Without access to public healthcare Palestinians have to go to the
private sector for medical treatment, where costs are high and refugees
are also discriminated against. Hospitals sometimes insist on payment in
advance or refuse to provide services altogether. One local refugee
agency reported some refugees died due to the lack of medical care.
Since renewing a residency permit every 45 days in Egypt’s
labyrinthine, under-resourced and corrupt bureaucracy is impossible,
Palestinians quickly find themselves without legal permission to be in
Egypt at all; any foreigner in Egypt who does not have legal residency
can be arrested at any time. This means Palestinians have to be careful
how they travel and move circumspectly, avoiding long journeys or certain parts of Cairo where there is a high chance of being stopped or arrested.
Often the Egyptian authorities swoop on migrant neighbourhoods in
days-long campaigns targeting refugees and asylum seekers and making
dozens of arrests. Once detained, anything can happen to them and Human
Rights Watch and similar organisations have previously documented
serious abuses
against asylum seekers and refugees by the Egyptian authorities.
Usually however the police are just looking for some hard currency and
let them go after demanding and securing a bribe.
The Egyptian authorities are also known to refoul refugees, although
this is against international human rights law; thousands of Sudanese
refugees have been collectively expelled back to Sudan, with the UNHCR estimating that 3,000 people were deported to Sudan from Egypt in September 2023 alone.
There have been no known cases of Palestinians being refouled to Gaza
since the war started but this is not surprising given the extensive
restrictions at the border and because the Rafah crossing has been
completely closed since 7 May.
If the restrictions were eased as part of a ceasefire deal, given how
the Egyptian authorities treat other refugees and asylum seekers,
refugees from Gaza could be at risk of refoulement. This may explain why
Cairo is insisting that as any part of a deal the IDF evacuate the Philadelphi Corridor -
the strip of land that runs the entirety of the border between Gaza and
Egypt and includes the Rafah crossing - and why Netanyahu is insisting
the IDF remain.
As Egypt does not have refugee camps, displaced people live among
ordinary Egyptians where besides having to manage all the same harsh
social and economic problems citizens face, they are also subject to
widespread public stigmatisation and discrimination.
While Sudanese and refugees of sub-Saharan origin face open racism,
Palestinians face another kind of discrimination, born out of their
systematic denigration in Egyptian state media which since the late
1970s has projected
Palestinians as being 'ungrateful' and accused them of having brought
about their own expulsions through their greed and willingness to sell
their land to Zionists. As a result, many Egyptians believe that
Palestinians are rich and influential and deserve neither sympathy nor
assistance. Gaza evacuees say they fear disclosing their identity and face prejudice from Egyptian landlords who view them as a bag of money.
In June Al Monitor reported on discrimination against Palestinians accessing housing:
One of the greatest difficulties for Gazans living in Cairo is
finding housing. “Although my wife has an Egyptian passport, we had
difficulties finding accommodation,” Mohammed Telbani, a 30-year-old
from Gaza City, explains to Al-Monitor. “We felt a certain prejudice
from the Egyptians. They prefer not to rent apartments to us.” … The
displaced Gazans in Cairo are spread throughout the city, although the
main districts they find shelter in are Giza, Faisal, Imbaba and Ain
Shams, where speculation is developing and rents for Palestinians are
much higher than market prices.”
As UN Habitat explains:
In areas of the city where refugees have settled they compete
with poor local residents for scarce resources and limited services and,
as such, they are vulnerable to aggression, violence and exploitation.
Egyptian residents in these areas have very similar needs for assistance
and support initiatives as (do) the refugees.
With ordinary Egyptians caught in a cycle of rampant inflation,
rising rents and strains on services and resources resentment towards
Gazan refugees will only be exacerbated as the ceasefire talks stall and
the war drags on.
Members can leave comments about this newsletter on the Arab Digest website