Lebanese Green Card.

Another decade, another Palestinian crisis for Lebanon. You would have thought that after almost sixty years, we would have at least tried to find a solution to the problem. Of course, some of us are still clinging onto the usual pipedream where each of our brotherly Arab countries will accept its fair share of refugees, thereby taking the load off our back. Since this will never happen, maybe the time has come to become more realistic…

What never ceases to fascinate me is how detached we Lebanese can be about our own country. In fact, the more patriotic we claim we are, the more aloof we act. We keep clamoring for our beloved 10,452 km2 give or take the Shebaa farms, but frankly it is only a real estate proposition. We could not care less about what is inside our borders. For starters, we barely care about our fellow Lebanese, especially if they are not from the same region/religion/village/clan/family. We completely destroy our natural environment, and proudly admit that almost 10% of the people living in our country are not of our concern. Syrian workers, Philippine, Ethiopian and Sri Lankan household help, Palestinian refugees might as well be living on another planet. Ignore them, treat them poorly and you will be a great Lebanese patriot. After all the harm that they have been inflicting on us, this is a normal reaction, isn’t it?

Take the latest “events” in Nahr-el-Bared.: we now have 30,000 new refugees mainly in Baddawi. Very soon, we will start hearing speeches about huge donations to rebuild the camp, pledges to help its inhabitants, and as usual nothing maybe very little will happen. The new refugees will become even poorer than they already were, and they will be easy recruits for the next bunch of fanatic lunatics in search of suicide bombers. At which time of course, every Lebanese patriot will be totally shocked by the Palestinians’ propensity at being violent.

Having poverty belts around our major cities and underdeveloped areas at the fringes of our country will always destabilize Lebanon. Unless we have social and economic programs to address the problem, we will never ever have a viable country. In the Palestinians’ case, leaving them confined to their camps with no way out, and feeling good about it, because as true Lebanese patriots we believe that they are “not our problem” is quite simply ludicrous. Refusing to handle the Palestinian refugee problem in Lebanon amounts to a tacit acceptance of the infamous Cairo Agreement.

A military solution is unrealistic, as it would only destroy the meager infrastructure of the camps and result in even more refugees, who will still have no place to go. I will not even try to argue that after sixty years, it is inhumane and unethical to keep people in such poor conditions. I tried it before and most of my fellow Lebanese found the argument bewildering. Even the most “progressive” among them claimed that improving the Palestinians’ lot will make them forget about their country and their sacred cause. This would then amount to a Zionist victory.

My argument is simply that it is in Lebanon’s interest for political, economic and social reasons to solve OUR Palestinian problem. We cannot go on forever with some 400,000 individuals living in limbo in OUR country. Forgive me for being so un-patriotic, but the situation just does not make any sense to me.

In 1986, the United States had a similar problem: around 4 million undocumented foreigners living in the country. The president at the time was Ronald Reagan, not your typical bleeding heart liberal. But he did not round up the illegal aliens and put them in camps, he actually did something much more intelligent and legalized them. He gave Green Cards (permanent residence in the US) to all those who could show that they had lived in the country for at least four years. We should do the same in Lebanon.

The Lebanese Green Card would give the bearer the right to live legally anywhere in our country, to work, to study, to receive healthcare and to travel. He/she would also have to pay taxes. The only right that would not be granted is the right to vote. It can be argued that in the case of the United States, the illegal aliens represented only 2% of the population while in the case of Lebanon the proportion is closer to 10%. This is undoubtedly true, but at this point, we do not have any other choice.

Not giving the Palestinians the right to vote will not add any undue stress on our failing sectarian democracy, it will not tip the balance toward any local group. But it will give them access to educational opportunities which will help the development of our economy. Getting the Palestinians out of their environment and making them full-fledged members of our society would allow them to escape the clutches of the terrorists residing in their midst. They might even end up behaving like your typical Lebanese, leaving the country, and seeking new lives abroad.

The problem of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is not an Arab or an international problem, it is a Lebanese problem and it is up to us to solve it once and for all. Urgently. Instituting a Lebanese Green Card to legalize refugees, and coming up with a social plan for all the underprivileged areas in our country is of the utmost importance. We cannot afford to have a crisis such as the one in Nahr-el-Bared every five years or so. We need to act now to make our country viable. It would be a shame to miss the boat after we’ve already missed the plane, the train, the car and the skateboard.


Mustapha Mund.