Leaving Egypt, but to go where? The thorny question of Palestinian refugees

Photo: Mohammed Abed Agence France-Presse Palestinian refugees arriving in Rafah, shortly before crossing the border with Egypt, last December.

Mathieu Carbasse In Egypt

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• Middle East

The issue of Palestinian refugees remains very sensitive in the Middle East, where the majority of Arab countries do not want to facilitate the settlement of Palestinians outside Palestine. They fear that once established, they will never be allowed to return to Gaza or the West Bank, and will then become a problem in their host country.

Since October 2023, Egypt is therefore the only country to have welcomed a large number of Palestinians: 120,000, according to the Palestinian embassy in Cairo.

But since the country does not want to offer them legal status or temporary residence, these refugees have their eyes turned abroad, where they hope to obtain asylum, generally in a country where a member of their family already lives. However, places are scarce and no country is ready for the moment to welcome Palestinians en masse.

And even if the majority of the Gazans who have fled dream of returning to live in Gaza one day, no one can predict when this will be possible, or even if it will be possible one day.

In Canada ?

Since January 2024, a unique family reunification program has allowed 5,000 Palestinians from Gaza to join a loved one in Canada. More than 4,000 applications have already been pre-accepted. However, visas are slow to arrive and only 209 Palestinians had been able to come to Canada by mid-September.

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In an interview with Devoir, Michael Lynk, professor of law at the University of Western Ontario and former UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Human Rights, denounces “massive bureaucracy that slows things down.”

He also points out that Canada welcomed a large number of Syrian refugees in 2015 and 2016. “And by most accounts, these families have integrated very well. I have a hard time understanding why the same generosity is not extended to Palestinians in Gaza.”

Why not Lebanon or Syria?

Of all the host countries, Lebanon has historically had the most difficult situation for Palestinian refugees. The 500,000 Palestinians living there, who arrived mainly in 1948, when the State of Israel was created, or in 1967, after the Six-Day War, are not entitled to citizenship and their refugee status is very precarious. In particular, they do not have access to certain professions.

And then, because Hezbollah has strong affinities with Palestine, some refugees have been able to fight or collaborate with the Shiite party. The refugee camps in the South are therefore sometimes targeted by Israel, warns Mr. Lynk.

Syria has granted the 600,000 Palestinians who have arrived on its soil since 1948 (the year the State of Israel was created) the same rights as Syrian citizens, apart from obtaining Syrian citizenship. After more than 12 years of civil war, the country is struggling to stand and cannot accommodate tens of thousands of additional Palestinian refugees.

… or Jordan ?

“Jordan would be an ideal destination for refugees from Gaza, since there are already nearly 2.5 million Palestinians in the country,” explains to DevoirFrom Amman, Jordan, Jonathan Fowler, a spokesperson for the United Nations refugee agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Most Palestinian refugees who arrived in 1948 or 1967 were granted Jordanian citizenship, and more than 50% of the Jordanian population is now thought to be of Palestinian origin.

“If Palestinian refugees in Egypt were welcomed in Jordan, for example, they could benefit from UNRWA services, since we are authorized to operate in that country,” he suggests.

This text is part of our Perspectives section.

Going to the West Bank or East Jerusalem ?

Jonathan Fowler doesn’t look favorably on the settlement of Gaza refugees elsewhere in the West Bank. “The war in Gaza has somewhat erased what was already happening in the West Bank,” he explains. “The Palestinians were experiencing a level of violence that had not been seen for years, with repeated incursions by Israeli forces, with attacks by settlers, with a level of impunity that was quite shocking.” »

In addition, there are already nearly 2.5 million displaced people in Palestine, according to the United Nations (1.6 million in Gaza and 900,000 in the West Bank), who have had to leave their homes during the various crises that the region has experienced since 1948.

And the Gulf countries ?

Compared to the countries bordering the West Bank, those in the Gulf host few Palestinian refugees. In fact, only a tiny minority of Palestinians (less than 5%) who have settled in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or the United Arab Emirates since 1948 have been granted citizenship, according to Michael Lynk. Qatar, which has flown in seriously injured Palestinians to its hospitals, does not expect them to stay once they can safely return home.

This report was funded with support from the Transat International Journalism Fund-Le Devoir.