No recognition, no rights: The abject plight of Egypt's Palestinian refugees

The situation Palestinian refugees face in Egypt is unique. In addition to being fewer in number than the large Palestinian communities that settled in pre-1948 Palestine's other neighbouring countries (Syria, Jordan and Lebanon) they live in limbo; neither recognised as refugees nor as citizens. 

Today, they are marginalised and denied basic rights such as free education and healthcare, and their work rights are heavily restricted, despite having been residents in Egypt for decades.

Many fear disclosing their Palestinian identity due to discrimination and the campaigns which have been whipped up by Egyptian media against them time and time again since the late 1970s.

Around 20 years ago it was estimated that around 100,000 Palestinians were resident in Egypt, says Palestinian researcher Oroub El-Abed, and today the number would have increased significantly. However, since UNRWA has no office in Egypt, accurate and up-to-date statistics are absent.

"Many fear to disclose their Palestinian identity due to discrimination and the campaigns which have been whipped up by Egytian media against them"

Neither the UNHCR nor UNRWA assists Palestinian refugees in Egypt. The UNHCR deals with other refugees in Egypt – but not Palestinians; while UNRWA, seen by many as the body specifically responsible for Palestinian refugees, says its remit has only ever been Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria and the agency has no office in Egypt.

Majority barred from nationality rights

Today, Egyptian nationality can be granted to Palestinians but only in a strict set of circumstances, which bars the majority from naturalising and obtaining many basic rights, prompting criticism from those who sympathise with the Palestinian plight in the country.

However, others defend this position, arguing that granting Palestinians Egyptian nationality would jeopardise their identity and cause. This argument goes back to the Arab League's resolution 462 issued in 1952, which stipulated that the League's policy towards the Palestinian refugees needed to be based on the principle of their eventual return, and guarded against naturalisation. 

Amal, who is in her fifties, was displaced with her family from the Palestinian city of Rafah, first moving to the region of northern Sinai, before settling down in Cairo. She says that the reasons behind denying nationality to Palestinians "don't justify all the other problems Palestinians have in Egypt, which have got worse since the situation […] changed in the summer of 2013".

Here Amal is referring to the military coup which saw General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi take power, ousting the late Mohamed Morsi. This ushered in a period which saw Palestinians heavily demonised by Egyptian media – a trend which has precedent in Egypt.

Golden era under Nasser 

Life in Egypt has changed dramatically for Palestinians since the first refugees arrived in 1948. Under the late president Gamal Abdul Nasser (1954-1970), they received a warm welcome, enjoying rights equal to those of Egyptian citizens.

This included access to public-sector and governmental jobs, as well as free state education both at the school and university levels. Palestinians were made exempt from virtually every restriction which other foreigners resident in Egypt were subject to.

"Life in Egypt has changed dramatically for Palestinians since the first refugees arrived in 1948. Under the late president Gamal Abdul Nasser (1954-1970), they received a warm welcome"

However, things changed with the next president Anwar Sadat, who signed the 1978 Camp David peace accords with Israel and stripped Palestinians of all the rights they'd had under Nasser.

The assassination of then culture minister, Yusuf Al-Sibai in early 1978 at the hands of a militant Palestinian faction also played a decisive role in Egypt's new hostility towards its Palestinian refugees. This attitude has only deteriorated since, apart from a short period of relative respite during the years of the 2011 January revolution and the rule of late president Mohammed Morsi (2012-13). 

Fears of surveillance and media defamation

Before agreeing to talk to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, The New Arab's Arabic-language sister edition, Amal asked for the conversation to be on WhatsApp and deleted afterwards, due to fears of surveillance by Egyptian intelligence - a fear shared by many Palestinians in Egypt today who believe they are closely monitored.

While life has been hard for Palestinians in Egypt since the late seventies, since 2013 the pressure has intensified, coinciding with rifts that opened up within the Egyptian public between supporters and detractors of the January 25 Revolution.

In the aftermath of the 2013 military coup, Egyptian media platforms accused Palestinians of agitating for the revolution, infiltrating Egypt's borders, and organising jailbreaks.

"The Egyptian military regime in power since July 3, 2013, is now demonising everything Palestinian," wrote Gazan professor Haidar Eid in 2013 in an article on the demonisation of Palestinians in Egypt following the military takeover.

Amal has a heart condition but is unable to access free state healthcare because she is classified as a "foreigner" under Egyptian law. Additionally, since 2014 she has not had a valid residency permit.

Aside from anxieties over affording her day-to-day expenses, and accessing medical treatment, Amal is also constantly worrying about renewing her residency permit. Every time she tries to renew it, she finds the cost has increased, and she can't afford it, forcing her to remain in legal limbo. 

"I usually didn't feel like a stranger among Egyptians as most would warmly welcome me when they learned I was Palestinian"

Most Palestinians residing in Egypt hold provisional Egyptian travel documents, valid for three to five years, which must be renewed states El-Abed. Some Palestinians also have residency permits, which need to be renewed regularly at high cost, however, these are difficult to obtain.  Conditions to access residency permits include marriage to an Egyptian, or having a work contract with a private company.  

Gharib, a Palestinian living in Egypt, fled there when Lebanon’s civil war erupted. His family, originally from Al Jura village in the West Bank, is now scattered between Palestine, Egypt and Lebanon. While fleeing Beirut, Gharib was hit by a stray bullet, which forced him to keep going with a leg injury and left him disabled. A bullet had lodged itself in the bone, he explains, and doctors who treated him in Egypt warned that its extraction could lead to paralysis.

At first, Gharib had no difficulty obtaining residency in Egypt and was able to access basic services. However, he faced challenges finding work because of his disability as well as the lack of a clear legal status for Palestinians in the country. He worked in various professions, including as a dry liner and painter.

A warm welcome from locals

After saving money he was able to start raising and selling livestock on land belonging to Egyptian farmers in Fadel village in the Abu Kabir district in Sharqiya governorate, an isolated and marginalised village with a large Palestinian community many of whom can be traced back to those who fled the Palestinian city of Beersheba (Beer Saba'a) in 1948.

"Around 4,000 Palestinians live in Fadel village, it might be the largest Palestinian community in Egypt, as well as other areas in Cairo, Ismailia, Port Said, Arish and Rafah […] I usually didn't feel like a stranger among Egyptians as most would warmly welcome me when they learned I was Palestinian."

He recalls the kindness shown by ordinary Egyptians upon learning he was Palestinian: "I remember I bought animal feed […] from a seller, and we agreed I would pay it in three instalments. When the second payment was due the trader startled me by refusing the money after learning my animals were sick, and a few had died. The Egyptian trader said he wouldn't take any more money out of respect for his beloved Palestine."

After 2013 things changed, says Gharib, and Palestinians were attacked with the same smears as in the seventies, and he started avoiding mentioning he was Palestinian. When he moved to Cairo to work selling herbs, he hid his identity, fearful that the anti-Palestinian propaganda peddled by Egyptian media might affect the way people dealt with him.

The gradual erosion of rights

Nearly 20 years ago, El-Abed wrote in her research paper The Forgotten Palestinians: how Palestinian refugees survive in Egypt: "Egypt's shifting policies towards its Palestinians have led to a gradual erosion of their rights. Regulations have marginalised Palestinians and reduced them to the status of foreigners denied access to international bodies able to voice their needs."

She said the situation towards Palestinians and their possibility to access rights has not changed in this regard, although there was an improvement in 2004 when Egyptian women were permitted to pass their nationality to their children.

"They made these Palestinians live under deteriorating socio-economic conditions with almost no proper rights, [so] that majority of the Palestinians living in Egypt for example are made to conceal their Palestinian identity," she said, "there has been this kind of conflict between on the one hand they wanted to safeguard the Palestinian identity but on the other hand they kept these Palestinians with no protection," - which has ended up leaving the Palestinians in limbo.

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition with additional reporting. To read the original article click here.

Translated by Rose Chacko

This article is taken from our Arabic sister publication, Al-Araby Al Jadeed and mirrors the source's original editorial guidelines and reporting policies. Any requests for correction or comment will be forwarded to the original authors and editors.

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