Walaa Kayyal, a researcher living as a Palestinian in Lebanon whom we interviewed for this report in October 2022 explained stateless Palestinians’ relationship to the police as follows:
“Usually, stateless individuals [including Palestinians] are afraid to approach any government facility or to talk to any representative of the army. Any person who is wearing a uniform, they do not approach them. If they see them, they change their way because they are afraid. Because they cannot show any papers and can therefore be arrested and detained. So stateless persons do not approach any government facility or any person wearing a governmental uniform, whether in the army or in the general secretariat or in any security forces branch. In rare cases where they have a very good relation with the mayor in their village, they would address a complaint informally, but not more than this. If I want to go and file a complaint about any person, about my neighbour who for example harassed me or about a teacher who insulted me, etc, the first thing they will ask is my ID. Because you need to fill a form and you need to provide a copy of your ID. And if you don’t have it, then they will detain you. So they’d rather, if you want, keep silent instead of ending up detained.”
(Source: Walaa Kayyal, interview record, 31 October 2022)
Katherine Harbord, a lecturer in human rights specialised in the middle East whom we interviewed for this report in October 2022 also reported on Palestinians’ reluctance to reach out to the police:
“I have heard anecdotally that there’s sort of, quote-unquote, «no point reporting complaints to the police because nothing will happen or they want--» there is a certain amount of corruption in the system, so justice isn’t easy to secure. That things depend on kind of personal patronage networks that you may or may not have. But how valid a perception that is, I’m not able to judge. Anything involving a police complaint would go unreported. So “a policeman detained me illegally and beat me”, Probably, that would go unreported, because there would be a perception that there would be no point and it might bring further trouble. I have heard from a Palestinian somewhere down near Tyre in south Lebanon- that there was a reluctance to report problems from within the camps to the police. So if it’s one Palestinian having a problem with another Palestinian or if something criminal has occurred, they prefer to kind of resolve it within the camp. Because of police perceptions, because of kind of inter-camp structures and things. But I heard that from one woman only.
[...] So more kind of appeals to the older members of the community to kind of create resolution in cases of-- this particular case we were speaking about was a case of sexual violence. But she was acknowledging it was-- obviously, sexual violence is particularly complicated in this context because of kind of connotations of so called honour and things. It was, anyway, a more complex case. I don’t know, necessarily, that a murder, for example, would be dealt with by the same way. But it was certainly this woman’s impression that the community preferred as far as possible to police itself, rather than have recourse to the Lebanese police. They felt that it was also more likely to lead to more just resolutions.”
(Source: Katherine Harbord, interview record, 13 October 2022)
On the contrary, when asked whether stateless Palestinians reached out to the police, Jordanian political economist and long-time commentator on the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue Riad Al Khouri whom we interviewed for this report in October 2022 answered:
“If we are talking about normal criminal and public security issues, yes. I do not think there is any difference. If somebody’s house is subject to robbery and he is a Palestinian, he will report it to the police. If we are talking about things to do with politics about a militia, then no. It becomes more complicated. In other words, to repeat the example, if I am a Palestinian refugee, somebody robbed my home, then I will report it to the police in a normal way. There will be no discrimination or other problems. But if I am a Palestinian involved in a political dispute with another
person, whether it is Syrian, or Palestinian, or Lebanese. And for example, if there is armed conflict, I was subject to armed harassment for political reasons, then, yes, there would be a complication in reporting this to the police and the police acting. I think they would not get involved because, in the first place, the victim would not report the case. If he reported it, the police would at once realize that this is a political issue to do with militias, and they would not get involved. Do not forget that in Lebanon, the police and the army have tended to have weaker powers than in most other Arab countries. Most Arab countries have strong security and military structures. Lebanon is the major exception. So, the police and the army in Lebanon are not as powerful as they are in other developing countries. And therefore, if a security or political issue arises, then the police would not be involved in the same way that they would in another Arab country where this would not be acceptable.”
(Source: Riad Al Khouri, interview record, 7 October 2022)
UNRWA reported in their 2020 “Protection brief Palestine refugees living in Lebanon that:
“Rule of law and access to justice […] While Palestinian women subject to personal violence can obtain a variety of protective orders issued by the Lebanese courts, in practice the limited control exercised by Lebanese authorities within Palestinian refugee camps makes it impossible to ensure that such orders are upheld for women residing within camps”
“Rule of law and access to justice […] With limited control exercised by Lebanese authorities within Palestine refugee camps, Palestinian political factions are responsible for camp governance and exercise security functions within the camps. The environment in many camps is characterized by insecurity, with sporadic fighting between armed groups, clashes involving drug dealers and occasional violence over personal disutes [sic]. There is limited access to the Lebanese justice system for all camp inhabitants”
[…] PRS not holding legal residency in Lebanon are unable to seek legal divorce due to the legal residency of one of the two parties being a prerequisite for the court. They are also in general unlikely to approach authorities, including to seek justice, due to fear of detention and deportation, which puts PRS women at heightened risk of continuous abuse”
(Source: UNRWA: “Protection brief Palestine refugees living in Lebanon Updated in September 2020”, 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 among others that:
“Stateless persons have no national or local institutions or offices they can refer to for counselling, information on procedures to end statelessness or to access rights. They fear to approach the authorities to complain in case they were the victim of abuse, attack, theft or any violation.”
(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)