Lebanon has received app. 1.5 million refugees from Syria since the outbreak of the war in Syria 2011. Around 53.000 are Syrian Palestinians refugees. Since the beginning of the crisis, the government in Lebanon has followed a “No Camp Policy”, refusing to establish refugee camps. Instead the refugees are seeking shelter in informal gatherings in primitive tent camps, e.g. in the Bekaa Valley on private rented soil or in the most poor areas including rented rooms in existing Palestinian refugees camps, which have existed in Lebanon after the refugee waves following the establishing of Israel in 1948.
Based on field study in Lebanon Spring 2016, this paper focuses on the consequences of the refugee crisis for the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. 455.000 Palestinians are registered by UNWRA, the UN agency established to take care of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. App. 250.000 are living in the Palestinian camps while the rest are living outside Lebanon. Lebanon refuse to integrate or nationalize the Palestinians who have very restricted access to labor market and receive no help from the Lebanese government in public services.
Palestine refugees have experienced decrease in services and they see themselves somehow forgotten in the Syrian refugee crisis. This report focuses on how the Palestinians perceives the new situation with refugees from Syria, what consequences the crises have for their living conditions, and how they interpret their situation facing more pressure on their living conditions and still lesser perspective for a return to Palestine.
