Middle East Monitor / May 5, 2020
The Directorate of Public Security in Beirut has banned Palestinian refugees who are stranded abroad from returning to Lebanon, Al-Watan Voice reported on Monday.
Domestic workers are also included in the banning directive.
Staff at Middle East Airlines, Lebanon’s national carrier, have been asked not to let such refugees or workers board their aircraft taking Lebanese citizens home during the coronavirus crisis. The refugees are mainly the spouses of Lebanese citizens or their children.
According to Sputnik, many of the Palestinians who prepared themselves to return to Lebanon on an MEA flight were told that their names were now deleted from the lists of those registered to travel. The Russian news agency called the directive “unjustified and illogical” given that they have no alternative destination available.
Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar reported one Palestinian refugee from Lebanon whose mother is Lebanese, and who is married to a Lebanese citizen, being dragged off a flight by security staff at Dubai Airport after it was discovered that he himself is not Lebanese.
