Published : 05-05-2022
A celebration was held by AlIslah Relief Association on Wednesday, May 4, in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon to mark holy Eid AlFitr (fast-breaking festival).
The celebration was held in cooperation with the International Campaign to Preserve Palestinian Identity (Intimaa) and the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad.
Lebanon is struggling for the third year in a row with a crippling financial crisis, which has pushed many Palestinian refugees below the poverty line, resulting in an increasing number of beggars on the streets. The crisis has also greatly affected the middle class, whose incomes have declined with the depreciation of the local currency against the dollar, while others have been laid off as hundreds of institutions, factories and shops shut down.
With the rise in unemployment on one hand, and the dollarization of the most basic needs — including the monthly subscription to the electricity generator and fuel — on the other, most Lebanese nationals and Palestinian refugees are barely surviving.
Over 470,000 refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon. About 45 per cent of them live in the country’s 12 refugee camps. Conditions in the camps are dire and characterized by overcrowding, poor housing conditions, unemployment, poverty and lack of access to justice.
Palestinians in Lebanon do not enjoy several important rights; for example, they cannot work in many professions and cannot own property (real estate). Because they are not formally citizens of another state, Palestine refugees are unable to claim the same rights as other foreigners living and working in Lebanon.
A celebration was held by AlIslah Relief Association on Wednesday, May 4, in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon to mark holy Eid AlFitr (fast-breaking festival).
The celebration was held in cooperation with the International Campaign to Preserve Palestinian Identity (Intimaa) and the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad.
Lebanon is struggling for the third year in a row with a crippling financial crisis, which has pushed many Palestinian refugees below the poverty line, resulting in an increasing number of beggars on the streets. The crisis has also greatly affected the middle class, whose incomes have declined with the depreciation of the local currency against the dollar, while others have been laid off as hundreds of institutions, factories and shops shut down.
With the rise in unemployment on one hand, and the dollarization of the most basic needs — including the monthly subscription to the electricity generator and fuel — on the other, most Lebanese nationals and Palestinian refugees are barely surviving.
Over 470,000 refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon. About 45 per cent of them live in the country’s 12 refugee camps. Conditions in the camps are dire and characterized by overcrowding, poor housing conditions, unemployment, poverty and lack of access to justice.
Palestinians in Lebanon do not enjoy several important rights; for example, they cannot work in many professions and cannot own property (real estate). Because they are not formally citizens of another state, Palestine refugees are unable to claim the same rights as other foreigners living and working in Lebanon.
