Arabisk apartheid

Arab Apart­heid
by Kha­led Abu Toameh

In recent mon­ths, Egyp­tian aut­hori­ties have finally began gran­ting Egyp­tian citizen­ship to child­ren born to Egyp­tian mot­hers and Pale­sti­nian fathers.

So far, accor­ding to Pale­sti­nian sources, more than 500 child­ren have been issued Egyp­tian passports that enable them legally to live and work in Egypt wit­hout having to worry about being detai­ned or deported. The Pale­sti­nian popu­la­tion in Egypt is esti­mated at approxi­mately 100,000.

Egypt is only one of seve­ral Arab countries that have always sub­jected Pale­sti­ni­ans to apart­heid sys­tems and discri­mi­na­tory laws.

With the excep­tion of Jor­dan, the Arab countries have refu­sed to grant their citizen­ship to Pale­sti­ni­ans. Arab govern­ments clai­med that this measure was aimed at “pro­tec­ting the Pale­sti­nian iden­tity” of the Pale­sti­ni­ans so that one day they would be able to return to their ori­gi­nal homes inside Israel.

In most Arab countries, Pale­sti­ni­ans are ban­ned from purcha­sing hou­ses or lands. They are also denied many jobs in the pri­vate and pub­lic sectors.

This has been hap­pe­ning at a time when Arab citizens of Israel are free to purchase hou­ses in pre­do­mi­nantly Jewish neigh­bor­hoods of Jeru­sa­lem and in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Upper Nazareth.

It is easier for an Arab to buy an apart­ment in the Jeru­sa­lem neigh­bor­hoods of French Hill, Pis­gat Ze’ev and Armon Hanatziv than in Kuwait, Doha, Bei­rut or Bahrain.

It is no secret that most, if not all, Arab govern­ments would love to see the Pale­sti­ni­ans living in their countries leave, and the soo­ner the better.

The Egyp­ti­ans, who have long been clai­ming to defend Pale­sti­ni­ans and their cause, were the first to get rid of refugee camps. For years, many Lebanese have been dying to get rid of the 450,000 Pale­sti­nian refugees living in their coun­try. Simi­larly, the Jor­da­ni­ans are not going to shed a tear if the mil­lions of Pale­sti­ni­ans living in the king­dom wake up one mor­ning and leave.

After the estab­lish­ment of Israel in 1948, seve­ral thou­sand Pale­sti­ni­ans fled to Egypt. But King Farouq was not happy with the pre­sence of Pale­sti­ni­ans in his coun­try and the three refugee camps that were estab­lis­hed in Egypt for Pale­sti­ni­ans were dismantled.

The Egyp­ti­ans expelled many Pale­sti­ni­ans to the Gaza Strip, which was still under Egyp­tian sover­eignty. But those who were allowed to stay in Egypt were requi­red to have an Egyp­tian “guarantor.”

For­mer Egyp­tian Pre­si­dent Gamal Abdel Nas­ser furt­her eased rest­ric­tions on the Pale­sti­ni­ans, allowing them to study in pub­lic schools and universities.

How­e­ver, the new policy did not change the Natio­na­lity Law deny­ing Egyp­tian citizen­ship to child­ren of mixed Palestinian-Egyptian marriages.

Now the new govern­ment in Egypt has amen­ded the Natio­na­lity Law so that child­ren of Egyp­tian mot­hers and Pale­sti­nian fat­hers will be able to get Egyp­tian citizenship.

This step should be followed by other measu­res to fully inte­grate Pale­sti­nian refugees in Egyp­tian and other Arab socie­ties. There is no rea­son why Pale­sti­ni­ans living and wor­king in the Arab world should be denied basic rights, such as owning a house or sen­ding their child­ren to pub­lic schools.

Decem­ber 23, 2011 at 5:00 am

http://www.hudson-ny.org/2695/arab-apartheid

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