Page "War of the Camps" Paragraph 2

In the wake of the creation of the State of Israel in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became refugees in south Lebanon.

A few Palestinians with skills and capital were allowed to reside in cities and live dignified lives ; the majority, however were destitute peasants who could only offer their unskilled work force to the Lebanese economy, were kept in squalid refugee camps near the main cities.