In its Protection Monitoring Report for the 2nd quarter of the year 2022, UNRWA reported that:
“Q2 [second quarter of the year 2022] saw public statements of anti-refugee sentiment by several prominent Lebanese figures. While these remarks were mainly directed at Syrian refugees, the Maronite Patriarch called for the deportation and resettlement of Palestinian refugees alongside Syrians. Some Palestinian refugees expressed their concern at such rhetoric, but UNRWA interlocutors noted it was tied to long-standing social discrimination against Palestinians in Lebanon, rather than being a new phenomenon.”
(Source: UNRWA, “UNRWA Protection Monitoring Report – Quarter 2 (Q2) 2022”, 26 August 2022, p. 5)
The news agency Aljazeera published an article in April 2020 about the Lebanese state’s reaction towards Palestinians at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic:
“At a March 13 news conference, Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces party [one of the parties that hold seats in Parliament], who is known for making racist statements, implied that Palestinian and Syrian refugees would be spreaders of COVID-19 in Lebanon and argued that the refugee communities posed a threat to public health.
[...]It soon became clear that the local authorities shared Geagea’s attitude towards refugees.
On March 15, the government announced general mobilisation across the country and local authorities started coordinating with security forces to stop “unnecessary” movement from camps. Refugee communities have already complained that the curfews they face are longer than those imposed on Lebanese citizens. In some areas, they are allowed to be outside of their houses for just five hours.
Palestinians have faced restrictions for decades by the Lebanese authorities, and so have Syrians more recently. That the Lebanese authorities are resorting to such actions amid the COVID-19 outbreak is rather unsurprising.
(Source: Aljazeera, “Clamping down on refugees will not save Lebanon from the pandemic”, 11 April 2020)49