The Palestinian Arab community in Lebanon has been incessantly protesting against the Lebanese government's decision to close Palestinian Arab-owned businesses and crack down on foreign workers, including Palestinian Arabs, who do not have a work permit.
In protest against the Lebanese government's policy, hundreds of Palestinian Arab youths closed the entrances to the Palestinian communities with burning tires and prevented the entry of goods into these communities.
The Lebanese Labor Ministry has granted a one-month extension to companies and organizations that employ illegal workers and announced its intention to close 11 institutions in which Palestinian Arab workers work.
Lebanese residents who are registered as “Palestinian refugees” and their descendants who were born in that country reside in residential neighborhoods known as "refugee camps", have limited work options and are refused citizenship.
Lebanon refuses to naturalize the “Palestinian refugees” and has stressed the need to work for their return to their country of origin, which Palestinian Arabs claim is Israel.
According to the population census conducted in 2017, 174,422 “Palestinian refugees” live in Lebanon in 12 "refugee camps" and in 152 residential neighborhoods throughout the country.
Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, sent letters to the Lebanese President, Prime Minister and Parliament Speaker in which he protested the policies of the Lebanese Labor Ministry, stressing that the Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon are only visitors and they maintain their Palestinian identity and their right to return to their homes and places of residence in “Palestine”.