|
Article Excerpt
Abstract
This paper, based on personal interviews, analysis of Egyptian administrative regulations, and observation of practice of international and regional agreements on refugees, considers the effects of displacement on the Palestinians' legal status and hence on the way they have conducted their livelihoods in Egypt. While Arab countries have offered to provide temporary protection to Palestinian refugees, as a result of political developments, including relations between the PLO and the host states, the rights afforded to Palestinians in Arab host states have varied greatly over time.
Palestinians in Egypt, since 1978, do not receive assistance from the government of Egypt and do not have access to any of its public services. Palestinians also do not receive any assistance or protection from UN bodies in charge of refugee issues. Both regional and international pledges and agreements have not been respected. The ambiguous legal status of Palestinians has affected their livelihoods in many ways. It has rendered their residence insecure and in many cases illegal. This has affected employment and education opportunities, as well as freedom of movement and association. The deprivation of rights and the unstable legal and economic conditions of Palestinians in Egypt has placed them in a state of "limbo."
Resume
Cet article est fonde sur des interviews personnelles, sur une analyse des reglements administratives egyptiennes et sur une observation de la maniere dont le droit international et les accords regionaux sur les refugies sont mis en pratique, et examine l'effet qu'a eu le deplacement sur le statut legal des Palestiniens et, par consequent, sur la facon dont ils ont pu mener et gagner leur vie en Egypte. S'il est vrai que les pays arabes ont offert de fournir une protection temporaire aux refugies palestiniens, a cause des developpements politiques, y compris les relations de l'OLP avec les pays d'accueil, les droits concedes aux Palestiniens dans les pays hotes arabes ont varie grandement au cours des annees.
Depuis 1978, les Palestiniens qui se trouvent en Egypte ne regoivent plus d'assistance du gouvernement egyptien et n'ont pas acces aux services publics. En plus, les Palestiniens ne recoivent aucune assistance ou de protection des organismes onusiens en charge des questions des refugies. Les promesses et les accords, tant regionaux qu'internationaux, n'ont pas ete respectes. L'ambigu'ite du statut legal des Palestiniens a affecte leur capacite de gagner leur vie de diverses facons. Elle a rendue leur residence precaire, souvent meme illegale. Cela a affecte leur possibilite de trouver de l'emploi et d'avoir acces a l'education, ainsi que leur capacite de se deplacer et de s'organiser librement en groupe associatifs. Prives de droits et legalement et economiquement en situation precaire, les Palestiniens d'Egypte se retrouvent dans un etat inddtermine.
Based on reports of massacres, evidence of villages and towns being cleared of their populations, and a well-founded fear of further persecution from Zionist guerrilla troops and later the Israeli Defence Forces, Palestinians fled their homes in Palestine in 1948 and in 1967 to seek shelter in neighbouring countries.
Much has been written on the causes of their flight and on their living conditions in what are known as "host countries." (1) Little, however, has been written about those who fled to Egypt, numbering 13,000 in 1948 and 33,000 in 1969. (2) This paper is based on research which was conducted over two years (2001-2003) under the auspices of the Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Programme (FMRS) of the American University in Cairo (AUC). This paper, based on personal interviews with eighty Palestinian families (401 persons), considers the effects of displacement on their legal status and hence on the way they conducted their livelihoods in Egypt. Several factors affected their adjustment to the new environment- the personal resources they had to "reconstruct" in their lives and the attitude of the host country itself to them and their legal status.
This research approached the "field" from a descriptive perspective based on a qualitative case-study approach. Statistical sampling and quantitative data collection would not have been possible given the fact that the exact number of Palestinian refugees in Egypt is not known and the results of the census conducted by the government in 1995 are not available. A snowball method was used in reaching Palestinians dispersed all over the governorates of Egypt. When arriving in the area, the research team would ask a shopkeeper for a Palestinian resident. After finding the first Palestinian household, it would then make referrals to other households. The research team used an open-ended questionnaire which permitted Palestinians to elaborate on their answers and to clarify their coping strategies in Egypt.
Research into Palestinians in Egypt has the aim of providing an understanding of the difficulties they face and laying the foundation for possible projects or actions to benefit this community since it is neither protected nor assisted by any United Nations body. Until Palestinians can return to Palestine, these endeavours are intended to ensure them a decent life while they remain outside Palestine. Assistance efforts being considered include income-generation and educational skills training projects. Calling for an amelioration of Palestinians' living conditions in Egypt does not mean denying their right of return. On the contrary, the objective is to ensure their socio-economic rights and an acceptable legal status, wherever they are residing, meanwhile supporting their legal and political right to return to their homeland.
Why Did Palestinians Go to Egypt?
Palestinians went to Egypt either fearing persecution in Palestine or for socio-economic reasons and were denied access to Palestine as a result of occupation. The first category includes 1948 arrivals who are "Palestinian refugees" as well as those who fled to Egypt as a result of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, the so called "displaced Palestinians." The second category consists of those who were outside Palestine during the 1956 and 1967 wars and would not return to their homes and properties. This category includes those who sought employment and educational opportunities in Egypt between 1954 and 1967 but as a result of the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, many of them could not return to Palestine and have had to remain in Egypt.
Refugees and Displaced Persons
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) defines a "Palestine refugee" as "any person whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period June 1, 1946 to May 15, 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict." This definition was made solely to enable UNRWA to determine eligibility for the agency's assistance programs in its five field operations: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. (3)
Of Palestinians who sought refuge in Egypt, some lived temporarily in Gaza and registered with UNRWA, while others went directly from their homes in Palestine to Egypt so could not register with UNRWA. The majority of Palestinians in Egypt are from the latter group. Egypt's Department of Nationality and Passports had its own definition of them for the purposes of accommodating them in temporary refugee camps and providing relief through the Egyptian Higher Committee for Palestinian Immigrants. "Palestinian immigrants" were defined as those persons who sought refuge in Egypt from 1948 to 1950. (4)
During the 1967 War, more Palestinians, most of them registered with UNRWA, fled from Gaza to Jordan and then Egypt. This displacement included two groups: "refugees-displaced" and "displaced" coming from Gaza. (5) The "refugees-displaced" had been forced to flee Palestine for the second time, the first time being when they left their homes in Palestine for Gaza and the second time being when they left the territories occupied in 1967, which included Gaza. The "displaced" are original inhabitants of Gaza who were displaced for the first time by the 1967 War. Despite the fact that some were registered with UNRWA, those who arrived in Egypt did not receive assistance from any United Nations (UN) agency. (6) The Egyptian Administrative Office of the Governor of Gaza, initially based in Gaza and later moved to Cairo, was the only administrative body dealing with Palestinians in Egypt. The office is still in existence.
Socio-Economic Displacement
After the Rhodes Armistice was signed in February of 1949 on the Greek island of Rhodes, Egypt assumed military and administrative control of Gaza. (7) In 1954, when Gamal Abdel-Nasser became president, work in trade, industry, and transport between Gaza and Egypt was permitted. (8) At the outbreak of the 1967 War, Palestinians who had been involved in these activities settled in Egypt because of the social and professional networks they had established there.
In 1962, economic conditions in Gaza were deteriorating and unemployment increased. In response, Nasser called for Palestinians from Gaza with high school diplomas or college degrees to apply to work in public institutions in Egypt and regulations were issued to facilitate their employment. Those who responded were unable to return to Gaza when the 1967 War erupted and Israelis occupied Gaza. In addition, many Palestinians, as interviews revealed, sought education in prominent Egyptian universities. Again, due to the 1967 War, they were unable to return to Gaza. Other Palestinians went to Egypt as part of Red Cross efforts to reunite families that had been living in Gaza and whose relatives lived in Egypt.
Socio-Economic Conditions Changed
The policies implemented by Nasser beginning in 1954 welcomed Palestinians and treated them as if they were Egyptian nationals. Palestinians were able to enhance their livelihoods during this era and to access state services. Work was permitted and education, including university level was free. Most important, the administrative laws were amended so that the word "foreign" no longer applied to Palestinians.
Political events in the late 1970s marked the end of the golden era for Palestinians in Egypt. The Camp David peace accords and the killing of the Egyptian Minister of Culture Youssef al-Sibai in 1978 by a Palestinian faction group of Abu Nidal al-Banna had a negative impact on Egyptian policy toward Palestinians in Egypt. Laws and regulations were amended to treat Palestinians as foreigners. Their rights to free education, employment, and even residency were taken away from them. University education now has to be paid for in foreign currency. For example, according to a study conducted by Yassin from 1965 to 1978, Palestinian students studying at universities had numbered 20,000, but by 1985 the number had dropped to 4,500. Those enrolled in public universities between the years 1997-1998 and 2000-2001 were 3,048. (9)
Those who had established themselves earlier in the public and the private sector were able to remain in their positions. Government employees or professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, kept their posts. No new Palestinians were hired by the state, however. With access to government jobs gone, they are left with the private sector and the informal economy. The private sector requires skills, which, without education, Palestinians are unable to obtain. It also requires work permits, considering that, in Egypt, the number of foreigners may not exceed 10 per cent of the workforce in each workplace. Palestinians are forced to find work in such sectors as driving trucks and taxis for others, bicycle repair shops, petty trade in commodities such as used clothing on the street, and suitcase merchants who take items from various parts of Egypt to sell in Gaza but now even this trade has stopped because of the second Intifada.
The situation is better for the employees of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Palestine Liberation Army, and current and former Egyptian government employees. They are ensured regular income, and, later, a regular pension. In addition to the education of their children, they are exempted from 90 per cent of university fees.
While socio-economic conditions brought some Palestinians to Egypt, war prevented them from returning home. In September 2002, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reinterpreted Article 1D of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. (10) UNHCR had previously viewed the article as excluding Palestinian refugees because they receive assistance from UNRWA; it now emphasized the second...
|
