A blog about life in the hottest and holiest region in the world.

What do you call refugees who are forced to flee their refugee camp?

Internally Displaced Persons (IDP's) is the term of art used by NGOs to describe people fleeing violence who remain within the borders of their own country. But that term doesn't work for the Palestinians who have fled Nahr al-Bared refugee camp outside Tripoli in northern Lebanon to escape the violent standoff between Al-Qaeda inspired militants and the Lebanese army. They stopped being internally displaced when they left Palestine in 1948 and became refugees from the violence that preceded the creation of Israel. Almost 60 years later, they are still foreigners in Lebanon, since this country refuses to give them citizenship.

So are they externally displaced persons? Are they displaced refugees? Or are they just dammed?

--Andrew Lee Butters/Tripoli

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