Why Arab countries fear the Palestinians

Why Arab countries fear the Palestinians

The only border crossing from Gaza to Egypt is closed. Hardly any Palestinians get through the border town of Rafah - apart from injured people and Palestinians with dual citizenship. A corridor for civilians from Gaza to the West Bank in order to travel from there to Jordan is also not an option. Not for Israel, but not for Jordan either. There is also no way through northwards to Lebanon or north-eastwards to Syria. The Israelis do not allow refugees to leave Gaza and travel through their country.

But even if the Israeli government were to play along, the neighboring Arab states don't want to take in any Palestinians anyway. "They should stay in their country," said Egyptian President Abdel Fatah-al-Sisi when Israel began its retaliatory strikes in the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attack on October 7.

The attitude of the Arab states may come as a surprise. They show little sympathy for Israel, but a lot for the Palestinians and repeatedly for Hamas. However, many Arabs also consider the Palestinians to be a safeguard: "Guard dogs are kept on a leash in the garden, not in the bedroom. They are supposed to threaten your enemies, not your children," says an Egyptian citizen in a report by "The Insider", describing why he too is against taking in Palestinian refugees: the "wild dogs" are supposed to threaten Israel, not Egypt.

This metaphor has been used for years. Even before the Hamas terror attacks on October 7, Palestinians had little chance of entering Egypt legally. The border was only opened in exceptional cases, for example for seriously ill or seriously injured Gaza residents. Just like now.

"A kind of Egyptian reason of state"

Officially, however, the Egyptian leadership gives a different reason for the closed borders: Egypt fears that the Palestinians could be permanently expelled from the Gaza Strip once they leave. "It's a kind of reason of state, if you want to use the German word," says ntv reporter Nicole Macheroux-Denault, describing the Egyptian fear that accepting hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would fulfill "the prophecy of Israeli extremists who want to expel all Palestinians".

In addition, the politically unstable Sinai Peninsula borders the Gaza Strip on the Egyptian side. The region is barely controlled by Egyptian security authorities away from the heavily guarded border. In recent years, the Sinai has become a retreat for militant Islamists. After the Arab Spring eleven years ago, an alliance of jihadists withdrew to the peninsula. The Egyptian army is fighting against members of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

If the Rafah border post is opened to Palestinian refugees, Cairo fears that Hamas supporters could also leave the Gaza Strip and join forces with their ideologically related jihadists in the Sinai. The already tense security situation on the peninsula would become even more acute.

Egypt threatened with collapse

This is because Hamas is a subsidiary organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, which provided the president in Egypt from 2012 to 2013 with Mohammed Morsi. His successor al-Sisi cracked down on the group, classified it as a terrorist organization and had Morsi arrested. He died in prison in 2019.

The Egyptian head of state cannot afford a wave of refugees, not least for economic reasons. The Egyptian population has grown from 70 million to 110 million over the past two decades. Economic growth, on the other hand, has fallen well short of expectations.

If the trend continues, there is a threat of social collapse: Egypt's president points to around nine million refugees already living in the country. If hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are now added to this, Cairo would have to provide additional reception centers, accommodation, food and water. Especially as presidential elections are due in December. The authoritarian ruler al-Sisi does not want his safe election victory to be accompanied by mass protests.

Refugees in Jordan? "Red line"

Jordan is also refusing to take in Gaza refugees. The Hashemite kingdom has allowed many Palestinians into the country in recent years. A third of the population comes from Gaza or the West Bank. But no more are to come: This is what Olaf Scholz proposed during his visit in mid-October. Israel could set up a corridor for civilians from Gaza to the West Bank so that they could then enter Jordan, said the Chancellor. King Abdullah II immediately rejected this plan, and the Jordanian ruler spoke of a "red line".

"I believe I am not only speaking on behalf of the Jordanian government, but also on behalf of our Egyptian friends: no refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt," said the monarch at the joint press conference with Scholz.

Jordan also uses the argument that Palestinians could permanently lose their homeland once they have left the Gaza Strip. However, there are also historical reservations: After the Second World War, Jordan was given control of the West Bank until it was lost again in 1967 during the Six-Day War against Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced to Jordan as a result of the conflict.

Since then, Palestinian refugees have continued to stream into Jordan from the West Bank. But the reality is that Palestinians and Jordanians often do not have a good relationship.

In 1970, a group of radicalized Palestinians carried out an assassination attempt on the then King Hussein I of Jordan. For them and many other Palestinians, his policy towards Israel was too liberal. Hussein I survived the attack, set up a military government and launched a counter-attack in his own country. The Jordanian military drove the Palestinian guerrillas into Lebanon.

The memories of the radical guests are omnipresent. Jordan does not want to threaten its already "fragile national identity" with a new influx of Palestinians, writes "The Insider".

Other countries not an option either

Other countries in the semi-immediate vicinity are also out of the question for the people of Gaza. Syria has been mired in a bloody civil war for over a decade. Lebanon, on the other hand, is overwhelmed by the refugees from Syria. The republic on the Mediterranean has just under six million inhabitants, of which a good 1.5 million are civil war refugees from Syria. In no other country in the world is the proportion of refugees as high as in Lebanon.

The extremely wealthy Gulf states of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates could easily finance refugee accommodation, but do not want to let anyone into the country apart from rich foreigners from the West. Qatar is harboring the leader of Hamas, of all people.

It goes without saying that Iran does not want to take in any refugees. The Islamic Republic wants to wipe Israel off the map and is therefore the biggest Hamas supporter of all. A mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza is therefore not in Iran's interest.

The Arab world sympathizes loudly and openly with the Palestinians. But they want to keep potentially "dangerous watchdogs" out of their own bedrooms and away from their own children - all Arab countries are very careful about this.

1. Despite the injury or dual citizenship, the Palestinians face significant challenges in crossing the Gaza-Egypt border, with the border town of Rafah being the only point of entry, but barely any Palestinians succeed in passing through.
2. The Gaza Strip's civilians cannot use the corridor to travel to the West Bank and then to Jordan due to resistance from both Israel and Jordan.
3. King Abdullah II of Jordan rejected the idea of setting up a corridor for civilians from Gaza to the West Bank, stating that it represents a "red line" and that Jordan cannot accept any more Palestinian refugees.
4. Egypt, like Jordan, also fears the potential long-term consequences of accepting a large number of Palestinians, citing concerns about the unstable security situation in the Sinai Peninsula and the possibility of Hamas supporters strengthening their presence in the region.
5. Lebanon, with a population of just under 6 million, is already grappling with the refugee crisis from Syria, having an estimated 1.5 million civil war refugees, making it one of the countries with the highest ratio of refugees to population in the world.
6. Iran, a major supporter of Hamas, does not want to accept any Palestinian refugees, understanding that a mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza is not in its interest as it would be counterproductive to its goals of opposing Israel's existence.

Source: www.ntv.de