Palestinians in Syria Face Uncertain Future

Alia Ahmed

“I lost Palestine as a homeland; I will not lose Syria as well,” says Hiba, 35, a Palestinian living in Syria.

Hiba speaks articulately and with passion about the crisis in Syria, which has naturally affected Palestinians as well, especially those in the Yarmouk refugee camp which has witnessed fierce fighting since December 2012.

Thousands of Palestinians have fled Yarmouk since the fighting broke out, many of them seeking refuge in Lebanon.

Hiba, a project manager for a private institution, lives far from the camps in the upscale Damascus suburb of Mashrou’ Dummar. She says she has never felt like a refugee in Syria, adding that the state treats Palestinians and Syrians equally.

“Why should we stand against [the regime] or seek to overthrow it?” Hiba said. “This is ingratitude and a denial of the facts.”

Certainly Hiba’s views do not represent all Palestinians in Syria, who number about 540,000 and are distributed throughout ten official camps and three unofficial ones, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

The General Authority for Palestinian Refugees, the Palestinians’ official representative in Syria which answers to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, places the number at closer to 600,000.

The authority’s statistics are more accurate than UNRWA’s because many people have stopped renewing their registration with UNRWA but continue to maintain their ties with the authority, which has numbers for all Palestinians in Syria, both in and outside the camps, until the end of 2011.

Unlike Hiba, some Palestinians maintain a neutral position towards the uprising, especially since the revolution became militarized.

Abu Mohammed, 53, a government employee from Al-Sabeena camp south of Damascus, said the need for reform does not give the Free Syrian Army, FSA, the right to “burn down the country.”

He added, however, that the regime also bears responsibility for the destruction.

“The regular army does not care if we are there — it shells residential civilian areas because there is FSA based there,” he said. “We are victims of both parties.”

Saeed, 33, a civil engineer in a private company and a resident of Yarmouk, says he has plenty of good reasons for opposing the regime.

“This regime has always been corrupt, and we all paid the price, Syrians and Palestinians alike,” he says. “This is a revolution for dignity and freedom. We must revolt all against this regime, which for decades exploited the Palestinian cause for its own interests.”

A Need for New Legislation?

The living conditions of Palestinians in Syria vary for several reasons, but depend in part on when the family came to Syria from Palestine.

The first wave came with the announcement of the state of Israel in 1948, and was followed by another from the Gaza Strip in 1956 after the Suez War against Egypt, which ruled the strip at the time, and a third from Gaza and the West Bank in 1967 following the six-day war between Israel and Arab states.

In 1970, many Palestinians fled Jordan due to the events of “Black September” when the Jordanian government launched a military operation against armed Palestinian factions. In 2006, Palestinians who had been living in Iraq relocated to Syria following the American invasion and fall of the Baath regime.

In 1956, nearly three months before the Suez War, Syrian Parliament approved Law 260  which stated that “Palestinians residing in the territory of the Syrian Republic as of the publication of this law are considered as Syrians in all laws and regulations relating to employment and labour rights, and trade and military service, while retaining their original nationality.” This law is still in force today and applies to the descendants of those refugees.

“The Palestinians who came in 1948 enjoy equal rights with Syrians, according to Law 260, when it comes to work and study but excepts them from running or voting in elections,” says Youssef, 31, a Palestinian attorney and resident of Yarmouk. “They also have temporary residences, and their children must complete compulsory service in the Palestinian Liberation Army, but they are really treated like Syrians in most matters.”

“Refugees who came after Law 260 was adopted do not enjoy the same rights as those who preceded them,” he added.

“The rest of the refugees from 1956, for example, have rights to education and health services, but they face problems with employment and can only get temporary contracts, which affects their living conditions negatively,” Joseph explained.

According to Youssef, addressing these discrepancies requires amending the laws governing Palestinians in accordance with international agreements.

Hossam, a lawyer living in Khan Al-Sheeh, a camp west of Damascus, says the Palestinians who came after the adoption of Law 260 are treated on the basis that they are citizens of the countries from which they came.

“According to Law 260, Palestinian refugees from the displacements of 1948…and 1956 carry temporary residencies to indicate they are Palestinians Syrians. Palestinians from subsequent waves are either Jordanian Palestinians with Jordanian papers, or in the case of those from Gaza, Egyptian travel documents, in addition to Palestinians from who came to Syria later from Lebanon or Iraq, and their status is different,” Hossam explained.

“They are treated as citizens of any other Arab country,” he said of the later arrivals’ treatment in Syria. “They can register for school, benefit from medical services and practice any profession privately, but to be employed by the state they need an exemption from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour.”

In Hossam’s opinion, the future of Palestinians in Syria depends upon many factors, not all of them local or even regional.

“Of course what is happening in Syria affects [the Palestinians] because they are an important part of Syrian society, but their problem must be solved by going back to…the United Nations resolutions without compromising on the right of return.”

As the battle between the Syrian government and the opposition continues to unfold, the future of Palestinians there remains uncertain.

“I think we will be refugees again,” says Abu Mohammed. “A lot of the Palestinians have already fled to other countries where their suffering has started all over, as the curse of exile continues to follow them and their children.”