He's got a dozen pots of paint left on his shelves, and when he's sold the last, he'll be penniless. Abu Mohammed, born on the flight from Palestine 50 years ago, has spent years scraping out a living a few hills away from his homeland. Restrictions on Lebanon's 300,000 Palestinians have been mounting ever since the end of the country's 17-year civil war in 1990. And if they leave Lebanon for more than a year, Palestinians lose the right to return. Down the road from Abu Mohammed's paint store, the crumbling kindergarten smells like an infested well.
Children play ball in the open sewage.
An application for a permit required to treat the rot and rising damp has gone unanswered. They don't want to admit we exist. Aid workers say the conditions here are even worse than in Gaza. Only Lebanon denies Palestinians their civil rights. But if they don't go through these terrible moments, they might be tempted to stay in Lebanon, and they'd end up losing their right and the will to return.