The so-called "deal of the century" that the US administration unveiled amid much criticism earlier this week has little to offer the estimated 450,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon—many of them in refugee camps.
Hoda was born in a refugee camp in Lebanon and has never seen her homeland, but the 65-year-old insists Palestine is her home nevertheless. She is "furious" about the deal, she said.
Under the proposal, some Palestinian refugees would be allowed to return, but others would be offered citizenship in the surrounding Arab countries. For many Palestinians in Lebanon, that is a non-starter. “Lebanon isn’t our country,” Hoda said. “We are refugees here.”
US officials insist that Palestinians will be “screwing up an opportunity” if they don’t accept the deal, but to do so would mean giving up on a decades-long dream for Palestinians.
