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| "The Impractical Route for Palestinians" |
Ibrahim Al-Amin, the editor-in-chief of Al-Akhbar, visited Jacques (not his real name), a christian Warmonger, in his secluded apartment in the Dora area of Beirut, Ibrahim Al-Amin, Ibrahim asked Jacques for help in getting fake "documents for members of a Palestinian family who fled from the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus... wanting to return to Palestine, and that this had now become possible via Egypt. After 60 years of displacement between Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, the family wants to live in historic Palestine, even as refugees."
"Jacques did not dwell on the case for long. He said he’d do what he could. But then he surprised us by saying he would refuse to receive any payment if the family actually made it to the Gaza Strip. He added he’d be willing to provide a thousand documents for free if that would help a thousand Palestinians return to historic Palestine."
“This is the best way to tell them I don’t welcome them in Lebanon. So I don’t need to fight them or hate them, nor am I prepared to be accused of racism if I call for them to be dealt with outside Lebanon. This way I’ll be rid of their burden, and they’ll return to their country... isn’t the right of return the main demand of every Palestinian refugee in the world?
The operation is underway, and if all goes as expected, the plan should come to fruition within a couple of months."So far nothing wrong in helping the family in returning to Gaza, But our commrade after storming his brain and consulting his commrades decided to raise funds and expand the operation
While arranging this operation While arranging this operation – whose real value matches that of a thousand military operations against Israel – friends were quick to suggest an idea: the establishment of a fund to collect donations that would be used to finance similar ones. That is why this account is being published, presumably without jeopardizing it.
But there is a question that worries me: How many Palestinian refugees would agree to embark on such an adventure in light of the sizeable risks?
I ask because I was surprised, indeed maddened, at the way Hamas activists based in Lebanon and Egypt went into Gaza to congratulate the inhabitants on their victory a few weeks ago, and yet proceeded to come back out. Why?
They say they have tasks to attend to related to the struggle. But in fact they have nothing to do except continue to fan the flames of the inferno in Syria in the name of supporting the revolution there or demand that Gebran Bassil be put on trial!
Ussama Hamdan of Hamas with Bahiya Al-Hariri What minds and what hearts do such people possess? I do not care much about Jaques, or did or will do, because, I know that the right of return for most Lebanese (except perhaps some sunnis who consider the Palestinian as thier sunni army and welcome their resettlement for sectarian reasons) the right of return is nothing more than a slogan to hide their rejection of the Palestinian presence in Lebanon.Commrade Ibrahim ended his article on emigration, saying:
"How many Palestinian refugees would agree to embark on such an adventure in light of the sizeable risks? "I hope his question does not reflect a hidden desire to get rid of Palestinians.
But I am and more astonished and outraged with his promotion of Jacques's racism, and his claim that the return of one Palestinian, unaffiliated with any Palestinian political parties, "real value matches that of a thousand military operations against Israel " and his call for "the establishment of a fund to collect donations that would be used to finance similar ones. That is why this account is being published, presumably without jeopardizing it."Actually I share with Ibrahim his astonishment and madness of the Hamas leadership and activists,
Moreover, the call for counter immigration objectively adverse intersect with the Zionist call to encourage the Palestinians in the West Bank to leave voluntarily for half a million dollars, The goal of both calls is cleansing, ethnic in the West Bank, and sectarian in Lebanon.
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- THE
PALESTINIAN SPRING: A New OSLO UNDER COOKING IN CAIRO
On reading Commerade's Ibrahims call I rememebered late Colonel Qadhafi.------
In 1994, after the signing of the Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel, Qadhafi sought to show its objection to the agreements by expelling the Palestinians residing in Libya. He Justified his deed to Ahmad Al-Hauni, editor in chief of Al Arab (an Arabic newspaper published in London) as follows:
Badil Staff interviewed Professor Bassem Sirhan, one of the Palestinians living in Libya at the time. The full interview is here“Arafat and the United States, Israel and others declare that the Palestinian cause has been resolved finally and exclusively. This is not true, as there are millions of Palestinian refugees who are still out of their homeland. And as I care about the Palestinian cause, and in order to achieve the best interest of Palestinians, I will expel the thirty thousand Palestinians who currently live in my land, and try to secure their return to Gaza and Jericho. If Israel would not let them in, while Egypt does not allow them to pass through its territories, then I shall set a great camp for them on the Egyptian-Libyan borders” Qadhafi also added that “all of what I will be doing is for their best interest. No matter how they suffer, and even if they remain in the camp for years to come, this would still be for their national interest. And the whole world would come to the conclusion that the settlement is a big lie, and that Palestinians are still refugees. I hereby call on all Arab states hosting Palestinian refugees to act likewise...”.
Libya is not a host country for Palestinians (i.e. Palestinians are not refugees there), as is the case with Lebanon, Syria and Jordan; it is rather one which imports skilled labor in the technical, scientific and professional fields; therefore, the residency of any Palestinian in Libya is based on a personal or individual contract with the state and its institutions, or with Libyan companies or foreign companies operating in Libya. Libya calls itself “The Land of Arabs” and its leader has been referred to by the late President Jamal Abdul-Nasser, as “The Trustee of Arab Nationalism”; it does not require any Arab to hold an entry visa or a residency permit, regardless of the position he will be assuming or the purpose of his stay. As for residency permits, they aim to allow their holders to open bank accounts in order for them to be able to repatriate half of their income in hard currency to their country of origin.
A number of expelled Palestinians left Libya by sea. Syria sent a ship to carry more than 600 expelled Palestinians carrying Syrian documents, after they got stranded on board a ship opposite the coast of Cyprus, which denied them the right to enter its territory and did not allow their ship to dock in its ports. Al-Hayat Daily newspaper reported that 608 Palestinians returned to Syria, while 13 of them carrying Jordanian documents returned to Jordan. Thirty Palestinians from the ship became trapped after being denied entry to Cyprus and were offered to be allowed to go back to Libya by Libyan authorities, which sent a ship for that purpose; however, they refused to board the ship, and preferred to stay where they were. Lebanon on its part turned back several hundred Palestinians who arrived from Libya on two ships in late August 1995. Their entry was made subject to obtaining an entry visa, even for those holding Lebanese travel documents.
How did the crisis eventually end?
In a surprise move in January 1997, the Libyan authorities offered to take back Palestinians refugees, and further dispatched a Palestinian delegation to the tent camp to convince the refugees to return.Twelve years later, our friend, Dr. Franklin Lamb while covering the Brutal War on Libya wrote:
Some of the thousands of Palestinians who came here from Lebanon to escape the civil war, the post Sabra-Shatila Massacre reign of terror with which they were targeted from the US and Israel supported Amin Gemayel government, and it’s the Deuxieme Bureau (Lebanese Army Intelligence Force), asked the Beirut new Lebanese-Palestinian Coordination Commission to urgently intervene with the Lebanese government to let them depart Libya aboard ships and return to Lebanon. They received no assistance or even a reply.
Not even a reply to this request has been received five month later. This silence comes as no surprise given Lebanon’s deeply ingrained hostility toward its remaining 270.000 Palestinians, roughly half of whom remain trapped in 12 squalid camps, and not one of whom is granted even the basic internationally mandated right to work or to own a home.
Entry Denied to Egypt
Approximately 3000 Palestinians have tried to cross into Egypt since Monday 7 March, 2011, but the Egyptian military had received instructions to not let Palestinians refugees in. Many Palestinians who had travelled to the border returned home, to the Libyan cities of Benghazi and Tobruk and adjacent areas. On Tuesday March 8, 2011, 15 Palestinians were still in Salloum demanding to cross, while hundreds of other Palestinians refusing to go back to their homes, had chosen to wait in the homes of Libyan host families in a village near the crossing. It has been reported that Palestinians without national identity cards or valid residency in Egypt were not allowed to cross, whereas even Asian laborers without papers managed to get into the country. ...
However, this observer has been repeatedly assured by Libyan officials in Tripoli that Palestinians in Libya are welcomed, will retain all their civil rights (please refer to Part II) and will in no way be discriminated against or pressured due to some Palestinians presumably favoring the NTC. (on this subject and the current legal and social status of Palestinian refugees in Libya please refer to Part II)
There have been some fears expressed by Hamas and others that the Qaddafi regime may take revenge on Libya’s Palestinian community because of rumors than some Palestinians are involved with the Muslim Brotherhood in Benghazi and even with some of the Salafist groups comprising part of the National Transition Council. In addition, anti-Qaddafi protests and graffiti and burning of Qaddafi poster in Gaza fueled these fears by Hamas and the refugee community here.
Bad news for Ibrahim
Disappointment of neglect by officials of the Authority and Hamas Refugees from Syria in Gaza decided to return
الخميس، 10 كانون الثاني، 2013أوقات الشام
غزة / حامد جاد / يشعر اللاجئون الفلسطينيون الذين غادروا سورية اخيرا ولجأوا الى غزة هرباً من نيران القصف التي طاولت منازلهم ومناطق سكناهم في مخيم اليرموك وضواحي دمشق، بخيبة أمل تجاه الجهات الفلسطينية المسؤولة، بدءاً برئاسة السلطة وحكومتي سلام فياض واسماعيل هنية.
لكن حكومة غزة كانت الاقل عرضة لانتقاد اللاجئين الفلسطينيين من سورية الى غزة بسبب المساعدة المالية المحدودة التي قدمتها لهم لمرة واحدة فقط ولم تتابع بعدها اوضاعهم المعيشية.
ولم يخف اللاجئون الذين وصلوا الى مصر ومن ثم الى غزة عبر الانفاق الممتدة في جوف الاراضي الحدودية الفاصلة بين جنوب قطاع غزة والاراضي المصرية شعورهم بالندم الشديد لإقدامهم على مغادرة سورية واللجوء الى غزة ....التي استهجنوا فيها حالة الاهمال وعدم اكتراث المسؤولين بفقرهم المدقع وأوضاعهم المعيشية المذلة التي دفعتهم لقبول الصدقات من بعض المواطنين كي يتمكنوا من اعالة أطفالهم حيث ذهب البعض منهم الى التفكير بالعودة الى سورية...الاحن رغم ما تحمله رحلة العودة من مخاطر تهدد حياته.
وقال اللاجئ " ص م " (31 عاما) المتحدر من حيفا لصحيفة الغد الاردنية: غادرت مخيم اليرموك قبل نحو ثلاثة اشهر بعد ان استشهد ابني ساري "عام ونصف العام" اثر قصف المخيم بالهاون من قبل المسلحين.. ومن ثم غادرت المخيم برفقة عائلتي وعائلتي والدي وجدي وتوجهت الى ضاحية جرمانه لاقيم بضعة ايام في منزل عديلي فيما توزع بقية افراد عائلتي على منازل تعود الى اقرباء ومعارف في ضواحي دمشق وبعد نحو اسبوع تعرض منزل عديلي في جرمانا للقصف ايضا من قبل المسلحين فاضطررت للمغادرة وهنا قررت السفر للخارج فتوجهت الى مصر عبر مطار دمشق حيث انني اعمل في المطار".
واعتبر صبحي الذي طلب عدم الاشارة الى اسمه لاسباب أمنية ان استشهاد ابنه " عام ونصف العام " والعديد من اصدقائه ومعارفه في مخيم اليرموك على ايدي المسلحين الخارجين عن القانون .. شكل السبب الاساسي لهجرته خاصة بعد أن اصبحت كافة ضواحي دمشق عرضة للقصف وبات سماع الانفجارات المدوية التي تهز يوميا ضاحية جرمانا والضواحي المجاورة الاخرى بمثابة حدث نعايشه يوميا ما تسببت بحالة من الرعب لزوجته ولطفلته ابنة الاعوام الاربعة وبالتالي لم يكن امامه من خيار سوى الفرار من موت محدق به وبعائلته.
واشار " ص م" الى انه قضى بضعة ايام في القاهرة وهناك تبين له صعوبة الحياة بدون عمل فقرر التوجه برا الى ليبيا وهناك عندما اكتشفت دائرة الجوازات الليبية على حدود السلوم انه يحمل وثيقة سفر رفضوا منحه تأشيرة دخول ما اضطره الى العودة مرة اخرى الى القاهرة ومن ثم قرر اللجوء الى غزة عبر الانفاق.
ويصف صبحي حالة عائلته في سورية بالمأساوية بعد أن تشتت شملهم في مناطق متباعدة هربا من القصف العشوائي الذي تتعرض له كافة المناطق هناك مستدركاً بقوله " رغم البؤس الذي يعيشونه هناك ولكنني الان ادركت انني اعيش اوضاعا اشد بؤسا منهم في ظل الحاجة الماسة لاعالة اسرتي وعجز أهلي هناك عن تحويل اي مبلغ مالي كي اعتاش منه في ظل عدم رعاية الحكومتين في رام الله وغزة لاوضاع النازحين من سورية حيث انني احمل حكومة رام الله بصفتها الممثلة للشعب وللسلطة الفلسطينية المسؤولية عن اعالة الاسر النازحة
فحكومة غزة قدمت لي مساعدة مالية لمرة واحدة وقيمتها 600 دولار دفعت نصفها اجرة منزل ولم يتبق من المبلغ سوى 100 دولار ولا ادري كيف سأسير بهذا المبلغ شؤون اسرتي وبعد هذه المساعد لم نر احدا منهم فيما تعهدت اذاعات في الضفة الغربية اجرت معنا أكثر من مقابلة اذاعية بنقل معاناتنا الى الرئيس محمود عباس وحتى الآن لم نشهد أي مبادرة فعلية لمساعدتنا ".
واضاف " لم أكن اتصور انني ساواجه حالة من عدم الاكتراث باوضاعنا من قبل المسؤولين الفلسطينيين الذين تركونا نعيش في اسوأ حالات الهجرة وضنك الحياة دون معين لنا فكنت أتوقع بوصولي الى فلسطين التي كنا نسمع عنها دوما من اجدادنا أن يحتضننا ابناء شعبنا والمسؤولين ولكننا فوجئنا بانشغال الكل عنا
واضاف " لم أكن اتصور انني ساواجه حالة من عدم الاكتراث باوضاعنا من قبل المسؤولين الفلسطينيين الذين تركونا نعيش في اسوأ حالات الهجرة وضنك الحياة دون معين لنا فكنت أتوقع بوصولي الى فلسطين التي كنا نسمع عنها دوما من اجدادنا أن يحتضننا ابناء شعبنا والمسؤولين ولكننا فوجئنا بانشغال الكل عنا
وبالتالي قررت العودة الى الشام في اقرب فرصة " مؤكدا انه بمجرد تمكنه من توفير قيمة تذاكر السفر سيعود فورا الى دمشق رغم المخاطر التي تحيط برحلة عودته.
أما اللاجئ من مخيم اليرموك راسم ويعمل مهندس كهرباء فاستهل حديثه بوصف حالة اليأس التي المت به بعد خمسة اشهر من وصوله الى غزة وعجزه عن الحصول على فرصة عمل بقوله " عرضت خبرتي على المسؤولين عن قطاع الكهرباء في غزة وقدمت لها مقترح مشروع لترشيد استخدام الطاقة ولكن لم يلتفت الي احد ".
أما اللاجئ من مخيم اليرموك راسم ويعمل مهندس كهرباء فاستهل حديثه بوصف حالة اليأس التي المت به بعد خمسة اشهر من وصوله الى غزة وعجزه عن الحصول على فرصة عمل بقوله " عرضت خبرتي على المسؤولين عن قطاع الكهرباء في غزة وقدمت لها مقترح مشروع لترشيد استخدام الطاقة ولكن لم يلتفت الي احد ".
وأوضح ان كل ما حصل عليه من مساعدات منذ لجوئه لم يتجاوز مائة دولار وما يعتمد عليه حاليا يقتصر على استعانة بعض الاهالي بخدماته في اوقات متباعدة حيث يعمل بشكل متقطع عندما يطلبه احدهم لاصلاح عطل كهربائي أو خلل في مولد كهرباء أو شبكة خطوط كهرباء منزلية.
مؤكدا أنه بالرغم من ذلك يتطلع للعودة الى دمشق قريباً لافتا الى أن حالته وحالة سابقه تعبر عن احوال نحو خمس عشرة اسرة فلسطينية لجأت من سورية الى غزة وتعيش أوضاعا صعبة للغاية وليس هناك من جهة رسمية فلسطينية مسؤولة تتفقد أحوالهم المعيشية
A Practical Route to Palestine
Palestinian youths gesture during a demonstration next
to the security fence standing on the Gaza border, east of Khan Yunis, in the
Gaza Strip, on 23 November 2012. (Photo: AFP - Said Khatib)
From a secluded apartment in the Dora area of Beirut, Jacques (not
his real name) offers you his unforgettable services. Fake passports, ID cards,
and official documents for Arab and African countries, as well as Latin America
and some Eastern European countries. The cost: between $1,000 and 5,000 per
document.
He is also willing to try to obtain papers from North Europe or the US for a $10,000 down payment, but with no guarantees and no money back. Frankly, he tells you, his success rate with “advanced” countries is around 40 percent, and that it depends on nothing other than luck.
Jacques recently doctored passports for seven members of a Syrian family that fled from fighting in the district of Homs. He apparently managed to get them papers for a Latin American country. The group secured permits to travel to a country in the region on Syrian IDs, and from there, they made their way to that faraway land, where they hope to meet up with relatives.
I asked Jacques for help in getting documents for members of a Palestinian family who fled from the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus. He asked the purpose: to emigrate overseas, move freely between between Lebanon and Syria, or travel to another Arab state?
I said they wanted to return to Palestine, and that this had now become possible via Egypt. After 60 years of displacement between Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, the family wants to live in historic Palestine, even as refugees. They have an opportunity to rent a small apartment in the Gaza Strip, and the husband, wife, and one of the sons have flexible professions so they can look after themselves anywhere. All they need are documents to travel to Egypt where they’ll then enter the Strip, even as tourists, as many others have done.
After they arrive in their new home, they intend to tear up the documents and ask the authorities in the Strip to issue new papers. They can prove that they hail from a Palestinian village in the district of Akka, and that they still have relatives there, as well as cousins based in a village near Nablus in the West Bank. They are also unaffiliated with any Palestinian political parties. The grandfather had been a supporter of the Fatah movement, but the son and the grandsons seemed to shun activism for reasons that are unclear.
He is also willing to try to obtain papers from North Europe or the US for a $10,000 down payment, but with no guarantees and no money back. Frankly, he tells you, his success rate with “advanced” countries is around 40 percent, and that it depends on nothing other than luck.
Jacques recently doctored passports for seven members of a Syrian family that fled from fighting in the district of Homs. He apparently managed to get them papers for a Latin American country. The group secured permits to travel to a country in the region on Syrian IDs, and from there, they made their way to that faraway land, where they hope to meet up with relatives.
I asked Jacques for help in getting documents for members of a Palestinian family who fled from the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus. He asked the purpose: to emigrate overseas, move freely between between Lebanon and Syria, or travel to another Arab state?
I said they wanted to return to Palestine, and that this had now become possible via Egypt. After 60 years of displacement between Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, the family wants to live in historic Palestine, even as refugees. They have an opportunity to rent a small apartment in the Gaza Strip, and the husband, wife, and one of the sons have flexible professions so they can look after themselves anywhere. All they need are documents to travel to Egypt where they’ll then enter the Strip, even as tourists, as many others have done.
After they arrive in their new home, they intend to tear up the documents and ask the authorities in the Strip to issue new papers. They can prove that they hail from a Palestinian village in the district of Akka, and that they still have relatives there, as well as cousins based in a village near Nablus in the West Bank. They are also unaffiliated with any Palestinian political parties. The grandfather had been a supporter of the Fatah movement, but the son and the grandsons seemed to shun activism for reasons that are unclear.
The operation is underway, and if all goes as expected, the plan should come to fruition within a couple of months. There are three potential obstacles:
First, that a decision is made by Israel to block the return of Palestinians even to the Gaza Strip, and it takes prevention steps on the political, logistical, and even security fronts.
Second, that the Egyptian authorities bar this family from entering the country, which is unlikely on logical or legal grounds, but possible from a security standpoint.
Third, that Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip prevent the family from entering and settling there. That, too, is presumably far-fetched, for moral, religious, and humanitarian reasons.
While arranging this operation – whose real value matches that of a thousand military operations against Israel – friends were quick to suggest an idea: the establishment of a fund to collect donations that would be used to finance similar ones. That is why this account is being published, presumably without jeopardizing it.
But there is a question that worries me: How many Palestinian refugees would agree to embark on such an adventure in light of the sizeable risks?
I ask because I was surprised, indeed maddened, at the way Hamas activists based in Lebanon and Egypt went into Gaza to congratulate the inhabitants on their victory a few weeks ago, and yet proceeded to come back out. Why? They say they have tasks to attend to related to the struggle. But in fact they have nothing to do except continue to fan the flames of the inferno in Syria in the name of supporting the revolution there or demand that Gebran Bassil be put on trial!
Ibrahim al-Amin is editor-in-chief of Al-Akhbar.
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