Video Of The Week - Repatriate Lebanese Palestinian Refugees or
Disperse?
Israel
Helps Palestinians Prevent Coronavirus; Arabs Betray Them
For the full Article go to - Gatestone -
https://tinyurl.com/rp2lhhh
by Khaled Abu Toameh
March 16, 2020
March 16, 2020
While Israel is working
overtime with Palestinians to curb and prevent the spread of the coronavirus,
the Arab states appear to be doing what they do best when it comes to helping
their Palestinian brothers: nothing at all.
In
the past few days, Israeli authorities delivered 200
coronavirus testing kits to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. In
addition, Israeli and Palestinian professional teams have been working together
to prevent the spread of the virus.
The
Israeli authorities have also delivered another 200 coronavirus testing
kits to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, despite the thousands of rockets and incendiary and bomb-carrying balloons that
the ruling government, Hamas, has launched from there towards Israel.
In
addition, Israeli authorities have coordinated the transfer of 20 tons
of disinfectant material from Israeli factories to the Palestinian health
sector. The material included chlorine and hydrogen peroxide, used for
disinfection, preservation of hygiene and sanitation. These disinfectant
materials are used for cleaning
surfaces in open areas and help in cleaning closed areas, including mosques and
churches.
It
is worth noting that Egypt, which has a shared border with the Gaza Strip, did
not send any test kits or disinfectant materials to the Palestinians living
there.
Palestinians
in Lebanon, meanwhile, are worried that the Lebanese authorities may use the coronavirus
as an excuse to intensify restrictions even further on their refugee camps.
Samir
Geagea, a Lebanese politician and chairman of the Lebanese Forces, an
anti-Palestinian Christian political party, has come under sharp criticism for
calling for the immediate closure of the 12 Palestinian refugee camps in his
country.
As
of January 2019, there were 475,075 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, according to the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). "Palestinians in Lebanon
do not enjoy several important rights," UNRWA pointed out.
"They
cannot work in as many as 39 professions and cannot own property [real estate].
Because they are not formally citizens of another state, Palestinian refugees
are unable to claim the same rights as other foreigners living and working in
Lebanon. The conflict in Syria has forced many Palestinians from Syria to flee
to Lebanon in search of safety. Nearly 29,000 of them are receiving UNRWA
assistance in the country, including cash assistance, education, health care,
and protection."
Palestinian
refugees are barred from
numerous professions in Lebanon, including medicine, law and engineering.
"After
more than seventy years, Lebanon remains the country where Palestinian refugees
suffer the most, where they are deprived of many of their economic and human
rights, including working in certain professions, procedural complications in
obtaining work permits, and denial of the right to own property," said Dr. Mohsen
Saleh, Director-General of the Zaitouna Center for Studies in Beirut.
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