Lebanon: Palestinian refugees protest at Brit Embassy

By Furkan Güldemir

BEIRUT, Lebanon

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon protested Friday in front of the British Embassy in Beirut on the 68th anniversary of Nakba, when more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs were forced to flee or were expelled from their homes when Israel was founded.

Scores of Palestinians, including women and children, who were forced to leave their homeland due to the Israeli occupation gathered in front of the embassy and chanted slogans holding Britain responsible for the occupation.

Hassan Ayub, a Palestinian refugee in the protests, told Anadolu Agency, “Palestinians who were forced to leave their land by a plan supported by Britain in 1948 want to return to their homeland.”

Ayub directed his message to the British government, saying, “Correct the mistake you committed against the Palestinian people.”

A demonstration was also held Tuesday outside the Beirut office of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to protest an agency decision to cut aid to Palestinian refugees.

Scores of Palestinian refugees who recently fled war-torn Syria to Lebanon took part in the demonstration.

Protesters, including a number of women and children, waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans critical of the UN and UNRWA.

On May 15 of every year, Palestinians mark "Nakba Day" (catastrophe) – when the state of Israel was founded in 1948 – to reaffirm their right of return to the lands from which their ancestors were forcibly displaced.

According to the UN, roughly 500,000 Palestinian refugees currently live in Lebanon.