Skip to main content

Palestinian Refugees in Egypt

Palestinian refugees in Egypt still face many challenges and discrimination, writes Mahmoud Omar.
A border officer stamps the passport of a Palestinian passenger on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing over to Gaza at Rafah city, some 350 km (217 miles) northeast of Cairo August 10, 2012. Egyptian military forces have captured six "terrorists" in the Sinai region after an attack on a police station earlier this week that killed 16 border guards, state television quoted a military source on Friday as saying. Egypt opened the Rafah border on Friday to allow the return of pilgrims from Saudi Arab
Read in 

In 2009, approximate statistics showed that the number of Palestinians in the diaspora was nearly 6 million people; 5 million in Arab countries, and the remaining million in Europe, Canada and the Americas.

Large numbers of refugees live in the ring countries, that is, countries that directly border Palestine — about 3 million in Jordan; 500,000 in Lebanon; and 500,000 in Syria. Egypt is an exception since there are no Palestinian refugee camps there. The estimated number of Palestinian refugees living in Egypt is 50,000 to 70,000.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.