In the past two years, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have been migrating at significantly higher rates in search of better work opportunities and a better standard of living.
Lebanon’s economic situation tightens its grasp on citizens and foreigners alike, said Abdelnaser Elayi, project manager at the inter-ministerial Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee.
“Before 2020, we would usually see about 6,000 to 8,000 Palestinians leave the country without returning, per year," Mr Elayi told The National
“Now, those figures are closer to 10,000 to 12,000. That is an increase by at least 30 per cent.”
Lebanon has 12 Palestinian refugee camps housing about 207,000 people in all.
There’s no hope for people like us.
Yahia Subaih
While the devastating economic situation is the main driver for this movement, Mr Elayi says, the trend is roughly equal among Lebanese nationals.
A December decision allowing employers to hire Palestinians locally, widening the scope of jobs they could take, had a marginal impact on departures, Mr Elayi said.
“Palestinians are still unable to take on unionised jobs like lawyers or doctors.”
“So those who have the means, education and qualifications to travel abroad for work, have continued to do so with little to no impact on migration rates.”
The Lebanese lira has tumbled since the August 2020 Beirut port blast and coronavirus outbreak, hitting new lows on the parallel market. The country is in the midst of its worst financial crisis in 30 years and UN estimates say eight out of 10 people live in poverty.
‘No hope’
Yahia Subaih, 55, is one of those looking for a way out of Lebanon, but he doubts he can afford it.
He walks for four kilometres from his home in the Burj Barajneh refugee camp to the capital, Beirut, 10 days a month but is still unable to make ends meet.
“Since 2020, the economic situation has gotten much, much, much worse,” he said. His employer reduced Mr Subaih’s work days to save on petrol, he said.
Mr Subaih barely earns $60 a month, nowhere close to the $200 he needs to feed and house his family of three. He says he relies on the generosity of others to get by.
“Most families in Lebanon feel they should have at least one member living abroad, sending them money in US Dollars, in order for them to survive,” Mr Elayi said.
As a result, he says Lebanese and refugees from Syria and Palestine find illegal ways to seek their fortunes elsewhere.
”I heard of people taking illegal routes to go abroad and make a living, but it costs $8,000 per person at least to secure a path,” Mr Subaih said.
He said Germany, Britain, the US, Canada and the Arabian Gulf are the most popular destinations for Palestinian migrants from Lebanon, in that order.
”It’s very difficult to get a visa from an embassy when you don’t have the qualifications necessary,” Mr Subaih said.
Illegal travel has become more prolific since 2020, among people seeking to leave Lebanon, Hoda Samra, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, Unrwa, told The National.
”Those who don’t have finances take the illegal routes, which aren’t even cheap. But it puts them at the risk of exploitation by traffickers,” she said.
More than 1,570 people have taken that route from Lebanon from January to November in 2020, the UN estimates.
One thing remains the same, Mr Elayi says.
“The same feeling of hopelessness and uncertainty of the future, is what has been driving people to migrate from Lebanon before 2020 until today. But now, that feeling is exacerbated.”
For people like Mr Subaih who do not belong to the dwindling middle classes, neither legal or illegal migration is an option.
”I don’t know how we are surviving. There’s no hope for people like us.”
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Conservative MPs who have publicly revealed sending letters of no confidence
- Steve Baker
- Peter Bone
- Ben Bradley
- Andrew Bridgen
- Maria Caulfield
- Simon Clarke
- Philip Davies
- Nadine Dorries
- James Duddridge
- Mark Francois
- Chris Green
- Adam Holloway
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Anne-Marie Morris
- Sheryll Murray
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Laurence Robertson
- Lee Rowley
- Henry Smith
- Martin Vickers
- John Whittingdale
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
The specs
Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cyl turbo and dual electric motors
Power: 300hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 520Nm at 1,500-3,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.0L/100km
Price: from Dh199,900
On sale: now
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales
Najlaa Khoury, Archipelago Books
Mobile phone packages comparison
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
