University:
University of Wyoming
Course:
INST1101 | First-Year Seminar
Academic year:

2023
Views:

86

Pages:

2
Author:

A Brown

Palestinian Syrian Refugees: Increasingly Dangerous “While Syrian nationals may eventually return to their home country, the future for Palestinians from Syria is increasingly uncertain. Meanwhile they are more vulnerable, and treated worse than most other refugees from the Syrian conflict” (Morrison 41). The Syrian refugee crisis is easily one of the most severe forced migrations that the modern world has seen. 22.1 million individuals who have been displaced by the Syrian Civil War in the Middle East, in Syria, half of the population nearly 270,000 Palestinian citizens have been displaced, obviously the civil war has impacted all Syrian citizens and Middle Easterners, but Palestinians have been hit unproportionally hard. Syrian refugees who fled to Lebanon or Jordan have found little to no support with internal refugee services, but returning to Syria isn’t a viable option: “. . . twothirds of the Palestinian refugee camps (in Syria) have been destroyed or are caught up in the conflict” (41). Syria’s action to take in Palestinian refugees orginally was a result of favorable economic conditions that would be created, an influx from refugees and additional workers in the nation over 60 years ago, however, “. . . Syrian economic losses for the year 2012 amounted to 81.7% of the country’s 2010 GDP, with unemployment rising from 10.6 to 34.9%” (41). When Syria originally took in these Palestinian refugees off of the West Bank, they were economically stable enough to provide but with civil war, the Palestinian population isn’t a priority for either parties involved in the conflict. Additionally, Morrison writes that if the Palestinian refugees were to return to Syria: “ . . . they are likely to face limited work opportunities and discrimination” (41). “Since the beginning of the conflict, over 70,000 Palestinians have fled to neighbouring countries including Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey and Iraq where they are being singled out for increasing restrictions on access to asylum and have become the target of growing hostility within the host countries and communities” (41). It is not unknown to most that Palestinians often face harsh conditions and unprecedented amounts of discrimination/hate, as refugges, these obstacles only increase. Additionally, the Syrian Civil War has caused a rapid loss of Palestinians in general that remain in Syria, which poses the population even more issues with reintegrating into Syrian society currently and post-war. Morrison concludes her review with the bleak, but obvious, future of Palestinians in Syria: “As central to the political and commercial life of the Palestinian community in Syria, its demise is representative of the future difficulties of Palestinians in resuming the life they once led in Syria” (42).