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MIDEAST: Most Palestinians in Lebanon Stay Unemployed

Mona Alami

BEIRUT, Jun 14 2010 (IPS) - Lebanon’s record of segregating Palestinians is not much better than that of Israel. Since their exodus here, after the establishment of Israel in 1948, Palestinians have been systemically denied equal employment and social rights.

High unemployment rates now threaten to push the community onto the path of despair and radicalism.

“Palestinians in Lebanon live encaged,” stated philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky on a recent visit to Lebanon.

Large camps, such as Ain el-Helweh, Bedawi and Chatila, are guarded by the Lebanese military or police. Youngsters sit idly around the meandering dirty streets, chatting or smoking cigarettes.

At night, militants often run amok, engaging in futile feuds with rivaling political gangs. The often explosive environment means that a seemingly harmless game of football could turn into a violent gun battle.

There are about 300,000 Palestinians in Lebanon, mostly residing in nine camps throughout the country. The discrimination and marginalisation they face in their ghettoised reality are exacerbated by restrictions on their employment.

It is estimated that 60 percent of Palestinians are unemployed. Previously, Palestinians could not work in about 70 job categories; in 2005, however, the labour ministry lifted the ban on around 50 professions.

Khaled, 22-year-old Palestinian, studied electrical engineering in Baghdad before coming back to Lebanon to look for a job. “I have been looking for over a year with no success. I have been rejected because I am Palestinian, in spite of my credentials. In Iraq, Palestinians have more rights,” he explains.

Much of the discriminatory treatment Palestinians face in the job market in Lebanon is rooted in the fact that they have been stateless since 1948. According to figures provided by the Human Rights Watch, only 261 Palestinians got work visas in 2009, compared to 36,754 Ethiopians. Lebanese authorities have denied them equal rights with Lebanese and other foreign residents.

“Lebanese labour law treats Palestinian refugees like other non-Lebanese and requires them to have a work permit and social rights, subject to the principle of reciprocity. This means that Lebanon grants the right to work to nationals of other states whose countries grant Lebanese citizens the same right. This law naturally bars Palestinians from many jobs,” says Alexander Adam, project manager at the Danish Refugee Council (DRC).

In addition to fewer employment opportunities legally employed Palestinians cannot benefit from the Lebanese social security pension or insurance plans even though employers are still obligated to pay the government for such programmes, explains Adam.

Professional associations, such as those for lawyers, doctors, and engineers, either apply severe restrictions on non-citizens or exclude them completely, leaving Palestinians with few job choices.

“Most Palestinians work in the real estate sector as painters or builders as well as seasonal employees in the agricultural sector, or as taxi drivers. For professionals, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and other NGOs constitute the main source of employment,” adds Adam.

A 2005 memorandum published by the labour ministry was aimed at improving Palestinians’ legal employment opportunities, but it has borne little result. Adams explains that the Palestinian employment programme, promoted by the DRC through recruitment companies, was fruitless due to objections raised by recruiting agents.

“I have been looking for work for over a year. Some companies I applied to told me point blank that they do not hire Palestinians,” says Abdallah Oueid, a bright young man who graduated with a chemistry degree from the Arab University in Beirut.

Besides the exclusion from government-funded medical insurance and retirement benefits as well as other rights – sick leave, maternity leave and vacations – Palestinians often earn less than other Lebanese.

“I was paid 50 US dollars less than my Lebanese friend who also had insurance coverage, which I didn’t,” says Ahmad, a young Lebanese-Palestinian who graduated as a graphic designer and worked as a waiter in a local restaurant for 400 dollars a month.

A study published by Lebanese sociologist Sari Hanafi states that Palestinian refugees make “significantly lower hourly wages … compared with Lebanese citizens, both for people with secondary or higher education and for those with only basic education.”

Ahmad underlines that most of his jobs were seasonal and off the books. “I had to hide during visits by officials from the labour ministry or other government agencies,” he adds.

Adam acknowledges that high unemployment rates within the Palestinian community are pushing teenagers to quit school at an early age, with dropout rates estimated at about 60 percent. “Children who drop out of school face a higher risk of staying without a home, being abused and turning to drugs,” he underlines.

Pushed to the brink of poverty many Palestinians have chosen to join political factions to secure a stable paycheck every month. In recent months, radical groups in Ain el-Helweh and Bourj Barajneh seem to have been recruiting en masse.

“It doesn’t mean that we really adhere to one party or another,” says Ahmad. “It just pays the bills.”