I never knew about this. It seems strange to me that they’d give work permits to others but not their culturally, ethnically similar neighbors. I wonder why they’d prefer to give permits to others?
In the immediate aftermath of the Nakba, they didn’t want to make the refugees status permanent because they expected the refugees to someday be able to return to their land. In more modern times, Lebanon has a (largely unsuccessful) balance of power between the Christians, Sunnis, and Shias. Making the refugees position permanent would significantly upset that balance by shifting the population in favor of the Sunnis.
Not all the people, just the “wrong” people. And let’s not forget Palestinians have been trying to “produce” more people as quickly as possible, to the point they’re “about to win” the demographic competition, against even the orthodox jews who are at the same time trying to reach 25% of Israel’s population in order to become the “spiritual leaders” for others to fight their wars.
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