Fear of Palestinization: Managing Refugees in the Middle East

Abstract

This chapter argues that the refugee policies of Middle Eastern host countries Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan are characterized by fear of “Palestinization.” Palestinization—an informal descriptive expression referencing the unresolved Palestine refugee situation in the Middle East—has recently entered the informal parlance of some refugee professionals when they talk among themselves. It describes the Jordanian government’s fears and reservations toward Iraqi refugees on its territory due to the implication of a permanent refugee presence contained in the vicinity of the conflict that originally caused the problem. Palestinization is an apt term to use as a reference point when analyzing refugee management in the Middle East due to the decades-long presence of millions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Syria, as well as Jordan and the Israeli-Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Because national policies toward Palestinian populations vary from one Middle Eastern host country to another, Palestinization reflects slightly different things in different host countries. Instability, conflict, and war in Iraq now mean that the host countries of the largest Palestinian populations—Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria—are also recipients of Iraqi refugees.

The author wishes to thank the Academy of Finland for providing support for this project, including field research in Palestinian areas, Israel and Jordan between 2009 and 2012. Thanks also to the 1325 Network Finland for making possible my field research on gender, security and safety in Palestinian areas and Israel in June, 2011 and again, July–August, 2011.