Palestinians from Gaza who do not have a residence permit in the Netherlands have to wait for a long time. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) is currently postponing asylum applications from Palestinians, which means the applications will not be rejected, but Palestinian refugees will not be granted residence permits either.
The IND’s decision primarily affects Palestinians in Gaza who have left their families there and whose residence status in the Netherlands is unclear. This group cannot bring their families to the Netherlands through family reunification. This can only be requested by Palestinians with valid residence status.
“If the situation in a country is uncertain, the IND may decide to temporarily suspend asylum applications,” said a spokesman for the charity VluchtelingenWerk. “Asylum applications are only processed for a certain number of people who need protection outside the violence of war, such as human rights activists.”
The IND confirms this and emphasizes that currently no Palestinian asylum applications have been rejected. The service describes this as an “interim working method” that will last until it becomes clear what the new Cabinet’s policy will be. IND had previously announced that it would process family reunification applications from Palestinians faster. This gives family members trapped in Gaza the opportunity to escape the violence of war.
“However, this emergency regulation cannot apply to Palestinians who have not yet started the asylum process in the Netherlands or are still awaiting a decision from the IND,” the Refugee Council said. “So they don’t know what to expect. Will you be rejected or can you stay here?”
return to Gaza
One of the Palestinian refugees facing this desperate situation is Al’aa. On October 23, he received a letter from the IND stating that his asylum application had been rejected because his story was deemed unreliable. However, he will not be sent back to Gaza due to the war.
Meanwhile, he cannot communicate with his wife and four children, who are staying in Rafah at a school run by UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for humanitarian aid to refugees in the Palestinian territories.
“I last talked to my wife a week ago. “After that, I couldn’t hear from him anymore because there was no internet connection,” he says in the shelter he stayed in. Before arriving in the Netherlands in 2021, he lived with his family in the Jabalia refugee camp, which was the target of Israeli bombings earlier this month.
“They bombed my house. There is nothing left of him now. Luckily my family managed to escape, but they are not safe. Israel will not stop bombing Gaza.”
Al’aa talks about the shortage of water, food, clothing and fuel in Gaza. “All I think about is my family but I can’t do anything for them anymore. This makes me crazy. If they don’t want to give me a residence permit, send me back to Gaza so that at least I can still be with them, my “family.” But they can’t even do that.”
“Nowhere is safe”
The IND’s decision to suspend asylum procedures for Palestinians also affects a group of people like Mahmoud, who has been in the Netherlands for some time and cannot work. This year he was rejected for the second time after challenging the IND’s decision in court.
He appealed, but there is no chance of this process ending due to the closure of the asylum procedure. “It’s like they want me to die slowly,” he says. “I had to wait long enough for my asylum procedure, but they say they can’t process anything anymore, whereas I’m not allowed to do anything in the meantime.”
On October 13, Mahmud was informed by the Refugee Reception Center (COA) that he had to leave the refugee centre. He didn’t have to go after getting help from a journalist who sought the COA on his behalf. “I don’t know how long I can stay there.”
Vluchtelingenwerk therefore says that applications from Palestinian refugees should be evaluated in the Netherlands. The charity is calling on IND to do this immediately. “There are only about ten undocumented Palestinians in the Netherlands. Then it would actually be possible for the IND to grant them residence status,” says the spokesperson. “It is also clear that every citizen in Gaza is at risk. Every citizen is at risk of becoming a victim of bombings and violence. Nowhere is safe.”
The surnames Mahmoud and Al’aa are known to the editors. This was omitted for security reasons.
Source: NOS
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
