Beirut (AsiaNews) – Lebanon's parliament has adopted legislation granting 400,000 Palestinian refugees the right to work in every professional domain now open to foreigners. However, the new law was watered down from the version proposed earlier in the summer by the Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, which would have given Palestinians the right to buy land and property.
Under the new law, Palestinians will have the right to apply for free work permits in the private sector; hitherto, they could work as illegal labourers in farming and construction.
They will also be able to claim coverage for work-related accidents and retirement indemnities from their own social security fund, to which they will pay contributions whilst employed.
Palestinians in Lebanon will still be unable to work in the public sector, army and police as well as in professions such as medicine, law or engineering, where Lebanese citizenship is mandatory.
The debate over the law generated heated discussions and split lawmakers along ethnic-religious lines. Only after a slow process did the debate become more objective (see Fay Noun, “Lebanese split over Palestinian social and humanitarian rights,” in AsiaNews, 2 July 2010).
For most Lebanese, the large presence of Palestinians living in refugee camps, where armed groups also operate, constitutes a menace to their country. This fear is justified by the events of the civil war (1975-1990) in which Yasir Arafat’s fighters took part.
Lebanese observers stress that Lebanon cannot cope with the Palestinian problem alone, insisting that the international community must take charge, and quickly find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem.
