TYRE, Lebanon, March 31 (UPI) -- Poor living and economic conditions in Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps are driving youth to seek greener pastures abroad.
Although some 320,000 Palestinians have been living in Lebanon's 12 refugee camps since 1948, they are banned from practicing many professions, including law, medicine and engineering. They are also banned from owning property and are deprived of many social and civic rights.
The economic situation has become more dire since the end of the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war, prompting many to leave for Europe, especially Germany and Denmark, in search of jobs. Since they have no travel documents, except from Lebanon -- which has given them refugee status -- their attempts to leave are illegal. Among European destinations Sweden and Denmark have flexible laws for refugees, especially Palestinians.
Ihsan al-Jamal, the spokesman of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the Rashidiyeh refugee camp near the port city of Tyre in south Lebanon, estimates that the emigration of youth between the ages of 18 and 25 is at 50 percent. He said emigration would rise if the economy improved and could, in the long run, become a serious social problem, leading to gender imbalances and other social problems.
The cost of traveling abroad is high.
Mohammed Abu Yassin, a retired employee of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in Tyre, said he spent his entire retirement compensation of $50,000 to secure commissions on passports and immigration visas for his three sons.
"My three sons were unemployed and could not get married and have a home of their own," he told United Press International. "So I contacted a broker to arrange their travel and that cost me all my retirement bonus."
He said he even borrowed money to help out his children who were arrested and imprisoned in one of the countries where they stopped on the long journey to their destination.
"Thank God they have reached London now," he said. "What I most dread is that I won't be able to see them in many long years."
Adnan al-Jamal, a refugee from the camp of Rashidiyeh near Tyre, has a similar story.
He said his elder son who could not find a job in Lebanon, pressed him for help to emigrate.
"He insisted that I help him although I did not like the idea as I have a brother who emigrated 12 years ago and I never saw him since," al-Jamal said.
He said his son managed in the first attempt to get into Ukraine where he was imprisoned for three months before being returned to Lebanon.
"He insisted on trying again and succeeded in entering Britain after seven months of displacement between Holland, Austria, and Germany," he said.
Abu Mhamoud Howeidi, from the camp of Bass near Tyre, shed tears when he spoke about his only son.
"I wish I never let him go... I wish I was firmer," he said, recalling he had to sell some of his furniture to secure money for the trip. He said his son "faced problems in the country where he landed and was put in jail because he became involved with street gangs."
He did not say where his son now was.
"He is my only son among five girls... I don't know what the future of my daughters will be... I am afraid for them," he said.
For Mohammed Talal, from the camp of Burj Shemali also near Tyre, attempts to emigrate returned him to Lebanon.
"Immigration might be an adventure for young people but it is an exhausting and costly one," Talal said, recalling how he first landed in an African country where he was caught in a civil war. He refused to disclose the name of the country.
"I had to flee to a neighboring country with other refugees. Then I could secure a passport and went to Moldova where I was caught and returned to the African state," he said. "Then I tried to enter Poland where I was also thrown in jail before being turned back to Lebanon."
In contrast to these stories is Mohammed Suheil who is now spending a holiday with his parents in the refugee camp of Kassimiya in south Lebanon.
Suheil's marriage to a German was a passport to a better life. He is now a permanent resident and can travel in and out of Germany without the restrictions imposed on regular Palestinian refugees.
"Immigration has positive and negative aspects ... This visit I am making to my parents after 10 years abroad is priceless," he said.
Umm Fadi is also among the lucky ones. She was also visiting from Germany.
"Thanks to the German passport, which I now hold, I could travel to Israel and visit my hometown of Safad (in what used to be Palestine) which my father had talked to me about a lot when we were refugees in south Lebanon," she said.
