Turkish NGOs pursue aid drive for Palestinian refugees

By Mahmut Geldi

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AA) - Turkish charities have been providing various aid to hundreds of Palestinian refugee families living under difficult conditions in camps in different regions of Lebanon.

The Istanbul-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) distributed diesel fuel to more than 350 families living in the Burj al-Barajnah camp in the capital Beirut and al-Jalil camp in Baalbek.

Also, the charity provided food and personal care items to 250 families and financial support for many unemployed refugees in those camps.

Ahmad Ebu Husain, who had been unemployed for over a year and recently started to work again with the charity’s donation of a Tuk-Tuk vehicle, expressed his happiness, thanking the Turkish benefactors.

- Homes lighting project

With its battery-powered lighting project, the Sadakatasi Association provided a solution to the electricity shortage of Palestinian refugees who spend most of the day in the dark due to the chronic power outages in Lebanon.

Kemal Ozdal, the head of the association, said with the project that was supported by about 20 charities from Turkey, they will provide incessant electricity for the refugees’ homes.

- Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

Palestinian refugees maintain their lives in 12 camps, namely Beddawi, Burj al-Barajnah, Burj Shemali, Dbayeh, Ein El Hilweh, El Buss, Mar Elias, Mieh Mieh, all located in different regions of Lebanon.

More than 483,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon and this number rises to 600,000 with the unregistered ones, according to the UN data.

Approximately 62% of the Palestinian refugees, who make up about 10% of Lebanon’s population, live in these camps, where infrastructure and social facilities are very limited, while the rest live around the camps and in different parts of the country.

Lebanon does not accept responsibility for the protection of refugees' rights since it is not a party to the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol regarding the status of refugees.

Lebanon is the second country where Palestinian refugees are subjected to the most rights violations after Israel.

*Writing by Havva Kara Aydin in Ankara