Palestinian refugees storm UNWRA offices in Beirut in protest of aid-cuts

[shira]

BEIRUT -

Hundreds of Palestinians have demonstrated in front of the U.N. relief agency in Beirut, protesting scaled-back services for refugees.

Some of Friday's protesters tried to storm the head office of the U.N. Relief and Work Agency, or UNRWA, but were held back by police.

Many Palestinians in refugee camps have been angry over cuts to health and education services in recent years.

The protest comes three days after the death of a Palestinian boy in the refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon. Mohammed Nabih Taha, 10, reportedly died in front of a hospital where he was refused entry because his family did not have money for treatment. Some 400,000 refugees live in Lebanon, mainly in 12 crowded camps.

more...

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinian-refugees-storm-unwra-offices-in-beirut-in-protest-of-aid-cuts-1.348579

[shira]

1. Where Is The Outcry Against Arab Apartheid?

Mohammed Nabil Taha, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy, died this week at the entrance to a Lebanese hospital after doctors refused to help him because his family could not afford to pay for medical treatment.

The tragic case of Taha highlights the plight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who live in impoverished refugee camps in Lebanon and who are the victims of an Apartheid system that denies them access to work, education and medical care.

Ironically, the boy's death at the entrance to the hospital coincided with Israel Apartheid Week, a festival of hatred and incitement organized by anti-Israel activists on university campuses in the US, Canada and other countries.

It is highly unlikely that the folks behind the festival have heard about the case of Taha. Judging from past experiences, it is also highly unlikely that they would publicize the case after they heard about it.

Why should anyone care about a Palestinian boy who is denied medical treatment by an Arab hospital? This is a story that does not have an anti-Israel angle to it.

Can anyone imagine what would have happened if an Israeli hospital had abandoned a boy to die in its parking lot because his father did not have $1,500 to pay for his treatment?

The UN Security Council would hold an emergency session and Israel would be strongly condemned and held responsible for the death of the boy.

All this is happening at a time when tens of thousands of Palestinian patients continue to benefit from treatments in Israeli hospitals.

more...
http://www.hudson-ny.org/1953/arab-apartheid

[whosinpower]

3. How many americans die every year - because of no health insurance?

Sept 2009, a study found that over 45 000 americans died because they could not afford health insurance.

Are you going to somehow conflate that to apartheid and try to twist and spin that into somehow becaue americans are not outraged - this is because if it was Israel doing it - they would be...so they MUST therefore be anti semitic?

Good god - how devoid of reason.

[shira]

4. But it is apartheid in Lebanon vs. Palestinians. It's deliberate...

1. Anyone born in Lebanon gets free healthcare, except Palestinians born in Lebanon.

2. Lebanon bars Palestinians from dozens of professions and limits them to menial labor, which makes it next to impossible to afford healthcare. Palestinians cannot even own property.

That's state-sponsored, legislated apartheid. It's therefore ludicrous to compare the situation there to America.

===

Also, it's not that Americans aren't outraged at what's happening in Lebanon, it's the sanctimonious pro-Palestinian "Left", NGO's, and UN that can't be bothered to criticize Lebanon, Hamas for human rights violations against Palestinians.

Antisemitism is the only reason the apartheid label is used WRT Israel.

Name one reason why the apartheid label is never used WRT Lebanon, where it's enshrined in national legislation (like it was in S.Africa) but used against Israel, where an Arab President served in 2007 before Obama was elected.

"I think my appointment is the example and answer for those who accuse Israel of being an apartheid state. It shows minorities have equal rights and we are part of the government, the state and the parliament.

-Arab Kadima Knesset member Majallie Whbee, Acting President of Israel."

[oberliner]

5. There is systemic discrimination against Palestinians in Lebanon

Are you not aware of this?

Systematic discrimination faces Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
15 May 2008

The following letter was sent by a reader of the World Socialist Web Site. It has been edited for language only.

Being a refugee in Lebanon since my birth, I have witnessed and lived through all kinds of prejudices practiced against my people living reluctantly in Lebanon. I would like to highlight the prejudice that Palestinian refugees suffer from in the domain of work and medical care.

Palestinians are not allowed to work in many jobs, and if they are allowed, such a step would be illegal with respect to the laws enacted in Lebanon. This means that we are not allowed to work in the public services and institutes run by the government like schools, hospitals and ports. Because of this we must resort to work in the private sector, notably in agriculture, where there is discrimination in the wages and salaries paid to us and our Lebanese counterparts.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/may2008/pale-m15.shtml

[LeftishBrit]

7. What happens in America to the uninsured is vile...

and could be called a form of economic apartheid. However, in Lebanon, there is very specific discrimination against Palestinians, who are not treated as equal citizens in all sorts of ways.

[shira]

8. LB, would you say Lebanon practices apartheid vs. Palestinian refugees? n/t

[azurnoir]

9. No really not so "specific" as it turns out Iraqi refugee's are treated in much

the same way in Lebanon

Iraqi refugees in Lebanon live in fear of arrest and deportation

To say that Iraqi refugees in Lebanon are stuck between a rock and a hard place would be a drastic understatement; a choice between working illegally for low wages or returning to a war torn country is no choice at all.
Of the estimated 50,000 Iraqis currently living in the country, only 10,500 are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Even those who are given refugee status by the UNHCR are not afforded this same status under Lebanese law. As a result, the majority of Iraqi refugees live illegally in Lebanon, in fear of arrest, detention and deportation to the country they fled.
“Domestic laws do not cover refugees in general, that is there are no laws specifically for refugees” said Laure Chedrawi of the UNHCR. “There is only one rule that applies to them, which is the 1962 law. This stipulates that any foreigner must have a valid visa otherwise they will go to prison, be fined, and then deported. This is the law that is currently being applied to refugees” she added.

http://waterinmajorca.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/iraqi-refugees-in-lebanon-live-in-fear-of-arrest-and-deportation/

[oberliner]

10. Except these Iraqi refugees were not actually born in Lebanon

The vast majority of Palestinians living in Lebanese refugee camps were born in Lebanon. And, in many cases, their parents were born in Lebanon. And, in some cases, their grandparents were born in Lebanon.

[azurnoir]

11. yes we have covered that already on another thread

have not seen the comment or do you already have something to 'refute' it with?

however some of the Iraqi refugee's albeit children have been born in Lebanon and still they are not Lebanese citizens as Lebanon has no such law

[oberliner]

13. Covered what?

Not sure what you are talking about or what there is to refute.

Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon are unique in that they themselves are not actually refugees but the children or grandchildren of refugees.

That is not the case for the Iraqi refugee population, except for very young children.

[azurnoir]

14. according to UNRWA they are refugee's too

and I have read here claims that they would be even if granted citizenship to another country

eta I am not too sure that India has granted citizenship to Tibetans either or Thailand to Hmong

[LeftishBrit]

2. Allowing a child to die for lack of money is just ...vile

The Palestinians are treated badly by everyone; and that includes the Arab states.

[LeftishBrit]

6. Despite the fact that as I've often said...

the Arab states often escape general criticism for anti-Palestinian actions, in comparison with the blame given (by different people) to Israel and to the Palestinian leadership:

It is nevertheless NOT true that human rights organizations ignore the treatment of Palestinians in Lebanon.

Here are a few examples:

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/06/17/lebanon-seize-opportunity-end-discrimination-against-palestinians

http://www.haaretz.com/news/group-raps-lebanon-jordan-for-mistreating-palestinians-1.262129

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE18/006/2007/en

http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=78953

http://refugees.resist.ca/document/situationlebanon.htm

There is, by the way, a Palestinian Human Rights Organization:

http://www.palhumanrights.org/

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53605

[azurnoir]

12. strikes me as 'almost odd' that while the OP is run on the problems being caused by UNRWA's aid cut

the subject is quickly diverted to Lebanon while in all truth it is possible the the Palestinian child who died due to a lack of funds may well in fact be alive right now were it not for UNRWA's aid cut, curious that.