Although Egypt signed all Arab League resolutions regarding the protection of the rights of Palestinian refugees, history has shown a wide gap between policy on the ground and public rhetoric. The treatment of Palestinian refugees has tended to follow the political position of Egypt towards the Palestinian leadership and internal interests, rather than the details of conventions signed.

During the 1950s, Egypt issued residency permits for a maximum of six months which then had to be renewed. Although the country offered financial contributions and educational opportunities, for years Palestinians were not permitted to work.

From the early 1960s to the mid 1970s, Palestinians found themselves in a relatively good situation in Egypt, given rights to employment, travel, residency, and property ownership, while still maintaining Palestinian identity and nationality. In 1964, decision 181 allowed that Palestinian refugees with valid Egyptian residence permits could be issued with travel documents valid for up to five years (meaning that they could leave to work abroad in greater certainty that they would be allowed to return within that time).

In the heyday of Arab nationalism and Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser, the Palestinian cause was framed as a shared Arab problem. Egypt declared that Palestinians would be treated on a par with its own citizens, while still preserving their own identities. This was the historical period which provided the most opportunities for Palestinians in Egypt.

However, their situation got worse with death of Nasser and the shattering of the bubble of hopes of Arab nationalism. Following the Camp David Accords of 1978 when Egyptian President Sadat made a cold form of peace with Israel, relations between the Egyptian regime and the PLO took a bitter turn. A Palestinian group associated with the Abu Nidal faction assassinated the Egyptian Minister of Culture Yusef El Sibai, and the Egyptian media and public turned on the Palestinians. Palestinians were seen as ungrateful and disloyal for assassinating a member of the Egyptian government, a government which Egyptian people believed had welcomed Palestinians with open arms.

The situation of distrust continued throughout the 1980s. In the Gulf crisis in 1990 the Palestinians and Jordanians allied themselves with Saddam Hussein, while Egypt joined the West and other Arab countries in opposing Iraq’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait. Palestinians in Egypt were labeled a security threat, particularly young men, who lived in constant fear of harassment by the Egyptian security forces. Families feared that their sons would be deported if they could not find employment, which was sometimes seen as a prerequisite for residency.

In the past decade, despite campaigning by human rights groups, the situation has not considerably improved, and in some areas has got worse. Special privileges given to Palestinians (in comparison with other refugees) in the areas of health, education, travel, etc. were cancelled. In some cases Palestinians are treated worse than other refugees and migrants. For example, in 2003 when the government announced that for the first time Egyptian women married to foreigners would be allowed to pass their nationality on to their children, this excluded Egyptian women married to Palestinians. These children would continue to be denied the health and educational opportunities open for legalized Egyptian children. Costs for health treatment and schooling would remain prohibitive for many families.

Palestinians must now pay university fees in foreign currency, and they are no longer permitted to go to Egyptian public schools. As the price of education soars, the Palestinians in Egypt are gradually becoming an illiterate and unskilled class. Education levels dropped rapidly after 1978. Between 1965 and 1978 there were 20,000 Palestinian students in Egyptian universities; by 1985 there were 4,500, and it is estimated that only around 3,000 are enrolled today.

While unemployment in Egypt increases, Palestinians as a marginalized group are among the first to suffer. The Egyptian public sector only hires nationals of countries which will offer reciprocal rights to Egyptian residents, and as Palestinians have no country which can offer employment to Egyptians, they are excluded. As more Palestinians look to illegal work to earn money, they are increasingly vulnerable to exploitation. Illegal workers have no possibility to complain of abuse, and they have no access to social insurance. (Only those working with the PLO were exempt from school fees and given health care from the Palestinian Red Crescent.) The situation forced many Palestinians to go to the Gulf to look for work, only to find that they were denied reentry visas when they returned to Egypt to visit families or when they were forced to leave by the Gulf authorities.

Unlike refugee children brought up in the UNWRA school system, Palestinians in Egypt are not given an education which focuses on their own history, rights, and pride in their culture. UNWRA camps are a primary focus for maintaining identity even for refugees who do not still live within them. In Egypt on the other hand, even the creation of Palestinian private schools is not permitted, as the Egyptian government keeps a firm hand on preventing the emergence of any Palestinian independent identity within Egyptian society. There are some Palestinian cultural associations in the capital Cairo, but in many cases bitter experience has taught families that trying to assimilate into Egyptian society will bring better opportunities for their children.

Sadly today in Egypt, Palestinian children are more likely to become fully aware of what it means to be a Palestinian, not by learning of their history in school, but by seeing what they are excluded from. When their parents are denied property ownership or when an aunt or sister marries a cousin in Gaza and is unable to get a visa to come back and visit, a child in Egypt receives the message loud and clear: You do not belong here.

Resources: