The Lebanese authorities have been clamping down on businesses employing Syrians without the required papers.
Signs that read "Lebanese employees wanted" have been mushrooming on windows of shops and restaurants.
But activists have condemned the crackdown of the authorities, saying it is a pretext to pressure Syrian refugees to return to their war-torn homeland.
Despite the clear strategy to exert increasing pressure on Syrians, efforts are underway to ease the process for Palestinians to work in Lebanon.
Following a meeting with Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail on Thursday, Labor Minister Camille Abu Suleiman said, “We discussed ways to facilitate the process for the Palestinians to obtain work permits in line with the Lebanese law.”
Hariri and Abu Suleiman also tackled the implications of the Labor Ministry’s plan for Palestinian refugees.
“There is a special status for the Palestinian workers as compared to foreign workers, and the Lebanese law recognizes this,” the minister said.
He said he will hold a meeting next week with ministry staff and Palestinian officials to hear their concerns and work on simplifying the procedures as much as possible within the framework of Lebanese law.
In line with its “Combating illegal foreign workers” campaign, last month the Labor Ministry gave business owners a one-month deadline to settle the paperwork of their foreign staff, and started to address violations in recent weeks.
The campaign has seen inspectors from the Ministry closing down and issuing fines to any institution that employs foreign workers with no legal permits.
Employers complain that the process of acquiring employment permits for workers is long and complicated, saying a Syrian worker might not even receive it.
Some activists and non-governmental organizations place the Labor Ministry’s campaign in the context of exerting pressure on Syrians to force them to leave the country.
However, the Lebanese authorities explain that the campaign “involves all foreign workers who do not have permits and therefore it does not target a certain nationality.”
