Palestinian refugee fired from his job in Lebanon - because he has a Palestinian accent.

Shatila Refugee Camp, Beirut (YaLibnan.com)

SHATILA REFUGEE CAMP - LEBANON:

Today, a Palestinian man in Lebanon made a plea on Facebook. What happened to Mohammed Saleh Dawoud, a Palestinian refugee is illegal and would cause outrage in any other country. However, for Palestinians in Lebanon, this is just one more instance of the daily discrimination that Palestinians in Lebanon face.

Mohammed Saleh Dawoud posted the following on Facebook:

(The following has been translated from Arabic into English)

"My name is Mohammed Saleh Dawoud, a married Palestinian man with two children, I live in Shatila Camp in Beirut. I applied for a job in a restaurant in one of the major engineering companies in Lebanon, I was accepted and given a job. I worked for the company for a few days, I was doing my work well and did my work with care and compassion to everyone. But a few days ago, the manager responsible for my deparment, called me for a meeting and she said that I did my job well very well but I can't continue working there. She said because when I answer the phone to record the orders, people noticed that my accent was Palestinian. I tried to explain to her that I was committed to my work and my performance was good and my accent is something I'm born with and shouldn't be an insult or a crime. But she insisted on me having to leave my work. I tried contacting people in the company, to others managers and in higher positions to ask them to appeal on my behalf and undo this. But no one would help me. That is why I decided to go on social media and tell my story to the Lebanese and Palestinian public to show the discrimination that is happening against Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and to point out the inhumane treatment of Palestinians, especially with the high unemployment rate and the bad conditions they are living in.
Thanks to everyone who read my message and showed sympathy to my cause."

28/02/2014: Original Post by Mohammed Saleh Dawoud on Facebook

What happened to Mohammed Saleh Dawoud is an injustice, Mr. Dawoud lost his job because he is Palestinian and thus lost his ability to support himself, his wife and two children.

As Mr. Dawoud said in his post, having an accent is something you are born with and it does not affect one's ability to do their job. This is a clear case of discrimination against a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon and this termination must be reversed.

I have written about other cases of discrimination against Palestinians in Lebanon, such as Palestinian students being arrested on buses for the crime of having a "blue ID card" and then held for hours and interrogated. Another Palestinian man was stopped at a checkpoint and arrested for the crime of being "poor" and driving a BMW.
For more information please check the following link: http://miniestmini.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/discrimination-against-palestinian.html

The discrimination against Palestinians in Lebanon is the elephant in the room, an issue that people wish to ignore. It cannot be ignored any longer, no matter which other issues are happening in Lebanon, discrimination is discrimination and it is illegal.

Please share Mohammed Saleh Dawoud's story across Lebanon and the world.

News report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrQyVdOJtLo 

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UPDATE:


Mohammed Saleh Dawoud posted a statement on Facebook earlier today, describing a case of discrimination against him which resulted in him being fired from his job.

Mr. Dawoud is a 30 year old Palestinian refugee from Shatila Camp in Beirut, Lebanon and after an interview with a contractor for a food delivery company he was given a job in a restaurant.

After working for a few days at the restaurant, Mr. Dawoud was summoned to a meeting with his manager. During the meeting, Mr. Dawoud was informed that he had to leave his job because of his Palestinian accent as part of his job was dealing with customers over the phone.

The manager informed Mr. Dawoud that his work ethic and customer service skills were great but the issue was his Palestinian accent.

Many Palestinians in Lebanon have resorted to putting on a Lebanese accent in order to avoid discrimination in the public life as well as in the workforce, however as Mr. Dawoud chose to speak with without putting a fake accent, he lost his job. This is outrageous and unacceptable.