Back to Contents request to the Directorate of the General Security in the country. They succeeded in getting a travel document, but I don’t know how many there are.” (Source: Ziad El Sayegh, interview record, 31 October 2022) Katherine Harbord, a lecturer in human rights specialised in the Middle East whom we interviewed for this report in October 2022 shared her knowledge of the attribution of travel documents based on an interview with an agent of the Lebanese Ministry of International Affairs: “I last spoke about this perhaps two years ago with somebody that I knew who worked at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who worked at a fairly low level but processing these kinds of queries, who wanted to remain anonymous. Without pointing me to a legal paragraph, what they said confirmed that applying for travel documents requires an ID card and an UNRWA registration card. The problem is of course that not all stateless Palestinians are necessarily eligible to be registered with UNRWA. So if you are UNRWA-registered and you have a Lebanese ID, then you are eligible to apply for a travel document. If you already have a travel document from somewhere else, for example, an Egyptian travel document, of course, you aren’t eligible for a Lebanese travel document. You must travel on your Egyptian equivalent or your Jordanian equivalent or whatever. So it’s a solution purely for Lebanese registered, UNRWA-registered stateless Palestinians with no other nationality or any kind of travel documents. It also isn’t automatic. So just presenting your ID card and your UNRWA registration card doesn’t entitle you to receive these documents, but it entitles you to be considered to receive these documents. So it’s possible and assuming there are no security issues for this individual, it’s my understanding that these are granted, but it’s certainly not automatic. So it’s a very small subset of 1948 refugees and their descendants only. If you’re a 1967 refugee, it’s technically possible, but my understanding from this contact was that ordinarily, these people aren’t able to move freely out of Lebanon because it’s very difficult for them to register with UNRWA. Difficult to impossible.” ​​(Source: Katherine Harbord, interview record, 13 October 2022) When asked to comment on the possibility for Palestinians to obtain travel documents in Lebanon, Jordanian Political Economist Riad Al Khouri who was interviewed for this report in October 2022 spoke about the difficulty for Palestinian refugees and Palestinian refugees from Syria to obtain travel documents: “[...] the procedures for these people, whether they are Palestinian refugees in Lebanon or Palestinian refugees from Syria who came to Lebanon at various times over the past few years, the procedure is difficult and complicated. And in any case, once you have this travel document, there is not much you can do with it in terms of travelling without a visa or obtaining a visa to travel. [...] Before you obtain the document, there is a procedure to go through which can be time-consuming, and otherwise, it is not easy. It is not a useful document.” (Source: Riad Al Khouri, interview record, 7 October 2022) Based on confidential sources as well as the 2020 Universal Periodic Review and a 2016 Fact-Finding Mission by the Finnish Immigration Service, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in 2021 that: “4.2.2 Travel document Adult PRL men and women can apply for a travel document from the GS [General Security]. This requires an ID card and UNRWA registration card. Palestinians can use the travel document to enter and leave Lebanon and obtain visas from other countries. Previously, this travel document was a passport-sized paper booklet with a dark blue cover with the logo of the Lebanese cedar tree with the text ‘document voyage’.) and ‘Palestinian refugee’ (lajien falistiniya). Since 2016, the travel document has been biometric while retaining the same information as before. [...] PRL who do not have a registration with both the DPAR and UNRWA, and whose father is only registered with the GS, can apply for a travel document. The application will then be considered. Palestinians registered by Lebanon from the ‘67 group’ who are not registered with UNRWA may be able to receive a laissez-passer. This document is brown in color and is valid for one year. A source indicates that after acquiring a third nationality, i.e. not Palestinian or Lebanese, PRL are no longer entitled to the travel documents issued by the Lebanese authorities. This information has not been confirmed by other sources.” (In-house translation. The translator is a native Dutch speaker) 5. Freedom of movement 48