Back to Contents 12. State attitudes, discrimination by state authorities and availability of state protection Public statements by government officials regarding stateless Palestinians 12.1. Are there public statements by government officials regarding stateless Palestinians? In its Protection Monitoring Report for the 2nd quarter of the year 2022, UNRWA reported that: “Q2 [second quarter of the year 2022] saw public statements of anti-refugee sentiment by several prominent Lebanese figures. While these remarks were mainly directed at Syrian refugees, the Maronite Patriarch called for the deportation and resettlement of Palestinian refugees alongside Syrians. Some Palestinian refugees expressed their concern at such rhetoric, but UNRWA interlocutors noted it was tied to long-standing social discrimination against Palestinians in Lebanon, rather than being a new phenomenon.” (Source: UNRWA, “UNRWA Protection Monitoring Report – Quarter 2 (Q2) 2022”, 26 August 2022, p. 5) The news agency Aljazeera published an article in April 2020 about the Lebanese state’s reaction towards Palestinians at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic: “At a March 13 news conference, Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces party [one of the parties that hold seats in Parliament], who is known for making racist statements, implied that Palestinian and Syrian refugees would be spreaders of COVID-19 in Lebanon and argued that the refugee communities posed a threat to public health. [...]It soon became clear that the local authorities shared Geagea’s attitude towards refugees. On March 15, the government announced general mobilisation across the country and local authorities started coordinating with security forces to stop “unnecessary” movement from camps. Refugee communities have already complained that the curfews they face are longer than those imposed on Lebanese citizens. In some areas, they are allowed to be outside of their houses for just five hours. Palestinians have faced restrictions for decades by the Lebanese authorities, and so have Syrians more recently. That the Lebanese authorities are resorting to such actions amid the COVID-19 outbreak is rather unsurprising. (Source: Aljazeera, “Clamping down on refugees will not save Lebanon from the pandemic”, 11 April 2020)49 Arrests and detention by state authorities 12.2. Are stateless Palestinians vulnerable to arbitrary arrest and detention by the Lebanese authorities? When asked whether stateless Palestinians were still more vulnerable to arbitrary arrest and detention by Lebanese authorities than the rest of the population, Jordanian political economist and long-time commentator on the IsraeliPalestinian dialogue Riad Al Khouri who was interviewed for this report in October 2022 responded: “They were. I do not think they are anymore. The Palestinian case is no longer a major issue. There is a key point here. Most Palestinians have a connection to an armed militia, an armed Palestinian group. [...] They are still there, and they are powerful inside the refugee camps. And they have influence outside the camps. So, this is a counterbalance to the state and private militias in Lebanon. In other words, the Palestinian will directly or indirectly get protection from his own Palestinian militia, even though he is not a militia member. Somebody in his family will be. And there will be balance, let us say, to counterbalance the effect of a Lebanese militia or even Lebanese army or police.” (Source: Riad Al Khouri, interview record, 7 October 2022) 49 For the purposes of this report, even though this excerpt is not within the research period, it was included since it is pertinent. 12. State attitudes, discrimination by state authorities and availability of state protection 121