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Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon

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Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon 131 Betrayed and Forgotten: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon Lena El-Malak* INTRODUCTION “There is not a single Palestinian who has designs on the soil of Lebanon. On the contrary, we are ready for any sacrifice for Lebanon and its people, and we consider our residence in this country is temporary.” Muhammad al-Bajirmi,1 Palestinian refugee in the Rashidieh Camp In the past century, numerous wars have contributed to flows of international migration, giving new meanings to territories, borders, state sovereignty, refugee camps, and repatriation. Events surrounding the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 have made of Palestinian refugees the world’s largest and oldest refugee population, with estimates of over 4 million.2 Fifty years after their initial displacement, Palestinians still linger in refugee camps in misery and poverty while the prospect of a just settlement to their cause grows dimmer every day. Their struggle, long ignored by the international community, reveals a strong will to survive against all odds and an undeniable attachment to their land, from which they fled in fear decades ago. Among the most dramatic stories of such survival is that of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Their history is marked by forced exile, years of civil war, displacement, massacres, and a life of humiliation and deprivation at the margins of the flourishing post-war Lebanese society. * Lena El-Malak obtained an M.A. in Public International Law from SOAS in 2003 and is currently working as Durable Solutions Assistant for the UNHCR in Jordan. 1 Cited in Aql, A., “Palestinian Refugees of Lebanon Speak”, XXV, no.1, Journal of Palestine Studies (Autumn 1995), 54 at p. 58. 2 UNRWA, “UNRWA in figures: figures as of 31 December 2002”, (31 December 2002), www.un.org/unrwa/pr/pdf/uif-dec02.pdf (accessed: 07/04/02). UNRWA figures of 31 December 2002 confirm that there are currently 4,025,694 registered refugees in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These figures do not take into account refugees in Egypt, as well as the thousands of Palestinian refugees who do not satisfy the UNRWA definition, or who have acquired other nationalities and are no longer registered with UNRWA. 132 Articles The aim of this article is to shed some light on the legal challenges facing Palestinian refugees in one of their host countries: Lebanon.3 It will outline the evolution of their legal status in Lebanon and the curtailment of their civil rights, particularly since the end of the Lebanese civil war. It will also define the legal obligations of the Lebanese government vis-à-vis Palestinian refugees, and will advocate a redress to the injustice perpetrated by that government against them. This article unequivocally operates without prejudice to the inalienable rights of Palestinian refugees, as per paragraph 11 of U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194,4 namely their right to return to the homes from which they fled back in 1948. It can, by no means, be interpreted as promoting the local integration of Palestinians in their host countries. The first chapter of this article will give a brief historical overview of the Palestinian refugees’ presence on Lebanese territory from 1948 until the end of the Civil War, and the evolution of the official Lebanese reaction to their presence. It will also discuss the role of the United Nations Relief Work Agency (UNRWA) and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in shaping the status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The second chapter of this study will discuss the legal restrictions facing Palestinian refugees that have constrained almost every aspect of their daily lives. Finally, the third chapter will discuss Lebanon’s obligations towards Palestinian refugees in accordance with binding international legal instruments. It will also outline solutions that have been proposed as a way out of this impasse. 1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEES IN LEBANON The exodus of Palestinians from their homes in Mandate Palestine took place in the late 1940s. The chain of events that forced Palestinians to flee their homes is beyond the scope of this article and has been unveiled in detail by New Israeli Historians.5 It is, however, essential for the purposes of this research to provide a chronology of events that gave rise to the current status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. This will include the role of various actors, namely Lebanon, the PLO and UNRWA in shaping this status. 3 For a map of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in 1999, see Al-Mashriq, “Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon-1999”, (1999), http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/300/307/pal- camps/index.html (accessed 03/06/03). 4 Palestine-Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator, GA Res. 194(III), (11 December 1948) (hereinafter Resolution 194). 5 See Morris, B., The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987; Shlaim, A., Collusion Across the Jordan: King Adbullah, the Zionist Movement and the Partition of Palestine, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988, and Pappé, I., Britain and the Arab- Israeli Conflict, 1948-51, London, Macmillan Press, 1988..
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