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Abstract
The regional turmoil in the Middle East since December 2010 has provided researchers with many topics for research. Despite a relatively large number of studies in recent years, none of them deal with one of the central questions – namely, the attitude of the Gulf States toward the misery of the Syrian refugees. While more than six million Syrians fled their homeland and became refugees, 1.5 million in Europe, few, if any, succeeded in relocating to the Gulf States.
This paper endeavors to explore the Gulf States' policy toward Arab (mostly Syrian) refugees. The major finding is that GCC members prefer to grant financial support to refugees outside of the Gulf region (this is justified as charity – Zakat) instead of hosting refugees. The combination of a fragile demographic structure, fear of political and social instability, and constant concern about infiltration by terrorists under the guise of refugees are the main reasons for the policy of closing the gates entirely to the refugees. These concerns also indicate that the idea of the nation state prevails over pan-Arab nationalism.
Notes
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2 The list includes: USA, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Luxemburg, Hungary, Netherlands, Spain, and Canada.
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9 For instance: Anh Nga Longva, ‘Nationalism in Pre-Modern Guise: The Discourse on Hadhar and Badu in Kuwait’. International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 38. Issue 2 (2006): 171–187; May Yamani, ‘From Fragility to Stability: A Survival Strategy for the Saudi Monarchy’. Contemporary Arab Affairs Vol. 2. Issue 1 (2009): 90–105; Omar Hesham AlShehabi, ‘Contested Modernity: Divided Rule and the Birth of Sectarianism, Nationalism, and Absolutism in Bahrain’. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 44. Issue 3 (2017): 333–355.
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12 States Parties to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol, in: http://www.unhcr.org/3b73b0d63.html.
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