{"id":40137,"date":"2019-07-16T20:22:54","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T20:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40137"},"modified":"2019-07-16T20:22:54","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T20:22:54","slug":"regime-air-raids-kill-11-civilians-in-northwest-syria-monitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40137","title":{"rendered":"Regime air raids kill 11 civilians in northwest Syria: monitor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBEIRUT: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon expressed their anger on Tuesday at the decision of the Lebanese Ministry of Labor to classify Palestinian labor similarly to illegal Syrian labor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe refugees carried out a general strike and protests across 12 camps.<\/p>\n

\nThe protests, under the slogan \u201cDay of Anger,\u201d paralyzed movement in the camps. Protesters closed the entrances with burning tyres. All Palestinian political forces and popular committees took part in the protests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, received a letter from the head of the Palestinian National Council, Salim Zanoun, calling on him to \u201caddress the negative effects of the decision of the Lebanese Ministry of Labor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nZanoun said that Palestinians would support \u201cLebanon and its stability, as well as our determination to struggle together for the return of the Palestinian refugees, who have been graciously hosted by Lebanon for 71 years, and all refugees to their land and homes from which they were displaced by terrorism and the Israeli killing machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nZanoun added that the decision of the Ministry of Labor has \u201ccaused great damage to human and civil rights and closed the doors of life for the Palestinian refugees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nA source in the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC) said: \u201cThe protests are an expression of the deteriorating social and living conditions experienced by Palestinians in Lebanon. The decision of the Ministry of Labor inspired these protests.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe source added: \u201cThe census conducted by the Lebanese state in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority in 2017 showed that the number of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon has reached 174,000 and the Palestinian labor force doesn\u2019t exceed 40,000 workers. But if we repeat the census this year, we\u2019ll find that there\u2019s a decline in the labor force because of the quest to migrate, even if illegally, and to move to a third country in search of a better life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe Lebanese Parliament introduced amendments to laws 128 and 129 on labor and social security in 2010, which excludes \u201cexclusively Palestinian refugee workers, who are duly registered in the records of the Ministry of the Interior, from the terms of reciprocity and work permit issued by the Ministry of Labor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe LPDC source said: \u201cThe amendment needed implementation decrees from the Council of Ministers, signed by the president, the prime minister and the minister of labor, but they\u2019ve not been issued for nine years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe Palestinian labor force is present in fragile sectors such as construction and small crafts, but more problems arise among Palestinians who graduate from Lebanese universities and cannot work in their specialties because of trade union limitations. The source said that the Order of Nurses in Lebanon is the only union that allows Palestinians to work in their sector.<\/p>\n

\nAlongside the protests, a meeting was held between various Palestinian factions at the headquarters of the LPDC with representatives of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers. The Palestinian side called for \u201cending the measures of the Ministry of Labor regarding Palestinian refugees and not linking Palestinian labor in Lebanon with foreign labor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nGhassan Ayoub, a Palestinian member of the LPDC, said that the ministry\u2019s actions \u201chave a political impact. The Palestinian refugee isn\u2019t a guest who has remained in Lebanon because he liked the hospitality. \u00a0He\u2019s a forced refugee who was born in Lebanon and lives on his territory. He isn\u2019t a foreign expatriate who came to work in Lebanon. This must be taken into account in the enforcement of the Ministry of Labor\u2019s procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAyoub said the situation demanded \u201cthe application of the spirit of the law and not the text of the law. There are many complications in the law in terms of obtaining a work permit and conditions for establishing a business. They\u2019re impossible conditions for the Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAs for the implications of applying the ministry\u2019s procedures to the refugees in Lebanon, Ayoub said: \u201cNinety percent of professions are forbidden to Palestinians, which means that they\u2019re entitled to work in only a few sectors, namely porterage and digging, which are arduous. That means you\u2019re telling the Palestinians \u2018you have 10 percent of the air to breathe.\u2019 What do you want from the Palestinians? Where should they go? What are the alternatives?\u201d<\/p>\n

\nPalestinian refugees are not entitled to work in 72 professions in Lebanon, and are not permitted access to social security. One of the contradictions of the law is that Palestinians have the right to purchase a taxi but are forbidden to work in it. Moreover, Palestinians are only allowed to fish after obtaining a special permit.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe plan of the ministry to combat illegal foreign labor force isn\u2019t aimed at the Palestinians and has nothing to do with conspiracy theories,\u201d Lebanese Labor Minister Kamil Abu Sulaiman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere\u2019s a labor law in Lebanon. We approved a plan a month and a half ago to implement the law and gave a grace period of one month before we began inspections. The law applies to everyone and law enforcement can\u2019t be fragmented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAbu Sulaiman added: \u201cThe Palestinian reaction is incomprehensible and meaningless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHe received a call from Ashraf Dabbour, the Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon, and said he informed the diplomat of the ministry\u2019s readiness to facilitate the affairs of the Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\nIn an open letter, Dabbour called on Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to avoid being \u201cdragged into what does not serve our just cause. Our goal in the stage of our forced presence in Lebanon is to have a decent life until our return to our homeland, supported by our Lebanese brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe LPDC said that the Ministry of Labor \u201cignores the special case of the Palestinian refugees under the amendment of laws 128 and 129 and treats them as foreign workers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe LPDC added: \u201cThe Palestinian refugees can\u2019t return to their country, and everything that they produce inside Lebanon remains in it, which strengthens the economic cycle of the country, whether it comes from small entrepreneurs or the hard work of laborers and craftsmen.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cLebanon also benefits from the funds flowing through the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East\u2019s $80 million budget. They also gain from the efforts of international organizations in Palestinian camps, as well as what Palestinian refugees send to their refugee families in Lebanon, which is estimated at several hundred million dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nFathi Abu Al-Ardat, secretary in Lebanon of Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization, said: \u201cThe Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are guests in this country and we respect its sovereignty, but we also respect the decent living of Palestinians in the camps.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon expressed their anger on Tuesday at the decision of the Lebanese Ministry of Labor to classify Palestinian labor similarly to illegal Syrian labor.\u00a0 The refugees carried out a general strike and protests across 12 camps. The protests, under the slogan \u201cDay of Anger,\u201d paralyzed movement in the camps. Protesters closed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}