Daily Star staff
Thursday, April 07, 2011
BEIRUT: A study into the difficult living conditions in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, including recommendations for areas of improvement, was published Wednesday.
The Palestinian Association for Human Rights undertook the 18-month, 170-page study in collaboration with the Humanitarian Relief for Development Society group.
The study examined the educational realities of the camps and showed that libraries lack an acceptable collection of books; playgrounds were small and unsafe; science labs lacked necessary equipment; drinking water was unfit to drink, and teaching methods were old-fashioned.
Kindergarten rooms were often small, overcrowded and sometimes dangerous and the study showed 75 percent of kindergartens in Beirut do not have enough classrooms.
The study also showed that health care in camps was deteriorating. Palestinians mainly depend on UNRWA – the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees – for medical care and UNRWA’s health care services have been cut.
As for social conditions, the study showed that the camps lack proper housing, and suffer from severe overcrowding. The camps have not expanded since they were founded but the population has increased fourfold in that time.
The study also revealed a lack of cultural materials and events.
The group proposed solutions ranging from building new facilities to urging the Lebanese government to allow Palestinians greater work rights and approve camp expansion.
Qassem Aina, the general director of the National Institution for Social Care and Vocational Training, stressed the problem of drugs in the camps and said, “We need social security in the camps,” said Aina, adding that the state had a duty to provide protection in the camps.
Aina also held all Palestinian organizations responsible and said Palestinian organizations with funding, such as Hamas and Jihad, need to play a bigger role in service provision.
UNRWA ban on Palestinian subjects met with protest
BEIRUT: Palestinian students and teachers held a sit-in Wednesday outside UNRWA offices in Ain al-Hilweh in protest against the ban on teaching of Palestinian history and geography in the agency’s schools.
Dozens of Palestinian students and teachers staged a sit-in at the refugee camp outside UNRWA offices on Al-Quds Street, to voice their objection to an earlier decision by UNRWA’s Department of Education to ban the subjects. “Why is my identity being erased? Palestine is my cause, our history is our identity. I have the right to know my country’s history,” some of the banners read.
Educator Tarek Rashid said that UNRWA’s policy was aimed at obliterating Palestinian consciousness regarding the Palestinian cause by banning the subjects, omitting the Palestinian national anthem in the morning queue, and prohibiting Palestinian students from marking national and religious occasions in their schools.
The Jerusalem Association staged a similar sit-in, in Rashidieh camp near Tyre. – The Daily Star
Hi! I was wondering if anyone knew where I could obtain a copy of this study? Thanks for any information! Great blog, by the way.
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