Situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

In the presented work, the author examines the situation with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, where they were forced to settle down after 1948. The article examines international and Lebanese documents, which made it possible to understand the status of the Palestinians. The work carried out by scientists in the fi eld is of interest, since they had the opportunity to conduct surveys and interviews. The author relied on a systematic approach in the presented study. The paper examines the social problems Palestinians face while living in refugee camps. The problems of access to basic needs, employment, marriage unions are noted. It also focuses on the issue of security for ordinary Palestinians, since the Lebanese security forces are unable to provide it, and Palestinian groups periodically feud with each other, which sometimes infl icts irreparable blow to the people. From the author's point of view, the problem of Palestinian refugees persists due to the complex confessional balance in Lebanon and is unlikely to be resolved in the foreseeable future, which endangers stability not only in the camps, but also in Lebanon itself.

Understanding and Responding to Substance Use and Abuse in the Palestinian Refugee Camps in Lebanon Prior to and During COVID-19 Times

Due to its geographical proximity to the Syrian conflict and the occupied territories, Lebanon has experienced an influx of refugees in recent times. Palestinian refugees are an identified key vulnerable population, with displaced communities increasingly experiencing camp insecurity, vulnerability to drug use and related health harms. A qualitative study consisting of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) was undertaken as part of a regional exercise investigating Palestinian community experiences of substance and drug use in refugee camps. Thematic analysis triangulated the perspectives of 11 professional stakeholders representing United Nations, human rights and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and eight Palestinian community members. Emerging themes centered on the interplay between socio-economic instability, lack of law enforcement and camp governance contributing to concerning levels of familial, drug and camp violence, trafficking and availability of drugs. Transactional sex and the exploitation of women and children in drug dealing, diversification toward drug manufacture and dealing of drugs with the outside community were described. There is a lack of harm reduction and rehabilitation supports for those in need. This study highlights the complexities in tackling drug dealing and related criminal activity within refugee camps and humanitarian settings, and the vulnerabilities of those living within to harmful drug use.

From Higher Education in Historic Palestine towards a Pan-Palestinian Higher Education

The fiercely waged, century-long conflict on the ground of historic Palestine between the Jews, who from the mid-nineteenth century have mainly immigrated from Europe, and the Arab Palestinians, who live there—and have been living there for centuries/thousands of years—primarily started in the educational field. With the establishment of the Technion Institute in 1912, the Political Zionist movement started to develop a higher education system (HES) that could deliver the human capital needed for the building of a prosperous state, one built on the occupation and expropriation of Palestinian land and material property, on the expulsion of the people who lived there, on a system of apartheid, and, at long last, on the denial and destruction of the Palestinian identity. It was only sixty years later that a Palestinian response in the field of higher education was in a position to start with the establishment of Hebron University in 1971, followed by over fifty other Palestinian higher education institutes (HEIs). Despite current numerical parity in the population of around 6.5 million each (The New Arab 2018) and the number of HEIs (over fifty each) on the ground of historic Palestine, a devastating multi-sectorial power discrepancy exists in favor of the visions of Political Zionism. The power discrepancy and the irreconcilable narratives developed on both sides render peaceful compromises impossible. Through bibliographic research, this paper provides an outsider’s general snapshot of the current state of higher education in Palestine in order to explore its relation to conflict narratives, to power gap, and to major political events. It presents ideas for an intra-Palestinian, just as a regional and a global, discourse on how the still weak Palestinian HES in the Occupied Palestinian Territory could be improved to further strengthen Palestinian economic and scientific progress. It reflects on how to expand into a pan-Palestinian HES that, in addition, targets Palestinian refugees and diaspora Palestinians from all over the world, as well as Palestinians living in Israel. Beyond this demographic expansion, this essay suggests an academic engagement with the strengthening of historic Palestinian identity and the restitution of its cultural Druze and Jewish components, which were lost during the last century of conflict. This strengthened renewed multi-religious (now multilingual) Palestinian identity can also offer a long-term perspective for a peaceful solution, a perspective which cannot be offered by the exclusive Political Zionism.

Variation in the Speech of Two Palestinian Immigrant Groups

Objectives. This sociolinguistic study aims to take a close look at the differences and similarities in the linguistic behavior of two Palestinian groups and analyze these in light of social and political factors. Methods. The study adopts the Labovian Paradigm, and face-to-face techniques are used to collect data. Results. The first group immigrated to Jordan from Palestine as a result of being forced from their homes in 1948. They came seeking refuge in Jordan, and, because they came from Palestine, they were treated as such. When the Arab-Israeli war began nearly two decades later, a new wave of Palestinians migrated to Jordan in 1967. Yet, at this time, their Palestinian village belonged to Jordan, politically, because Jordan had annexed the West Bank in 1950. Thus, the political status of both sets of Palestinians at the beginning of their exodus played a major role in the subsequent development of their linguistic behavior in Jordan. It influenced the kind of variation that occurred in their speech. The first people to arrive were treated as Palestinian refugees, which minimized them from a social perspective. Thus, the study shows that the middle-aged and younger generations of this ethnic group abandoned their dialect, and 98.0% of them adopted the local variant. The individuals of the second set of migrants were treated as Jordanian citizens as they had simply migrated from one part of the country, namely, the West Bank, to another part of it, namely, the East Bank (Jordan). The study found a strong correlation between an individual’s identity and the political status granted by a country. Though the members of both groups are Palestinians, the study shows that all individuals behaved linguistically differently depending how they were perceived socially and politically in Jordan. Conclusion. Palestinians emigrated in two large waves from their homeland to Jordan as the result of war. The first took place in 1948, and the second took place in 1967. The study shows that the linguistic behavior of both groups differs. The social and the political situations that each group found itself in determined, to a great extent, the linguistic behavior they adopted.

Germany v XT (CJEU, 2021): Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA and Article 1D of the Refugee Convention

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The Diasporic Narrative: Identity Crisis in Ghasan Kanafani’s Men in the Sun

This study examines Ghasan Kanafani’s Men in the Sun as a representative novella of the Palestinian identity crisis among the Palestinian refugees in the aftermath of the Nakba in 1948. Kanafani’s emplotment of this identity crisis is couched in a diasporic narrative that lays bare a double plot, one before 1948 and another following it. The narrative split reveals a sharp contrast between the present state of the characters on their journey to Kuwait, the promised land, and the past as revealed in their reminiscences of homeland. The paradisaic images of homeland are woven with images of Hellish existence under the scorching sun of the desert. This double narrative is indicative of the split psyche of the characters which is symptomatic of an identity crisis. Their pursuit of a way out of this conflicting state ends with a collective, tragic disillusionment; they end up dead and thrown on a garbage heap without even a proper burial place. Kanafani weaves the different mini narrative threads into one tragic denouement since his novella is not about the fate of individual characters but that of a nation. The silence of the characters prior to their death is a Kanafanian prophecy of the future of the Palestinian Cause after it has lost its power of speech and ended, like the characters, dead on the garbage heap of history.

From emergency to durable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions: insights from the protracted Syrian refugee situation in Lebanon

Emergency water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programming often fails to meet defined humanitarian or sectoral standards and the needs of those affected by crises. There have been calls to shift toward more resilient, durable and sustainable WASH interventions. Drawing on a mix of qualitative methods, this paper traces the nature and evolution of the factors affecting different kinds of WASH interventions in Lebanon. Factors contributing to a slow uptake of durable WASH solutions include Lebanon not being a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention, a ‘no camp’ policy adopted by the Government of Lebanon, aid agencies under pressure to cater for lifesaving WASH needs of the Syrian refugees, a lack of sufficient funds, Syrian refugee migration to Europe in 2014, limited Syrian refugee resettlement options, terrorism at the Lebanese border in 2014, as well as fears of nationalization of Syrian refugees – rooted in experiences from the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The paper demonstrates that the overall WASH response to Syrian refugees in Lebanon mirrors the interplay between aid agencies, the donor community and the Government of Lebanon. We argue that the Lebanese Government should have acted much earlier and devised a strategy flexible enough to turn a challenge into an opportunity by advocating for funds that allow for durable solutions and sustainable impact on the lives of the Syrian refugees and Lebanese hosting communities. We conclude by highlighting policy and practical lessons for refugee-hosting countries and donor agencies. HIGHLIGHT Aid policy, humanitarian–development nexus, protracted refugee situations, durable WASH interventions.