Malaysian activists tour Beirut\'s refugee camps

A delegation from the Palestinian Association for Human Rights (Witness) accompanied a group of Malaysian activists concerned with the Palestinian cause,  to the Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, particularly Shatila and Burj el-Barajneh. camps. They talked to residents about the conditions the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are experiencing. They also heard from Witness about the misery of the economic life in the camps where the poverty rate exceeds 70 percent, and the unemployment rate is 56 percent. Various diseases are causing health issues due to the serious deprivation of the refugees’ civil and social rights by the host country, Lebanon, and due to the gradual decline in services provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).   The visitors also toured the Lebanese-Palestinian border, where they saw at first hand,  the occupied lands and the on-going building of Jewish settlements which exploit the agricultural land and natural resources and change the feature of the Palestinian land. Activists expressed their surprise about how the original owners of the land live as refugees in narrow camps in poverty and deprivation, while at the same time, the same time the Jewish settlers are using their land and enjoying the care, protection and support of the international society. At the end of their tour, the Malaysian visitors declared their love for Jerusalem and Palestine and their hopes for the day when the refugees will return to their villages and cities, stressing that they will always be messengers for the Palestinian cause and its legality,  either in their country, which is proud not to recognise Israel, or wherever else in the world their feet may reach.