Representatives of various institutions
praised the Lebanese parliament’s recent decision to grant Palestinian refugees in Lebanon full employment rights.
Salvatore Lombardo, the Lebanon director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), stated, “These amendments are an important step in the right direction,” while
Nada al-Nashif, regional director of the International Labor Office (ILO), commented, “This endorsement of the universal right to work by Lebanese legislators is an important breakthrough.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon also commended the amendment, saying, “This is a small step that was long awaited on the road to grant the nationality to Palestinians and their naturalization in Lebanon and elsewhere around the world.” Future Movement bloc leader
MP Fouad Siniora contradicted this suggestion, remarking that “a healthy and new relation with our Palestinian brothers… would also strengthen the Lebanese and Palestinian commitment to reject naturalization.” Meanwhile, only the Phalange Party criticized Parliament for passing the law, with
Phalange leader Amin Gemayel arguing that “it is not fair to give rights to a non-Lebanese when the rights of Lebanese who own land alongside camps are confiscated.”
