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May 9, 2005
Around six percent of the Palestinian population is living outside the Arab world, with just under half living in the Americas. While some had emigrated prior to the 1948 Nakba, (particularly settling in North America), the large majority found themselves forced far from home as a direct result of the Israeli occupation of their land. Palestinians are dispersed across the world, most having made several stops on the way. Villagers from Saffuriyya in the Galilee, for example, have ended up living as far away as the United States and Denmark, and as close as the refugee camps in Lebanon or even Nazareth a few kilometers from their original homes. Those outside the Arab world have usually spent several years in exile in a neighboring Arab state such as Lebanon before they were able to reach a country further afield. For example, many Palestinian (as well as Lebanese) refugees sought asylum and employment abroad to escape the bloody civil war of the 1970s and ’80s. Identity As with all refugees and immigrants, people have varying levels of identification with the land and community from which they originated in and fled. A variety of factors come into account depending on the level of integration in the host society, the current situation back in Palestine, and the influence of friends and family. Over the years in exile, many Palestinian and individual village and community cultural societies have been formed, and membership in such societies increases feelings of belonging to the Palestinian nation.
The current images of suffering and pain from the Israeli suppression of the Intifada have led to a new generation of Palestinians in the West joining other Arabs and Westerners to become politically active. The international move to the right and the new colonialism in the Middle East have seen an upsurge in grassroots involvement in identity politics, whereas parents may have just simply tried to survive in exile, or have been too frightened to become involved in politics. Development of modern communication systems, particularly the Internet, allows Palestinians across the world to reestablish or make new contacts with other Palestinians, particularly from their home village, or other activists who support the struggle. Sites such as Palestine Remembered teach new generations who do not remember Palestine and are living in foreign communities about their history and their rights. Status Some Palestinians living in the diaspora have been granted nationality, but many live without full security and rights in host countries. Any immigrant or refugee seeking asylum or residency rights and work permits must go through the most complex of procedures, even in seemingly liberal states. But for Palestinians there are special clauses in international conventions that complicate life even further. The most significant international convention regarding refugee rights was ratified by a large number of states in the post Second World War climate of 1951, three years following the Palestinian Nakba. Article 1A(2) of the Refugee Convention defines a refugee as one who has a fear of persecution owing to race, religion, nationality, or political opinions, and is unable to or fearful of returning to their country of nationality (or of habitual residency if they do not have a nationality). Palestinians however (representing a third of the world’s refugees) had a special article written in for them, Article 1D. This article states that refugees under the protection of other UN bodies would be exempt from the protection of the Convention. At the time of the drafting, Palestinians received protection from the UN Conciliation Commission on Palestine (UNCCP), and assistance from UNWRA. Yet although UNCCP is now a defunct body, UNWRA has not been given a mandate for protection, and is merely a relief and assistance agency. Nothing has replaced the role of UNCCP with a mandate to protect Palestinian refugees. So what happens today to a Palestinian seeking asylum in a state signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention? Major problems have been identified through international research carried out by the Badil Resource Center, Bethlehem. For example, Germany declared that Palestinians could not be given protection under the 1951 Convention because they do not have a “country of formal habitual residence,” so there is no specific country against which “persecution” could be assessed (see case studies). Stateless For those Palestinians who have had applications for residency and asylum turned down, many have no officially recognized nationality and are thus stateless. These people have no internationally recognized country to which they can be returned. The country from which they have come, will not receive them back because they do not have a work permit or residency rights, but the new country will not accept them either. The only alternative is detention in the country where they have failed to achieve asylum. The research shows, for example, that in Sweden there are many Palestinian asylum seekers who were originally working in Saudi Arabia or other countries in the Gulf. Yet entry into the Gulf is only possible with a valid work permit, which requires a sponsor. The permit lasts for six months, and if the work has finished the Gulf state will not permit re-entry. In 2002, the UNHCR added an official note on the applicability of Article 1D of the Refugee Convention. This note stated that UNHCR had proposed to redefine Article 1D in order to provide some Palestinians outside UNWRA areas with protection under the Convention. However the research by Badil reveals that in practice this has not led to any improvement in the level of protection on the ground. Resources: For More Legal and Case Study Information:
Farah, Randa, “The Marginalization of Palestinian Refugees,” in Niklaus Steiner, Mark Gibney and Gil Loescher Problems of Protection: The UNHCR, Refugees, and Human Rights, (London: Routledge, 2003). Masalha, Nur, The Politics of Denial, (London: Pluto, 2003).
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