Lebanon on Wednesday removed barriers for Palestinian refugees to access some of the local labour market, but most white-collar jobs remain barred without a Parliament vote.
The decree, published on the Labour Ministry’s website, says Palestinians born in Lebanon, as well as non-Lebanese with a Lebanese mother or married to a Lebanese citizen, are now allowed to work in professions managed by Lebanese orders and syndicates.
But it remains to be seen whether orders and syndicates will choose to amend their rules to allow Palestinians to work. “The majority request reciprocity,” said Abdelnasser El Ayi, project manager at the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, an inter-ministerial body headed by the prime minister's office. This remains impossible as long as there is no Palestinian state.
Laws governing jobs organised by order, such as engineering, medicine, pharmacy and law, can only be changed by lawmakers in Parliament, Mr El Ayi told The National.
Syndicated professions, including nursing or physiotherapy, may be governed by a government decree or by a law voted by Parliament.
In a 2017 census, the LPDC found that 174,000 Palestinians live in Lebanon. They are the descendants of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
"We are very happy if this decision can serve us and the country we live in," said Mustapha Abu Harb, a spokesperson for Palestinian group Fatah in Lebanon.
"Palestinian workers, engineers, or doctors are needed considering the difficult economic conditions in Lebanon," he told The National. "We are ready to play our part."
Until Wednesday’s amendment, Lebanese labour laws barred Palestinians from a list of more than 30 professions. Decrees can be amended by a minister and do not require a vote from MPs. Palestinians remain prohibited from buying land in Lebanon.
A crackdown against illegal foreign workers in 2019 caused mass protests in Palestinian camps across the country, which are managed by UNRWA, with Palestinians demanding labour rights on a par with Lebanese. Palestinian employees benefit from only 8 per cent of their contributions to Lebanon’s National Security Fund despite their employers paying 23.5 per cent.
The LPDC has been working on increasing Palestinians’ access to the healthcare sector in light of the high number of departures of Lebanese doctors and nurses caused by the country’s economic crash. In the past month, Parliament voted a law allowing Palestinians to register in the syndicate of nurses.
“This was the first time that a syndicate explicitly changed its law to allow Palestinians to register and this is mainly due to the huge need for medical staff in the country,” said Mr El Ayi.
“We are now looking into each syndicate to see how we can work with them to allow Palestinians to access these professions."
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
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The biog
Mission to Seafarers is one of the largest port-based welfare operators in the world.
It provided services to around 200 ports across 50 countries.
They also provide port chaplains to help them deliver professional welfare services.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Bantamweight 56.4kg
Abrorbek Madiminbekov v Mehdi El Jamari
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Siyovush Gulmamadov v Nouredine Samir
Light heavyweight 81.4kg
Ilyass Habibali v Haroun Baka
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
