Fleeing Syria, Palestinians find little support from their brethren in Lebanon

[oberliner]

Every morning, residents of Ain al-Halwah, Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, scour the scattered leaflets advertising jobs for painters and menial laborers.

Their ranks include both Palestinian refugees recently arrived from Syria and those who have lived in Lebanon for decades. As the number of Palestinian refugees from Syria swells, competition for the few odd jobs available to Palestinians in Lebanon intensifies, undercutting already abysmal wages, driving up housing costs, and aggravating tensions in the camp.

The burden on residents already living in dire poverty is straining Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps like never before. Vulnerable and resource-strapped themselves, Palestinians in Lebanon simply can’t absorb the unprecedented number of refugees arriving to their camps.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0803/Fleeing-Syria-Palestinians-find-little-support-from-their-brethren-in-Lebanon

[delrem]

1. Hopefully enacting Palestinian RoR will do something to help their plight.

[oberliner]

2. How so?

Can you elaborate on what you mean?

[delrem]

3. Just what I say.

It's a hope, nothing else - certainly not a guarantee.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1134&pid=45623

[oberliner]

5. But how would their lives be improved?

If there was such an announcement tomorrow, what would happen after that to improve their situation?

[pelsar]

4. I will explain...its not difficult

Last edited Sun Aug 4, 2013, 02:08 AM - Edit history (1)

The Palestenians are fleeing Syrian and have gone to Lebanon where they are having a rough time....so the concept is, not to pressure the Lebanese for not helping these refugees enough, not to pressure the UN for not extending additional resources, the idea is to put the blame on Israel not the Lebanese not helping the refugees from Syria.

Clearly any peace agreement and its subsequent changes in the environment is years away, but thats not relevant.
The Palestenians from Syria are suffering now, and rather than start with even the minimalistic pressure on the Lebanese govt or anybody else that can help out now, one is referred to Israel as the one to solve the problem....

the summary of it is (words that progressives wont write, but will insinuate)
It is preferable that the Palestenians continue to suffer, rather than improve their lives where they are presently living until Israel fixes the problem (original sin)

.......apparently almost the whole arab world and many on the far left and right are in synch with this point.

[oberliner]

6. My question is more practical

As I asked above, how would their plight be better if such an announcement was made tomorrow?

[shira]

8. They feel the same about Egypt. Rather than pressure Egypt....

...to ease the great siege of Gaza, they blame Israel. Once again using Palestinian misery to bash Israel when Egypt could easily help.

I'm not convinced that the worst Kahanists hate and loathe Palestinians as much as their Israel bashing advocates, who thrive on Palestinian misery in order to bash Jews.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the Ayatollahs, KKK and neo-Nazis I can see doing this. That's who they are. Tell me, how are these Leftists different when it comes to I/P?

[delrem]

10. I know there is no magic wand.

I know that Palestinian RoR isn't going to happen. A token return of some few carefully controlled Palestinians to Israel might be negotiated, should they want it (e.g. a family unification plan) -- but even that is almost totally doubtful in the current climate. Other than in such small part it just isn't going to happen. On the other hand I wouldn't advise Palestinians to give, without return, on the demand for full RoR according as UN conventions, because that's the only chip that Palestinians have. They've been robbed of everything up to and including their liberty. In particular, I wouldn't advise Palestinians to make a preemptive concession even before negotiation, like Abbas (the tool) so recently did.

So to answer you I'm forced to talk about *what will not happen* -- namely that Israel declares Palestinian RoR will be enacted according as a reasonable schedule. I think this would be a good thing because it's obviously the right thing to do. Our whole discussion about the meaning and justification for the notion "attachment to the land" says that this is so, that it's not just one right thing to do among many choices. It's the right thing to do because it recognizes the wrong of the nakba (cleansing) and makes moves to rectify it.

Were this to happen it would undermine the war effort on both sides, it would collapse almost the whole of the rhetorical framework of the I/P war effort. It would not help any individual, immediately - and certainly not Palestinian refugees caught between camps in diverse warring countries. It would, however, change the dynamic of the ME in a way that put Israel on a sound moral footing.

[shira]

7. Same could be said for refugees 50 years ago. How'd that work out for them?

Oh yes, it didn't, so blame Israel.



With friends like you the Palestinians don't need enemies.

You see, in every other conflict across the globe from the past century, children and grandchildren of refugees are not refugees; instead, they're citizens of their countries. You're nothing but a mouthpiece for regressive Arab regimes who deliberately keep the Palestinians miserable and caged up in apartheid conditions, as nothing more than political pawns. What's happening to the Palestinians for the past 6 decades is evil, but you support all Arab regimes perpetrating it. Their misery is used as a stick to beat Israel and you freaking live for that shit. How utterly depraved...

But such is the Palestinian cause, which goes to show how thoroughly disgusting the movement, and its monstrously gross advocates.

[Igel]

9. A million more Palestinians edged into Palestine won't do much.

That's just the Syrian and Lebanese "refugees."

Pitch in Jordan's and others, and you'd more than double the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza. Open up Israel to the population and it wouldn't help.

The US has 313 million or so people. Imagine adding, over the next few years, another 200 million in population.

[shira]

11. Lebanon's Apartheid Laws

Lebanon is not the only Arab country that openly enforces Apartheid laws against Palestinians. What is disturbing about the Apartheid laws in Lebanon and the mistreatment of Palestinians by Arab countries is the silence of the media, the international community and human rights groups -- even UNRWA, which is supposed to look after the well-being of Palestinian refugees.

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3770/lebanon-apartheid-laws

I wonder....why the silence from the media, the international community, human rights groups, and UNRWA?