The International League of Peoples’ Struggles-US Chapter condemns the attacks on Palestinian refugee workers in Lebanon and stands in solidarity with Palestinian refugee workers striking for fair jobs and the right to return. Last week, the Lebanese Ministry of Labor made an attack on Palestinian refugees and Syrian refugee’s worker rights.

Several months ago the Lebanese government passed a budget which included sweeping austerity reforms at the behest of the World Bank and other predatory neoliberal international NGO’s. Saad Hariri, the Prime Minister of Lebanon, referred to it as the most austere budget in Lebanon’s history. Since then, different sectors of the Lebanese economy and society have come under assault through increased taxes, or gutted social programs.

As part of these reforms, the Ministry of Labor is cracking down on foreign workers. Labor Minister Kamil Abu Suleiman announced his desire to crack down on “unauthorized” labor. He then proclaimed businesses would have one month to ensure their staff had the proper papers.

With that time period up, the Ministry has been terrorizing (via raids, extortion, etc) Palestinian and Syrian businesses across Lebanon. In addition to the austerity factor, it is also important to note that the Lebanese government has begun attempting to force Syrian refugees to return to Syria. This crackdown is surely part of that brutal initiative.

The people are fighting back. In response to the recent decision on work permits, Palestinian workers and popular and civil committees organized a week long labor strike and boycott of Lebanese goods to demonstrate the importance of their role in the economy. Across 12 camps, they have organized massive collective resistance to yet another stab at their human dignity and rights.

Last week in Saida, the largest city between Sour and Beirut, there was a protest of both Palestinians and Lebanese with 50,000 people. We were receiving reports that damages from the strikes in Saida was at least millions of dollars. Student activities have been canceled because youth in refugee camps wanted to stand with rounds of protests. To reiterate, unemployment in the camps is about 60%. Many are people with bachelors or master degrees are denied professional jobs because they are Palestinian.

Background on Palestinians in Lebanon:

Palestine Refugees fled to Lebanon 71 years ago when Zionist militias forced them from their homes during the Nakba, the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of over 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland. There are 12 Palestinian refugee camps across Lebanon, where most of the minimal infrastructure and services is provided by United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). They have been largely denied all civil rights from the Lebanese government, including citizenship and access to a large number of professions. They also face huge boundaries in accessing quality education, due to deliberate cuts and underfunding of UNRWA as well as a colonial system in which they must pass an exam in English or French in order to go to high school.

All Palestine Refugees possess, under International Law, a Right to Return to their homeland. Palestinians are denied this right and Israel continues to displace Palestinians and settle more land, from occupied Jerusalem, where the IDF is currently demolishing 100 Palestinian homes along the border between occupied-Palestine and Lebanon, where the State of Israel is continuing to build a wall to annex more land from a UN demilitarized zone.

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