Why Egypt, Jordan are unwilling to take in refugees from Gaza

AS DESPERATE Palestinians in sealed-off Gaza try to find refuge under israel’ s relentless bombardment in retaliation for Hamas’ brutal october 7 attack, some ask why neighbouring Egypt and Jordan don’ t take them in.

The two countries, which flank israel on opposite sides and share borders with Gaza and the occupiedwestbank, 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 ab dull ah 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 forstatehood. El-sissialsosaida 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.

Displacement has been a major theme of Palestinian history. In the 1948 war around Israel’screation, anestimated 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled from what is now Israel. Palestinians refer to the event as Nakba, Arabic for“catastrophe .”

In the 1967 mid east war, when Israel seized west bank and gaza Strip, 300,000 more Palestinians fled, mostlyintojordan.

The refugees and their descendants now number nearly 6 million, most living in camps and communities in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. The diaspora has spread further, with many refugees building lives in Gulf Arab countries or the west.

After fighting stopped in the 1948 war, Israelrefusedto allow refugee storeturn 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.

Egypt fears history will repeat itself and a large palestinian refugee population from Gaza will end up staying for good.

That’ s in part because there’ s no clear scenario for how this war will end.

Israel says it intends to destroy Hamas for its bloody rampage in its southern towns. But it has given no indication of what might happen afterward and who would govern Gaza. That has raised concerns that it will reoccupy the territory for a period, fueling further conflict.

The Israeli military said Palestinians who followed its order to flee northern Gaza to the strip’ s southern half would be allowed back to their homes after the war ends.

Egypt is not reassured. El-sissi said fighting could last for years if Israel argues it hasn’t sufficiently crushed militants. He proposed that Israel house Palestinians in its Negev Desert, which neighbors the Gaza Strip, until it ends its military operations.

At the same time, Egypt says am ass exodus from gaza would bring ham as or other palestinian militants onto its soil. That might be destabilizing in Sinai, where Egypt’ s military fought for years against Islamic militants and at one point accused Hamas of backing them.