Palestinian refugees in Lebanon refer to themselves as 'the forgotten people'. Sixty years on, tens of thousands still live in temporary shelters, in overcrowded unsanitary camps where unemployment and poverty levels are high. Denied basic human rights, they are neglected by the humanitarian community, ignored by the international media. This pioneering book explores the experiences of the oldest and largest single refugee group in the world. Drawing upon comprehensive research in the twelve official refugee camps in Lebanon, the author examines the impact of protracted refugee status on the coping mechanisms developed by refugees. She identifies the lessons to be learned from the refugee experience in Lebanon and and the implications for other refugee groups in different parts of the world. Palestinians in Lebanon provides a long overdue account of one of the most neglected refugee communities in the world.

Rebecca Roberts is a research fellow at the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies (CPRS) at Coventry University. Previously she has worked as a consultant in post-war recovery and international development, and has conducted field research in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Lebanon and Sudan. She has managed projects for the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), Oslo, and the Small Arms Survey, Geneva. She holds a PhD in Post-war Recovery from the Post-war Reconstruction & Development Unit (PRDU) at the University of York, and has degrees in Arabic with Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from the Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Durham.

Acknowledgements
Glossary

1 Introduction: Palestininan Refugess in Lebanon
2 Political and legal refugee frameworks
3 Assistance to Refugees: dilemmas and anomalies
4 The Palestinians in Lebanon: an uneasy refugee-host relationship
5 Long-term Refugee Camps
6 The Coping Mechanisms of Protracted Refugees
7 Factors Influencing Coping Mechanisms: the implications for assistance to protracted refugees
8 Conclusion: Palestinians as Protracted Refugees

Bibliography
Index