Lebanon's Hezbolla #Flotilla? If They Really Want To Help Palestinians--Start With Palestinian Persecution In Lebanon!

"Palestinian refugees in Lebanon do not enjoy several basic human rights, for example, they do not have the right to work in as many as 20 professions. Palestinian refugees are not formally citizens of another state, so they are not able to claim the same rights as other foreigners living and working in Lebanon."
UNRWA 

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[S]tate policies and practices in Lebanon discriminate, effectively on grounds of racial and national origin, against Palestinian refugees who reside in Lebanon and that, consequently, Lebanon is failing to comply with its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child with respect to Palestinian children. Particular concerns highlighted include limitations on the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to education, the right to be registered and the right to a name, and the right to social security.
Amnesty International

Salman Masalha writes:

Now that the Lebanese have boosted their national pride by registering the world's biggest dish of hummus in the Guinness Book of Records, they are bidding for the record in hypocrisy, soon to be seen on television screens everywhere. For it is not humanitarian motives or concern for the Palestinians that are making all these hypocrites restless. All they want is spectacle, footage and headlines. Because as we have already said, the Israeli-Palestinian arena is the most photogenic arena in the world.

If they had any genuine humanitarian concern, the Lebanese would stage protests against the harsh blockade that has been imposed on the Palestinian refugee camps in their country for decades. You have to read Amnesty International's reports on the situation of the Palestinians in Lebanon to comprehend the humanitarian disaster there. This hypocrisy was best described by a European volunteer in those camps, who told the organizers of the new flotilla: "You love the Palestinians in Gaza and hate your own Palestinians."

Just how poorly does Lebanon treat its Palestinians?

• The Palestinians in Lebanon were previously prohibited from engaging in 70 professions, but today they are 'only' prohibited from 20, but they are still forbidden to work outside their refugee camps:
  http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGMDE180102007
  
• The Lebanese government does not issue the Palestinian refugees with Lebanese passports or travel documents.
  
• They have no health insurance or access to the most basic services
  http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGMDE180102007
  
• The Lebanese Army has stationed checkpoints at the entrance to the Palestinian refugee camps that check every vehicle and person.
  
• Approximately three years ago, the Lebanese Army destroyed the 'Nahar Al Barad' Palestinian refugee camp, adjacent to Tripoli, while using artillery fire during battles in the Islamist faction 'Fatah Al Islam'. Scores of uninvolved citizens were killed during the battles, and all 27,000 inhabitants of the camp escaped.
  http://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/2010011944826.pdf 
  http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGMDE180102007
  
• The Lebanese government prohibits bringing building materials and restoring structures in the Palestinian refugee camps in its domain.

So how to explain the sudden interest in the welfare of Palestinian Arabs by the Hezbollah Flotilla out of Lebanon. One thing is clear, it has nothing to do with bringing aid to Gazans. The sloppiness and lack of organization of the flotilla proves that.

But these days, you don't have to do your homework when it comes to bashing Israel: it's the PR--and not the facts--that matters.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Technorati Tag: Hezbollah Flotilla and Lebanon.