Several waves of Palestinian refugees came to Egypt due to the development of the situation in their country, and Egypt reacted to each wave depending on the developments in its own regime. During the Palestinian Revolt (1936-1939) and the increasing clashes between Arabs and Jews in the cities of Jaffa and Hebron, some families decided that fleeing to Egypt was the safest solution. At the time, Egypt was more open to different nationalities and races.
Several waves of Palestinian refugees came to Egypt due to the development of the situation in their country, and Egypt reacted to each wave depending on the developments in its own regime. During the Palestinian Revolt (1936-1939) and the increasing clashes between Arabs and Jews in the cities of Jaffa and Hebron, some families decided that fleeing to Egypt was the safest solution. At the time, Egypt was more open to different nationalities and races.
In 1917, Egypt opened its doors to Armenians fleeing the Turkish massacres and also to the Palestinians fleeing the battles of the Palestinian Revolt. Just like Armenians, Palestinians lived in Egypt and integrated into its society through education, the right to own property and trading, just like any other community living there. However, the situation of the Palestinians who fled to Egypt in the late 1930s was different than the situation of those who fled in the wake of the Nakba of 1948. One family could have half-Egyptian, half-Palestinian siblings.
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Yusuf was not a huge fan of the then young singer Um Kulthum, which is why he never attended any of her concerts when she visited Palestine in 1931. His relationship with Um Kulthum remained conflicted even after he came to Port Said in 1948 as a refugee with his mother, younger brother –we will call him Mounir, and their youngest sister. They were allowed to stay in Egypt through the sponsorship of his Egyptian-Palestinian uncle who arrived in Egypt in 1937 during the Palestinian Revolt.
”Yusuf’s job in Port Said was not sufficient to provide for his four-person family, so after a year, he moved to Cairo, Alexandria, Beirut, and then to Kuwait in 1953,” says the grandson of Yusuf’s brother. The grandson, who refused to tell us his name so we will call him Ziad, adds that Yusuf was keen on attending Um Kulthum’s concerts in every visit.
Ziad is a Palestinian lawyer who recently became an Egyptian citizen. His grandfather Mounir married his Palestinian cousin, who was granted Egyptian citizenship along with her family when they arrived in Port Said in 1937. Mounir did not attain the Egyptian nationality when he got married in 1955, but he was entitled to stay in Egypt. He has three sons and a daughter; Palestinians to an Egyptian mother. They all went on to marry Egyptians. His daughter obtained her husband’s Egyptian nationality. However, the three sons remained Palestinian while enjoying the right to stay and study in Egypt during the era of the Arab national aspirations of Abdel Nasser’s regime. Even though Abdel Nasser’s policies helped integrate the Palestinians in Egypt, granting them citizenship was never an option because of the belief that Palestinians might return to their country.
Their situation was better than that of the Palestinians who came after the war of 1956 and the defeat of 1967. For the latter, Egypt was as a temporary place of residence before either returning to Palestine or moving to another country.
Post-“Camp David” era
Although Egypt played a major role in the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964, the political tensions between the PLO and the Egyptian government throughout the years had negative repercussions on the Palestinians living in Egypt. After the conclusion the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel and the assassination of the Egyptian Minister Yusuf Al-Sibai in February 1978, Palestinians lost many of the rights they had up to that date.
Between 1978 and 1982, the Egyptian state changed its laws and regulations, turning Palestinians into “foreigners” according to the presidential decrees No. 47 and No. 48 of 1978. Those decrees revoked the decisions that provide for equal treatment of Palestinians and Egyptians. Moreover, the Ministry of Manpower banned the employment of male foreigners –including Palestinians- in business, import and export, except for those who were married to Egyptian women for over five years or were studying in a school or a university and paying tuition. A decision was issued by the Egyptian Minister of Education to transfer Palestinian students from public schools to private schools except for children of military personnel. Two decisions, No. 87 of 1983 and No. 75 of 1984, were later issued by the same minister stating that Palestinians would be treated as incoming foreigners.
University fees for foreigners ranged between 600 and 1200 pound sterling pro student, in addition to enrollment fees. Palestinian students were also banned from attending the faculties of medicine, engineering, pharmacy, economics and media. Working in the private sector became a privilege for those who managed to pursue higher education and compete for a seat within the remaining 10% foreigners’ quota out of the total labour force in any institution.
Palestinians could not travel freely. In order for Palestinian travelers or residents abroad who had Egyptian travel documents to ensure their return to Egypt, they either had to return every six months or provide the Egyptian authorities with proof of work or study in Egypt. In such cases, it was possible to obtain a one-year return visa. Many Palestinians in Egypt continuously faced arbitrary security restrictions, which often forced them to deny their Palestinian origins, as many of them have told me.
