A Visit to a Refugee Camp
Retired Mercedes come head-to-head in dirt roads that only allow one car to pass, and although there are tangled electrical wires overhead, many cannot afford to have electricity in their homes much of the time. Some of the camp's inhabitants die because they can't afford to go to hospitals for serious illnesses like cancer according to Maqdah. Six years ago, there were many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that would provide medical care, but now they are all gone. The first wave of refugees in Lebanon consisted of Palestinians who fled Israel after 1948. More came after the June 1967 war and the conflict between the PLO and the Jordanian Army in 1970. According to data collected by the United Nations, Lebanon hosts more than 350,000 Palestinian refugees, scattered in 12 camps in both the North and the South. The refugees are prevented by Lebanese law from having the most desirable jobs in Lebanon. In this camp, as in the others scattered throughout Lebanon, many refugees lack the means to buy themselves and their children Palestinian identity cards, and strict measures are imposed on their movement outside of the camps. Because many of the past couple of generations' refugees may have never set foot on the soil of their native country, they remain in a strange limbo state-not willing or allowed to become Lebanese citizens, but not citizens of a would-be Palestinian nation either. It is estimated that only 10,000 of the refugees living in Lebanon have acquired Lebanese citizenship. It is also estimated that 95 percent of the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon are Sunni Muslims, meaning that any permanent settlement of refugees would upset the tricky balance between Lebanon's religious communities. Next Page Previous Page		USEFUL LINKS WHO ARE WE? CONTACT US FEATURE STORIES Caught in the cross fire: Is Beirut Ready for Tourism? Marriage: Lebanese Style Meet Lebanon's only Male Belly Dancer Beirut Blues Christians Looking for a Better Future The Woman Behind the Walls Back to Home Page