Women’s Nationality Campaign- Lebanon from Stephanie Issa on Vimeo.
A string of national demonstrations, including a protest outside Parliament, are now expected, alongside a petition calling for equal treatment of women, the National Gathering for Removing Discrimination against Women said.
Although the group, representing some 60 Lebanese NGOs, has yet to make final arrangements, it has also made plans to meet with President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Saad Hariri, as well as host of other leading politicians. [DailyStar]
Although i am a strong supporter of equality in rights between men and women, i believe this whole nationality issue should be discussed more seriously as to its consequences and be restricted to non-Palestinians for demographic reasons.
I sooooo agree with u Nagib on this but I wonder if it’s possible.
“to be restricted to non Palestinians for demographic reasons”, you might as well have said: “to be restricted to non blacks for ethnic reasons” (heaven forbids a Lebanese woman gets married to a black person and sully our racial purity) or maybe to be restricted to non Arabs (what Lebanese woman in her good sense would marry an Egyptian, Jordanian or a Saudi?)
Mustapha,
Don’t take this in a racist manner. It has nothing to do with Palestinians being Palestinians, but we have a serious issue in Lebanon called the Lebanese refugees that are here in an illegal state and were unable to work until recently. Legalizing such laws will give more reasons to naturalization and create another issue out of the existing one.
Najib, we’re talking about lebanese women who are marrying men of a different nationality. The number who are getting married to Palestinian men can’t be so huge as to upset the demographic balance, besides they are being offset by marriages to Americans and Europeans.
Personally, All the women I know who got married to non Lebanese people got married to French, English and American men. I even know a woman who got married to an Indian man. But I have never encountered one who got married to a Palestinian man.
Mustapha,
I am not claiming a lot of Lebanese women are marrying Palestinians, but some Palestinians and some Lebanese factions might take advantage of such law to encourage marriages between Lebanese women and Palestinians and no longer having deprived children with only the Palestinian passport, or even worse the Palestinian refugee paper.
if palestinian women can already marry lebanese men and they get lebanese citizenship + give it to their kids, what’s the difference? (except misogyny?)
if you want to talk about not giving nationality to palestinians, i believe it should be separated from the issue of lebanese women getting their full rights. talk about suspending any palestinians — male or female — from getting nationality, if that’s what you support, but do not use it as an excuse to perpetuate these stone age laws that make lebanese women unequal citizens.