicts. educational institutes. The number of – Those who currently own land will not be able to pass it on to their children, seats left open for non-Lebanese – With no lawyer to follow up his/her next or kin or heirs upon death. students has an upper ceiling, but no case, a refugee might spend a lower limit meaning that these seats prolonged amount of time in may be allocated to Lebanese detention before being put on trial. students if the need arises. The right to civil services – In April of 2002, the tuition fees for The Lebanese government has renounced aliens, extended to Palestinian The right to civil any responsibility for Palestinian refugees refugees, were tripled in comparison representation in regards to civil services. Structural to the fee charged to Lebanese development services within refugee Palestinians are unable to represent students (Lebanese University camps are not only withheld, but themselves in civil society due to the announcement number 8, based on essentially prohibited by way of a military- following: Law 392, effective 8/2/2002). After imposed ban on the entry of building lobbying of the European Parliament – Lebanese legislation prevents aliens, materials into refugee camps in Southern in relation to the ratification of the including Palestinian refugees, from lebanon. This ban prevents EU-Lebanon Association Agreement forming representative bodies (e.g., – The rebuilding of the three UNRWA in November 2002, this amendment unions, syndicates, etc.) or electing refugee camps completely destroyed was abolished. political representatives. during Lebanon’s civil war;

– This same legislation prevents – The repair of demolished or damaged The right to a fair trial refugees from registering civil society houses within all camps; Lebanese law decree 90/83, article 425 institutions such as organizations and – The reconstruction of new refugee offers Lebanese citizens a state- associations. camps or expanding existing ones

17 plagued by overcrowding due to included in measures defining alien 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees, natural population growth. rights. Palestinians must be recognized and more broadly, the International as refugees, not aliens, and granted the Covenant on Social, Economic and In 2004, during the preparations for the rights outlined in such covenants as the Cultural Rights. visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, building materials were allowed into the camps “with previous permission” but this was an exceptional measure that may or may not continue. The Classification of Palestinian Refugees In regards to social services, the only in Lebanon known services offered by the Lebanese government is registration, the issuing of travel documents, and the issuing of personal status documents. UNRWA, the Illegal PLO, and NGO’s provide all other Registered Refugees Second Refugees or necessary services. However, the 1948 Non-Identified quantity and quality of these services has dwindled following UNRWA’s budget deficit, the reallocation of UNRWA’s resources to the Palestinian National Authority, and the collapse of most PLO Registered with: l Refugees after Not registered with 1948, 1956, not UNRWA or Lebanese institutions following its expulsion in l United Nations 1982. registered by General Security Relief and Work UNRWA only with Agency (UNRWA) Lebanese General l Lebanese General Security Conclusion Security l Displaced persons The denial of those rights cited above has of 1967, not prevented the Palestinian refugee having refugee community from prospering, and has status, cannot be placed them on a course of de- registered with development. UNRWA but with the Lebanese The alien status of Palestinian refugees General Security poses the first major obstacle, and the consistent demand of state reciprocity Figure 1: The Classification of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon.

18 Exploring the Sabra and Shatila Refugee Camp Massacre

ETWEEN SEPTEMBER 16TH AND 18TH camps. Researcher Rosemary Sayigh through the south-eastern edge of the describes the scene as the massacre Hursh, between Akka Hospital and Abu B1982, SEVERAL THOUSAND PALESTINIAN unfolded: Hassan Salameh Street. Apart from co- planning the operation and introducing REFUGEES - MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN - ‘The targeted area was crammed with the Special Forces into the area, the IDF people recently returned from the places provided several kinds of back-up - they WERE KILLED BY LEBANESE CHRISTIAN where they had taken refuge during the controlled the perimeters and prevented war, now supposedly over. Schools PHALANGIST FORCES ALLIED WITH ISRAEL, escape through light shelling and sniping, would soon open, everyone needed to as well as by blocking the main exits; repair their homes, clear the streets and WHILE, IT IS CLAIMED, ISRAELI FORCES they also used flares to light up the get ready for the winter. There was fear narrow alleys at night.’ LOOKED AND PREVENTED REFUGEES FROM of what the regime of Bashir Gemayel would bring, but there was also FLEEING THE CAMPS. When Israel finally ordered the determination to rebuild. People felt withdrawal of the Lebanese Special some security from the fact that they Forces two days later on 18 September were unarmed, and that all who 1982, the camps had been destroyed and remained were legal residents. Many of The massacre happened within weeks of several thousand refugees had either the massacre victims were found a US brokered withdrawal of PLO fighters been slaughtered or had disappeared. clutching their identity cards, as if trying from Lebanon in the late summer of Today one of the mass graves is used for to prove their legitimacy. 1982. Left without protection, Israeli- dumping garbage and another has been allied Lebanese forces were able to enter One contingent of the [Lebanese] Special paved over for a golf course. An Israeli the camps of West Beirut without Units commanded by Phalangists, Commission subsequently found then opposition. On September 16, the day entered the area through the sand-hills Defense Minister Ariel Sharon who is the massacre began, General Amos overlooking Hayy Orsan, just opposite now Prime Minister indirectly Yaron, commander of Israeli foces in the Israeli Defence Forces headquarters. responsible for the massacre. Lebanon - and now Director General of At this stage they were almost certainly the Israeli Defense Ministry - provided accompanied by Israeli soldiers, since the And so, in May 1985, Syria gave the Lebanese Forces Intelligence with aerial dunes had been fortified by the green light to begin what became known photographs to arrange entry into the Resistance. Another contingent entered as the War of the Camps. It started as a

19 street skirmish-not an unusual event in Lebanon, where a traffic accident can and often does degenerate into a full –scale battle with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades and turned into a surprise massive assault against the refugee districts of Sabra and Shatila and Burj-el Barajneh.

During this assault, the second massacre at Sabra took place. The Amal movement overran the Sabra refugee camp on May 31,1985 and took prisoner 700 young Palestinian men, who simply disappeared. There has been no news of them to this day. By October 1985, war had clearly redrawn the boundaries of the Shatila refugee camp - all 200 yards by 200 yards of it - that a shared poverty had previously erased.

Sabra and Shatila Massacre 1982 By Tomis Kapitan Phalangists led to Syrian intervention in before the US intervened with a plan to 1976 to restore the status quo. evacuate PLO fighters from Lebanon. Encyclopedia of War and Ethics This occurred under the auspices of a 1996 Diplomatic gains by the PLO during multinational force on August 21 sent to After the 1970 civil war in Jordan, the 1979-81 caused concern within Israel’s oversee the evacuation and protect Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Likud government headed by Menachem Palestinian refugees who had been left moved its operations to Lebanon, Begin. With his Defense Minister, Ariel behind. But the multinational force left recruiting fighters from Palestinian Sharon, he planned to crush the PLO by early September claiming its mission refugee camps. Its presence altered the militarily and draw Lebanon into a peace was accomplished. balance of power among Lebanon’s sects, treaty with Israel. On June 6, 1982 the and in 1975 the PLO was drawn into a IDF invaded Lebanon, bombarding Lebanon’s new president, Bashir civil war with its Lebanese allies against refugee camps in southern Lebanon with Gemayel, was reluctant to rush into a the Maronite community whose military heavy artillery before moving against peace treaty with Israel, but on strength was centred in the Phalangist PLO forces in West Beruit. It beseiged September 12, he agreed to Israel’s militia. PLO advances against the that half of the city for two-months request that Phalangist forces eliminate

20 the 2000 ‘terrorists’ which Israelis the camps until 5:00 am Saturday. The Presumably, the qualifier “indirect” was claimed were still in the refugee camps. militiamen finally left the camps at 8:00 based on the assumption that Israeli On September 14, Gemayel was killed in am. soldiers did not actually do the killing. a powerful explosion at the Phalangist Yet, allowing the revenge-seeking headquarters in East Beruit, it being The exact number of those who were Lebanese Forces into the camps under uncertain who was responsible. A day killed is not certain. On September 22, the fiction that they would clean out later, the IDF moved into West Beruit in the International Red Cross gave a figure “terrorists” suggests complicity if not violation of the evacuation agreement. of 2,400, but the militiamen had buried outright instigation. In other Sharon authorised entry of what were some bodies before evacuating, and circumstances, those responsible — presumed to be members of Gemayel’s sources among both Phalangists and directly or indirectly — would have been Lebanese Forces (a Phalangist milita) Palestinians claimed that at least 3,000 convicted of war crimes. and Saad Haddad’s South Lebanon Army people were killed or unaccounted for. into the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, Among the dead, none could be But Israel was the victor in the Lebanon home to 30,000 Palestinians and some identified as members of any PLO war, and memories are often short. Lebanese. The camps were completely military unit. Within a few years Shamir was Israel’s sealed off by Israeli tanks. When the Prime Minister, Eitan a Knesset member, General Yaron was appointed military militiamen entered on Thursday The massacre was a wild suspension of attaché to the Israeli Embassy in evening, September 16, the only law and morality, and the interesting Washington, and Israel’s Agricultural resistance they encountered was from a normative questions concern the scope Minister, Ariel Sharon, carried chutzpah few lightly-armed young boys. and degree of responsibility. The killers to remarkable heights in a 1986 New entered the camps at the behest of Israeli York Times op-ed piece entitled “It’s Past For the next 38 hours, aided by Israeli officials who were certainly aware of Time to Crush the Terrorist Monster.” flares at night, the militiamen raped, Phalangist hostility towards Palestinians. tortured, mutilated and massacred Phalangists had previously massacred civilians. IDF personnel, including Palestinians when the Tel Az-Zater Bibliography General Amos Yaron, IDF Commander refugee camp was taken in 1976, and Hirst, David, The Gun and the Olive in Beirut, were stationed on the rooftop Bashir Gemayel had repeatedly Branch, 2nd edition (London: Faber of a seven-story building 200 meters described the Palestinians as ‘a people and Faber, 1984) from Shatila, with a clear view of the too many’ in Lebanon. An Israeli camps below. Also there were members commission of inquiry ridiculed the Ang, Swee Chai, From Beruit to Jerusalem of the Phalangist intelligence who had claim that a massacre was not foreseen (London: Grafton Books, 1989) radio communication with militiamen by Israeli officials, especially after Randal, Jonathan, Going All the Way on the ground. By Friday morning, Gemayel’s assassination, and concluded (New York: Random House, 1984) evidence that a massacre was taking that ‘indirect responsibility’ rested on the Kapeliouk, Amnon, Sabra and Shatila: place was communicated to Israeli Chief shoulders of Sharon, Eitan, IDF Inquiry into a Massacre (Belmont, MA: of Staff, Raphael Eitan, but he approved a commanders, Foreign Minister Yitsak AAUG Inc., 1984) request that the Phalangists remain in Shamir, and Prime Minister Begin.

21 What is the Palestinian ‘right of return’? The historical background of the Palestinian right of return is based on several periods of exodus experienced by Some Common Questions the Palestinian people, mainly in 1947- 1948 and again in 1967. Today, there are over 5 million Palestinians – Palestinians Who are the Palestinian These groups, plus the 4.1 million who were forced to leave as well as their refugees? How many are refugees currently registered with descendants – who are refugees. The there? UNRWA, bring the number of refugees to right to return to a Palestinian territory is about five million, or roughly 70% of all by some Palestinians interpreted as The United Nations defines Palestinian Palestinians. going back to the 1948 status, while some refugees as those people (and their direct others refer to the territorial status in descendants) who lived in Palestine for Israel only acknowledges about two 1967. at least two years prior to 1948, and were million refugees, discounting those not displaced as a result of the 1948 war to registered with UNRWA and contending The self-determination and independ - Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank that UNRWA figures are greatly inflated. ence of the Palestinian people has been and Gaza. This is one reason there are often hear repeatedly endorsed by the international conflicting figures for the size of the community. Specifically regarding the Official refugee status is limited to people refugee population. Palestinian right to return to their who were displaced to these five areas homeland, the United Nations General where the United Nations Relief Works Assembly adopted UN Resolution 194 in Agency (UNRWA) was set up to provide The Palestinian “Right of 1948. Article 11 of the Resolution states humanitarian aid to the refugees. Return” that: This rather mechanistic definition The right of return is a prominent issue ‘[The General Assembly] resolves that the excludes many others who were for all Palestinians, and by far one of the refugees wishing to return to their homes dispossessed by Israeli-Arab warfare and most complex. For the Palestinian and live at peace with their neighbours since barred by Israel from returning to refugees in Lebanon, there are many should be permitted to do so at the earliest their homes. They include those interpretations of this right. For the practicable date, and that compensation displaced to areas outside of UNRWA’s outsider, the issue as a whole can be should be paid for the property of those jurisdiction in 1948 (numbering one complicated to understand. In what choosing not to return and for loss of or million today), those displaced in the follows, we will attempt to explain some damage to property which, under 1967 war (today, about 600,000) and of the key points on this issue expressed principles of international law or in those internally displaced inside Israel among the Palestinian refugee equity, should be made good by the (about 250,000 today). community in Lebanon. Governments or authorities responsible’

22 What does it mean? called for implementation of the right of Resolution 194 is implemented and return. Palestinians can choose whether or not UN Resolution 194 guarantees the right to return, then negotiations can take of Palestinians to return to their place that will address the reality. Until homeland, and their choice to do so. If Major human rights instruments, then, Palestinians will continue to once this right is implemented they including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Fourth Geneva advocate for their right to return to their choose not to return, they must receive Convention, the Hague Convention, the homeland. proper compensation. The significant International Covenant on Civil and point here is that Resolution 194 must be Political Rights, and several regional realised before any negotiations can take conventions all support the right to place regarding whether or not they will return and compensation. return to their homeland. Finally, Israel’s acceptance into the United Nations in 1949 was explicitly What is the legal basis for conditioned on its willingness to the right of return? implement UN Resolution 194 The strongest legal basis is UN Resolution 194, adopted in 1948. It states that: What about the people living there now? ‘The refugees wishing to return to their There are a wide range of Palestinian homes and live at peace with their perspectives on what are the effective neighbours should be permitted to do so solutions to this situation. Many at the earliest practicable date ... Palestinians advocate a solution that will compensation should be paid for the encourage mutual living. This is the property of those choosing not to return.’ most realistic and will encourage a long- term peaceful solution. Resolution 194 offers refugees a choice between repatriation (return to their homes) and compensation (money paid Will the Palestinian Right of for lost property), or simply compen - Return ever be enforced? sation. While realising the reality of almost four generations of foreigners living in the Resolution 194 has been affirmed by the Occupied Palestinian Territories, most General Assembly of the United Nations Palestinians are unwavering about their nearly every year since it was passed. A right, and the right of their descendants, total of eight other UN Resolutions have to live in their homeland. Once

23 SECTION 3 Using the Photos to Explore the Issues

T IS EASY AND FUN TO LEARN FROM Why use photographs in The activities presented in the following learning? pages are designed to support such IPHOTOGRAPHS AND THE SECRET IS TO exploration and discovery as well as to Photographs are useful to use because stimulate discussion on many of the LEARN BETTER HOW TO “READ” A they: important issues and challenges PHOTOGRAPH. WHEN YOU LEARN TO “READ” l are open- ended, people can interpret introduced in Biladi. them in their own way A PHOTOGRAPH YOU WILL BE DEVELOPING l can be read by everyone in their own Details of each of the photos are THE SKILL OF VISUAL LITERACY AND USING way provided on pages ??? IT TO DEVELOP OTHER, RELATED SKILLS. l do not require high levels of literacy Introducing the photographs l allow groups to determine for themselves what issues should be The following general activities are useful for discussed introducing the photographs and for helping l encourage groups and individuals to people to become familiar with them and recognise that not everyone sees the with what they see happening in them. The world in the same way or through the activities are also useful for generating same lens individual and group discussion and co- operation. Reviewing and describing photos l when used well, they allow for is also important before identifying and creative learning outside a fixed agenda discussing the issues and/or the questions and challenges they raise. Photographs provide a very rich source of exploration and discovery. In order to In using Biladi, it is more productive to have fully benefit from them, planning and people work in pairs or small groups initially organised investigation is needed, and to then compare and contrast choices especially when it is pursued in groups. and descriptions in the larger group.

24 disagreement as to what might be happening in the photos?

Alternatively, ask each pair or group to display their photo on a piece of poster paper on a wall. They could then write keywords describing the photo on stickers which can then be added to the poster. In this way, the entire set of photos can be displayed and described. Ask the whole group to look at all the posters and then share agreements or disagreements on the words chosen to describe particular pictures.

Storytelling Each group or pair can be invited to choose a photo and to then describe what might be happening through a story - they should include what happened before the photo was taken and what might happen afterwards.

Selecting Describing and Labelling Ask the group to look carefully at the whole Divide the group into pairs and invite each Identifying and Discussing set of photos, ask each individual or pair to pair to choose one photo and to then Issues choose one or two photos which they find describe, in their own words, what is Once the group is familiar with the pictures particularly interesting or which raise happening in the photo. Ask them to and their content, it is easier to proceed to important questions for them. People can choose some keywords which best describe identifying and discussing the issues they then form small groups (of, for example, four the photo (e.g. happy, sad, busy, dirty, raise. The activities below will help assist or six) and explain to each other their relaxed, hard-working etc.). Each pair this process. Choose one or two activities choices. Each small group then selects one should then share their description and key that best suit you or your group. or two photos from the group and explains words with the whole group. A list of group their choice to the full group. Each group keywords can then be compiled and Ranking Photographs does this in turn. This activity can be used to discussed. Are there words in common? Display the photographs so that all can see make a list of issues or questions that might Are the words largely positive or negative or them - make sure the number of each photo need further study and discussion. a mixture of both? Is there agreement or is clearly visible. Invite each small group to

25 rank their choice of four photos (by number) What do you feel? The Investigating the Photographs in a diamond pattern. Their ranking could Make a selection of photographs that, in your Worksheet on page ????? could be used as a be on the basis of: opinion, raise important or challenging basis for many of the activities listed above. l those they like most/least questions. Display the photos. Invite everyone, individually, to note those photos l the images that surprise them most/least Identifying Human Rights (identified by number) that raise important l which situation is most/least fair? issues for them about refugees in general and Issues using the Development Palestinian refugees in particular. Working Compass Rose l which situation best or least illustrates in small groups, individuals explain to each human rights and refugees? The Development Compass Rose is a very other which photos they chose and why. simple but most effective tool for identifying What are the key questions they give rise to? important issues in development. It focuses Again, each group can share their choice and Are the issues chosen by different people the on four basic areas - the Natural the reasoning behind it with the larger group same? Different? Each small group can then Environment (Natural) , the area of and similarities or differences between present the most important questions they Economics (Economics) , Social Affairs groups can then be explored. identified to the whole group. (Social) and politics (Who Decides). The Development Compass Rose was developed Questioning Key Questions by the Birmingham, England group – TIDE Give each group or pair a photograph. They Working in pairs or small groups, invite (teachers in Development Education) who should mount this on a larger piece of poster everyone to choose a photo that poses an use it as a basic tool to encourage people to important challenge. The challenges could paper so that they can write around the look at all aspects of the development include the following: edges of the photo. If this is not possible, the process. questions can be written on a separate piece l what challenge does the photo raise for of paper. Invite them to write as many Palestinian refugees? Encourage small groups to draw their own questions as they can about the photo. l what challenge does the photo raise for Compass Rose on a sheet of paper. Ask them Questions can be directly relevant to the particular groups of refugees – women, to list the important questions that can be photo or to issues raised by the photo. young people, older people, men? raised under each of the four headings. The questions should relate directly to the issue Encourage the group to ask questions that l what challenge does the photo raise for raise broader issues and challenges. Lebanese society? of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon or elsewhere. l what challenge does the photo raise for The questioning process around each photo the international community? can then be displayed and shared with the Each group’s results could be displayed and shared with the larger group. These could larger group. A group list of the most The answers to these questions could then then be compared with the questions listed challenging and interesting questions could form the basis for additional debate and in our Compass Rose on the page opposite. then form the basis for further study and discussion focused on how such challenges research. might be met.

26 What rights do Palestinian refugees have in making decisions about Why are conditions in the camps so bad? their own lives? Can nothing be done about the overall Who makes decisions in the refugee camps? environment of the camps? Do young people have power to make decisions? Is there no effective planning? What is the role of the UN? N s? at de u i ra ec l d o h

W

E

c

o

l

n

a

o i

c

Do women have equal m

o

i S rights? c Are relations between the Lebanese and the Palestinians Why are Palestinians imporving? excluded from so many jobs? What social and cultural life is How do people survive? their in the camps? What is their economic future? Do people feel pessimistic about the future?

27 Introducing the Photographs

Kids are playing on a hill of garbage Internet and Video Games Café inside Underground pipes during a 1 1 where no one thinks to play. This hill 1 5 the Camp, young people use it as one 1 9 maintenance period which is located at one of the western means of communication and for sometimes takes months and entrances of the camp and it a spending time with friends in network may not be finished and mixture of houses that were destroyed games in addition to doing research which can lead to problems during the numerous wars that the related to school work. such infected water or even camp underwent, and the garbage making it not available for that people gather at that place. months at a time Keywords: Entertainment, Education, Business, Keywords: Children, Environment, Right to Play, Pollution, Health Keywords: maintenance, services, pollution, diseases Meeting People, Communication

Alley located in the northern part of Women working for different NGOs in Remembering the Massacre, a 1 2 the camp. People are on one of the 1 6 the Camp discussing work related 110 woman is holding the photos camp’s main streets on a typical day. issues. of her three children and/or close relatives who were killed during the massacre in year 1982.

Keywords: Alley Streets, Daily Life, Internal Networks Keywords: women at work, civil society, participation, preparation, Keywords: Remembrance, Pain, Tears, Missing Gender, development.

Morning primary school for boys and Entrance of the camp where Despite all children do 1 1 1 3 afternoon for girls they switch around 7 Palestinian families live in buildings 11 what children do. A where they share the same balcony for each month because of the large group of children are population in the camps - one each floor. Flats inside these buildings primary school is not enough for all are small (2 rooms, kitchen and a playing in the small children. bathroom) and each flat currently “backyard” of their house accommodates at least six people. which is not really a backyard. Keywords: Education, Hope, Future, Gender Keywords: Living Conditions, Sharing, High Population, Privacy, Keywords: Start with what you have, enjoy your life, Living Together Children, Right to play Hair Dressing salon for women in the Music shop inside the Camp where The electric network in 1 4 Camp, where women go for beauty 1 8 people have access to the latest music 112 one alley of the camp therapy as all other women in the in the world. The decorations (red) shows the dangerous world do. Not so highly developed refer to celebrating Valentine’s Day situation - lines enter technically but at least it serves the within the Camps. basic needs of beauty for women in between each other the Camps. causing serious danger.

Keywords: Beauty, Women, Business Keywords: Music, Valentine, Up to date, Celebrating, Business Keywords: Electricity, sources, danger, organization, observation 28 It is from Chatila Camp “we should Students doing home work - reading 113 remove this photo from the document” 117 and writing in the street since streets 122 123 are considered the only places that kids use in the camp for everything “studying, playing and even working”.

Keywords: Education, Educational Environment

Children in summer are engaged in a An old lady buying her fresh vegetables 114 recycling project inside the camp as a 118 from a mobile shop that is typical inside means of protecting the environment from the camp. The wall behind the lady is more pollution. one of the cemetery walls of people who were martyred during the Camp’s war between the Lebanese Amal Movement and Palestinians. Mohammad Abed Al Salam was married from Arabia Hussien Al Hajj Hassan (Photo no.22) , they were living in Palestine but due to 1948 Arab – Israeli conflict (Nakba) they left Keywords: Summer time, Children, Recycling, Environment, Child Keywords: Health, Daily life, Business Palestine and moved to Beirut and settled in Chatila Camp Labor where he continued to produce juice and sell it. One over view of the camp shows its One inhabitant of Shatila Camp who Mohammad and his wife had nine children - Abed Al Salam, 115 different sections and different shapes 119 was killed during the 1982 Massacre - Ahmad, Wahida, Khodor, Abbas, Fatima, Abdallah, Salah, and the types of houses where the his swelled body - evidence of being Mohammad. Photo no. 20 shows Khodor and Abbas where as refugees live. Houses vary from those in dead for days. This photo was taken by Photo no. 21 shows Fatima, Abdallah and Wahida buildings into those with zinc ceilings and the French Associated Press and is from in both cases the standard housing Dr. Bayan Nowayhed Al-Hout (1982) During the wars, this family lost four sons: Ahmad in 1978 conditions are not of acceptable quality. Sabra and Shatila, September 1982 during the first Israeli Invasion to Southern Lebanon, Khodor in page 709. 1981 during the Lebanese War “He was at the time married and has one daughter”, Mohammad in 1982 during the Israeli Keywords: Over population, crowdedness Keywords: Killed, Dead for days, Massacre, Genocide, Crime against Invasion to Beirut in Chatila Camp, Abbas in 1986 during the Humanity Camps War “by Amal Movement” A shop for repairing and recycling The lady in Photo no. 23 is Abdallah’s Wife 116 fridges which could be sold again 120 121 second hand. Repairing is one of the In 1984 Abdallah got married to Iman and they had 3 children means that refugees use in order to “Rasha, Mohammad and Yousef. This family lives in Chatila fully consume what they and repair Camp. Their house is rented and consists of two rooms, a work is considered one of the active kitchen and a bathroom - The kitchen is shown in photo no. 23 businesses inside the camp - others where Iman – the wife is preparing coffee for guests “us”). from outside the camp use such sources Currently, Abdallah is works selling second hand shoes inside inside the camp since they are cheaper. Chatilla Camp - he sells the shoes in one corner known as Keywords: Repairing, Second hand equipments, unable to buy new, “Souk”. business 29 SECTION 4 Some Camp Residents Speak

Haytham Diab al-Aqla The human mind cannot bear the scenes And there are people who are missing – i.e. from the place, I mean seeing around 35 they never found their bodies and they were On the massacres young people being brought out from the not in the mass grave after the digging was ‘… The massacre became terrible and shelter and placed by the wall in a group, completed by Red Crescent and the civil awful and no one could imagine it. And a except for the women who were pregnant defence. I knew all the people who lived in person just wants to talk about the scenes and the children who were already killed, Harash and Hay Al-Gharbi and a big he has seen, and particularly what I saw but also even the elderly. I mean, there was number went missing and their corpses in a house that I entered… the house of an old person on al-Dukhi Street and they have not been found and worst of all, the Abu Ahmad Surur and his daughter Su’ad put his walking stick beside him and booby- missing girls, their corpses were not found who are currently in Belgium. I entered the trapped him so that if anyone wanted to try among the victims.’ to pull him or pull the body the bomb would house and found Abu Ahmad Surur explode. The situation in Shatila was holding his son in his arms and it was On current economic and social conditions frightening and dreadful . Even now the clear that he wanted to try to protect him camp suffers from the massacre and the ‘… The situation in the Shatila camp ought … problems it brought. to be better as it is so close to the capital Beirut – it is in the middle (of it). The When Mohammed al-Durra died, I started ‘… there is a man who is called Muhammed situation ought to be better in relation to the to think about and remember the massacre; Abu Rudainah who has a sister. He lost his drains and the sewage - we do not have how Abu Ahmed Surur wanted to try to whole family – only he and his sister these services – the sewage is a disaster – protect his son so that the bullets would not survived. Several times it seems as he talks especially in the winter. A lot of people buy reach him. And despite all this, the father to himself. He walks the streets and you feel shoes just in order to be able to reach their of Ahmed Surur was killed and his son as that this is not a normal person – there are houses. Dust/mud is in the streets, garbage well. He was embracing three fourths of his conditions you cannot imagine. Not only and no water – not even drinking water– body in order to protect him, and so the him, there are many. Surur and the and the inhabitants are forced to drink bullet went through the bodies of the father children of Abu Ahmad Surur and many whatever they can find. And the income of and the son. The limbs were scattered in a people lost a son or their father or brother some families is one or two dollars and dreadful way. died. They have psychological problems. some families do not even have enough to

30 buy a piece of bread, there are no doctors, Palestinian go to the Palestinians. No way were killed and some got out.’ the Palestinian people in the last 30 years (will he get the job) – we (as Palestinian have increased heart and kidney problems people) share a joint misfortune. ‘We want to return to our houses. At the …’ moment we suffer from the economical and ‘… First of all, the environment in which we social situation/conditions.’ live - the housing, the roads, the sewage, On those without identity papers the electricity, the water and the health ‘… There are a lot of Palestinians who left situation as well as the social situation is Khadiga Toufic Awkar in 1967 here in the camp – this is natural. very poor. Generally, of course, we suffer ‘… I am 70 years old. When I arrived to They are old and they crossed the borders from living in this society and from the Lebanon, I was 15 years old and I was and no one stopped them, but their children education/upbringing – we suffer from it already married for two years and I gave are an issue, you can’t imagine. Especially all. If someone gets ill, he/she goes to birth too in Palestine…’ if they have a daughter who wants to UNWRA and if they don’t have medicine, marry or a son who wants to study – there and especially for chronic diseases, are no limits to the problems if you do not On Palestine before 1948 UNWRA says there is no medicine, and have an identity card …’ ‘… Yes, they were saying it was terrible and therefore he goes from door to door looking Iraq was invaded and Lebanon and Syria for a penny or two. If nobody agrees to were invaded, and I don’t know anything. Abu Muhammed assist him to get the amount needed and to help him, he will die …’ My uncle and his wife were saying the On why we came to Sabra and Shatila camp world was destroyed. and on work ‘… We were here and they gathered us ‘… in Shatila and in Beirut there was work. unjustly and returned us without anything. And when the massacre of Deir Yassine And with regard to the Palestinian They made us sit down without food and occurred, my uncle found a house in Tyr situation, there was work in Beirut. We drink and demolished our houses, destroyed (Sour) and brought us to it. We thought that came to look for work and a place to live and killed our children. And I, and one of in 15 days we would be able to return back here. I am a cook but Palestinians are not my people, I lost a young boy. I was in to Palestine. We left our clothes, luggage, allowed to work because people know that Shatila, and afterwards I moved. We lived commodities and properties and we didn’t you are a Palestinian or it is known that in the outskirts of the camp and when bring anything with us. We hadn’t heard or there are a number of professions which Israel…the Israeli planes bombed the camp seen any aircraft or any armoured fighting Palestinians are not allowed to work in, we our houses were destroyed in 1982 and we vehicle and no one was killed. Only one Palestinians do not enjoy any rights or fled to inside the camp where I had relatives house was demolished in Nassira street and anything. If you are a Palestinian, and you and in the night we heard about the Ibn Al-Kassam Hamid was killed in it. read in the newspaper – I, my son read in massacre…the massacre…we left the camp When we left, my husband worked in the newspaper because he wants to work as and there were people who stayed in the fishing and other related services. His a driver or guard, they will say, you are a camp and among the ones who left some father was an old person. He was just

31 covering his father’s needs and nothing else. returned to it without anything, no There is no good standard of living in Tyr, commodities or even a spoon. so we moved to Beirut. My uncle’s wife died in Tyr and we moved to this place. My We were here and we escaped. And the uncle said he didn’t want to live in Lebanon people were running and screaming and and he wanted to return to his country, to saying: “the massacre…. the massacre…”. his building and house. We escaped and they entered also in Gaza hospital and began slaughtering people and took the young men. They slaughtered On conditions in Shatila when they arrived whoever they slaughtered and took whoever ‘… It was very nice. There were no they took.’ Rumours…rumours… We spent buildings or constructions, and all these these days like in hell’ trees weren’t available. Shatila camp was made up of tents and the somewhat You will see on the video, the screams, wealthy people built wooden houses with laments and killings. This scatters the kitchens and then all these constructions heart. A person who lost all his family were set up and it was the same for Al- members, another who lost his son, father, Daouk …’ brother, relatives, and neighbours. They didn’t leave anyone in the street. The On the massacre massacres took place in all Doukhi street ‘… When they came and committed the from the beginning of Bir Hasan to the end massacre, Israel opened the road and the of Shatila. The massacres were taking place massacre was committed. I entered with without any control or awareness - without my son’s wife holding our noses with our awareness. hands, looking for our children. We wanted to look for our children. We wore On the current living situation filtering masks while waiting for the ‘… Difficult. There are no jobs. No one is removal of the wicks. Because they told us living like a human. The Palestinian is not that explosives were still installed. We employed or given a job. People who have returned with ten cars of the Civil Defence, degrees are selling vegetables…’ we waited until the Intelligence came to dismantle and remove the mines from the ‘I choose my country. I swear by God I will dead in order to be able to return. This is return barefoot to Palestine…’ our house. In the times of the Amal (militia) it was burned three times, and we

32 Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network