The point is driven home further considering that the Casablanca Protocol was meant to only be a temporary solution for Palestinians. The Arab League expected that offering refuge and protection to Palestinians was only for a certain time, until a solution by the Palestine Conciliation Commission was materialized. Intriguingly, Palestinian national movements and confrontations with the host countries after, made many members of the Casablanca Protocol less committed to upholding the treaty. Seeing that there are 6.5 million Palestinian refugees (mostly living in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank) not residing in the GCC countries, represents a despairing outlook for the Syrian refugees looking to the …show more content…
Firstly, most Syrian refugees are concentrated in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt. These countries bear the brunt of resources and efforts in aiding the refugees. For example, Turkey’s state expenditure on Syrian refugees was reportedly $6 billion as of 2015. This is enormous in comparison to the largest donor in the GCC, Kuwait; which spent $800 million in aid as of 2015. Moreover, Turkey’s GDP per capita in 2015 was 9125 USD, compared to Kuwait’s 29,300 USD. Taking into account the vast oil wealth that the GCC states possess, they should provide more aid for the Syrian refugees not just financially but also in terms of granting shelter in their …show more content…
The term “Arab brothers and sisters in distress” replaces the name given to refugees in the GCC. Saudi Arabia reported that 500,000 Syrians are living in the kingdom. However as stated earlier in the paper, these Syrians are migrant workers that arrived before the Syrian civil war, not fleeing citizens. Therefore, Saudi Arabia’s argument seems invalid. A reason why the Gulf States, specifically Saudi Arabia, maintains refugees as “Arab brothers and sisters in distress” is because of its historical response to the Palestinians. By maintaining the Palestinian’s status as refugees, it would let Israel evade their responsibility for the Palestinian’s plight. However, the current Syrian refugee crisis is also part of Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf State members’ responsibility. Consider the proxy wars between Saudi Arabia and Iran in Syria. Saudi Arabia has funded opposition groups fighting against the Assad Regime such as the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian National Coalition. The fear of a strong, nuclear-armed, ideological rival such as Iran backing up Syria’s Assad regime forced Saudi Arabia to partake in the Syrian Civil War. This proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran has exacerbated the conflict in Syria. Since Saudi Arabia funded groups that enacted violence against either Sunni or Shia Muslims in Syria, the kingdom is responsibility for the outflow of refugees from Syria.