Lebanon .. When the financial and economic crisis burdens the Palestinian refugee

Afif Diab - Beirut

The financial and economic crisis that Lebanon suffers from has cast a shadow over the general Palestinian refugees in the country.

This crisis, which escalates with the financial measures taken by banks and is associated with restrictions on withdrawing deposits and incoming and outgoing transfers, did not affect only the general Lebanese, but its tails were more severe on the Palestinian refugees in their camps and outside, as the crisis led to the decline of the UNRWA services The clay made matters worse.

Worsening the crisis
Ahmed Sharidi, a Palestinian refugee in the Ain al-Hilweh camp near the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon, says that UNRWA must assume its responsibilities as being concerned with the care and operation of Palestinian refugees and launch an urgent call for help to alleviate the suffering of the camp residents.

He adds to Al-Jazeera Net that their conditions inside and outside the camps are "catastrophic", fearing a social explosion as a result of the crisis.

For his part, refugee Ali Qasim from Tibbet neighborhood in Ain al-Hilweh camp on Al Jazeera Net said, "The repercussions of the economic and financial crisis are dangerous for us in light of depriving us of our civil, social and human rights in Lebanon, adding that the new crisis exacerbates their situation and exacerbates their suffering."

Poverty and unemployment progress
Palestinian anxiety has increased in recent times with the start of the negative results of the Lebanese financial and economic crises, leaving its scars on all Lebanese and residents alike.

The president of the Palestinian Social and Cultural Activist Association, Dhafer Al-Khatib, says that the Palestinian suffering is mainly due to preventing the Palestinian from working in dozens of professions in Lebanon and depriving him of his most basic civil rights, and that the new crisis raised its quantitative and qualitative size.

He adds to Al-Jazeera Net that the majority of Palestinian families suffer greatly, especially since poverty rates have increased recently by 50%.

Al-Khatib continues that the job market has become almost closed to Palestinian skills and employment, and that the wages of the Palestinian worker compared to his Lebanese colleague are starting to decrease significantly, as well as the closure of Palestinian and Lebanese commercial, crafts and food establishments as a result of the crisis, and unemployment rates rise by 20%.

Also, the daily income of thousands of Palestinian families does not exceed two dollars at present, while Palestinian transfers from migrants to their families in the camps remain semi-suspended after the Lebanese banks began implementing their own policy.

UNRWA's move
In the face of these financial and economic crisis situations in the Palestinian refugee community in Lebanon, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in Lebanon Hoda Al-Samra said that the agency has developed a plan to provide emergency financial assistance once for the time being to help Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, adding that this assistance will also include refugees The Palestinians who left Syria forcibly, numbering more than 27,000 refugees.

"The amount required to provide this assistance does not exceed seven million dollars, (but) this amount has not been fully available yet, and we have submitted a request to donor countries to provide support to face this situation that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are suffering as a result of the deteriorating financial and economic conditions in the country."

The Palestinian refugees are considered the most vulnerable group in the Lebanese society in light of the emerging financial and economic crisis, and more than 61 thousand refugees are facing extreme poverty, according to the UNRWA study in Lebanon.

Al-Samra says that the number increased with the escalation of the Lebanese financial crisis, but there is a ceiling to provide assistance in light of the financial crisis that UNRWA suffers from.

She pointed out that the agency will work with associations, social institutions and Palestinian party factions to create an area of ​​joint cooperation to face the repercussions of the financial crisis in Lebanon and its significant negative impact on the Palestinian refugees.