“About 36,000 people are crammed into two square kilometers (less than one square mile)” says Yussef Assaad, head of the Palestinian Red Crescent in northern Lebanon, commenting on refugees flowing from Nahr El-Bared camp, where more than 40,000 Palestinian refugees used to live.
In the series of fights that Lebanon got accustomed to for a long time now, May 20th was the start of yet a new battle when the police raided a house in a refugee camp in Tripoli, which was reportedly used by Nahr El-Bared fighters. Fighting between the two parties have so far claimed the lives of more than 108 soldiers, rebels and civilians.
The real reasons behind the ongoing clashes are still doubtful, as many relate it to the allegations made against Nahr El-Bared fighters connecting them to bombings in Beriut last February, while others attribute the fighting to an international tribunal that would try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
Lebanon is home to about 400,000 Palestinians who have left their homeland after the creation of Israel in 1948. The clashes, described as the bloodiest internal fight in Lebanon since the 1975-90 civil war, continues to displace many Palestinian refugees who have no other place to turn to. Now Nahr El-Bared refugees have started turning to schools with little food and unhealthy sanitary conditions. But at least this represents a shelter that could accommodate them after fleeing their besieged camp.
Among such refugees, is 19-year-old Samar Fedda, who is staying with her father, mother, three brothers and sisters on a single mattress in a classroom of a school run by the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Beddawi refugee camp.
This family shares the classroom with another two families and the whole school, five storey concrete building, houses around 20,000 refugees according to UNICEF.
Yasmina Abdel-Al, 28, who left Nahr El-Bared on Tuesday at 1 a.m. with her family on a pickup truck that was taking people out of the camp, was worried about her nine-month-old son, Bassem, her first born. "He is so fragile; he was coughing and crying all night. I don't know what's wrong. Maybe he's teething but I have no medicine for him," she said as Bassem, wearing a white cotton onesie with food dribble on it, played in her arms. "I have no change of clothes for him," she said.
"I wished to give him a better life," her husband, Samer, said of their son. "But we are Palestinians after all ... It seems this is the fate of everyone who is Palestinian."
The roads to the Beddawi refugee, which is already overcrowded, are still bearing the feet of more families looking for shelter or assistance. With little to support, even the rescuers are doubting their ability to help the refugees and complaining about the situation. “The sanitary conditions at the camp are becoming unbearable” warns a doctor, who is currently running one clinic for 12 hours a day.
Fedda, one of the thousands of refugees, complained about the situation and said: “At Nahr El-Bared, we lived in a three-bedroom apartment, with a sea view. Here, we do not have any air to breathe”.
While her brother Nasser takes his turn: “Fortunately, there are latrines for men and others for women ... but the toilets for men are indescribable”.
The food is another dilemma, as small children fight when it’s time to eat, trying to get hold of a bag containing some bread, jam, cheese and tea. The Red Cross volunteer is left helpless: “Look, there’s nothing more for the time being. You will have to wait for another batch of distribution” she tells the crowd.
According to the International Herald Tribune, the school director said: “Many of them (refugees) are sick, they have heart and blood pressure problems and for that they need daily medication which they don't have. They have nothing to identify themselves with. This is a big problem.”
Issam, a computer science student, complains about his loss of all identity papers, which means he is trapped in Beddawi camp: “If I leave, I will be arrested by the Lebanese army” he said, referring to the strict security measures across the country.
Most of the refugees have no idea what will happen to them. Some are just hanging around the entrance refusing to move until they are back to their homes in Nahr El-Bared, while others are trying to understand what happened to them.
According to the BBC, UNRWA is considering setting up temporary accommodation on the edge of the camp and installing mobile generators, portable showers, toilets and water tanks. However, this proposal was rejected by many Palestinian refugees who fear that this might be the start of the total destruction of Nahr El-Bared camp, which would minimize their chances of retuning home.
Despite the pessimism, the Red Cross says it’s doing its best to help the children. Officials say they set up an open air cinema for refugee children to watch “Sleeping beauty”.
“We try to give them a few moments of happiness, which they have a right to — just like all the children of the world,” said Red Crescent official Mohammad Sayyed.