It’s Time to Solve the Palestinian Refugee Problem

Earlier this month, hundreds of Lebanese Palestinians gathered in front of Beirut’s Canadian embassy to ask for asylum in Canada or the EU. The basis of their claims? Although born in Lebanon, they cannot become Lebanese citizens, and thus have limited job opportunities and are denied many public services. No human-rights organizations have taken up their cause, notes Evelyn Gordon, nor are Western countries accepting their claims for asylum; yet, as a matter of UN policy, and unlike in the case of refugees from every other conflict, neither are Palestinian refugees given any help to resettle in the countries where they live.