A large group of Lebanese Palestinians held a protest outside the Canadian embassy in Lebanon today, demanding to be allowed to immigrate to Canada and the EU.
The "Palestinian Youth Commission for Humanitarian Refugees in Lebanon" and "Palestinian Youth Association for Syrian Palestinians" staged a sit-in in front of the Canadian embassy in Jal El Dib on Thursday morning to demand the opening of immigration to Palestinian refugees.
The protesters demanded "their most basic rights" and said that UNRWA is the cause of their tragedy because it has a guardianship over the Palestinian people separate from the 1951 Refugee Convention and that it behaves on the basis of "patronage and factionalism."
Last month they held a similar protest where they gave a list of demands to a representative of the Canadian embassy.
One of the speakers then said UNRWA admits its inability to assist Palestinian refugees by seeking refuge in another country, as UNHCR does. He emphasized that any support provided by the Canadian government to UNRWA remains a temporary solution, so Palestinian refugees are "asking the Canadian government to help them find a lasting solution to their suffering, and this solution is only by humanitarian asylum."
The protesters submitted a letter to the Canadian Embassy containing these demands in addition to pressuring UNRWA "to allow the Palestinian people to immigrate Canada and the European Union countries."
Interestingly, they are not demanding the right to immigrate to Arab countries as full citizens. Nor are they protesting for immigration to Israel, which their leaders insist is the only option besides remaining refugees forever.
Unlike UNHCR, UNRWA does not help Palestinians who desire to become citizens of their host countries nor does it facilitate immigration to other countries that might accept them. UNRWA only allows them and their descendants to be considered "Palestine refugees" forever, in a permanent stateless existence until Israel is destroyed.
Palestinians almost never qualify for asylum in Western countries, since (except for those from Syria) they are not fleeing persecution or war.
Self-proclaimed Palestinian leaders have, since the 1950s, pushed the fantasy that their people have no desire to become citizens anywhere else but Israel, and any moves to naturalize them in Syria, Lebanon or Egypt have been opposed bitterly in the name of "Palestinian unity." Notably, when Palestinians fled Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, thousands were stranded on the Iraqi/Syrian border with no Arab country willing to accept them. When UNHCR found Western nations willing to accept them, Palestinian "leaders" complained bitterly, worried that Palestinians who find citizenship elsewhere will no longer be cannon fodder against Israel, which is their primary purpose according to Arab leaders and UNRWA.