This paper explores the ways in which Palestinian refugees in the Old City of Damascus are impacted by gentrification. Gentrification is the rehabilitation of housing in economically depressed urban neighborhoods through the infusion of capital to create new venues for the consumption of culture. It inevitably results in the displacement of long-term residents who tend to be poor or marginalized populations without the political, economic, or social power to resist or take part in the economic and cultural transformations of their neighborhoods. The gentrification of the historic center that began two decades ago does bring attention to the vulnerability of Palestinian refugees who already have only a precarious presence in the Old City. The existence of refugees in the historic site is incompatible with cultural gentrification since Palestinians are considered “out of place” and a source of “pollution” due to their refugee status in the country. Hence, they have no claim to the neighborhoods in which they have been living for decades and no voice in the current gentrification that emphasizes the Damascene heritage of the city. Based on research conducted before the current civil war, I begin with a brief overview of the presence of Palestinians in the Old City of Damascus and their living conditions in the Old City. In addition I discuss how the presence of refugees in the Old City that is not indexed as a refugee camp is a contentious issue with Syrians active in the gentrification of the Old City. Through interviews, participation-observation, and archival research I look at the ways in which these refugees were able to forge a community in the Old City similar to a refugee camp, but without the official designation as such. UNRWA, which is more visible in the camps outside of Damascus, is required to keep a muted presence in the Old City. I demonstrate the ways in which Palestinian refugees maintain their distinct national identity in the Old City and in a built environment that is not a refugee camp. I conclude with how gentrification and heritage preservation is rendering the Palestinians an undesirable community in the Old City not unlike other poor and marginalized Syrians living in the Old City. I will also discuss the implications of the civil war on the gentrification of the Old City and the disadvantaged populations living there.