What do Palestinians in Lebanon want?

My last post (on Palestinians in Lebanon) was about Citizenship for Palestinians in Lebanon and the Palestinian dream of Return (to Palestine) inshallah. (God Willing).


I pointed out that the majority of Palestinian Christians were given Lebanese Citizenship, and majority of Palestinian Muslims were not, I gave two possible reasons for this, firstly, according to the government, the reason for denying citizenship was to 'keep the dream of Return alive'.
Secondly, as Lebanon is an extremely sectarian country, with a Christian President and a Christian minority, they didn't want the scales tipping too much in favour of the (Sunni) Muslims.


(Exact demographics are not known, as Lebanon does not have any current census data, the last official census was done in 1932. Lebanon have been too wary to conduct another, almost as if they don't want to see how big the Muslim majority has become, and possibly spark more conflict in the country.)


Now, let's put citizenship to one side, as Palestinians don't actually want Lebanese citizenship, and ask what do Palestinians in Lebanon want? I interviewed a Palestinian man from Beddawi Refugee Camp in North Lebanon and asked him this question, his response was as follows:

"What do Palestinians want? We want our rights! We want basic human rights, we want the same rights as Lebanese."

I then asked him to elaborate on his answer:

Palestinians in Beddawi Camp | Al-Akhbar English. 2012.

 "The rights? The right to buy and own property, the right to health care, the right to work in good jobs*, the right to work in safe jobs, the right to drive through a check point without being interrogated for being Palestinian! We just want the discrimination to stop"

Palestinian man working in Beddawi Camp | Guardian. 2012

*Palestinians are banned from working in as many as 20, high level professions such as; law, medicine, dentistry, engineering. Palestinian workers are also paid 20% less than Lebanese, for exactly the same work. The Palestinians who can get work outside of the refugee camps usually work in construction.

However, because of the severe discrimination faced by Palestinians in Lebanon, it is very difficult for Palestinians to find a job. If however a Palestinian does find a job, for example in construction, other problems arise such as the very dangerous conditions on the sites which are without basic OH&S, and as Palestinians are not given access to health care and insurance, more often than not Palestinians cannot offord to be treated after  injury, as one has to pay for their treatment before receiving it.



So, the answer to the question, "What do Palestinians in Lebanon want?" it is very clear, Palestinians want their rights, the rights people across the world take for granted; the right to be treated as a human being, the right to live a life without constant discrimination on a legislative level as well as on a person level. Other rights such as the right to buy and own property, the right to become a doctor or an engineer, and the right to health care are other things Palestinians want, and have been denied since 1948.