more and more Palestinians seek asylum in Europe

The European Union Agency for Asylum has just published its 2023 report, in which it observes an unprecedented number of asylum applications from Palestinians. The situation in Gaza is such that certain countries, including France, are reviewing their criteria for granting protection.

This is a very thin paragraph from the report published this week by the European Union Agency for Asylum. In 2023, 11,600 Palestinians applied for asylum. This is little compared to the 180,000 Syrians or 114,000 Afghans, but it is unheard of, explains the agency: two thirds more than in 2022.

Greece, for example, saw its number of Palestinian cases double. In general, these are first requests and therefore, the report concludes, recent arrivals in Europe. The agency also recognizes that these figures are not 100% reliable, since not all European countries recognize the existence of a Palestinian state. Palestinian demands are therefore not always classified in the same way.

A case that should set a precedent

Asking for asylum does not necessarily mean obtaining it, but the war in Gaza and the catastrophic humanitarian situation there are changing things. This is the case in France in any case.
A fortnight ago, in mid-February, the National Court of Asylum, the CNDA, made a decision which should change everything in the examination of requests and could set a precedent.

The file was that of a Gazan, a 33-year-old man from Khan Younes, who has always lived in the Gaza Strip. He decided to flee some time ago, explaining that he feared the Hamas police who criticized him for his political views. In August 2022, the first decision from Ofpra, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, was taken and rejected his file. This is not considered relevant on the merits. In February 2024, an appeal was filed with the National Court of Asylum, which this time granted him protection.

Gaza in a situation of “indiscriminate violence of exceptional intensity”

Yet the Court was not convinced by his arguments either. A magistrate of the Court explains that her file lacked details and clarity. The threat that man suffered was not sufficiently established. Despite these analyses, the CNDA gave him a residence permit for 4 years, renewable, because the Gaza Strip is in a situation of “indiscriminate violence of exceptional intensity”. This is a maximum warning level which concerns or has concerned for example the Kabul region, in Afghanistan, combat zones in Ukraine, or Darfur.

It is therefore out of the question to send a person back to an extremely dangerous area, where their life will be in danger, even if this person does not meet all the criteria usually required.
This decision should set a precedent and will undoubtedly change the number of files validated this year. In 2023, 65 people had pleaded their case before the National Court of Asylum. Less than one in two ultimately obtained protection.