Temporarily suspended for some cases
The Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS) considers the situation of many Palestinians to be problematic. This applies in particular to Palestinians from Gaza, but also to those from the West Bank or other countries of origin.
If a need for protection is established, a protection status is granted. This was the case in the past. The CGRS has taken many decisions recognizing refugee status. The CGRS will continue to do so consistently in the future.
As is the case for applicants from other countries of origin, an application for international protection filed by a Palestinian is thoroughly assessed on an individual basis. No international protection status is granted solely because of the origin (e.g. Gaza) or the fact that one is a Palestinian.
The fact that the situation is problematic, does not mean that by definition a protection status should be granted to every Palestinian. This depends on the situation in the country of origin.
At the moment, the situation in most of the territories or countries from which most Palestinians originate, is highly evolving.
For this reason, the CGRS has temporarily suspended the notification of decisions of refusal. Decisions granting refugee status, in which an individual well-founded fear of persecution is clearly established, are still taken. Therefore the processing has not completely been suspended.
The suspension is only temporary, for a very short time. Perhaps not for more than one month. This suspension applies until the information about the situation in the countries of origin has been updated.
After the information has been updated, the CGRS will check whether its policy needs to be adapted. If the information shows that a protection status should be granted in more cases, the CGRS will adapt its policy accordingly.
The same policy applies to cases for which the CGRS has withdrawn the decision after an appeal had been lodged at the Council for Alien Law Litigation. After the information has been updated, a new decision will be taken for all those cases within a relatively short period of time.