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Now Lebanon Keep Out New protocols set by Lebanon’s General Security are barring refugees from entering the country Circular No. 1 – Lebanon – General Security “Circular to all airlines – Subject: Travel ban on any Palestinian refugee in Syria – You are hereby requested to abstain from providing transportation to any Palestinian Syrian into Lebanon for whatever reason and regardless of any documentation or proof of ID he or she is carrying under the penalty of paying fines for those companies that provide transportation and having the refugee deported back to where they have come from. Damascus – Yalda Little toes clinging to slippers touch a colored ball and kick it toward the wall. Shelling is heard in the distance. The child turns to face the window in his house and sees his mother preparing lunch. He hears another sound, different from the previous one, but definitely a shell. He keeps on staring at the window and his gaze follows his mother’s shadow on the glass. “Osama, bring the ball and come inside.” He turns to his younger sister who picks up the ball and runs toward him while smiling. Another shell is heard very close. The ball falls and rolls. His gaze follows it before he wiggles his sister’s nose and grabs her by the hand as they both run home. Breaking news – The Syrian regime has stormed the town of Yalda in the Damascus countryside with tanks and armored vehicles after shelling its residential neighborhoods. Beirut – Ain al-Hilweh The door opens as the same refugee drags suitcases and bags into one corner. They look around at another house in another city and another country. May tugs at her mother’s pullover and asks, “Where shall we sleep?” The mother looks around, sighs and answers without looking at her daughter: “We’ll see, my child.” She wanders around the old, tiny house with her husband. They throw the windows open in an attempt to rid the house of the stench of mildew. They have nothing but four spoons, four forks, a few plates, clothes, a knife, and a badly patched-up girl’s doll. The mother takes off her hijab, puts it aside, and goes to the kitchen. She takes a rusty pan from the edge of the counter as her husband drags the empty suitcases and takes them outside. Damascus “My husband lost his factory job and my children are no longer enrolled in school.” Umm Osama returned to Damascus three weeks ago to get some papers. “I arrived in Damascus and the Lebanese General Security issued a decision banning us from returning [to Lebanon]. I have tried everything to be allowed back, but to no avail. They say no Palestinian Syrians are allowed into Lebanon.” Masnaa – Beirut He scratches his chin and can barely keep his puffy eyes open. He bends his head slightly to the right to sniff his armpits, and immediately turns his nose away. He takes out a bag from underneath him, combs his hair with a hairbrush, and puts on some deodorant before shaking the dust off his shirt. He stands up and heads to Lebanese security personnel and greets them. “You are not allowed into Lebanon. No Palestinian Syrians are allowed. I told you so yesterday,” the officer says. The man drives his face into the glass and responds, tensely, “I have been sleeping by the roadside for two days. My whole family is in Lebanon. My house has been destroyed and I have nothing to go back to in Damascus. So where would I go? I am telling you that my whole family is in Lebanon.” He presses both his palms into the glass and stares the officer in the eyes. He moves his sweating hands away from the glass, grabs his bag, and goes back into the unknown. Damascus “I have proof of the children’s school registration and a rental contract for the house, I did not encounter any problems on the Syrian side of the border,” says Umm Osama. “The problem occurred at the Masnaa border crossing. We are now staying, my child, in my sister’s house in Damascus. There are twenty of us in a small house. We are in a dire situation. I am thinking about going to Lebanon because we have nothing here. I come from a large family of Palestinian Lebanese, so at least we have someone there.” Masnaa – Beirut – May 17, 2014 – The Palestinian League There is a long line of women and children with their luggage. Amid angry murmurs and distraught, sad faces, she waits for her turn along with her 13-year-old son. The woman in front of her starts shouting: “My family is inside. It is illogical that you do not let me in.” She draws closer and extends her shaky hand. He takes her by the hand and tells her she can’t enter Lebanon. “I have filed for a family reunion visa and my husband is in Lebanon,” she responds, taking a deep breath in order to control her stutter. She is not allowed to continue any further. The Lebanese official throws her passport out of the small window. “If you keep on stuttering, you will be banned from entering Lebanon forever. Do you get that? Go back to Damascus.” She gathers her papers and calls her son as she looks at the UNRWA official standing there, who tells her: “Go back to Syria and wait for new decisions pertaining to you. It might be in a week, 10 days, a month or two … I am really sorry.” Circular No. 2 – Lebanon – General Security Subject: Of the Palestinian refugees from Syria who are allowed into Lebanon – All airlines are required to respect the following: Only holders of an annual Lebanese residency permit (one year, three years for free) or a multiple-entry permit that is still valid are allowed the freedom to travel. Palestinian refugees in Syria are granted a 24-hour permit in case they have previously travelled through the Rafik Hariri International Airport, have a valid residency abroad, or wish to return to Syria through Lebanon. *** Clarification issued by the Lebanese Ministry of the Interior Khalil Gebara, the interior minister’s adviser, told NOW via a memo issued by General Security regarding Syrian Palestinian refugees: “A circular was issued banning all Palestinian refugees in Syria from coming into Lebanon. The Ministry of the Interior, in cooperation with General Security, then issued another circular allowing Palestinians into Lebanon according to certain conditions and mechanisms.” Gebara went on to say: “The Ministry of the Interior is working with UNRWA today in order to reconsider this mechanism and adopt the necessary measures. The results shall come out within the framework of the discussions held by the ministerial committee tasked with addressing the issues pertaining to displaced Syrians and Palestinians. We call on those who have complaints to report them to UNRWA and we shall address them based on the constant cooperation between the Ministry and UNRWA.” Damascus Umm Majd is a Syrian mother whose children, aged two, four, and six respectively, are holders of a Palestinian Syrian travel document. She says: “I went to Ain Karash in Damascus to have permits issued for [my children] and they told me I should get the approval of the Lebanese General Security. The Lebanese Embassy then told me they have nothing to do with this. I sent a relative of mine to General Security in Lebanon and after lengthy negotiations, they asked for a $550 bribe for each child. What I know is that we should pay $100 for each child only but they want more for their own pockets.” Lebanon’s General Security NOW tried to contact General Security for comment about the treatment of Palestinian Syrians along the border, but no reply was given. Damascus “Our appointment was on Tuesday, May 6th. I arrived at the Masnaa [border crossing] and they said a circular had been issued, banning Palestinian Syrians from coming into Lebanon. You should see how one is treated there. [I spent] four hours along the border but it was to no avail.” Fadwa, a young woman in her 20s, was supposed to meet her husband, who lives in the United States, in order to have some paperwork done at the Embassy so she could join him after 18 months of separation. “I have tried everything, the Lebanese Embassy in Syria, everything but to no avail. I am extremely hurt and upset. This is unfathomable, my husband and I live in different countries. I do not want to stay in Lebanon. All I want is to submit my papers at the Embassy and return to Syria to wait for the result, that’s all.” Nota Umm Amjad, Umm Ahmad, Majd, Osama, and May are all pseudonyms. These stories and others like them are still occurring at the Masnaa border crossing along the Lebanese-Syrian border.
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