Palestinian flags are strung across an alley in the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila in Beirut. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
BEIRUT — The head of the Maronite League, former MP Nehmatallah Abi Nasser, announced Thursday that at the beginning of the month the State Shura Council issued a ruling to halt the implementation of the labor minister’s November decision to grant Palestinians born in Lebanon permits to practice a range of professions restricted under Lebanese law.
Here’s what we know:
• In a statement issued Thursday, Abi Nasr said, “The Shura Council issued a decision No. 93 dated Feb. 3, 2022 to stop the implementation of the minister of labor's decision issued on Nov. 25, 2021, No. 1/96, for exceeding the limit of authority through granting permits for Palestinians born in Lebanon to practice professions that the law has restricted to Lebanese.”
• Labor Minister Mostafa Bayram’s decree, as reported at the time by the state-run National News Agency, sought to allow “Palestinians born in Lebanese territories and officially registered with the Ministry of Interior” to work in professions requiring syndicate membership from which they had previously been barred.
• The syndicate-regulated professions include fields such as medicine, law and engineering as well as public transport and tourism-related jobs.
• In late December, the Maronite League sent an appeal to the State Shura Council, claiming that the ministerial decision had “formal” flaws and violated “constitutional bases and Lebanon’s high-level policies preventing nationalization.” The appeal was sent through the league's attorneys Rizk Zougheib and Antoine al-Houweis.