This program from the City Life series is set in Lebanon, where (according to the UN) there are three hundred seventy-five thousand Palestinian refugees. Palestinians are unwanted in Israel, but in war-torn, sectarian Lebanon, among fellow Arabs, they hardly fare better, and most live in poverty. Barred from working, they also have limited access to medical care and higher education. Many have been in Lebanon for over fifty years.
A Palestinian doctor working in the PLO-funded Haifa hospital in Burj el Barajneh refugee camp, Beirut, earns US $200 month, and is glad of the work: she's forbidden in any Lebanese hospital. Elsewhere young Palestinians do not value education because they see their parents in menial, part-time jobs regardless of their qualifications. For refugees living in South Lebanon, a degree qualifies a person to pick oranges, at a salary of US $6.30 a day. South Lebanon's refugees are even prohibited from rebuilding their houses.
Those who can get out of Lebanon go to Europe, Canada, or the USA -- but they never give up hope of returning to their villages in Palestine. Adding insult to injury, a recent law enacted in Lebanon prohibits Palestinians from owning property -- though people from any other recognized state have that right. But Palestinians do not have a state: they are officially stateless.
The producer of this program has collected extensive resources at www.tve.org/lifeonline/index.cfm?aid=1125.
The other titles in the series are:
1. City Life - Explores Sao Paolo in introduction to series examining the effects of globalization on people and cities.
2. The Long March - Community in Chengdu, China has organized to clean-up polluted river.
3. The Health Protestors - Health care advocates demand universal health care for the world's population at international convention in Dhaka.
4. Together Against Violence - Poor Jamaican community overcomes violence.
5. Paradise Domain - Pacific islanders are not benefiting from digital windfall or World Wide Web.
6. Pavements of Gold - Increase in urban poverty and population, caused by globalization, threatens Peruvians.
7. Doing the Right Thing - Porto Alegre, Brazil has benefited from urban revitalization.
8. My Mother Built This House - Large homeless contingent in South Africa has organized to build houses for each other.
9. Barcelona Blueprint - Barcelona today is a model of urban planning that may prove sustainable.
10. Gaza Under Siege - The Gaza Strip has been a virtual prison for Palestinians for over fifty years.
12. A Fistful of Rice - Protein deficiency threatens generations of children in Nepal.
13. Patently Obvious - International patent regulations only protect multinationals.
14. The Other Side - Poor Mexicans attempt perilous border crossing to US, often at the expense of family, traditional culture, and their lives.
15. The Miller's Tale: Bread Is Life - Efforts are underway in Egypt and Yemen to fortify flour with iron to wipe out needless malnutrition.
16. Brazil: Winning Against AIDS - Brazil has developed generic antiretroviral drugs to care for those afflicted with HIV/AIDS.
17. Missing Out - Anemia threatens the population of Niger and Tanzania.
18. Stop the Traffick - Investigates horror of child sex industry in Cambodia.
19. My Hanoi - Tour of rapidly urbanizing Hanoi, and the effect on citizens and culture.
20. Lines in the Dust - In revolutionary programs in Northern Ghana and India, gender roles are challenged, and illiterate adults educated.
21. Paying the Price - Pharmaceutical companies block generic drugs, threatening the lives of millions of Africans with AIDS.
22. Holy Smoke: Cambodians Fight Tobacco - Buddhist monks lead anti-tobacco campaign in Cambodia.
