Discursive Constructions of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon: From the Israel-Hezbollah War to the Struggle Over Nahr Al-Bared

Abstract

Focusing on th e particularly volatile period between the Israel-Hezbollah war (July–August 2006) and the prolonged struggle over Nahr al-Bared refugee camp (March–October 2007), this article outlines and historicizes the complex and altering landscape of discursive constructions of the Palestinian refugee presence in Lebanon. Examining some of the more prominent discursive strands that emerge in relation to Palestinian refugee presence in Lebanon, the article argues that although the recent problematization of Hezbollah initially dwarfed the Palestinian “problem,” Palestinian presence in Lebanon was quickly reproblematized in the context of the protracted struggle over Nahr al-Bared and the increasing instability in and around Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp. Yet while past discursive strands have reemerged, a discursive shift is also apparent, tending in the direction of the establishment of a more conciliatory relationship between Palestinian refugees and the Lebanese state and the latter’s interest in a partial regularization of Palestinian refugee presence.

Political Parties and Minority Governance in Hybrid Political Orders: Reflections from Lebanon’s Palestinian Settlements and Kosovo’s Serbian Enclaves

“…First, the Palestinian community is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim and their 'integration' (or tawteen in Arabic) into the Lebanese system is widely seen as a threat to the country's precarious sectarian balance. Apart from the principled adherence to the Palestinians' 'right to return', this is one of the reasons why the Lebanese government has categorically refused to take responsibility for the Palestinians that fled to Lebanon during the 1948 Nakba 7 and their descendants: any form of legal, political or institutional recognition or accommodation is seen as a prelude to the dreaded integration that might once again destabilize Lebanon (Czajka 2012;Haddad 2003;Meier 2010). Second, the majority of Lebanon's Palestinian refugees live in refugee camps where the Lebanese state, since it has ceded much of its sovereignty through the Cairo Agreement, 8 has neither a physical nor a legal presence.…”

“…Second, the majority of Lebanon's Palestinian refugees live in refugee camps where the Lebanese state, since it has ceded much of its sovereignty through the Cairo Agreement, 8 has neither a physical nor a legal presence. In Lebanon, the Palestinian camps are popularly regarded as 'states-within-the-state' and 'security islands'physical manifestations of the Palestinians' 'anti-state' that was responsible for the breakdown of the Lebanese state throughout the civil war (Czajka 2012).…”

(Dis)-Intersecting Intersectionality in the Time of Queer Syrian-Refugee-ness in Lebanon

“…Recent works that have engaged with the inequalities faced by the Palestinian population inLebanon include Halabi (2004),Roberts (2011), andCzajka (2012).…”

The Securitization and De-securitization of Syrian Refugees in the Lebanese Newspapers and Through the Lens of Refugees’ Narratives. (c2020)

“…Finally, the most investigated refugee case in the relevant literature was that of Palestinians. Czajka (2012), for example, looked at how Palestinian refugee camps were discursively represented as insecurity islands that can be penetrated by neither the Lebanese state nor its army, and in which the flourishing of extremist groups was allowed.…”

“…Basically, this government does not set laws for refugees but still treats them as unlawful. In the same vein of the unclear refugee status that leads to manipulation, Czajka (2012) posits that, historically, Palestinian refugees were discursively constructed as guests in Lebanon. This is a strategy that governments adopt to exclude themselves from the obligations that come with this term, considering that it reflects a legal status that imposes on the host state the responsibility of providing protection to those who sought refuge.…”