Angry Arab's sister speaks: "The repercussions of the PLO's departure and Amin Gemayel's presidency on the Palestinian community in Lebanon were both practical and social, said activist, Mervat Abu Khalil, who has volunteered in the refugee camps for more than two decades. "At the beginning UNRWA money was not needed, you had all PLO money and infrastructure. Not only clinics, dispensaries and schools, whatever, but you had political activities for all the factions, you had cultural and youth organizations, they were full of life. The PLO had offices in Tareq Jedidi between Sabra and Shatila and there was [a] continuation socially, you didn't feel the camps were ghettoes separated from the rest of the city," she recalled. "With the rise in racism after 1982 the situation started to change. All the men were in Lebanese or Israeli jails or working abroad, so the women, children and elderly were left by themselves. Tareq Jedidi became a Lebanese residential area and the Palestinians withdrew to the camps, which became isolated and had to be self-sufficient. You didn't feel the separation between camp and rest of the city and have Internet cafes and billiards halls like you have now," Abu Khalil said."