Property Ownership
Since its establishment on 8 December 1949, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been entrusted with the provision of housing and essential services to Palestinian refugees. This mandate has been implemented through the establishment of a number of officially recognized refugee camps distributed across all Lebanese governorates, designated for the residence of Palestinian refugees, as part of the broader range of services provided by the Agency.
Successive laws governing the ownership of property by foreigners, as applied to Palestinian refugees considered nationals of Arab states under Lebanese law previously allowed them to acquire ownership of built real estate or land designated for construction, subject to varying surface area limits. These limits ranged from a maximum of 3,000 square meters in Beirut to 5,000 square meters in other governorates.
This legal framework changed following the adoption by the Lebanese Parliament of Law No. 296/2001 on 3 April 2001, which amended the law enacted by Decree No. 11614 dated 4 January 1969 concerning the acquisition of real property rights by non-Lebanese persons. As amended, Article 1 now provides:
“No non-Lebanese person, whether natural or legal, nor any Lebanese legal person deemed by this law to be equivalent to a foreigner, may acquire by contract or by any other inter vivos legal act any real property right in Lebanese territory, or any other real right designated by this law, except after obtaining a license granted by decree issued by the Council of Ministers upon the proposal of the Minister of Finance. No exception shall be made to this rule except in cases expressly provided for in this law or in a specific legal text.
No real property right of any kind may be acquired by any person who does not hold a nationality issued by a recognized State, or where such acquisition contradicts the provisions of the Constitution with respect to the rejection of permanent settlement.”
Current Situation and Numbers Content
One of the persistent and practical problems associated with the enactment of Law No. 296/2001 concerns the refusal of land registry officials to register sale contracts concluded prior to the law’s entry into force but not recorded in the real estate registers immediately following its promulgation and publication in the Official Gazette. Similarly, notaries public refrained from executing sale contracts in favor of Palestinians, relying on a non-binding advisory opinion issued by the Legislation and Consultations Commission (Opinion No.394/2001 dated 19 June 2001).
With regard to inheritance, and contrary to widely circulated assumptions among many actors in the Palestinian civil and human rights sectors, a review conducted by the Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee revealed that the Directorate General of Land Registry and Cadastre at the Ministry of Finance registers the transfer of ownership of property owned by Palestinians upon death in the names of their heirs as a matter of course, without any legal impediment, provided that all legal conditions and formal requirements are duly met.
A further political dimension arises from Lebanon’s recognition of the Palestinian Authority, its acceptance of Palestinian passports, and the opening of a Palestinian Embassy in Beirut in 2008. Consequently, Palestinians are now holders of a nationality issued by an entity recognized as a non-member observer State at the United Nations.
The Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC) accords particular importance to the issue of the right to property ownership for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, stemming from its deep awareness of the close link between this right and the humanitarian and living conditions of refugees, while simultaneously ensuring respect for Lebanon’s constitutional particularities, notably the principle of rejecting permanent settlement .
Accordingly, the Committee’s priority is grounded in pursuing a balanced approach that distinguishes between improving dignified living conditions for Palestinian refugees, on the one hand, and preserving Lebanon’s national constants, on the other.
Within this framework, the Committee focuses on addressing the negative effects of existing legislation that prohibits Palestinians from owning real estate, particularly residential property, by advocating for alternative legal solutions that do not amount to permanent settlement, but rather fall within the scope of fundamental human and social rights. From the Committee’s perspective, the priority does not lie in fully opening the door to property ownership, but in exploring flexible legal formulas that allow Palestinians to achieve secure housing stability and reduce their social vulnerability, without undermining demographic balance or Lebanon’s constitutional commitments.
