When I came the first time to Lebanon in 2011, I discovered that my grandparents have been, according their documents, Palestinian refugees, i.e. stateless until they died. 

In the first time, after they arrived from Haifa with other refugees, they had to stay in a refugee camp - my father remembered that they had a small corner in a big hall on the floor and waited together with other refugees for a possibility to move away from this place. 

 

My father's family was lucky and had some relatives in Beirut like most of the Armenian people. So, after a while, they managed to live alone, although the place, which they had found was in a terrible condition. 

Step by step, the family could integrate in the Lebanese society, better to say, in the Armenian quarter from Beirut. 

Allthough, my grandparents had lived through such a hard time, they successfully had managed to find a way out from their desperate situation, even for the price that all their children left the country and they must have been very lonely without their family. 

 

In fact, I didn't realize before my research that there are still refugee camps with people in the second or third generation, who had arrived from Palestine. It seems that their situation is still more desperate than it was in the 1950ies, as they nearly have no posibility to exit the camp. 

My parents and I visited such a camp and spoke to the people - most of  them were born there and haven't seen something else in their lifes. They are stateless and have no chance to get the Lebanese citizenship and are victims of the political situation and the never ending fightings between Israel and the Arabic World. It was quite depressing to see that even today there are people concerned from the happenings of 1948 living in such conditions and having no chances to live an independent life. In the 1980ies there were a great number of refugees killed in the massacres during the Lebanese Civil War. Around six times the camp has been destroyed and rebuild. 

 

Herewith I want to attract your attention on the fate of these people and mention the German organisation 

Only a small monthly sum of 5-15 € can help the children to attend kindergarden or school.