Palestinian-Syrian Refugees In Egypt Plan Rally For Equal Rights

Palestinians refugees in Syria who have fled to Egypt due to ongoing bloodshed in their traditional host-country plan to stage a sit-in on Tuesday at 10:30am at the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo to demand the same rights as those afforded to Syrian refugees.

Palestinian-Syrian refugees who have fled to Egypt from Syria’s Yarmouk refugee camp released a statement on Monday vowing to hold an open-ended sit-in at the embassy – under the banner ‘Don’t kill us twice’ – until Egypt “fulfils its obligation to refugees in terms of providing them with food and medical and financial aid.”

“The Palestinian embassy should make it a top priority to work with Egyptian government bodies and [UN refugee agency] the UNHCR to resolve refugees’ grievances in terms of legal recognition and put them on equal footing with Syrian refugees,” the statement added.

In the event that the current Palestinian ambassador fails to guarantee the rights of displaced Palestinian-Syrian refugees, the statement asserted, he should be replaced.

More than 200,000 Syrian refugees in Egypt have been registered with the UNHCR. According to the Monday statement, however, this does not include Palestinian Syrians who have been recently displaced and who therefore have not been provided with any form of aid.

Reliable numbers for Palestinian-Syrian refugees in Egypt remain unavailable.

Ahram