The Lebanese authorities deported two Palestinian brothers to Syria on Monday soon after their arrival at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri Airport. They were on their way to Malaysia via Turkey, but were stopped in Istanbul and returned to Lebanon.
The families of Tarik and Ezzo Nidhal Al-Khatib, who have been living in Lebanon since their displacement from Al-Sabina refugee camp in Syria, have issued a plea to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the Palestinian embassy in Beirut and human rights and humanitarian organisations to put pressure on the Lebanese authorities to return the two youngsters to Lebanon.
In a message published by the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria (AGPS), the families called on the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to provide urgent protection for the Khatib brothers. “The two are in the area covered by the UNHCR located between the Syrian and Lebanese borders,” said the group on its website, “and they are refusing to return to Syria, fearing for their lives.”
The AGPS expressed concern and called on the Lebanese authorities to abide by international laws that regulate international and domestic conflicts and stipulate that authorities must refrain from deporting individuals when it entails a threat to life and limb.
According to the action group, there are 45,000 Palestinian “double refugees” from Syria now living in Lebanon. “They complain about difficult living conditions and stressful economic crises as a result of unemployment and the lack of permanent income, in addition to their unstable legal status in Lebanon due to the laws established by the Lebanese authorities,” it added.