The question of Palestinian refugees remains very delicate in the Middle East, where the majority of Arab countries do not wish to facilitate the establishment 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 Palestinians in large numbers: 120,000, according to the Palestinian embassy in Cairo.
But since the country is unwilling to offer them legal status or temporary residency, these refugees have their eyes turned abroad, where they hope to obtain asylum, usually in a country where a member of their family already lives. However, places are rare and no country is currently ready to welcome Palestinians en masse.
And even though the majority of 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 ever be possible.
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. On the other hand, visas are slow to arrive and only 209 Palestinians were able to come to Canada by mid-September.
In interview at DutyMichael Lynk, professor of law at the University of Western Ontario and former United Nations special rapporteur for Palestinian human rights, denounces “a massive bureaucracy that slows things down.”
He also points out that Canada welcomed a large number of Syrian refugees in 2015 and 2016. “And according to most reports, these families have integrated very well. I find it difficult to understand why the same generosity is not extended to Palestinians in Gaza. »
Why not Lebanon or Syria?
Of all the host countries, it is in Lebanon that the situation of Palestinian refugees is historically the most difficult. The 500,000 Palestinians who live there, arriving mainly in 1948, during the creation of the State of Israel, or in 1967, after the Six-Day War, do not have the right to citizenship and their refugee status is very precarious. In particular, they do not have access to certain professions.
And then, Hezbollah having strong affinities with Palestine, certain refugees were able to fight or collaborate with the Shiite party. 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 on its feet 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 Duty from Amman, Jordan, Jonathan Fowler, one of the spokespersons for the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA). Most of the Palestinian refugees who arrived in 1948 or 1967 had access to Jordanian citizenship and more than 50% of the Jordanian population today is made up of original Palestinians.
“If Palestinian refugees in Egypt were welcomed in Jordan, for example, they could benefit from UNRWA services, since we are authorized to work in this country,” he says.
Go to the West Bank or East Jerusalem?
Jonathan Fowler does not 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 an unprecedented level of violence 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 due to the various crises that have occurred. known the region since 1948.
And the Gulf countries?
Compared to the countries bordering the West Bank, those in the Gulf welcome few Palestinian refugees. Moreover, only a tiny minority of Palestinians (less than 5%) who have settled in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or the United Arab Emirates since 1948 have had access to citizenship, according to Michael Lynk. Qatar, which has flown seriously injured Palestinians to its hospitals, does not expect them to stay once it is safe to return home.
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat-International Journalism Fund.Duty.