Forgotten humanity

Despised by Lebanon, enemies of Israel, forgotten by the rest of the world, are these stateless, 3rd and 4th generation refugees with no human rights: the Palestinians. We visited the Chatila camp where Cam will be volunteering. Just to visit is an unnerving, enlightening experience; in fact a hostel has been set up at the Youth Center to welcome outsiders and offer them tours of the camp.

Eighteen thousand people live inside the one square kilometer/.6 (that is six tenths, not six) mile camp, in south Beirut. There are no walls or barbed wire. Instead people are trapped by laws—both those that are enforced (Lebanon) and those that are not (Israel and international community). Palestinians in Lebanon have no identity cards and cannot work in many jobs, travel or own property. Various United Nations resolutions to assist them have been ignored by member nations, most notably of course, Israel and the United States. This has been the situation since 1949.

There are 13 of these camps in Lebanon! There are over 200,000 registered refugees living in these camps, but the number of residents is higher. In Chatila Camp we learned that other poorest of the poor, of several nationalities, are living among the refuges there. In the infamous Sabra and Chatila massacres of 1982, when something like 2,000 people were killed, there were people from many nationalities among the victims, including up to 25% Lebanese.

“Overcrowded” seems an inadequate word. Most streets are tiny alleyways, and no sun or breeze reaches many dwellings. Buildings have expanded upward, since outward is not an option, and most reach seven floors, the maximum allowed them by the Lebanese government. That may be a good thing, as construction is poor quality, and the buildings are unsafe. Drainage is very poor and when it rains flooding is widespread. Electricity is more off than on.

There are schools in the camp, run by the UN. But they are overcrowded and operate on a double shift, with half the students in school from 7 – 11 and half from 12 – 4.

Palestinians are only allowed to work in certain jobs in Lebanon. Many work as laborers or run small shops in the camp. Some of the women are able to find work as cleaners around the city, but many of these jobs have been taken over in recent years by live-in workers imported from the Philippines or Sri Lanka.

Cam, bless his big heart, will be working in the Chatila Youth Center, updating their website and just being with the kids.

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Since you’re already depressed I will share this as well, from the newspaper today:

“Three people were wounded on Sunday by a cluster bomb in the south…while working in an agricultural field. Cluster bombs dropped by Israel last year continue to kill and wound civilians on a regular basis. Israel dropped at least 1 million cluster bombs during the three last days of the conflict, after the United Nations Security Council had brokered a resolution to end hostilities. It has refused to provide information about its cluster bombs strikes, despite repeated UN requests to do so”.

More innocent lives and limbs would be saved if only they would let the Lebanese know where they dropped cluster bombs. Cluster bombs deliver landmines that blow up later, when someone steps on them, or hits them with a hoe. A single cluster bomb can leave unexploded mines over an area the size of three football fields, for decades later. These ones were purchased with our tax dollars and given to Israel. It just makes me sick.