General Security Official: No Decision to Deny Entry for Palestinians Fleeing Syria
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
An official in the General Security Department denied that Lebanese authorities have taken a decision to prevent Palestinian refugees escaping the fighting in Syria to enter Lebanon.
In remarks to pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat published on Saturday, the official who was not identified said: “The same measures are being applied on all the refugees (coming) to Lebanon from Syria whether they were Palestinians and Syrians.”
General Security “is implementing the measures that were underway before the Syrian crisis started in terms of checking their documents and identification papers,” the high-ranking source said.
His remark came a few days after Human Rights watch said most Palestinians trying to enter Lebanon have been denied entry since August 6, 2013.
An HRW statement said people stranded at the border included "entire families, children, the elderly and the sick".
It said the Beirut government "should urgently rescind its decision to bar Palestinians from Syria from entering Lebanon.”
From August 6, it appears "the only Palestinians allowed to enter Lebanon were Palestinians with Lebanese wives or mothers, or who had plane tickets to leave Beirut that day,” HRW said.
It said there has been no public announcement of a change in policy.
Some 675,000 people fleeing Syria's conflict have sought shelter in tiny Lebanon, the U.N. says, among them 60,000 Palestinians.
10 August 2013, 08:11
13
If they hadn't shown such opportunistic ferocity in the past then perhaps the Lebanese government would have been more tolerant regarding the matter. Then again, I don't think it would have made much of a difference since the decision I believe is largely due to the already 1.2 million Syrian refugees that are expected to be accrued by the end of the year(e.g. http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/92410 ).
That's more than 25% of the current population of about 4 million. It's simply being responsible so long as there is no clear forecast as to when the war will end and how long the refugees will stay. In fact, Lebanon harbors the largest number of Syrian refugees-- more than Jordan ( some 9 times larger than Lebanon ), Turkey (some 80 times larger, 30 times richer), and more than Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, and Armenia combined. Not to mention the already 300-400,000 Palestinians already.
10 August 2013, 08:11
13
It would be suicide to have some 1.2 to 1.6 million people who are refugees/not Lebanese in our country that is incapable of providing its own citizens with basic goods--imagine it trying to stretch its resources to accommodate an addition 25% of its entire population.
10 August 2013, 20:39
01
An HRW statement said .... "the Beirut government should urgently rescind its decision to bar Palestinians from Syria from entering Lebanon.” Simply absurd. HRW, you find a away to somehow compensate Lebanon for all, past and current, refugees we've been shouldering. You then organize, budget and fund the cost of feeding, sheltering, policing, educating, etc. of all current refugees on our land. You than, as a matter of exercise of fairness and good faith, deposit a very handsome sum of money in a fund secured for the Lebanese people (not government) for having to deal with the rigors of being exposed to Palestinian, and now, Syrian refugees in our every day lives for the past 40 years or so.
10 August 2013, 20:40
01
You then sit down and consult with some energetic and smart people to give you both short-run and long-run road plans to manage to peacefully and successfully empty and deliver every single refugee out of Lebanon to a country who has the land, money and power to shoulder such responsibilities. Lebanon doesn't have the will anymore. This is suicide. Whereof, when you guarantee the above, I will then personally come down and assist you with this refugee dilemma at a fair day's pay.
