292 van der Velde and Letschert from the top-down ‘instrumentalised’ usage of the victim-discourse as described above, van Dijk22 further demonstrated that not living up to the associations of an ideal victim, might have negative implications for the victim’s social status – even when the suffering of the person is widely known and recognised. Despite initial sympathy, support may relinquish when the victimised person starts to show behavior that deviates from the ideal victimimage, for instance by denouncing his or her passivity, or presenting him or herself as ‘in charge’ and ‘verbal’. In some cases this results in outright victimblaming, when the public no longer deems the victim worthy of victim status because the person has behaved in a manner that is socially recognised to resemble an offender-discourse more than that of a victim.23 In case of stateless people such a reversion in victim-offender roles might be especially likely when they organise themselves in the host-state, for instance in the quest of demanding equal rights. To illustrate, the hostility between the local Lebanese population and the stateless Palestinian refugees might to some extent reflect such a reversion, for the Palestinian military groups have at numerous occasions taken up arms against their Lebanese host-State as well as against Israel.24 4 Conclusion It appears that which victims are deemed ‘deserving’ and which victims are deemed ‘non-deserving’ of victim status and the compassion following therefrom, highly depends on the social context in which the usage of the term ‘vic22 23 24 Van Dijk (n 19). Ibid. Following the UNRWA, stateless Palestinian refugees in Lebanon currently number 455000 making up for nearly 25% of the overall Lebanese population. Most have lived in exile in Lebanon since the first Arab Israeli War of 1948, in by poverty stricken camps on the margins of society. Today’s camps are heavily guarded by the Lebanese Forces, and by some referred to as ‘states within the State’. Although especially Lebanese Sunnis in the South initially sympathised with the Palestinians, violence from Palestinian liberation groups within Lebanon, and consequent Israeli retaliation, has caused hostility between the Lebanese and the refugees. Most Palestinian refugees currently live in guarded ‘temporary camps’ and are denied all essential civil rights, including the rights to own real estate, the right to higher education, and the right to work in certain professions. Riots between the Lebanese Forces and the refugees persist, and need urgent attention, especially in light of the current refugee influx from Syria. See inter alia: A. Ramadan ‘The Guests’ Guest: Palestinian Refugees, Lebanese Civilians and the War of 2006’ (2008) 40 Antipode 658. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 285-293