As expected, Israel’s neighboring Islamic countries condemned Tel Aviv’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, in response to Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israeli territory on the 7th. These criticisms are made in the name of “solidarity with the Palestinian cause” – however, attitudes in these countries demonstrate that this support has serious limitations.
A first point is that Egypt and Jordan, which border, respectively, Gaza and the West Bank, are refusing to receive Palestinian refugees from the conflict. The official excuse is that the mass departure of Palestinians would weaken the pressure to create an Arab state. Another concern is that Hamas terrorists could infiltrate civilians.
A second point that highlights the difference between discourse and practice is that Palestinians who are already in neighboring Islamic countries are treated as second-class citizens.
A report published in May by the American think tank Migration Policy Institute (MPI), citing 2022 data from the United Nations, found that 5.9 million Palestinian refugees or descendants live in Middle Eastern countries.
The neighboring countries with the largest contingents are Jordan (40% of these refugees are in the country), Syria (10%, although a large part is believed to have left the country due to the Syrian civil war) and Lebanon (8%). Below are listed the biggest challenges that Palestinians face in each country and also in Egypt.
Jordan
According to the MPI report, around three-quarters of Palestinians in Jordan are Jordanian citizens and are integrated into the local society and economy. However, those arriving from Gaza are prevented from obtaining citizenship and are excluded from most rights and services.
In this way, they end up forced to turn to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to access education and health services.
“Those from Gaza are also required to renew their travel documents every two years, obtain special permits to work in the private sector and pay double the fees to access public schools and universities,” the MPI stated.
The situation is also bad for Palestinian refugees who lived in Syria and who had to move to Jordan due to the civil war in that country. Because they do not have Jordanian citizenship, they cannot work or have access to public services and, unlike other refugees from Syria, they are excluded from assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is more structured and receives more resources. than UNRWA.
Lebanon
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are not entitled to citizenship and have very limited access to public health services, education and the formal economy, MPI highlighted. The situation was worse: until 2005, the Lebanese government prohibited all Palestinian refugees from working in the formal job market.
“Now, Lebanese-born Palestinians who have registered with UNRWA and the Ministry of Interior can obtain work permits for 70 professions,” MPI said.
However, Palestinians do not have access to public health insurance and remain barred from several other professions, in the areas of law, engineering and public health. Almost half of Palestinians in Lebanon still live in refugee camps, many of them in precarious conditions.
Syria
The MPI report noted that although they could not obtain citizenship, Palestinians in Syria had access to the same jobs, education and health services as Syrian citizens. However, the civil war that began in the country 12 years ago severely impacted this population.
Refugee camps that housed more than 30% of Palestinian refugees were practically destroyed. Around 20% of Palestinians in Syria fled the country, and of those who stayed, 40% were forced to move within Syrian territory.
Egypt
The most recent estimate, from 20 years ago, indicated that around 100,000 Palestinians lived in Egypt. Updated numbers are lacking, but the projection is that this population is much larger today.
A June report in The New Arab newspaper pointed out that UNHCR assists other refugees in Egypt, but not Palestinians, and UNRWA does not have an office in the country: its operations are restricted to the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Granting Egyptian citizenship to Palestinians is restricted, preventing many from obtaining basic rights.
“But these issues do not justify all the other problems Palestinians have in Egypt, which have worsened since the situation changed in the summer of 2013,” said Amal, a Palestinian woman in her 50s who declined to give further details about her identity. to avoid problems, to The New Arab.
According to the newspaper, Palestinians began to be demonized in Egypt from that year onwards, when General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power, as they were accused of promoting political “unrest”, infiltrating the country’s borders and organizing prison breaks. .
Amal, who has a heart problem, reported that she does not have access to public health services because she is classified as a “foreigner” and since 2014 she has not had a valid residence permit, due to a lack of money to pay for renewal. As in other cases, solidarity with the Palestinians remained in the speech.
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