Opinion ID: 201584
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sharari's affidavit

Text: 4 In its twelve single-spaced pages, Sharari's affidavit describes a pervasive atmosphere of discrimination against Palestinians in Lebanon, as well as several specific incidents of harassment that he faced. 4 In general, Sharari says, Palestinians are treated as unwanted persons with no political or economic or human rights in Lebanon today. More specifically, discrimination against Palestinians is also based on what sect of Islam one belongs to: Sunni or Shi'a. Sunni Palestinians were subjected to the harshest treatment, while Shiites fared better: Shiite Palestinians who came to Lebanon and sought citizenship were immediately given citizenship and had all of the rights of full Lebanese citizens. Only those of us who are Sunni Moslems and who refuse to denounce their faith are treated like scum and denied all rights. As a Sunni Palestinian in Lebanon, [e]veryone persecutes you, both the Christians and Muslims. 5 Sharari's affidavit offers a few incidents of specific mistreatment. As a child, Sharari was denied entry into several schools near his home, which were supposedly intended for the general public, because he was Palestinian. Also, after Israeli aerial bombardments, neighborhood children would blame him for the attacks, yelling that the Israelis would not be bombing Lebanon if not for the Palestinians living there. Notwithstanding these obstacles, Sharari made his way through high school, where in his junior year he entered and won a national tournament to determine the ping-pong champion of Lebanon. When the tournament's organizers found out that he was Palestinian, they denied him the trophy. Sharari went on to attend the National College of Lebanon, graduating with a degree in architectural drafting. His ethnicity prevented him from getting the proper license to work as a draftsman, however, and he left Lebanon for the Gulf states, where working conditions were better. 6 Much of Sharari's working life was spent outside of Lebanon. At various times in the 1980s and 1990s, Sharari worked as a manual laborer or crane operator in the Gulf states, where at first he found conditions to be more favorable for Palestinians. Conditions worsened there, too, after Yassir Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, declared his support for Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1991. Afterwards, Palestinians were treated as pariahs even in the Gulf States, even if, like Sharari, they did not support the invasion or consider Arafat their leader. After 1994, Sharari's ability to move easily between Lebanon and the Gulf states became increasingly hampered. In September 1994, Lebanon passed a law requiring Palestinians who were traveling outside of the country to get a new visa every six months; this renewal could only be done in Lebanon, which was inconvenient for Sharari. 7 Sharari's affidavit tells of one incident of physical abuse. During the Lebanese civil war in the 1970s and 1980s, according to Sharari, Palestinians were restricted to a strip of land four miles wide and would be killed if caught outside. In 1986, Sharari was driving his aunt home to a town a few miles away from Sidon. Suddenly, two Shiite gunmen came out of nowhere and demanded to see his identification. He complied, but they took him at gunpoint to a crude basement jail, where he was held for three days along with about twenty other Palestinian men. They were beaten regularly and given nothing to eat. Sharari's captors told him that he and his fellow captives were being held because they were Palestinian; evidently there had recently been fighting between Palestinians and Shi'a militia in Beirut. After three days, Sharari's aunt was able to bribe someone to let him go. Others not so lucky were killed. Upon his release, Sharari's captors told him not to tell anyone about what had happened to him. He believed that if he did and the Shi'a found out, they would kill him. 8 Sharari's affidavit also describes an incident of legal discrimination against him because he was Palestinian. In September 1990, he opened a store selling beauty supplies. Business was not so good, and he closed the store in mid-1993. He continued leasing the space and kept some inventory there, in the hope that conditions would improve. After spending a few months in Abu Dhabi for work-related reasons, Sharari returned to Lebanon to find that his landlord had leased the space to a stranger, who had taken over Sharari's store and was selling his inventory. When Sharari protested, the landlord told him of a 1992 law providing that any Palestinian who closed his store for more than six months would lose the store and his lease. Indeed, the landlord had secured a court order declaring Sharari's business to be abandoned under the law. In the end, Sharari claims that he lost more than $10,000.