26-29 July, Berlin, London, Copenhagen, Athens, New York: Protests to support Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are barred from 72 regulated professions, including medicine, public transit, farming and fishery, and the implementation of this Lebanese labor law barred Palestinians (and Syrian refugees) from working at all without costly and difficult-to-obtain work visas. These protests, led mostly by youth in the camps, which are home to nearly a half-million Palestinian refugees, also come in rejection of the harsh conditions that have impacted Palestinian refugees after the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993. In fact, the situation of deprivation, repression and despair has forced many Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to migrate to Europe or elsewhere, seeking human dignity.

Palestinian organizations in Lebanon have expressed specific demands, including:

– the granting of clear legal status to Palestinian refugees with civil, economic and social rights;
– amending Lebanese labor law to cancel the work permit requirement for Palestinian refugees and end their exclusion from regulated professions
– ending ongoing discrimination against Palestinian refugees in a range of areas, including allowing them to own property.

They pledged to continue to protest until the dignity of Palestinian refugees was respected, emphasizing that this campaign is part and parcel of the struggle to return to and liberate the entire land of Palestine and reject all attempts to undermine the Palestinian cause. (The statement was signed by the Al Naqab Center for Youth Activities, Arab Palestinian Cultural Club, Palestinian Cultural Club – Beirut, Palestinian Cultural Club at AUB, Palestinian Cultural Club at LIU, Camps Boycott and the Palestinian National Theater – Lebanon.)

https://samidoun.net/2019/07/call-to-action-solidarity-with-palestinian-refugees-in-lebanon/