BALADI NEWS
Many Palestinians were displaced alongside Syrians from different areas in Syria to Idlib and Aleppo countryside, especially from southern Damascus (Yarmouk camp and al-Hajar al-Aswad). Lacking identity cards, and with no governmental centers concerned with their affairs in regime-controlled areas, displaced Palestinian refugees face compounded difficulties.
Director of the Palestinian Refugees Documentation Centre (PRDC), Abu Muhannad, who chose not to disclose his name for security reasons, said that around 1,500 Palestinian families have reached northern Syria amid a complete absence of any official or unofficial efforts to manage their affairs.
“They have been abandoned by their only legitimate representative, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and all other institutions that claimed to represent the Palestinian cause have also abandoned them,” Abu Muhannad added.
The PRDC director pointed out that the issuance of family cards came as a step after the center began issuing several identification documents for Palestinians in the north.
The center was established on February 25, 2019, by the Directorate General of Civil Affairs affiliated with the Ministry of Interior under the Interim Government.
Abu Muhannad, who is the sole staffer at the center, came up with the idea of establishing it.
According to Abu Muhannad, his center has provided documents that have helped solve many difficulties related to the Palestinian’s legal status in the north. Among these problems was acquiring identity cards issued by civil registry departments run by Turkey in the northern Aleppo countryside.
The center helped those without official documentation to acquire it. This allowed them to obtain identity cards in Turkey recognized at border crossings and universities, that permit Syrians to enroll using certificates issued in areas under the control of opposition factions.
As for marriage certificates, Abu Muhannad pointed out that individuals who wish to get married can acquire personal status records from the center before documenting their marriage at one of the local courts. They can then acquire a family card.
Providing family cards to displaced Palestinians is not limited to northern Syria, but to “all Palestinian families who have been living in al-Bab since 1948 and whose numbers reach around 100 families,” according to the director of the PRDC.
“Since February and until today, 40% of the Palestinians’ problems related to their legal status in northern Syria have been resolved, and at a later stage, all of them will be,” Abu Muhannad said.
Abu Muhannad does not guarantee the validity of these documents but claims that they may prove useful in many situations. For example, some Palestinians who are registered at the center and have acquired identification documents after losing their original documents then left to Turkey and acquired temporary protection cards based on documentation issued by the center.
Source: Enab Baladi.