BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee

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Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (2006-2007)
Some of the new houses in Ein al-Tal camp for families who have moved from Neirab camp, Syria,
2005. © Aisling Byrne/UNRWA.
Department of Political Affairs and Refugees (DPAR) (formerly the Directorate General for Palestinian Affairs) in Lebanon,
the General Authority for Palestine Refugees in Syria (GAPAR), the Office of the Military Governor in Egypt, and the
Ministry of Displacement and Migration (formerly Department of Palestinian Affairs) in Iraq. In the 1967-occupied
Palestinian territory, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Department of Refugee Affairs, in co-operation with
the Palestinian Authority, is the national body in charge of administering and co-ordinating humanitarian affairs.
Most Arab states hosting large Palestinian refugee populations administer the humanitarian affairs of resident Palestinian
refugees in co-ordination with UNRWA. The only exceptions are Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Libya and Algeria, where
Palestinian refugees are a population of concern of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Arab host states generally provide Palestinian refugees with access to health care and education, as well as basic
infrastructure for the camps. Some Arab states carry a significant financial burden in assisting Palestinian refugees
in their territory, and also contribute to humanitarian assistance in the 1967-occupied Palestinian territory via
transfers of grants and donations to Palestinian charities, national institutions, and the Palestinian Authority.
Between July 2004 and June 2005, for instance, the government of Jordan reported expenditure amounting to
US $463,537,976 for assistance to Palestinian refugees in Jordan. 13 Lebanon reported approximately US $30
million, and the Syrian Government US $116,439,789. 14 Special taxes (a “liberation tax”) were collected in the
mid-1970s from Palestinian workers in the Gulf States (who provide between 3% to 6% of total income earned
by Palestinians), and transferred to the PLO following the recognition of the PLO as the sole representative of
the Palestinian people at the Arab Summit (1974). These transfers were halted due to PLO support for the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and have not yet resumed.
However, the nature and scope of assistance provided varies considerably among Arab host states. Moreover, in
many Arab host states, levels of assistance often reflect national and regional political considerations rather than
humanitarian concerns. In the 1967-occupied Palestinian territory, the ability of the Palestinian Authority and the
PLO Department of Refugee Affairs to provide public services and assistance to Palestinian refugees continues to
deteriorate as a result of Israel’s regime of occupation, and especially since the international sanction regime against
the Palestinian Authority.
3.1.2. League of Arab States (LAS)
Today, more than two-thirds of
Palestinian refugees reside in Arab
host states. Jordan, the 1967-occupied
Palestinian territory, Syria, Lebanon,
Saudi Arabia, and Egypt host the
majority of Palestinian refugees in
the Arab world. Most Arab host states
have established special bodies linked
to the Ministry of Interior and/or the
Ministry of Social Affairs to administer
the humanitarian affairs of resident
Palestinian refugees and co-ordinate
delivery of international assistance.
These include the Department of
Palestinian Affairs in Jordan, 12 the
The League of Arab States (LAS) was established in 1945 with the “purpose of … draw[ing] closer the relations between
member States and co-ordinat[ing] their activities with the aim of realizing a close collaboration between them.” 15