click to enlarge © Save the Children

During the 1948 war, over 700,000 Palestinians were evicted from land that is now part of Israel. Some older Palestinians have kept the keys for their original homes in the hope that they will return one day.

There are about 400,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon � up to 10% of the population. Most are families and descendants of Palestinians that were forced to leave their homes during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948. According to the UN they are refugees, but without a country they can call their own they are not classified as refugees in the same way as others. In Lebanon, Palestinian people are treated in a special category of foreigners that don�t hold documents from their countries of origin.

Compare the ratio between refugee populations with the total populations of their host countries worldwide.

Living in limbo

At the end of Lebanon�s civil war Palestinian refugees were expected to move to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas known as �the Palestinian Territories�. But there has been no mass exodus. Many have no intention of moving. Their �home� is Lebanon - their lives and jobs are firmly linked here.

A whole generation of Palestinians were born and raised in Lebanon.

click to enlarge Palestinian children in Nahr el Bared refugee camp, north Lebanon. © Save the Children

The Palestinian question in the Middle East is a difficult and complicated one.

Refugee Rights

Palestinians living in Lebanon have few rights. They can�t:

	click to enlarge © Save the Children

click to enlarge This 15 year old earns a living as a car mechanic in Ein el Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon. Ein el Hilweh is Lebanon�s largest refugee camp � over 40,000 people live there. © Save the Children

Most Palestinians in Lebanon live in one of 12 refugee camps. All of them suffer from overcrowding, poverty and high unemployment, but the inhabitants don�t want to be seen as victims. They support each other to make ends meet, and keep up their own customs and traditions.

Get a glimpse of the lives of Palestinian children that live in a refugee camp � read their stories and see their photos at Save the Children�s Eye to Eye site.

The �United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East� (UNRWA) is separate wing of the UN set up to support Palestinians. The UNRWA has 25,000 staff to run schools, and provide health and services for Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.

People living in rural Lebanon have other hopes and challenges.