Palestinians are not allowed to become citizens of Arab countries, in accordance with Arab League Decree 1547 for 1959, "in order to preserve the Palestinian entity and Palestinian identity." Even in Jordan they can no longer become citizens. (There have been some exceptions: Palestinian Christians in Lebanon in the 1950s, Palestinians born from Egyptian mothers in 2011.)
Palestinians face severe travel restrictions throughout the Arab world. They do not receive passports and their travel documents are only accepted by a few countries.
Palestinians cannot vote or run for office in national elections.
Children born to Palestinians do not get citizenship in their host countries, violating Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Jordan:
1967: Jordan refused to allow Gazans who came after the Six Day War to become Jordanian citizens. Today some 165,000 Palestinians in Jordan cannot become citizens and get no government services.
1970: 3500-5000 Palestinians killed and 20,000 Palestinians expelled, their camps demolished, in the Black September events.
1988: Jordan revoked citizenship for millions of West Bank Palestinians as they declared "independence." As usual, this move was justified as being for their own good.
2010: Jordan continued to revoke citizenship for thousands more Palestinians
2012: Jordan passed an electoral law that effectively limits the number of Palestinian members of Parliament to less than 10%
2013: Jordan places Palestinian refugees from Syria in special camps that they cannot leave, separate from other refugees, and turns hundreds or thousands back to a dangerous future in Syria.
2014: Palestinians who are citizens are still denied equal rights in the military, and on getting college scholarships and being admitted to some public universities, among other areas.
2016: Jordan puts new restrictions on Gazans wishing to travel through, blocking applications.
Egypt:
1948: Placed all Palestine refugees that reached Egypt into camps, forced men to go back to Palestine to fight.
1949: Expelled all Palestinian from Egyptian camps into Gaza. Very few Palestinian Arabs were left in Egypt.
1950: Egypt refused any UNRWA presence on its territory, relegating it to Gaza.
1949 - 1956: Any Palestinians in Egypt were barred from schooling and employment.
1970s: Palestinians who were treated equally under Nasser are officially classified as "foreigners" and lose access to Egyptian social and food subsidy programs. Most jobs are closed off to them along with university education.
2013: Hundreds of Palestinian refugees from Syria placed into jail as they try to enter Egypt
2013-2017 and 2024: Egypt has effectively closed the Rafah border with Gaza, even limiting hospital patients from traveling, effectively imprisoning 1.7 million Gazans.
2015: Egypt refuses to allow Syrian Palestinians to register with UNHCR, meaning that any who manage to make it to Egypt cannot get any services or residency permits. There have also been deportations of Palestinians from Syria.
2024: Gazans who fled the October 7 war had to pay exorbitant bribes to enter Egypt on 45-day tourist visas. Once they ran out, they are there illegally - they cannot register as refugees, they cannot attend schools, they cannot legally get jobs.
Lebanon:
1950-58: Would only issue one-way travel documents for Palestinians to leave the country
1962: Palestinians classified as "foreigners":
73 job categories banned for Palestinians until 2010; now there are "only" 50 jobs off limits
They are still banned from working as physicians, journalists, pharmacists or lawyers.
They are not permitted to build new houses or own property, or even to repair their homes
Martial law imposed on refugee camps. Army stops people from entering and exiting.
Limitations on schools for Palestinian "foreigners"
Not allowed to live outside refugee camps, which in turn are not allowed to grow. Population of camps is now triple capacity.
Palestinians not allowed to create organizations.
1975-78: At least 5000 Palestinians killed in Lebanese civil war
1985-88: Thousands killed in "War of the Camps"
1995: Law prohibiting Palestinians from entering country without a visa; and visas weren't issued. Those expelled from Gulf states could not return to Lebanon. (Law repealed in 1999.)
2005: Specific laws prohibiting foreigners who are not "nationals of a recognized state" - Palestinians - from owning property. Those who owned it previously cannot pass it to their children.
2007: 31,000 Palestinians homeless because while Lebanese Army destroyed Nahr el Bared camp
2013: Some 50,000 refugees from Syria treated differently from other Syrian refugees; expensive temporary short-term visas effectively make them criminals
2013: Lebanon starts turning some Palestinian Syrian refugees away at the border
May 2014: restrictions placed on the ability of Palestinians from Syria to legally renew their residency papers.
2015: Palestinians can only stay in Lebanon for nine hours, and they must have visas for a third country.
Kuwait:
1991: 400,000 Palestinians were harassed and forced out of the country.
Libya:
1994-5: Expelled 30,000 Palestinians, dismissed many from their jobs and confiscated their houses
Arab countries refused to take in the new refugees. Hundreds were stranded in the desert or the sea. Eventually Libya allowed some to stay but kept threatening to expel them again. In the end about 15,000 were forced to go to Arab countries they had documents for, Gulf countries, and Western nations.
2011: Palestinians were forced to pay a special tax of $1550.
2012: Many Palestinians lost their homes as properties were claimed by others in the wake of the revolution and the collapse of the judicial system.
2014: Banned Palestinians from entering in what is billed as a temporary move, because they say Palestinians are involved in terror groups.
Iraq:
Early 1950s: Expelled striking Palestinian workers, along with Saudi Arabia and Libya..
2005: After Saddam Hussein lost power, Palestinians in Iraq were subjected to abduction, hostage-taking, killing and torture from armed groups. Politicians derided them. About 15,000 were forced to leave Iraq. Thousands were stranded in camps in the desert between Iraq and Syria, where no Arab country would allow them to enter.
2015: Shiites in Iraq are torturing Palestinians and forcing them to confess to terrorism charges. Now about 19,000 out of 25,000 have been forced to leave Iraq.
Qatar:
1994: Refused to grant Palestinians work visas.
Syria:
1970: Palestinians cannot vote, cannot run for office, cannot own farmland, cannot own more than one property..
2005-2008: Syria did not allow thousands of Palestinian Arab refugees fleeing from Iraq to enter the country.
2012-today: Some 2600 Palestinians killed so far in Syria's war. About 50 have starved to death as forces cut off all food and water to the Yarmouk camp.
Lebanon:
1950-58: Would only issue one-way travel documents for Palestinians to leave the country
1962: Palestinians classified as "foreigners":
73 job categories banned for Palestinians until 2010; now there are "only" 50 jobs off limits
They are still banned from working as physicians, journalists, pharmacists or lawyers.
They are not permitted to build new houses or own property, or even to repair their homes
Martial law imposed on refugee camps. Army stops people from entering and exiting.
Limitations on schools for Palestinian "foreigners"
Not allowed to live outside refugee camps, which in turn are not allowed to grow. Population of camps is now triple capacity.
Palestinians not allowed to create organizations.
1975-78: At least 5000 Palestinians killed in Lebanese civil war
1985-88: Thousands killed in "War of the Camps"
1995: Law prohibiting Palestinians from entering country without a visa; and visas weren't issued. Those expelled from Gulf states could not return to Lebanon. (Law repealed in 1999.)
2005: Specific laws prohibiting foreigners who are not "nationals of a recognized state" - Palestinians - from owning property. Those who owned it previously cannot pass it to their children.
2007: 31,000 Palestinians homeless because while Lebanese Army destroyed Nahr el Bared camp
2013: Some 50,000 refugees from Syria treated differently from other Syrian refugees; expensive temporary short-term visas effectively make them criminals
2013: Lebanon starts turning some Palestinian Syrian refugees away at the border
May 2014: restrictions placed on the ability of Palestinians from Syria to legally renew their residency papers.
2015: Palestinians can only stay in Lebanon for nine hours, and they must have visas for a third country.
Kuwait:
1991: 400,000 Palestinians were harassed and forced out of the country.
Libya:
1994-5: Expelled 30,000 Palestinians, dismissed many from their jobs and confiscated their houses
Arab countries refused to take in the new refugees. Hundreds were stranded in the desert or the sea. Eventually Libya allowed some to stay but kept threatening to expel them again. In the end about 15,000 were forced to go to Arab countries they had documents for, Gulf countries, and Western nations.
2011: Palestinians were forced to pay a special tax of $1550.
2012: Many Palestinians lost their homes as properties were claimed by others in the wake of the revolution and the collapse of the judicial system.
2014: Banned Palestinians from entering in what is billed as a temporary move, because they say Palestinians are involved in terror groups.
Iraq:
Early 1950s: Expelled striking Palestinian workers, along with Saudi Arabia and Libya..
2005: After Saddam Hussein lost power, Palestinians in Iraq were subjected to abduction, hostage-taking, killing and torture from armed groups. Politicians derided them. About 15,000 were forced to leave Iraq. Thousands were stranded in camps in the desert between Iraq and Syria, where no Arab country would allow them to enter.
2015: Shiites in Iraq are torturing Palestinians and forcing them to confess to terrorism charges. Now about 19,000 out of 25,000 have been forced to leave Iraq.
Qatar:
1994: Refused to grant Palestinians work visas.
Syria:
1970: Palestinians cannot vote, cannot run for office, cannot own farmland, cannot own more than one property..
2005-2008: Syria did not allow thousands of Palestinian Arab refugees fleeing from Iraq to enter the country.
2012-today: Some 2600 Palestinians killed so far in Syria's war. About 50 have starved to death as forces cut off all food and water to the Yarmouk camp.
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