Walaa Kayyal, a researcher living as a Palestinian in Lebanon whom we interviewed for this report in October 2022 gave the following explanation regarding Palestinians’ access to property:
“All Palestinians who bought houses before 2001, they can register it and it legally belongs to them. But after 2001, Palestinians were forbidden to own any property. However, you have people of other nationalities who own properties but not Palestinians. For example, Syrians can own a house, Yemenis can own a house, Saudis can own a house, Kuwaitis can own a house. But Palestinians cannot own a house. And it is in the Lebanese law, it’s written this way: Palestinians are not allowed to. Currently I do not know of any steps taken to improve this situation for Palestinians.”
(Source: Walaa Kayyal, interview record, 31 October 2022)
Mr Ziad El Sayegh, Executive Director of the Civic Influence Hub in Beirut and former Policy and Communication Advisor to the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee [a Lebanese inter-ministerial government body formed in November 2005 to implement the policies of the Lebanese government towards Palestinian refugees in Lebanon] whom we interviewed for this report considered that:
“This is a very complicated story. In 2002, we didn’t allow anymore for the Palestinian refugees to buy a house,[..]. And between 2016 and 2018, this was one of the key frameworks we discussed within Lebanese national dialogue towards the Palestinian refugees issue, and we suggested a solution to legalize all the lands and houses bought before 2002 and after to think of scenarios of long-term leasing that can allow the Palestinian refugees to have houses.”
(Source: Ziad El Sayegh, interview record, 31 October 2022)
In a statement by Badil Resource Centre, submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, it was noted that:
“Living Conditions for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are facing rapidly increasing levels of [...]poor housing conditions, poverty, as well as a lack of access to [...] gas, electricity, and heating. The legal status given to the more than 479,000 Palestinian refugees [figures from UNRWA], where they are still categorized and treated as foreigners rather than refugees, [...] further prohibits Palestinian refugees from owning real estate, generating over-crowdedness in the 12 refugee camps while forcing others to live in ‘informal housing.’”
(Source: Badil Resource Center: “Written statement* submitted by BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, a nongovernmental organization in special consultative status”, 23 May 2022, p. 2)
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published a statement by the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on his visit to Lebanon in November 2021:
“Deprived of the right to own any real estate, almost a half of Palestinian refugees (45 per cent) live in one of the 12 official Palestine refugee camps, and the rest reside in the so-called “gatherings” near the camps or informal housing. In all of these settings, Palestinian refugees are often subjected to overcrowded, unsanitary and unsafe conditions, with minimal access to infrastructure and basic services.”
(Source: OHCHR, “Statement by Professor Olivier De Schutter, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, on his visit to Lebanon, 1 – 12 November 2021”, 12 November 2021, p. 1)
UNRWA wrote about the right to adequate housing:
“Around 45 per cent of Palestine refugees reside in the 12 official Palestine refugee camps. The camps are overcrowded and are affected by substandard infrastructure, sanitation and housing conditions. In addition, camp inhabitants have limited opportunities to improve their housing conditions, and the movement of building materials into the camps requires the authorization of the Lebanese authorities. The remaining Palestine refugees reside in gatherings or cities in Lebanon.”
UNRWA noted that:
“Since the adoption of Law 296/2001, Palestine refugees are prevented from legally acquiring and transferring immovable property in Lebanon. This has led to insecurity of tenure as many have been forced into informal rental arrangements and have been deprived of the benefits of property ownership. As a result of the ongoing economic crisis, Palestine refugees are increasingly at risk of evictions. Furthermore, the crowded nature of the Palestine refugee camps, and the often high number of household members inside the home, has made it especially difficult to adhere to COVID-19 related social distancing measures and to isolate, while further exacerbating any family conflict, psychosocial distress and violence in the home.”
(Source: UNRWA: “Protection brief: Palestine refugees living in Lebanon”, September 2020, p. 2)
A collective of NGOs working in Lebanon made a joint submission to the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review in 2020 in which they stated that:
“49. As a result of the lack of legal status and records, stateless persons […] cannot own property and register their homes and cars – if they can afford having any given their lack of economic rights – under the names of relatives or friends who have a nationality, which may result in conflicts ad [sic] dependancy. They cannot inherit property.”
(Source: The Collective for Research & Training on Development- Action, The Nationality Campaign, Ruwad alHoukouk Frontiers Rights et al, “Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review”, July 2020, p. 11)
Another collective of NGOs working with Palestinians in Lebanon made a joint submission to the UPR in 2020 in which they noted amongst other issues that:
“10. Right to Property
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon were excluded from the right to own real estate by law 296/2001, under the pretext that they do not hold a «nationality issued by a recognized state» and the rejection of implantation.
10.1. The expropriation of Palestinian refugees who bought property prior to 2001 but had not completed registration procedures at the relevant departments.
Property purchased and paid for prior to the adoption of Law 296/2001 (which is not retroactive) and whose new owners had not completed registration procedures before that date is not being registered in official real estate departments due to the deliberate wrongful interpretation of the law. Other arbitrary procedures at real estate departments are preventing Palestinian refugees from transferring their registered property through the enforcement of inheritance laws by religious courts, although Law 296/2001 did not prevent this. This forces some injured parties to seek the courts, incurring additional financial burdens. It should also be noted that the Lebanese courts have stopped looking into such cases since 2011.
10.2 Constraints in real estate registration procedures for foreigners married to Palestinian refugees
One of the requirements for registering real estate to a foreigner in Lebanon is obtaining a certificate of «denial of ownership,» a document that includes the household as a unit (husband, wife, and minor children). If one of the spouses is found to be Palestinian, the registration application is denied.”
(Source: Najdeh Association, Development Action Without Borders (Naba’a), Palestinian Human Rights Organization (PHRO) et al, “UPR 2020: Palestinian Refugee Rights in Lebanon”, July 2020, pp. 5-6)
Quds Net News Agency, which belong to the Quds News Network, associated with Hamas and popular among young Palestinian Internet users, reported in June 2020:
“The situation of Palestinians in Lebanon became known where they are prevented from the right to own property by virtue of Law 296/2001 related to non-Lebanese acquiring real property rights in Lebanon. However, when any foreigner wants to own real estate in Lebanon, the Real Estate Affairs asks him to prove that he does not have a record in the Directorate of Political Affairs and Refugees of the Lebanese Ministry of Interior, which registers Palestinian refugees. If this foreigner is of Palestinian origin and has been granted another nationality, he is not allowed to register the property under his name. Rather, this was not approved except in the past few years.” [In- house translation. The author is an Arabic native speaker]
ORIGINAL SOURCE:
.نانبل في ةيراقعلا ةينيعلا قوقحلا ينينانبللا يرغ باستكاب قلعتلما 29٦/2001 نوناقلا لعفب كلمتلا قح نم مهعنم للاخ نم نانبل في ينينيطسلفلا ةلاح مولعلما نم تاب ةيلخادلا ةرازول ةعباتلا ينئجلالاو ةيسايسلا نوؤشلا ةيريدم في ديق هيدل سيل نا تابثا ةقرو ةيراقعلا نوؤشلا هنم بلطت ،نانبل في اراقع كلتيم نا يبنجا يا ديري امدنع نكلو في لاإ ادمتعم نكي لم اذه لب ،همساب راقعلا ليجستب هل حمسي لا ىرخا ةيسنج حنمو ينيطسلف لصا نم يبنجلأا اذه ناك اذإف .ينينيطسلفلا ينئجلالا لجست يتلاو ةينانبللا
.ةيضالما ةيرخلأا تاونسلا
(Source: Quds Net News Agency: “A Palestinian doesn’t Own in Lebanon, Even if In Possession of Lebanese Nationality”, 24 June 2020)
In the internationally recognised book they published in 2020, legal scholars Dr. Francesca Albanese [currently Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory] and Prof. Lex Takkenberg wrote:
“Compared to Palestine refugees in other UNRWA ‘fields’ of operation, Lebanon (together with Gaza) has the largest proportion of camp residents. The living conditions in camps are dire. Those who do not stay in the camps mostly live in rented accommodation, even though rental rates are unaffordable for many. Those who could afford to buy property were stripped of that ability by a 2001 law, which has largely prevented Palestinian refugees from legally acquiring real property, as well as transferring or bequeathing previously owned property to their heirs. Palestinian refugees must therefore rely on informal agreements with Lebanese citizens who buy or keep property bought pre- 2001 on their behalf.”
(Source: “Francesca P. Albanese and Lex Takkenberg/Oxford University Press, Palestinian Refugees in International Law”, May 2020, Chapter 3.3.3, Legal Status and Treatment, p. 276)
In its submission as part of the Universal Periodic Review Third Cycle, the United Nations Country Team noted that:
“Prior to 2001 Palestine refugees from Lebanon (PRL) were entitled to property ownership but with the adoption of Law 296/2001 Palestine refugees are prevented from legally acquiring, transferring immovable property in Lebanon. No positive legislative changes have taken place during the period under review to give PRL the right to own or transfer and register immovable property in Lebanon”
(Source: OHCHR “Universal Periodic Review Third Cycle - Lebanon - UN Contributions: UNCT Lebanon, Background Document 1, 2020”, 26 March 2020)
See also Section 11.1 further below on living conditions in camps.