BEIRUT (Palestine Foundation Information Center)The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has dismissed four Palestinian educators in Lebanon—including two school principals—over social media posts deemed to violate the agency’s so-called “principle of impartiality.”
The decision has ignited widespread condemnation from refugee communities and Palestinian institutions across the country.
The dismissed employees are:
Hassan al-Sayyid, principal of Al-Quds School in Beirut.
Ibrahim Marai, principal of Hatin School in Sidon.
Maher Tawieh, teacher at Amqa Secondary School in Nahr al-Bared camp.
Osama al-Ali, teacher at Nazareth Secondary School in Beddawi camp.
The four had been suspended since November 2023, following an internal investigation led by a committee dispatched from outside Lebanon.
The investigation concluded that the employees had made simple online comments of a Palestinian nationalist nature in response to Israel’s war on Gaza. The posts did not include incitement or serious breaches of administrative conduct, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.
Despite the absence of serious violations, UNRWA proceeded with the dismissals, prompting strong backlash—particularly because the educators are members of the UNRWA Teachers’ Union, an elected body that has openly criticized agency leadership under Lebanon Director Dorothee Klaus for what it calls anti-refugee and anti-worker policies.
Numerous Palestinian organizations condemned the move, including the Thabet Foundation for the Right of Return, Al-Awda Cultural Foundation, the 302 Center for the Defense of Refugee Rights, and several town-based associations like Al-Zahiriya and Sa’sa’. These groups have called on UNRWA to immediately reverse the dismissals.
The Joint Palestinian Action Committee in North Lebanon also issued a statement condemning what it called a “systematic political targeting of Palestinian educational cadres.”
The committee has called for a mass protest on Friday in front of UNRWA’s Beirut headquarters, with the participation of all major Palestinian factions.
Tensions between Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and UNRWA have been escalating in recent years due to deep cuts in education, healthcare, and relief services, as well as what many see as a gradual retreat from the agency’s original mandate to protect refugee rights—especially the right of return.
Analysts warn that the dismissals could become a major flashpoint within refugee communities, triggering more protests and deepening distrust in UNRWA’s leadership, particularly as refugees face worsening economic and social conditions in deteriorating camps across Lebanon.
