Is there a plot to depopulate Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon?
An eerie video of a photo of one “Hajj Jamal Ghalaini” with a prayer on a backing track pops up occasionally on Facebook. The voice is that of an allegedly religious sheikh, praying for the well-being of the man in the photo for saving the Palestinian refugee youth of Lebanon by facilitating their departure to Europe.
The video would have been just another odd social media post, were it not for the fact that Ghalaini is a real person, with his name recurring in the ongoing tragedy of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Many have credited their successful “escape” from the country to this person who, they say kindly, has made the journey to Europe far cheaper than all other smugglers of desperate human beings.
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It is common knowledge that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are marginalised and mistreated more than most when compared with other refugee populations in the Middle East. They are denied most basic human rights enjoyed by Lebanese citizens or other foreigners in Lebanon, and even rights granted to refugees under international conventions. This includes the right to work, as they are denied access to 72 different professions.
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A suspiciously-timed census, the first of its kind, by the Lebanese Central Administration of Statistics and conducted jointly with the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics last December, resolved that the number of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon stands at only 175,000. The timing was interesting because the survey was conducted at a time that the US Administration was keen to reduce the “official” number of Palestinian refugees in anticipation of any future agreement between the PA and Israel. According to UNRWA statistics, though, there are more than 450,000 Palestinian refugees registered with the agency in Lebanon alone.
There is no denying that there has been an increase in the number of Palestinian refugees wanting to leave Lebanon. Some have done so successfully, only to find themselves contending with the stigma of refugee status in Europe. As expected, some have returned.
Clearly there are those who are keen to rid Lebanon of its Palestinian population. Hence, the official disregard for the likes of Ghalaini and their human trafficking networks.
http://aohr.org.uk/index.php/en/component/k2/item/9741-is-there-a-plot-to-depopulate-palestinian-refugee-camps-in-lebanon.html