Lebanon: Giving Palestinian Refugees the Right to Work · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Nahr el Bared camp, Lebanon (by Flickr user nimzilvio)
Lebanon is home to over 400,000 Palestinian refugees, some of whom were expelled or fled in 1948 at the time of the creation of the state of Israel, and others who fled during and after the 1967 war.  These refugees are not allowed to own property, cannot access the health care system, and need a special permit to leave their refugee camps, restrictions which have been criticized by groups such as Amnesty International.
Until recently, they were also barred from working in a number of professions, however, new legislation passed by parliament on August 17 grants Palestinian refugees the same employment rights as other foreigners (they will still be barred from ‘self-employed’ professions, including law and medicine).
The legislation, which will take effect once President Michel Suleiman endorses it, has been met with both applause and dissent.  While some, such as the UN, see it as a step toward bettering the lives of a long-term refugee population, others see it as normalization of the refugee population into Lebanon, and thus a step away toward securing the Right of Return.
Roqayah Chamseddine, writing for Mondoweiss, explains why, for her, the decision is a welcome move, but not nearly enough:
I cringe at the thought of calling  the refugee camps “slums” but I  must use candid rhetoric; The  Palestinians are being subjugated – by  the Israeli’s, the Americans and  the Arabs.
Now, in respect to  the recent  provision by the Lebanese parliament , it has taken 60 years  for the  Lebanese to allow the Palestinians the sparse right to work; I  don’t  know whether to be ashamed or slightly optimistic. It is a move  in the  right direction but surely we can all contend that it is a  fairly  apathetic crawl – in the right direction. No one should be  bragging, especially not the Lebanese Government.
Blogger Oussama Hayek says that there is “no reason to celebrate Palestinian rights” because:
There is something fundamentally flawed with the law that Parliament passed today, granting Palestinians the right to work in Lebanon.  It stinks  of continuing discrimination against one particular nationality. It is  also absolutely the wrong move for two reasons:
The blogger concludes:
It is true that Palestinian groups routinely violate Lebanese laws, and  have yet to accept to disarm.  But holding an entire population of 400,000 hostage for the actions of a  few thousand thugs is the sort of collective punishment one would  expect from Saddam or Stalin. This is not acceptable behaviour by the  sort of democracy Lebanon aspires to be.
On the other side of the coin, Marillionlb of For a better Lebanon thinks that the refugees are not Lebanon's responsibility:
Yes every single human being has the right to a decent life, to have his  basic rights protected, access to basic medical care, schooling, a roof  over his head, to live with dignity, to be able to work and be a  “constructive” part of society..etc.
BUT:
In order to enjoy and be given such rights a person should abide by  certain rules, especially when he is a host in a foreign land (to say  the least and not use the term “refugee”).
The Palestinian problem was not caused by Lebanon, and it was not the  Lebanese who deprived the Palestinians from their homeland; on the  contrary, Lebanon (albeit forcibly) not only accepted a big influx of  refugees, but (wrongly) signed the Cairo treaty giving Yasser Arafat and  his group of thugs a free hand not only to cause mayhem, but also (at a  certain point in time) try to establish the state of Palestine within  the Lebanese borders.
A commenter on the blog expresses agreement:
thank you for this post. You are 100% correct.
If they want rights,  maybe they should respect their host country first and hand over their  weapons.
Lebanon has suffered alot more than any country should have  to because of the palestinians.
From the Palestinian perspective, as expressed on Palestine Free Voice, the changes are hardly changes at all:
Unfortunately Lebanon did not grant its Palestinian refugees  meaningful civil rights on 8/17/10 or  even significantly improve their  work prospects.  What it did do was cancel  the work permit fee ( which  was never a big problem)  and allow for the setting up of a private  Social Security Fund (not the Lebanese National Security Fund as  misreported in much of the media.)
Lastly,  Twitter user iRevolt sums up one popular Palestinian perspective by explaining why equal rights–without citizenship–are important to so many people:
If the Palestinians are mandated civil, social and economic rights  without being given Lebanese citizenship then it will work towards  safeguarding the necessity of returning home, refuting US-Israeli wishes  for the Palestinians to integrate into other parts of the Arab world –  thus leaving behind their identities in some for or fashion – and  allowing Palestinians to improve their status while living outside of  their homeland.
Photo by Flickr user nimzilvio made available by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.