Back to Contents The Directorate released a statement, after the outrage and negative reactions received on social media, that it initiated an investigation into the officer’s inappropriate behaviour and treatment of Abu Taha and will take action in light of the investigation results. It also clarified that it «works in accordance with the decision of the Council of Ministers to exclusively return Lebanese in this stage, provided that the return of non-Lebanese who have the right to enter Lebanon occurs in later stages.» The Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee said in a statement, “it was carrying the required communication at the highest levels, to amend the decision issued by the National Committee for the Management of Disasters and Crises to deny Palestinian expats from returning to Lebanon who hold travel documents issued by the relevant Lebanese authorities.”[In-house translation. The author is an Arabic native speaker] ORIGINAL SOURCE: ‫ أبريل يقيض بعدم السامح لألشخاص من التابعية الفلسطينية‬/‫ نيسان‬30 ‫م) بتاريخ‬/2395 ‫املديرية العامة لألمن العام اللبناين أصدرت تعميامً إىل طريان الرشق األوسط (الرقم‬ ‫ أوالد) من‬،‫ زوجة‬،‫ونص التعميم عىل تعديل املقصود باللبنانيني العائدين إىل عائلة اللبناين (زوج‬ ّ .‫الالجئني يف لبنان بالعودة إليه عىل منت طائرات إجالء اللبنانيني من الخارج‬ ‫دون السامح مبرافقة الخدم واألشخاص من التابعية الفلسطينية الالجئة يف لبنان‬ ‫ أنها بارشت التحقيق مع الضابط حول ما ورد من معلومات‬،‫ بعدما القت هذه الحادثة ردود فعل سلبية عىل مواقع التواصل االجتامعي‬،‫إىل أن عادت املديرية وأعلنت يف بيان‬ .‫ ليصار إىل اتخاذ اإلجراءات عىل ضوء نتيجة التحقيق‬،‫عن تعاطيه بطريقة غري الئقة مع أبو طه‬ . ‫ عىل أن يصار إىل عودة غري اللبنانيني الذين يحق لهم الدخول إىل لبنان يف‬،‫كام أوضحت أنها “تعمل وفقاً لقرار مجلس الوزراء القايض بعودة اللبنانيني حرصا ً يف هذه املرحلة‬ .”‫مراحل الحقة‬ ،‫ لتعديل القرار الصادر عن اللجنة الوطنية إلدارة الكوارث واألزمات‬،‫ “إنها تقوم بإجراء االتصاالت الالزمة عىل أعىل املستويات‬،‫“لجنة الحوار اللبناين الفلسطيني” قالت يف بيان‬ .”‫مبنع املقيمني الفلسطينيني املغرتبني من العودة إىل لبنان ممن يحملون وثائق سفر صادرة عن السلطات اللبنانية املختصة‬ (Source: Daraj, “Republic of Racism: The Denial of a Palestinian his Return to Lebanon”, 4 May 2020) In the internationally recognised book they published in 2020, legal scholars Dr. Francesca Albanese [currently Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory] and Professor Lex Takkenberg wrote: “Over the decades, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have reportedly left Lebanon as the disparity between registered refugees and current residents demonstrates. In addition to the twelve thousand Palestinian refugees who were ‘deregistered’ by the Lebanese authorities in 1982 (when the PLO was ousted from Lebanon and relocated to Tunis), on the ground that they had acquired residency or nationality abroad, and those who were expelled in the 1990s, Palestinian refugees have often experienced difficulty in renewing Lebanese travel documents allowing them to return to the country. For example, when Mu’ammar Gaddafi expelled Palestinians from Libya in 1995, the Lebanese government introduced regulations preventing Palestinians originally registered in Lebanon from returning without a special re-entry visa issued by the Lebanese mission in the country of (p. 212) residence (it did not apply to those residing in Syria). This made return to Lebanon impossible for many Palestinians. These factors, together with the discrimination and violence that prompted refugees who could do so to seek asylum and better lives in Europe, have over time confirmed what anthropologist Rosemary Sayigh refers to as an undeclared Lebanese policy encouraging Palestinian emigration from Lebanon. This situation is compounded by the fact that, since the end of the civil war, and most dramatically since the Oslo process in the 1990s, most countries that used to grant political asylum to Palestinians from Lebanon in earlier years have stopped doing so.” (Source: “Francesca P. Albanese and Lex Takkenberg/Oxford University Press, Palestinian Refugees in International Law”, May 2020, Chapter 3.3.3, Legal Status and Treatment, pp. 274-275) 5. Freedom of movement 56