Lebanon deputies claiming today that they are advocating a people-centered recovery when they put "an area under study" at the DGU and/or prevent land sales are full of crap. There are decades of evidence that demonstrate it.

1/ Go back and read the law, placing an area under-study at DGU doesn't prevent land transactions. Also, placing an area under study never stopped building permits. Instead, it allowed for "exceptions" by suspending the law. There are 100s of empirical examples in recent history.

2/ When you outlaw land transactions in Lebanon, you effectively empower the well-backed developers and their bankers-friends who know how to bend the law to monopolize transactions. This forces landowners to sell at lower prices because they are captive sellers.

3/ Serious about helping people return home? Revisit rental laws and taxation regimes to incentivize use and support fragile households *without overburdening* a small group of landowners. Give incentives and support. Stop the flow of capital in real-estate. Tax vacancy heavily.

4/ Pumping sectarian narratives in the neighborhoods is in line with the practices of the political class, which thrives on this tune. NGOs and activists need to be careful in distancing their pro-people messages from sectarian rhetorics that are viciously penetrating convos.