The Director General of the General Authority for Palestinian Arab Refugees, Sayed Al-Masri, announced a series of new steps and procedures related to the legal and service files of Palestinian refugees in Syria, stressing that tangible progress has been made in addressing outstanding issues, foremost of which is the reactivation of Law No. 260 of 1956 and the restoration of real estate rights that were restricted during the past years.
In a post on his personal Facebook page, al-Masri said that the competent legal committee had made "official recommendations to reinstate Law 260 in full effect, including the re-recognition of the right to own real estate for Palestinians" and to revoke the restrictions imposed by subsequent decisions.
The director of the Authority spoke of "government promises" to adopt a comprehensive project to settle the status of Palestinians who entered Syria after 1956, in order to allow them to be officially registered in the records of the General Authority for Palestinian Arab Refugees, and to address the legal gaps that accompanied their presence during the past decades.
Al-Masri revealed that major infrastructure projects have been launched this year in Jaramana camp and al-Husseiniya community, including the complete rehabilitation of sewage networks, in a move aimed at improving living conditions within the most densely populated camps.
Al-Masri announced the reactivation of the supervisory role of the General Authority for Palestinian Arab Refugees over UNRWA, and the strengthening of the humanitarian and development partnership between the two sides within a clear framework to ensure greater coordination in the management of programs and services directed to refugees.
In the same context, Al-Masri confirmed the resumption of financial support programs provided by UNRWA to categories of Palestine refugees in preparation for expanding the scope of beneficiaries in the coming period.
What is Law 260?
Law No. 260 of 1956 is the main legislative pillar that regulated the legal and civil presence of Palestinians in Syria, as it stipulated that they should be treated as Syrian citizens with rights and duties related to work, education, and trade, while preserving their Palestinian nationality and right of return.
This framework has been undermined over the past years due to administrative decisions that limited the ability of Palestinians to own real estate, foremost of which is Resolution 1015 and Law 1011 of 2021, which reclassified Palestinians as "foreigners", imposing complex conditions on sales, purchases, and inheritances.
The new legal recommendations seek to repeal these restrictions and restore Palestinians to the legal status established by the original legislation, allowing them to buy, register and inherit real estate in the land registry like a Syrian citizen, without the need for complex security approvals or exceptional conditions.
This new legal and administrative track is seen as an important shift in the state's approach to the Palestinian refugee file, and an attempt to re-correct the legislative process in line with the social and human rights reality of Palestinians living in Syria for decades.
9 Palestinian camps in Syria
Syria has 9 official Palestinian camps recognized by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), as well as 3 informal camps that are fully recognized by the state and receive basic government services.
The largest mass of camps is concentrated in Damascus and its countryside, where Yarmouk camp is the largest historically, and is currently witnessing continuous efforts to remove rubble and rehabilitate water and electricity networks in preparation for the return of the people, while Jaramana camp, near the entrance to the capital, has been allocated a new budget for the maintenance of main roads, while the Husseiniya camp in the southern countryside of Damascus is witnessing a project to modernize sewage and water networks.
Other camps in the vicinity of the capital include Khan Danoun camp near al-Kiswah, Khan Eshieh camp in the western countryside, and Sayyida Zainab camp, also known as Qabr al-Sit.
The Palestinian presence is distributed over a number of Syrian governorates , where the camps of Neirab and Handarat (Ain al-Tal) are located in the governorate of Aleppo in the north of the country, while central Syria embraces the camp of the returnees in Homs and the camp of the returnees in Hama, and on the Syrian coast there is the camp of Raml in the city of Latakia, while the camp of Daraa is located in the south and has suffered extensive destruction in its infrastructure over the past years.
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