Navigate to News section

Palestinians Gain Rights in Lebanon

Tablet Magazine writers reported on inequities

by
Marc Tracy
August 18, 2010

As noted in Daybreak, a new Lebanese law grants substantial rights, particularly concerning work, to the 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in the country. (Incidentally, though the governing March 14 coalition hailed the bill’s passage, some Palestinian civil rights leaders said it did not go far enough.)

Among others, the Palestinians of Lebanon have Tablet Magazine contributor Judith Miller and contributing editor David Samuels to thank. In a mammoth (and al-Jazeera-endorsed!) report last October, they documented the poor living conditions and discriminatory policies sustained by the 4.6 million Palestinian refugees who reside in neither Gaza nor the West Bank (the majority in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan). “After 60 years of failed wars, and failed peace,” they wrote, “it is time to put politics aside and to insist that the basic rights of the Palestinian refugees in Arab countries be respected—whether or not their children’s children return to Haifa anytime soon.”

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.