At the end of the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, there were estimated to be about 70,000 Palestinian refugees in Syria, initially housed in deserted military barracks in
As-Suwayda,
Aleppo,
Homs, and
Hama. Most fled their home as ordered by their leaders. They fled from northern Palestinian districts,
Safad,
Haifa,
Jaffa,
Acre,
Tiberias,
Nazareth, and
Tyrus. Some refugees arrived in Syria via
Lebanon, some came from
Galilee and the Hula Valley onto the
Golan Heights, and others came directly from Palestine to
Jordan and
Syria. In January 1949, Sirayan Law no. 450 was passed, legislating the status of the refugees, declaring they will never be nationalized into the burgeoning nation of Syria. Instead it established the Palestine Arab Refugee Institution (PARI), which later was replaced by the
General Authority for Palestine Arab Refugees (GAPAR), to manage the Palestinian refugee affairs. GAPAR's responsibilities were refugee registration, relief assistance, finding employment opportunities for the refugees, and managing funds and contributions intended for them. GAPAR, with the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), jointly administer the camps. UNRWA is an agency that works for Palestine refugee and is mostly funded by voluntary contributions. They also receive their funding from the Regular budget of the United Nations. UNRWA was established by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 302 IV of 8 December 1949 to carry out relief programs for Palestinian Refugees. According to GAPAR data, 85,000 Palestinian refugees settled in Syria by the end of 1948. By 1960, GAPAR reported the Palestinian refugee population was 126,662. In 1982, in the wake of
1982 Lebanon War, a few thousand Palestinian refugees left Lebanon and found shelter in Syria. There are nine official and three unofficial camps for refugees,
Current trends Due to the
civil war in Syria that commenced in 2011, many Palestinians in Syria have been displaced, either
within Syria itself or they have
fled the country. Their propensity to fleeing includes having been under siege in refugee camps, while many have opted to make the dangerous journey to Europe as conditions remain hostile to Palestinians in neighboring Middle Eastern states. According to UNRWA, more than half a million Palestinians resided in refugee camps in Syria before the war started. As of 2019, the UN estimate that at least 120,000 Palestinians have been displaced from Syria since 2011. According to the
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, Palestinians who lived in refugee camps in Syria have faced additional obstacles, since they have been made "refugees for the second time". The
Geneva-based organization reported that more than 160,000 Palestinian Syrian refugees had left their camps in Syria, migrating to neighboring or countries of the
European Union. These include nearly 80,000 refugees who fled to Europe, 57,276 others who fled to neighboring countries, such as
Lebanon,
Jordan, and
Turkey, and another 7,000 Palestinian Syrian refugees who fled to
Egypt and the
Gaza Strip. As of 2017, the UN estimated that 450,000 Palestinian refugees remain in Syria, of whom up to 280,000 are internally displaced, and an estimated 43,000 are trapped in hard-to-reach locations. Some continue to be displaced multiple times as a result of armed violence. 3,642 Palestinians died during the first seven years of war, 1,651 Palestinians had been detained, and more than 300 Palestinians were unaccounted for. Residents of Palestinian camps have suffered from air raids, shelling, siege, and malnutrition, in particular in
Yarmouk Camp in the Damascus area, besieged by the government until 2018, leading to the displacement of over 100,000 and many deaths from starvation. By 2019, 3,987 Palestinians, including 467 women and 200 children, had been killed in the conflict. According to an UNRWA spokesperson, "Palestinians are among those worst affected by the Syrian conflict." He explained that 95 percent of the 438,000 Palestinians are in "critical need of sustained humanitarian assistance", with many dependent on the clinics, emergency assistance and teaching staff that UNRWA provides. UNRWA educates 45,000 students a day. 54 percent of UNRWA funds go to education, 17 percent goes to health, 16 percent goes to support services, 9 percent goes to relief and social services and 4 percent goes to infrastructure and camp improvement. The president of the United States,
Donald Trump pulled back funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in 2018. Salim Salamah, the director of the Palestinian League of Human Rights – Syria, argues that "Palestinian refugees in Syria and those who have been doubly displaced to neighboring countries will suffer as a result of the decision. The impact is going to be really massive and tragic, for Palestinians of Syria, its life-saving aid, especially in the context that many Palestinians lack access to many basic services, even [those who fled] in Lebanon or Jordan." ==Rights==