Why don't neighboring Muslim countries accept Palestinian refugees?
Hi everyone - I'm trying to learn more about the conflict, so I'm looking for as unbiased answers as possible, but I'm trying to objectively understand the geopolitics behind why neighboring Muslim-majority countries have firmly refused to accept Palestinian refugees since 2023.
Specifically looking at:
- Jordan (maintains a strict closed-border policy to new Palestinian asylum seekers)
- Egypt (enforces an absolute physical seal on Palestinian crossings from Gaza)
- Turkey (limits admission strictly to medical evacuation quotas for wounded Palestinians)
- Lebanon (bars new Palestinian entry under its existing internal security laws)
- Syria (prohibits new Palestinian refugee intake via border controls)
- UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia (restrict entry strictly to temporary, state-funded hospital stays for Palestinian patients without any asylum path).
In other conflicts, like Ukraine, neighbors immediately opened their borders and set up massive refugee support networks right away, so I'm confused why countries sharing a similar culture and religion are keeping theirs closed. Much of the west seems to be willing to accept refugees, at least from what I can understand from things like Canada's extended visa pathways for Gazan families or European asylum frameworks, so I'm confused about why nearby countries wouldn't do the same. Most online sources are heavily biased, so I'm just looking for a neutral explanation of the actual reasons behind why most of these countries have the same "no refugee" rules in place for Palestine.
(Genuinely seeking to understand. This isn't a question of if Palestinians should need to leave Gaza, but a question of why neighbouring countries aren't welcoming Palestinian refugees who choose to leave Gaza. Please don't make arguments of "Palestinians shouldn't need to leave in the first place", as that isn't the question. Thank you.)