2y ago

Why Egypt and other Arab countries are unwilling to take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza

The two countries, which flank Israel on opposite sides and share borders with Gaza and the occupied West Bank, respectively, have replied with a staunch refusal. Jordan already has a large Palestinian population.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi made his toughest remarks yet on Wednesday, saying the current war was not just aimed at fighting Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, “but also an attempt to push the civilian inhabitants to ... migrate to Egypt.” He warned this could wreck peace in the region.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II gave a similar message a day earlier, saying, “No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt.”

Their refusal is rooted in fear that Israel wants to force a permanent expulsion of Palestinians into their countries and nullify Palestinian demands for statehood. El-Sissi also said a mass exodus would risk bringing militants into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, from where they might launch attacks on Israel, endangering the two countries’ 40-year-old peace treaty.

36 comments

Tldr: Nobody wants them, because they fear they will bring hamas with them and because they are a political tool against Israel.
Its seriously f*d up.
- A friend from Lebanon basically explained to me the exact same thing, it's not that they don't want Palestinians, it's that they know Hamas will 100% enter Lebanon as refugees, and add to that the centuries old conflict between Shia and Sunni Muslims (Hezbollah is Shia while Hamas is Sunni) and you have your answer.
  
  Thought Hamas was shia too since they work with Iran so much
- True, but also maybe they remember the Black September?
- NIMBY but country-level. "THEY DESERVE A COUNTRY! - but keep them out of ours. We don't want the crime or poverty. And don't tell the press or citizenry we said that."
  :P
  
  They deserve a country on their land. I hate Sisi with all my heart, but he's right. There's only one way Palestinians migrating out of Gaza is going to end and that's not Israel calling them back in after they're "done rebuilding".
- This is from the article, so nowhere near your tl:dr
  After fighting stopped in the 1948 war, Israel refused to allow refugees to return to their homes. Since then, Israel has rejected Palestinian demands for a return of refugees as part of a peace deal, arguing that it would threaten the country’s Jewish majority.
  
  Yes it's a terrible tldr if you get into nit and grit of it. :)
  I can say that Palestinians are being used by islamist groups since the beginning of time and those groups care more for the destruction of Israel than anything else, including having a country named palestina.
Their refusal is rooted in fear that Israel wants to force a permanent expulsion of Palestinians into their countries and nullify Palestinian demands for statehood.
Aaand... They are right.
- They're being very self-serving. They're essentially cooperating with Israel to hold Palestinians hostage while claiming they're looking out for the long-term interests of the hostages. They just don't want refugees or the terrorists who would come with them, and they're trying to dress it up as more than that.
  
  Well, Hamas continuing the fight from the other side of the Egyptian border, which would be expected, would just draw Egypt into the fight
  Accepting the refugees is tantamount to advertising your land the new battleground, cuz Israel totes wouldn't lob missiles at refugees amirite?
  Israel's already genocided a dozen times more casualties than they took, they need to chill the fuck out.
"Their refusal is rooted in fear that Israel wants to force a permanent expulsion of Palestinians into their countries and nullify Palestinian demands for statehood"
This line in the article is important to remember.
I struggle to think of too many times any country has welcomed all refugees with open arms. Any refugees, from any conflict, fleeing to anywhere.
We should stop making refugees and forcibly displacing people, everyone loses. We already have 108 million forcibly displaced peoples, and 40% are kids globally.
- It's gonna get much, much worse thanks to climate change.
  
  For sure. Which is why we need to figure it out now before we use up what resources we have left on making and shipping yet more bombs and tanks. I can't even begin to imagine the carbon footprint of that.
- Despite what the white folks have tried, America has typically been incredibly welcoming to refugees and diasporites.
  It's actually one of the biggest chips on Israel's shoulder, because while America was never perfect for jews, it was better enough than everywhere else that jews who made it here outright rejected the notion that jews cannot be "safe" without a "homeland."
- I mean, sure, but that's a lot easier said than done
  
  So are most complex problems or worthwhile efforts. I'd love a simple working solution just for once too, but no, situations got to be all contextual and nuanced and shit.
For Jordan there's the added paranoia that Palestinian refugees were the source point of one of their kings getting assassinated after he began making moves to recognize Israel
Because they're hateful shitheads.
They feel that is too many to take in. No other reason.

36 comments