It only took a few decades for the Palestinian camps and the issue of improving the living conditions of their residents to occupy a special position on the agenda of some Lebanese politicians – or at least, this is how it is being portrayed in the media as of late.
But in reality, the camps’ residents continue to be deprived of the most basic needs required to lead a decent life, while the camps still suffer from overpopulation and chaos, not to mention poor infrastructure. Even building materials are still proscribed from entering some of these camps.
These are the conditions that no one envies them for, save for their peers who live in the so-called Palestinian population clusters, and therefore, one can only imagine the difficulty and direness of the situation of the latter. This is because these clusters, unlike the camps, are not eligible for UNRWA’s services, as the latter does not even recognize their existence!
In light of this deprivation [of basic rights] and marginalization, a large segment of Palestinians in Lebanon reside in population clusters that are neglected by UNRWA, which is otherwise adamant in the field of relief and works for Palestinian refugees.
As soon as you enter the Al-Itaniya compound, one of the population clusters mentioned above, you will notice that most of the homes there are old and are built out of tin sheets. Thus, your memory will go back to the sight of the beginnings of the establishment of the camps, before they became the ‘modern developments’ that they are today.
Mustafa Azzoum complains of the tough circumstances – including economic circumstances, of course – which prevent him from developing the shape of his house, which is basically built out of tin sheets and plastic tarps to prevent rainwater leakage into the house. He says: “We always try to place new tin plates or replace them with a concrete layer, but the Lebanese government does not allow that. In case building materials were spotted on their way here, the matter would be soon investigated”.
“So that they wouldn’t collapse on top of our heads”
In the case of Umm Ali al-Akhal, the widow of a martyr, her house was demolished and she was jailed, after replacing the tin sheets in her house with concrete slabs. She was detained by policemen on charges of building illegally, since this compound is not a recognized [refugee] camp. Umm Ali said: “they told us this is not a camp and it is not recognized”, adding that “we have an electricity problem, and the water wells are polluted because of sewage water”, and a long list of other complains which she concluded with a personal appeal to President Abu Mazen to interfere and put an end to this suffering.
Hajja Fatima al-Makhal agrees with Umm Ali, and reiterates that “it is forbidden for us to replace the tin sheets or to place a single stone on top of another...even repairing the house is prohibited”. She then adds: “the UNRWA does not recognize our existence because we are outside of the refugee camps, and thus provides us with nothing. Also, all schools and the clinic are in the Kfar Bada area, and the clinic receives patients only two days a week”. Al-Makhal also points out that there should be an appeal for “the international community and the UNRWA to consider our suffering, and to repair our homes before they collapse on top of our heads”; this appeal was echoed by everyone we met there in fact.
Abu Ali was not exaggerating when he made this announcement, as this literally took place in the case of Hanaa al-Ahmad, who holds UNRWA responsible in case what happened to her house is to happen again. She says: “I hold UNRWA responsible if the house should collapse on top of us, because my house is made of hay. Actually, a wall collapsed on my children last year”.
God save us.
In al-Qasimiya, a visitor will not be safe at the home of Ibrahim Ibrahim (Abu Khalil), who said: “My house is made out of tin sheets and I have a room made of hay. I don’t know when it will collapse on top of my family. Snakes enter my house, and me, my wife and my (ten) children are exposed to snakebites, may God save us.”
Despite submitting a request to UNRWA through Social Affairs and the region’s director to inspect his house that is not fit for habitation, the result was that an engineer came from UNRWA to inspect the house before disappearing and never returning again. As for the promise that Abu Khalil received, it soon became an apology “under the pretext that we are not an official camp”.
Taking advantage of the occasion, he called on the international community and the UNRWA in turn to recognize these Palestinian population centres equally with the camps, “because we pay the price. My house is unfit for habitation, and we do not know when the bathroom ceiling will collapse over our heads. My ten children and my wife and I live in two rooms only”.
What makes matters worse is that he doesn’t have a secure job as a farmer, and the income he receives is modest and he thus cannot afford to guarantee the survival of his son who needs a oxygen bottle to breathe because of his illness. It is currently being paid for by one of the ‘charitable people”, but Abu Khalil cannot keep the rest of his family safe by securing a safer home for them.
Even with the presence of some ‘philanthropists” who cover the cost of replacing the old tin sheets with new ones, this still depends on obtaining an official permit from the authorities that do not recognize their existence in the first place!
* The majority of these Palestinian population clusters are located on privately owned lands that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees – UNRWA – does not lease from the government or from the owners, contrary to the lands on which the rest of the camps are established.
While UNRWA assumes the responsibility for these camps in terms of providing social, health, educational and other types of services and assistance – which by the way are being continuously reduced by UNRWA -, other Palestinian population centres are denied the bare minimum of such services under the pretext that they are located outside of the camp and cannot be considered refugee camps. In addition, introducing building material to these population centres is illegal and prohibited, prompting the parents at times to secretly smuggling them in.
It should be mentioned here that a number of Palestinian refugees had settled in such population clusters in the aftermath of the Nakbah [the catastrophe], when the owners of the lands on which they are situated sympathized with them and allowed them to live and work in farming those lands, following which event they managed to live and settle there. But when the ownership of these lands changed hands, the new owners protested against the illegal settlement by these refugees, and filed lawsuits which they ultimately won. The execution of the court’s verdicts in this regard is now just around the corner.
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