UNRWA tweeted this week:
In #Lebanon, our Legal Aid Unit provides services to help improve the situation of #Palestine #refugees. pic.twitter.com/7VWzK1VYEk— UNRWA (@UNRWA) April 30, 2016
It is certainly true that Palestinians in Lebanon are living in squalor and treated like dirt by the government. Plus they are exposed to regular outbreaks of violence between various factions in the camps. They cannot move away from the overcrowded camps and they cannot build new buildings within the camps.
There are only two ways out for them.
One is to leave and go to Europe or Gulf states - and over 200,000 of them have done exactly that, even though UNRWA still counts them as being "registered" in Lebanon so they can raise more money. (UNRWA doesn't have a way to un-register Palestinians.)
The other chance is for them to become Lebanese citizens so they can gain full rights.
If a Palestinian can prove that his or her paternal ancestors were Lebanese citizens in 1921, and then further prove that they are not a danger to Lebanon (and Lebanon suspects all Palestinians of being dangerous), then they can become citizens.
This is a very difficult task. Even though many of them are descendants of people who lived in Lebanon a hundred years ago (the reason so many fled in 1948 to Lebanon is because their families were still there) it takes time and money to prove that one is really Lebanese to the satisfaction of the Lebanese authorities.
To do this, Palestinians in Lebanon need lawyers.
But does UNRWA provide legal services for that purpose?
Of course not. Because UNRWA doesn't exist to actually help so-called "refugees" become citizens of their host countries, but to keep them and their descendants refugees forever, or until Israel is destroyed, whichever comes first.
UNRWA indeed provides legal services that are needed by Palestinians whose few rights in Lebanon are always being reduced, to the absolute silence of the Arab world and Palestinian leadership. But the one service that could solve the problems of thousands of these so-called "refugees" whose great-grandfathers lived in Lebanon is not provided.
Imagine what a great investment it would be to provide those legal services. For probably the cost of feeding and housing a Palestinian for a couple of years, they could get off the dole and have jobs and rights. Everyone would win.
Except for UNRWA and the many others who are vested in the idea of keeping Palestinians miserable and teaching them it is all Israel's fault.
There are only two ways out for them.
One is to leave and go to Europe or Gulf states - and over 200,000 of them have done exactly that, even though UNRWA still counts them as being "registered" in Lebanon so they can raise more money. (UNRWA doesn't have a way to un-register Palestinians.)
The other chance is for them to become Lebanese citizens so they can gain full rights.
If a Palestinian can prove that his or her paternal ancestors were Lebanese citizens in 1921, and then further prove that they are not a danger to Lebanon (and Lebanon suspects all Palestinians of being dangerous), then they can become citizens.
This is a very difficult task. Even though many of them are descendants of people who lived in Lebanon a hundred years ago (the reason so many fled in 1948 to Lebanon is because their families were still there) it takes time and money to prove that one is really Lebanese to the satisfaction of the Lebanese authorities.
To do this, Palestinians in Lebanon need lawyers.
But does UNRWA provide legal services for that purpose?
Of course not. Because UNRWA doesn't exist to actually help so-called "refugees" become citizens of their host countries, but to keep them and their descendants refugees forever, or until Israel is destroyed, whichever comes first.
UNRWA indeed provides legal services that are needed by Palestinians whose few rights in Lebanon are always being reduced, to the absolute silence of the Arab world and Palestinian leadership. But the one service that could solve the problems of thousands of these so-called "refugees" whose great-grandfathers lived in Lebanon is not provided.
Imagine what a great investment it would be to provide those legal services. For probably the cost of feeding and housing a Palestinian for a couple of years, they could get off the dole and have jobs and rights. Everyone would win.
Except for UNRWA and the many others who are vested in the idea of keeping Palestinians miserable and teaching them it is all Israel's fault.
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