After the Nakba of 1948, Palestinians were driven from their homes by the nascent Israeli forces. They fled to Gaza (if their homes were in the south of Palestine); to Jordan (if their homes were in the west) and Lebanon (if their homes were in the north). Some went to Syria, too. They ended up in refugee camps. This webpage looks at what happened in Lebanon after 1948.
Contents- please click on link to jump to paragraph header:
- Lebanon
- UNWRA
- Israel in Lebanon- and the PLO
- Sabra Shatila Massacre
- Hezbollah
- Beit Atfal Assumoud: The National Institution of Social Care and Vocational Training – for Palestinians
Lebanon
Here we talk of Lebanon. After 1948, as many as 400,000 Palestinians in total, to date, registered with UNWRA, but since then, many have left or died. There are now just 173,000 Palestinians still living in Lebanon. About half of them live around Lebanon in rented accommodation; the other half live in the 14 Palestinian refugee camps. This position in Lebanon is poor and tenuous- the Maronite Christians want them gone- and Parliament has passed laws declaring that forbids them from buying land or apartments, or to get proper jobs. And so they mostly seek casual work, in construction or agriculture. Their fortunes are favoured by most Lebanese though, and most especially by Hezbollah, which the UK has banned as a “terrorist” organisation, at the behest of Israel. And so, the Israeli army attacks Hezbollah wherever and whenever it can. Hezbollah is a Shia resistance movement (whereas Hamas, with whom it has excellent relations, is Sunni). Both favour Iran as the way forward.
Some Palestinians find life in Lebanon so hard that they flee in small inflatable boats to Greece and then to Germany, where they can often get visas to stay (as Germany welcomed the Turks, the Syrians as “Gast Arbeiter” who will help boost the German economy, work in its health service for low wages, and so on. A fair number of these boats capsize in the Mediterranean, where some of the Palestinians are drowned. But some escape, managing to get as far even as the USA.
The UN has a force in the south of Lebanon, Home | UNIFIL whose role is to supervise peace in the area, with Israel on one side and Hezbollah (see below) on the other. The UN has declared that UNIFIL must leave at the end of 2026 and from January 2027 there will be no force there to “keep the peace”. This change is causing great fear in the south of Lebanon, because it seems clear that Israel will advance far into Lebanon, probably even beyond the Litani River, whose main bridge they destroyed in June/July 2026 in an effort to cut off the south from the rest of Lebanon. The Lebanese soon just filled in the broken bridge with rubble, but it is clear what Israel’s plans are, with politicians such as Smotrich and Ben-Givr declaring that they will do to Lebanon what they have already done to Gaza.
Both Israel and the USA oppose any renewal of the UNIFIL mandate. There are hopes that either the French-Lebanese proposal for a “Unifil-lite” force to replace Unifil and maintain the “buffer” zone. (note Israel also attacks Unifil forces when it feels like it). An alternative coalition of France and Italy are leading talks in Paris to establish an international, non-UN training and advisory coalition. Backed by interest from over 10 EU countries, this mission would focus on training the Lebanese army to handle a Hezbollah disarmament and secure the borders independently. However, Hezbollah will not give up its weapons, as they believe that Israel would like to take Lebanon and occupy it, at least as far as Beirut. North of Beirut, the Maronite Christians maintain friendly relations with Israel…
UNWRA
Here is a map showing where the Palestinian camps are in Lebanon, who are supported and part-funded by UNWRA
Israel in Lebanon- and the PLO
Up to 1948, Britain assisted Israel to drive 750,000 Palestinians into Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, in the Nakba, where the Palestinians languish in “camps” to this day. They are not allowed to work, or own property.
Naturally after 1948 they wanted their homes back… When it became clear that the UN was not going to implement Resolution 194, that guaranteed Palestinians the right to return to their homes in Palestine, in 1964 the Palestinians created the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The PLO began fighting both on the national and international stage against Israel
Britain refused to get involved, but continued to arm Israel. Israel decided to wipe out the PLO, so they invaded Lebanon – first, they fomented civil war in Lebanon by arming the Phalangists (fascist Christians) to wage war against the Muslims. Britain continued to arm Israel. After many years and thousands of deaths, the civil war comes to an end in the Declaration of Tyr, where the various warring parties agree upon the structure of a Lebanese government that would take account of the Sunni, Shia and Christian interests. It is based on what is now a very out-of-date census of 1943, taken when Lebanon gained independence from France; the demographics of Lebanon has changed completely since then. Unfortunately, the present Government does not reflect this; the Christian Maronites, holding the presidency, have executive powers, even though the Shia population vastly outnumbers them.
(NB There are tower blocks in Beirut that were used by snipers, that are now derelict and covered in bullet holes, that are left standing as a grim reminder of what would happen if the Lebanese were mad enough to begin another civil war)..
Israel invaded Lebanon properly in order to wipe out the PLO in 1978; when they realised just how hard this was going to be, they installed a puppet South Lebanon Army who then did Israel’s dirty work.
Britain continued to arm Israel. Leonardo’s (as was Ferranti’s) at Crewe Toll in Edinburgh, in the UK, are making a fortune, to this day, out of selling Israel weapons to slaughter Palestinians.
Eventually the PLO refused to die, so Israel invaded Lebanon again in 1982. This time they came as far as Beirut (half-way up the country, on the coast), and occupied the capital. Just north of Beirut are the Maronite Christians, who generally support Israel.
Within the Maronites there is a very aggressive group, the Phalangists. The Phalangists don’t like the Palestinians (who have been driven into their country by the British/Zionist Jews), because they hate these immigrants. They fear that the Palestinians (Sunni Muslims) will upset the delicate balance of power in Lebanon, to the Maronite Christians disadvantage.
Sabra Shatila Massacre
The year was 1982 and Britain continued to arm Israel. Israel decided to help the Phalangists to frighten the Palestinians out of Lebanon. So they planned a massacre. The Israeli army surrounded a particular Palestinian camp in Beirut, called the Sabra Shatila camp, of around 4,000 people, in September 1982. The American envoy Philip Habib had provided assurances of safety to the Palestinians. The fighters therefore left, carrying their weapons, only for one of the most horrific crimes in our modern history to take place afterwards- carried out by Lebanese militias allied with Israel, with the Israeli forces providing cover and support.
The Israelis provided the Phalangists with weapons and – at night- they set flares off all over the neighbourhood to light up the area. The Israelis had made sure there was only one entrance to the camp left open. Then they sat up in buildings above to watch as about 150 Phalangists entered the camp and began shooting, raping and smashing in the heads of the Palestinians. The Phalangists lined up all the Palestinian youths in the camp of 4,000 people and placed their heads on a low wall. Then they travelled all along the wall, smashing the head of every Palestinian youth with an axe.
Locals report picking out bits of hair from the wall for many years afterwards.
The Israelis looked on with satisfaction at the massacre they had facilitated, later claiming it was nothing they could have prevented and that their army continued to be “the most moral in the world”.
This year of 2026 was the 44th commemoration of the massacre and the camp survives to this day; it is shockingly poor and dirty and has a depressed air.
Read Heather Stroud’s account of the massacre commemorations here https://countercurrents.org/2026/10/remembering-the-sabra-shatila-massacre/
Also see https://habbat.org/
Here are some pictures of the massacre and the centre in Sabra Shatila where it is commemorated every year:
At the entrance to the Sabra Shatila monument to the massacre of 1982 by Israel and the Falangists, the symbol of Israel- the star of David, is painted on the threshold. Everyone entering and leaving must walk on it:
In Lebanon, since 1982, the number who have died at the hands of Israel has exceeded 10,000 with approximately 30,000 wounded, most of them civilians.
Hezbollah
Hezbollah are the main force fighting Israel on behalf of the Palestinians. They are a Shi-ite body and are close to Iran. The United Kingdom (UL) listed Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist organisation until May 2019 when the entire organisation was proscribed and the US now lists the entire group as such. More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah
Israel carried out its most infamous attack on Hezbollah operatives in September 2024. They infiltrated the supplier of pagers to the Hezbollah fighters and staff and inserted a tiny piece of high explosive in each one. They were therefore able to not only track the communications of the Hezbollah fighters, but to trigger the explosion of the pagers remotely. In September 2024 they triggered about 5,000 pagers to explode at once. If the Hezbollah operative was using the pager at the time, it usually killed them- around 200 died. But the other pagers caused very serious wounds- around 4,000 Hezbollah fighters lost their ears or eyes or hands; some were shopping at the time. Other Lebanese who were in the shop were injured too, if it was a big explosion in a confined space. This was a manifestation of state criminality unprecedented in contemporary history. The Americans and Israelis were very proud of their “James Bond” style attack, for it caused great damage to the heart of Hezbollah.
The Israelis were on a roll. They decided to murder the then leader of the Shia Hezbollah, a man who was popular to all Lebanese and was famed throughout the Arab world. The man was Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and he remains a national hero to this day. He is a key figure with a long chapter in the history of the resistance in Lebanon, one who consistently emphasised in his speeches the cause of Palestine and the rejection of oppression and occupation.
The Israelis murdered Nasrallah by firing missiles at the place where they knew he was based, deep underground. In September 2024 they not only dropped a massive bunker-busting bomb on the place where he was living deep underground, they bombed all the blocks of flats around the site, too.
In Lebanon, since October 2023, the number killed by Israel has exceeded 10,000 with approximately 30,000 wounded, most of them civilians. Despite all the numbers dead and the massive destruction, some within the Lebanese government who are complicit still demand that Hezbollah surrenders its weapons.
Beit Atfal Assumoud: The National Institution of Social Care and Vocational Training – for Palestinians
Beit Atfal Assumoud is a voluntary organisation, a charity, which supports the Palestinians in all their refugee camps.
Their website is at www.socialcare.com – their Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/BeitAtfalAssumoud and their Instagram is at https://www.instagram.com/beit.atfal.assumoud/
Their You-tube Channel is at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs6bf3fB-ROPmQl3tiXsrMQ
This song was made for this group- “Beit Atfal Assumoud: The National Institution of Social Care and Vocational Training – for Palestinians”, which – in brief- is a body set up by Palestinians in 1976 to support the 173,000 Palestinians still living in Lebanon, after they were driven out in the Nakba of 1948- they have just marked their 50-year anniversary: