Beirut, June 26
Mohammed Awwad and his fiancee, both Muslims, recently found an affordable apartment for rent online in a town in Lebanon, southeast of Beirut. The 27-year-old journalist called the number and asked the owner when they could drop by to take a look. He was stunned by her response: Muslims are not allowed to settle in the town, she said.
The apartment owner apologised to Awwad, saying she wouldn’t mind renting to people of any sect but officials in the town of Hadat issued orders that only Christians be allowed to buy and rent property from the town’s Christian residents.
The young Shia Muslim man could not believe what he heard and asked his fiancee, Sarah Raad, to call the municipality and she, too, was told that the ban had been in place for years.
Hadat is a small example of Lebanon’s deeply rooted sectarian divisions that once led to a 15-year civil war that left more than 100,000 persons dead. Christian communities feel under siege as Muslims, who tend to have higher birth rates, leave overcrowded areas for once predominantly Christian neighbourhoods.
The ban only applies to Christian property, a Muslim landowner of Hadat is allowed to sell or rent his property to Muslims from outside the town or to whomever he wants. — AFP
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