He continues: "Since the signing of the peace agreement in Oslo, the pressure on us increased from America which aimed at pushing us to despair and also put pressure on the hosting government [Lebanon] to make us citizens, which would automatically mean we would lose our rights to return to our homeland."

This pressure, according to Shabaytah, is primarily responsible for the unyielding social breakdown which has occurred in the education and health sector of Ain Al-Helwa.

"The system of education is the same in the camp as it is in any part of Lebanon," he says. "But compared with other parts of Lebanon, where students go from 8am-2pm, in the camp, due to our increasing number of students, we have to do two or three shifts to accommodate them all.

"Because of the shifts, this affects the quality of the teaching - the students are not getting enough time to be educated properly. The number of students has increased, but the number of schools has remained the same. This also includes the number of students per classroom, which has increased from 30 to 60."

Despite this, Shabaytah is proud of the strong resolve which many Palestinians have shown in terms of their ability to thrive in academic circles.

"Regardless of these difficult educational circumstances the Palestinian students have an innate talent for maths and physics," he says.