THE PALESTINIANS IN EGYPT: IDENTITY, BASIC RIGHTS AND HOST STATE POLICIES Oroub El-Abed à Egyptian policy towards the estimated 50,000–70,000 Palestinians residing on its territory has resulted in depriving them of basic rights. Practice belies the apparent commitment to help them preserve their Palestinian identity. Consistent denial of rights has eroded, not bolstered, Palestinian identity. Palestinians remain excluded from the international assistance regime in place elsewhere in the region. The wel- come that Nasser gave to dispossessed Arab brethren has turned into suspicion of unwelcome foreigners. State policies, security surveillance, and intimidation by the media have forced Palestinians to hide or suppress their identity. The Palestinian community is seen as a threat to Egypt’s stability despite the fact that they constitute a mere 0.1 per cent of the population. Thousands of vulnerable young Palestinians are “ illegal” despite having been born in Egypt. Unable to leave with any confidence of being allowed to return, they live in constant fear of discovery. As the third or fourth post-nakba generation, they have minimal knowledge of Palestine or connection to traditional kin networks. State policies have left them in limbo, denying them both rights and identity. 1. Introduction There is often a conflation between citizenship and/or settling Palestinians (tawtin), and the provision of basic rights and protection when addressing the issue of Palestinians living in Arab host countries. It is frequently argued that improving Palestinian conditions and giving them basic rights would facilitate their full integration in the host society and thus weaken their Palestinian iden- tity, leading them to forget Palestine. In other words, the politics of the host countries risk depriving Palestinians of their rights in order to preserve their Palestinian identity. This fallacy of a supposed link between the provision of basic rights and the loss or weakening of Palestinian identity, is perfectly illustrated by the situation of Palestinians living in Egypt. Observations from fieldwork conducted for almost six months, in Cairo and other northern governorates in Egypt during * Oroub El Abed is currently working on her PhD at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Since 1999, she has taught at the American University in Cairo and worked in various capacities for the Jordanian government’s Department of Palestinian Affairs, the World Bank, the United Nations, the French Institute for the Near East (IFPO) in Amman, and several international NGOs. Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 28, Nos 2 & 3 ß UNHCR [2010]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org DOI:10.1093/rsq/hdp044 at School of Oriental and African Studies on March 25, 2014 http://rsq.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded from