Palestinians protest deaths of refugees in Lebanon

After the deaths of two Palestinians protesting at the killing of a teenager in a refugee camp in Lebanon, residents of the West Bank city of Ramallah held a vigil on Tuesday, the eve of World Refugees Day .

Reuters/Ali Hashisho

World Refugees Day, which falls today, is intended to focus attention on the situation of those forced to flee their homes throughout the world.

Ahmad Qassim, 16, was killed on 15 June by the Lebanese army at a checkpoint inside the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.

On Monday two Palestinians were killed and 10 injured after a confrontation with Lebanese forces during the teenager’s funeral.

An organiser of the vigil in Ramallah, Hafez Omar, told RFI that the violence comes from refugee camps being politically disconnected.

“It’s about what’s happening in the Syrian refugee camps, for the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria and also in Lebanon," he said. "For the Palestinians everywhere there is a lack of representation, right representation.”

Registration is currently open for Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza as well as the Palestinian diaspora to vote in elections for the PLO’s parliament, the Palestinian National Council.

Unlike the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, the PLO is designed to represent all Palestinians, including refugees, on the international stage. The election is expected to happen later this year.