| Group: | Palestinians in Syria |
| Population: | 581,000[1] |
| Popplace: | Damascus, Rif Dimashq, Daraa, Homs, Aleppo, Latakia and Hama governorates |
| Rels: | Predominantly Sunni Muslims with some Christians |
Palestinians in Syria (Arabic: الفلسطينيون في سوريا) are people of Palestinian origin, most of whom have been residing in Syria after they were displaced from their homeland during the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. Palestinians hold most of the same rights as the Syrian population, but cannot become Syrian nationals except in rare cases.[2] [3] In 2011, there were 526,744 registered Palestinian refugees in Syria. Due to the Syrian Civil War, the number of registered refugees has since dropped to about 450,000 due to many Palestinians fleeing to Lebanon, Jordan or elsewhere in the region to escaping to Europe as refugees, especially to Germany and Sweden.
Most Palestinian refugees in Syria fled there in 1948 from northern Palestine districts, Safad, Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, Tiberias, and Nazareth. Some refugees arrived in Syria via Lebanon, some came from Galilee and the Hula Valley onto the Golan Heights, and others came directly from Palestine to Jordan to Syria. By the summer of 1948, there were about 70,000 Palestinian refugees in Syria, the majority concentrated along the border area with Israel. The refugees were initially housed in deserted military barracks in As-Suwayda, Aleppo, Homs, and Hama. In 1949, Law no. 450 established the Palestine Arab Refugee Institution (PARI), which later was replaced by the General Authority for Palestine Arab Refugees (GAPAR), to manage the Palestinian refugee affairs. GAPAR's responsibilities were refugee registration, relief assistance, finding employment opportunities for the refugees, and managing funds and contributions intended for them. GAPAR, with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), jointly administer the camps.[4] UNRWA is an agency that works for Palestine refugee and is mostly funded by voluntary contributions. They also receive their funding from the Regular budget of the United Nations. UNRWA was established by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 302 IV of 8 December 1949 to carry out relief programs for Palestinian Refugees.
According to GAPAR data, 85,000 Palestinian refugees settled in Syria by the end of 1948. According to author Laurie Brand, the full initial influx of Palestinians was substantial (90,000–100,000), and the government, through a series of laws, gradually paved the way for their integration into the Syrian socioeconomic structure while preserving their separate Palestinian identity.[5]
By 1960, GAPAR reported the Palestinian refugee population was 126,662. In 1967, Palestinian refugees fled the Quneitra Governorate in the Golan Heights, and around 4,200 of them were housed in Daraa Emergency Camp. In 1970, as a result of Black September, some Palestinian refugees fled from Jordan to Syria. In 1982, in the wake of 1982 Lebanon War, a few thousand Palestinian refugees left Lebanon and found shelter in Syria. In 1989, the refugee population had risen to 296,508. By the end of 1998, the number was 366,493.[6]
Around 526,000 Palestine refugees are now registered with UNRWA. There are nine official and three unofficial camps for refugees, with 111,208 refugees living in camps in 2002.[7]
See main article: Syrian Civil War. Due to the civil war in Syria that commenced in 2011, many Palestinians in Syria have been displaced, either within Syria itself or they have fled the country. Their propensity to fleeing includes having been under siege in refugee camps, while many have opted to make the dangerous journey to Europe as conditions remain hostile to Palestinians in neighboring Middle Eastern states.[8]
According to UNRWA, more than half a million Palestinians resided in refugee camps in Syria before the war started. As of 2019, the UN estimate that at least 120,000 Palestinians have been displaced from Syria since 2011.[9] According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, Palestinians who lived in refugee camps in Syria have faced additional obstacles, since they have been made "refugees for the second time". The Geneva-based organization reported that more than 160,000 Palestinian Syrian refugees had left their camps in Syria, migrating to neighboring or countries of the European Union. These include nearly 80,000 refugees who fled to Europe, 57,276 others who fled to neighboring countries, such as Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, and another 7,000 Palestinian Syrian refugees who fled to Egypt and the Gaza Strip.[10]
As of 2017, the UN estimated that 450,000 Palestinian refugees remain in Syria, of whom up to 280,000 are internally displaced, and an estimated 43,000 are trapped in hard-to-reach locations. Some continue to be displaced multiple times as a result of armed violence.[11]
3,642 Palestinians died during the first seven years of war, 1,651 Palestinians had been detained and more than 300 Palestinians were unaccounted for.[12] Residents of Palestinian camps have suffered from air raids, shelling, siege, and malnutrition, in particular in Yarmouk Camp in the Damascus area, besieged by the government until 2018, leading to the displacement of over 100,000 and many deaths from starvation.[13] By 2019, 3,987 Palestinians, including 467 women and 200 children, had been killed in the conflict.[14]
According to an UNRWA spokesperson, "Palestinians are among those worst affected by the Syrian conflict." He explained that 95 percent of the 438,000 Palestinians are in "critical need of sustained humanitarian assistance", with many dependent on the clinics, emergency assistance and teaching staff that UNRWA provides. UNRWA educates 45,000 students a day. 54 percent of UNRWA funds go to education, 17 percent goes to health, 16 percent goes to support services, 9 percent goes to relief and social services and 4 percent goes to infrastructure and camp improvement.
The president of the United States, Donald J. Trump pulled back funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in 2018.[15] [16] Salim Salamah, the director of the Palestinian League of Human Rights – Syria, argues that "Palestinian refugees in Syria and those who have been doubly displaced to neighboring countries will suffer as a result of the decision. The impact is going to be really massive and tragic, for Palestinians of Syria, its life-saving aid, especially in the context that many Palestinians lack access to many basic services, even [those who fled] in Lebanon or Jordan."[17]
The Arab League's 1965 Casablanca Protocol provides the framework for the treatment of Palestinians living in the Arab States.[18] It consisted of the following regulations: (1) Whilst retaining their Palestinian nationality, Palestinians have the right of employment on par with its citizens. (2) Palestinians have the right to leave and return to their state of residence. (3) Palestinians residing in other Arab states have the right to enter and depart from other Arab states, but their right of entry only gives them the right to stay for the permitted period and for the purpose they entered for, so long as the authorities do not agree to the contrary. (4) Palestinians are given, upon request, valid travel documents; authorities must issue these documents or renew them without delay. (5) Bearers of these travel documents residing in Arab League states receive the same treatment as all other LAS state citizens, regarding visa and residency applications.[19]
Children born in Syria to fathers who are Palestinian nationals, even if they themselves were born in Syria, are considered Palestinian not Syrian nationals. "Only in very limited circumstances, such as the absence or statelessness of a father, could the mother grant her child Syrian citizenship."[3] Instead of a passport, Palestinians are given specific travel documents.[3]
Palestinians in Syria have the right to own more than one business or commercial enterprise as well as the right to lease properties, to join unions, to travel with Syria and to establish residence in Syrian villages and cities.[20] They are also eligible for drafting into the Syrian Armed Forces.[3]
There is, however, a prominent gap between Palestinians' and nationals' right in home and land ownership laws: unlike Syrian nationals, Palestinians may not own more than one home or purchase arable land.[20] And in terms of political rights, Palestinian refugees do not have the right to vote or stand as candidates for the People's Assembly of Syria (the Syrian parliament of representatives) or Presidency.[20]