(JTA) — Lebanon’s Parliament passed a law elevating the status of Palestinian refugees to allow them to work.
The law passed Tuesday grants Palestinian refugees the status of "foreign workers," opening up a wide array of employment opportunities.
The 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are considered among the worst treated in the Arab world and have been denied basic employment and inheritance rights, shunted into work for the United Nations or into unemployment, although the vast majority were born in Lebanon.
Lebanon maintains their stateless status in part to facilitate Palestinian refugee claims against Israel, and also not to upset the country’s delicate ethnic balance.
Human rights groups say the refugees deserve full citizenship status.
