Exclusive: A look into the lives of Palestine refugees in Lebanon awaiting a solution to their plight

The Al Biddawi camp for Palestine refugees was established in 1955 to host many of those who had been forcibly displaced from the Upper Galilee and northern coastal cities during what is known as the Palestinian Nakba, or catastrophe in Arabic.

Since then, the camp’s population has ballooned as violence continued to haunt the stateless population, from the Lebanese civil war to the conflict in Syria, which resulted in a flood of Syrian and Palestinian refugees across the border into the tiny Mediterranean country.

The narrow and destitute streets are symbolic of the struggle to survive here. In this single square kilometre, more than 21,000 Palestinians live alongside many impoverished Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees, according to the UN’s Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA.

As is the case with many of the deprived neighbourhoods surrounding the camp, work has become scarce for its population following the economic crisis that has engulfed Lebanon since late 2019, and even those who do work are barely making ends meet.

‘May God ease the suffering of all’

Ahmad* is an unemployed father of eight who suffers from several chronic illnesses.

Too proud to reveal his true name, he told UN News that rats often climb the random electrical wires that have formed webs all the way up from the street level to his fourth floor one-bedroom apartment. Despite the windows being blocked by other buildings in close proximity, they keep them open in an effort to ease the scorching heat.

The family doesn’t own a fan to connect to the little electricity their receive from their neighbour as a charity. A look into their empty unplugged fridge is proof that this family goes many nights without dinner.

Ahmad said he often can’t find anyone to lend him money until some relief comes from UNRWA’s cash assistance. The agency provides him with $50 per child under 18 years of age every 12 weeks, and even this amount had recently been reduced to $30 due to budgetary issues before more funding was made available.

“A home cooked meal costs no less than one million lira ($11.17),” Ahmad said. “My eldest son has a speech impediment. I tried to send him to learn a trade, but they were making fun of him, so now he is sitting at home without a future. There are many people in this camp who are living in similar conditions and are also too proud to ask for handouts. May God ease the suffering of all people.”

UNRWA’s indispensable role

UNRWA is doing what it can to support the Palestinian population in the Al Biddawi camp and across the entire region as mandated in 1949 by General Assembly resolution 302. The UN agency has taken over the vast majority of civil affairs, offering education, health, protection and social services while security and governance in the camp are the responsibility of committees and Palestinian factions.

The camp’s only UNRWA-run health facility has 28 staff members, all of whom are Palestinian refugees themselves. It serves 400 to 500 patients daily, providing a wide array of services from dental and optical care to general medicine and specialised consultations.

While there, UN News spoke to Dr. Husam Ghuniem, UNRWA’s chief of health in northern Lebanon, who explained the vital importance of the services being provided to Palestinian refugees here.

“If UNRWA disappeared tomorrow, there would be a catastrophe in this camp because we don’t have any other humanitarian actor that can and does provide the level of assistance that UNRWA is providing,” he said.

In addition to services provided at the centre, Dr. Ghuniem explained that UNRWA has contracts with seven Lebanese Government and private hospitals as well as the Palestinian Red Crescent Hospital through which it covers the majority of secondary and tertiary care expenses that can be extremely costly in Lebanon. Even so, most Palestinians struggle to pay their share.

“The economic deterioration has led to a lack of work opportunities even for Lebanese citizens, so how about the Palestinians that were already not allowed to work in over 70 professions?” he asked.

The UNRWA official highlighted the battle of cancer patients. He explained that the agency covers 75 per cent of the cost of medication, the majority of which cannot be subsidised by the Lebanese Government for Palestinian refugee patients. With most of them unable work, the costs can truly be unbearable.

Refugees serving their community

Dr. Ghuniem stressed that the question of Palestine refugees is what perpetuates the need for UNRWA to exist.

“I take pride in the work I do here in UNRWA through which I am able to serve our Palestinian people,” he said. “The existence of UNRWA is the sole witness to our Nakba and the question of our refugee status since 1948 until today. It defends us and provides us with our basic needs until we can return to our land, God willing.”

This sentiment was echoed by Dr. Mohamed Badran, the head of the UNRWA health centre in the Al Biddawi camp.

“As a Palestinian refugee, working for UNRWA and providing services to my people suffering from harsh economic and living conditions is the least I can do,” he said.

Dr. Badran stressed in an interview with UN News that UNRWA is the mark of the plight of Palestinian refugees.

“As long as there is a question of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA has to exist in parallel,” he insisted.

At 67 years old, Abdul Sattar Hasan is the descendant of a refugee from the village of Sepphoris, located northwest of Nazareth, and has been coming to this health centre for over 22 years.

A cancer survivor himself, he suffers from a long list of chronic diseases. He told UN News he takes comfort in the fact that all the staff at the UNRWA health centre treat their patients humanely.

“It is not that they treat me well and respect me more because I’m an elderly man,” he explained. “No, I notice this is their treatment to all the people. It is excellent and humane. You get the feeling that employees here aren’t working to get a salary. They are working to deliver a message, and this is something that I respect and very much appreciate.”

* Not his real name