Civil rights of Lebanese Palestinians

Question

What is the position of American and European civil right groups on the situation of Palestinians in Lebanon?

From the Wikipedia article Palestinians in Lebanon:

Most Palestinians in Lebanon do not have Lebanese citizenship and therefore do not have Lebanese identity cards, which would entitle them to government services, such as health and education. They are also legally barred from owning property or entering a list of desirable occupations. Employment requires a government-issued work permit, and, according to the New York Times in 2011, although "Lebanon hands out and renews hundreds of thousands of work permits every year to people from Africa, Asia and other Arab countries... until now, only a handful have been given" to Palestinians. Palestinians in Lebanon also have to heavily rely on the UNRWA for basic services such as healthcare and education, because they are not granted much access to the social services the Lebanese government provides.

An immigrant minority treated in this way would be typically viewed as a case of blatant discrimination, but in the case of Lebanon it seems to be overshadowed by the origin of this population - the descendants of the Palestinian refugees from the territories nowadays considered parts of Israel. However, these are two distinct issues:

• It is fair to demand from Israel restitution of property and perhaps even citizenship rights, as this is done, e.g., by many European countries in respect to the descendants of the Jewish refugees from the Holocaust or even the Inquisition. (Possibly, such measures could be installed for Palestinians alongside the similar reparations by the Arab countries towards their Jewish refugees.)
• It is also fair to demand from Lebanon to integrate its Palestinian population - particularly in view of seemingly pro-Palestinian stance adopted by such an influential force in Lebanon as Hezbollah. It is somewhat hypocritical to tell people, who were born in Lebanon and lived all their life in it, that their home is elsewhere.

Answer 1

"American and European civil right groups" is rather broad. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have been critical of Lebanon's policy vis-a-vis the Palestinians. Other civil rights groups, like the BDS movement or Students for Justice in Palestine, are in favour of a one-state solution with a right of return for the Palestinian refugees. This is their solution to the refugee problem, not integration into other Arab states. You claim that this constitutes hypocrisy but I do not see how. In general, in any refugee situation, the default assumption is that the refugees ultimately leave back to their homeland once the political or military crisis in said homeland is resolved. Providing refugees citizenship is exceptional. Lebanon generally does not provide citizenship to Syrian refugees either, for instance.

Answer 2

Another answer mentions Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. I couldn't find a clear statement from HRW, but the Amnesty addresses the issue very specifically:

Amnesty International continues to urge the Lebanese government to take all necessary steps to end all forms of discrimination, both de facto and de jure, against Palestinian refugees, including in their enjoyment of the right to work and rights at work, the rights to adequate housing, social security and education. The authorities in Lebanon should also, without delay, take all necessary steps to register all non-ID Palestinian refugees and to ensure that all Palestinian refugee children are able to fully enjoy their human rights on par with Lebanese children. In this context, Amnesty International calls on the Lebanese authorities to fully implement the CRC’s recommendations without delay.

ReliefWeb shares an article stating that (although it is not clear, ro what extent this view is that of the whole organization, which is a UN subsidary):

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.

[...]

A country that respects the rights of refugees would be one that respects the rights of its own citizens. As native Lebanese, we are also struggling for our rights too, whether economic, or rights to accountability and justice. Granting basic rights for refugees will diffuse tension between them and the host community, a vital component of peacebuilding.

I believe that a Lebanon that acknowledges refugees' rights would be an even better country for its own citizens. A Lebanon that is "the land of my dreams", to use Safiya's words.

Minority Rights Groups says:

Refugees in Lebanon were in a more serious dilemma than those in Syria or Jordan. The government had stated that ‘under no circumstances will Lebanon agree to give Palestinians citizenship’, and spoken of a ‘redistribution’ of refugees, a euphemism for the expulsion of a substantial proportion of refugees. They thus seemed destined to remain without civic rights. Refugees shared with Lebanon a commitment to the right of return, but both parties knew that Israel was unlikely to honour this humanitarian obligation even in part.

More on the issue:
Report by Asylos https://www.asylos.eu/lebanon-report
RefWorld (Affilated with the UNHRC): Lebanon: Treatment of Palestinian refugees, including information on identity documents, mobility rights, property rights, access to social services, education and employment, and living conditions
Al Jazeera: Palestinians in Lebanon: ‘It’s like living in a prison’

Answer 3

The issue is a consequence of the still unsolved peace process and in particular the question of the Palestinian right of return.

A lot of Palestinian refugees are descendants of people who fled during the Nakba, i.e. the "violent displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian people": "During the 1948 Palestine war, around 700,000 Palestinian Arabs or 85% of the total population fled or were expelled from the territory Israel conquered". Contrary to the narrative supported by Israel that Palestinians left willingly, there is increasingly strong evidence that Israeli militias forced Palestinians to leave their homes; there is also evidence of massacres, like Tantura.

From the point of view of Palestinians and the Arab countries which support them, this injustice is supposed to be repaired by the right of return. In December 1948, the UN Resolution 194 acknowledged that indigenous people in the territories that Israel conquered were entitled to come back to their homes or to be offered compensation for the loss of their property.

Thus Palestinian refugees were not meant to be integrated in their host country, their refugee status was expected to be temporary. Since Israel is still refusing to fulfill their obligation by them, the country robbing Palestinians of their rights is Israel, not Lebanon. Moreover, it has been emphasized that Israel is applying a double standard: on the one hand, Israel argues for compensating the victims of Nazi Germany during WW2, including for their stolen property; it also supports the right of Jews to return to Israel-Palestine on the basis that they were there 2,000 years ago. But for Palestinians who were there in the 20th century, Israel tells them to just forget about it.