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Sunday, September 01, 2013

Lebanon has barred Palestinians from Syria for three weeks now

From IRIN:
Palestinian refugees fleeing the violence in Syria have been refused entry into Lebanon for three weeks now.

Since 6 August, according to Human Rights Watch, the Lebanese government has turned back Palestinians who had originally sought refuge in Syria when they were forced from their homes in 1948 and 1967, and are now fleeing once more with their descendants, this time from the conflict in Syria.

A source at the Lebanese General Security confirmed to IRIN the government is no longer letting Palestinians from Syria into Lebanon. Makram Malaeb, programme manager for the Syrian response at the Ministry of Social Affairs, said exceptions would be made for “humanitarian cases”.

According to the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, more than 92,000 Palestinians from Syria have already sought refuge in Lebanon, joining the 455,000 Palestinian refugees hosted in Lebanon before the Syrian crisis, largely in overcrowded slums that have often been hotbeds of unrest.
Once again, the people who discriminate against Palestinians the most are their Arab brethren. And practically no one is calling this what it is - apartheid by Arabs against Palestinians.

While the plight of these Palestinian Syrians is tragic, note the bias in the IRIN (UN) report: Palestinian Arabs were "forced from" their homes in Palestine, but are merely "fleeing" Syria. The terminology is exactly reversed from the truth, as most fled from Israel but are being forced from their homes in Syria.

Also, IRIN is parroting UNRWA's numbers of 455,000 Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon, when in fact a little-noted UNRWA report showed that this was a gross exaggeration and the real numbers are about 200,000 less. UNRWA collects money for 450,000 or so, but only supports 250,000, plus the 92,000 refugees that did make it into Lebanon before the gates were shut.