The Arab Apartheid No One Talks About
by Khaled Abu Toameh • December 13, 2021 at 5:00 am
"Not all of the professions will be opened to Palestinians under the new decree...." — L'Orient Today, December 8, 2021.
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon "are socially marginalized, have very limited civil, social, political and economic rights, including restricted access to the Government of Lebanon's public health, educational and social services and face significant restrictions on their right to work and right to own property." — UNRWA, September 2020.
There are several reasons why the Lebanese do not want the Palestinians. One reason is that since the 1970s, the Palestinians have brought war and destruction to Lebanon and turned refugee camps into bases for terror groups.
"It is time to end this history of discrimination and systematic segregation... Qualified Palestinians should be allowed to practice their professions, especially in fields where they are most needed.... Very few Lebanese would share my view." — Sawssan Abou-Zahr, senior Lebanese journalist, Reliefweb, August 1, 2021.
What is clear...is that the international community has long been ignoring the abuses and human rights violations by an Arab country against the Palestinians.
The demonization of Israel by so many journalists, officials and so-called human-rights groups leaves little time to ask why a Palestinian in Lebanon is not permitted to practice medicine while a significant portion of the medical staff at Israeli hospitals consists of Arab doctors and nurses.
The issue of Arab apartheid and discrimination recently resurfaced after a Lebanese minister announced that his country decided to allow Palestinians to work in several sectors that were until now reserved just for Lebanese nationals.
The announcement by Mostafa Bayram, Lebanon's Minister of Labor, came as a surprise to many Palestinians who have been banned for the past four decades from working in many professions.
Palestinians are hoping that the decision would end decades of discrimination and marginalization by an Arab country -- Lebanon.
Some Lebanese, however, expressed fierce opposition to Bayram's decision to ease the labor restrictions imposed on the Palestinians. These Lebanese seem afraid that the Palestinians will either take their jobs or become full citizens of Lebanon.
