Home >> The Violation of the Palestinian Refugees’ Human Rights
The Violation of the Palestinian Refugees’ Human Rights
• The Palestinian refugees, those living in the refugee camps and those living without citizenship elsewhere, serve as pawns in a political game and pay a high price for the consistent and uncompromising policy of UNRWA and the Arab states in support of the “Right of Return.” Millions of people are kept in limbo for over 60 years, with no country of their own and with no possibility of finding permanency and getting on with their lives. These facts constitute serious violations of the refugees’ human rights, violations that continue solely due to the refusal of said countries and UNRWA to seek a permanent, humanitarian solution for the refugees’ plight.
• Over the years, consistent efforts were made by different parties to alleviate the difficult living conditions of the refugees, and various suggestions for solutions were presented. However, these proposals and attempts were nipped in the bud since their implementation would have led to lessening the refugees’ desire to “return.”
• Most violations of the refugees’ human rights take place in the area of housing rights: over the years, a number of attempts have been made to provide the refugees with permanent housing (outside the refugee camps) with no accompanying demand that they change their status as refugees. However, these attempts were blocked by armed operatives from the refugee camps. The UN General Assembly even passed a resolution forbidding Israel to transfer refugees outside their temporary shelters, as it would violate their "inalienable right of return" to the homes that they left in 1948.”
• The Arab states, with the notable exception of Jordan, did not agree to grant the refugees citizenship and the civil rights derived from it. Recently, senior Palestinian Authority and PLO officials have been stating repetitively that Palestinian refugees will not be granted citizenship in any future Palestinian state.
The situation of Palestinian refugees is especially dire in Lebanon, where they suffer from institutionalized discrimination, anchored in the law. For example, they are relegated to live in the refugee camps and prohibited from engaging in any number of professions including medicine, practicing law, engineering, and more.
