SIDON, Lebanon: In an alleyway in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, coffee vendor Abu al-Gadab clicks together his cups. He has just received news that seven residents of the camp were aboard a migrant boat that capsized off the Italian coast Monday.
Emigration is not new to the Palestinian refugees of Lebanon. The practice dates back to the ’80s and various political, social and economic factors have contributed to the outflow.
Following the 1948 Nakba, thousands of Palestinians who had fled or been forced from their homes sought shelter in Lebanon. They and their descendants still reside in camps across the country.
The camps are largely impoverished and have little in the way of infrastructure. Palestinians lack basic human rights in Lebanon, and the Lebanese government has placed rules over which jobs they can occupy. They are allowed to work labor jobs in construction and agriculture.
Escaping this reality is a dream for many Palestinians, and their hope of returning to their own land seems increasingly far-fetched.
Following the terror of the Sabra and Shatila massacre and the withdrawal of the Palestinian Liberation Organization during Israel’s 1982 invasion, refugees increasingly began to look for other options. When the PLO leadership exited Lebanon, the factions that remained were weak. As refugees were unable to be provided with financial and social support, even more camp residents began to consider emigration.
Thousands of Lebanon’s Palestinians sought asylum in Scandinavian countries. In 1983 more than a thousand residents of Ain al-Hilweh sought refuge in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, facilitated by targeted resettlement programs.
As the openness of Western countries to Palestinian immigration has declined, refugees continue to search for ways to leave the country.
The result has been the emergence of a number of fraudulent businesses, who tell hopeful emigrants that they can provide them with visas in return for money. However, refugees soon find out that they’ve been scammed, and that the proposed trip involves an illegal and highly dangerous sea voyage. Some never make it out of the country.
In the Loubieh neighborhood, people are waiting for news of family members who were trying to reach Europe when their boat capsized off the Italian coast. Seven refugees from Ain al-Hilweh who were on the boat have been rescued, one is still missing.
Many from Ain al-Hilweh say they understand the desire to leave, citing the lack of prospects in Lebanon.
Fatima Saleh, mother of Mohammad Saleh, one of the survivors, tells The Daily Star that her son left the camp because there were no job opportunities. “I borrowed $8,000 for him to leave this country,” she said, admitting that she knew that the trip was dangerous.
At a social center that works with Palestinian refugee children, Mona Mohammad sits anxiously. There has been no news of her brother, Mahmoud, one of the camp’s residents on board.
“My brother left through Abu Dhabi, then to Sudan, and to Libya, and from there by sea to Italy,” Mohammad says. By March 3 the boat was on the sea heading to Italy, but then things became complicated.
The traffickers reportedly told them that the men were being held by the Italian coast guard. “All the men that were with my brother [telephoned] their relatives ... they’re talking about a body that will be retrieved from the sea. [But] it hasn’t been identified as belonging to my brother.”
Mohammad hopes that she hears from her brother soon, and says he may have been hit in the head.
Residents in the camp say they hold the Lebanese government and the Palestinian factions, particularly the joint elite force which controls security in Ain al-Hilweh, responsible for investigating the traffickers.
Fouad Othman, Sidon’s representative of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, told The Daily Star that there are two things that should be highlighted after the incident.
“[I call on the government] to summon all those related to trafficking, who uproot our youth from the camp, because it’s clear that [the traffickers’] aim is to collect their money and desert them.”
Othman also called on Palestinian factions to take responsibility for the forces that push young men to take such desperate measures. “Unemployment, lack of stability, and humiliating and degrading economic conditions are what’s pushing our youth to emigrate,” he said.
Palestinian sources familiar with the issue stressed that a number of traffickers are involved. The sources explained that they transport migrants illegally, and charge between $8,000 and $10,000.
Migrants are taken by plane to Sudan and on to Libya. Once there they wait for external networks to smuggle them by sea to Italy and other parts of Europe.
The names of traffickers who transport Palestinians migrants are familiar to residents, and have been circulated on the web. One of them is Palestinian national Mohammad Younes Fares.
Fares denied his offices have been suspected of transferring people illegally. “People come to us for legal visas to Sudan, and we get them there for work. I deny any other [allegations],” he said.
“Our job is to facilitate travel to Sudan through Sharjah, and after that we don’t know anything.”
Fares said that he had visited the state security office in Sidon and asked them to present their evidence against him. He added that he primarily works fixing washing machines, and that it’s his wife who deals with travel issues.
Lebanese security sources have revealed that Hasibah Fares, Mohammad’s wife, has in fact been accused of forging visas to Sudan. Sources said that five months ago, a number of people were detained at Rafik Hariri International Airport with forged visas to the country.
Information obtained through confessions indicated that they had received the forged visas from Fares.
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