تردي الأوضاع المعيشية للاجئين في لبنان مع استمرار الأزمة الاقتصادية
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00:00 With the outbreak of the Gaza war and the talk about new Palestinian migration waves,
00:05 the Lebanese memory is back with images of about 110,000 Palestinians
00:10 who emigrated to Lebanon after the 1948 collapse, according to the estimates of the Palestinian Statistics Center
00:16 and their infiltration in the Lebanese society on various social backgrounds.
00:21 The Arab Center estimates that about 130,000 Palestinians have been able to obtain Lebanese citizenship over the years,
00:29 while others only have personal travel documents and have been demanding for years
00:34 to pass fair labor laws to improve their living conditions.
00:39 Palestinians are not allowed to own in Lebanon,
00:42 although this law was passed in 2001, they are not prevented from owning.
00:48 They are not prevented from inheriting if their parents owned something in Lebanon before this law was issued,
00:55 but there is a very strict application of this law.
00:59 Their most important right is the right to work, but not in all sectors.
01:05 We cannot include the free trade in this law, not only the Palestinians, but also foreigners,
01:10 because Lebanon should have been in the country for more than 10 years.
01:13 They can register for social security, but they do not benefit from the services provided by social security.
01:21 They benefit from the 10% that foreign students get from the quota they get at the Lebanese university.
01:29 In my opinion, the right to work should be improved.
01:32 The state benefits from paying taxes, money is spent in Lebanon instead of going abroad,
01:38 and we need money for every dollar or every pound that remains in Lebanon.
01:42 According to UNRWA, the number of Palestinians in Lebanon is about 489,000,
01:48 registered until March 2023, in addition to 31,000 Palestinian refugees who came later from Syria and are currently living in Lebanon.
01:58 45% of them are distributed to 12 camps, 5 in the south, 3 in Beirut, 3 in the north and 1 in Beqaa.
02:07 55% of the remaining Palestinian population in Lebanon live in 156 residential communities and neighboring areas.
02:17 Ain al-Hilwi Camp is the largest in terms of area and population,
02:22 and today about 60,000 people live in difficult living conditions.
02:27 As long as the Lebanese government does not regulate their existence,
02:30 the economic implications are negative for not regulating their existence,
02:35 and they do not benefit from the level of taxes and so on.
02:38 As for the other part, it is really related to the ability of this government to benefit from the existence of UNRWA
02:49 in relation to the existence of Palestinians, because we know that UNRWA is pumping money into Lebanon.
02:54 There are projects to prove the existence of Palestinians.
02:58 So, with the collapse of the economic crisis in Lebanon, the situation has worsened and the living conditions in the Palestinian community in Lebanon have deteriorated.
03:06 Although there is an increased number of Palestinians who are trying to draw a better future, but outside the country.
03:16 UNRWA alone has taught about 40,000 students annually in its schools in Lebanon.
03:23 75 years have passed since the collapse, and the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are still suffering from their depravity.
03:30 More than 80% of them live under the poverty line, and there is no solution to their issue that is wandering in the horizon.
03:37 Rather, there is a great fear of a new collapse that will repeat the misfortune of this people, which has suffered for a long time and still.
03:44 Elina Mrad, CNBC Arabia, Beirut.