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The Gazette
Saturday, September 27, 2003
KINDA JAYOUSH
After graduating as an engineer from Turkey, Ahmad
Mustapha, 25, returned to his makeshift family house in a Palestinian refugee
camp in Lebanon in 2000, beginning a journey of frustration that led
him to Montreal only to face the threat of expulsion.
Mustapha, a hardworking student who was
granted a UN scholarship to study engineering in Ankara in 1995, had to return to
the hard realities at al-Buss refugee camp in south Lebanon.
His time in Lebanon ended when he left for
the United States and later Montreal in Aug. 2001. He applied for refugee status on
humanitarian grounds, but the Immigration and Refugee Board rejected his
application and threatened him with deportation along with more than 100
Palestinian refugee-status claimants.
"The Palestinian youth in Lebanon have two
options to survive; either to travel abroad and start a new life or to join the
Palestinian militias," Mustapha said at a news conference to urge the
government stop his deportation. "I want live in peace so I chose to seek
refugee status in Canada."
In south Lebanon refugee camps, Palestinians are not allowed to
construct houses and army checkpoints monitor those who try to smuggle building
materials into the camp.
Houses at the camp were originally tents,
which Palestinian refugees turned into living areas by building walls and
covering them with metal roofs.
"We do not have more than six hours of
daily supply of electricity and we still boil our drinking water, which we get
from thin makeshift pipes that criss-cross the camp's open sewer," he
said.
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Despite the hard living conditions, Mustapha
desperately searched for work. His efforts failed. Lebanese law does not permit
Palestinians to work in the public service or register in some professional
associations, thus closing many doors.
Palestinian refugees, who are also not allowed
to own or inherit property in Lebanon, end up doing hard-labour jobs. Even those jobs are
not easy to find with the Lebanese economy suffering its worst slowdown since
the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
More than 130 human rights organizations have
sent letters to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Denis Coderre
urging him not to allow the deportation of the more than 100 Palestinian
refugees.
The Coalition Against the Deportation of
Palestinian Refugees, is holding a demonstration today at 1 p.m. It will start at
the corner of Guy St. and de
Maisonneuve Blvd. and conclude at Guy
Favreau complex.
kjayoush@thegazette.canwest.com
© Copyright 2003 Montreal Gazette
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