Epilogue: Dispossession and Forced Migration in the Twenty-first-century Middle East and North Africa: The Way Forward

Abstract

The chapters presented in this volume have covered a wide range of case studies; the Sahrawi refugees in Algeria and Spain; the Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza; the Turkish settlers in Cyprus; the Iraqi refugees in Jordan and the internally displaced Iraqis in the northern Iraq; and the Afghan refugees in Iran. These chapters have opened up areas of research which are important to pursue. They have examined displacement and the impact of generation and gender including the physical and mental stress of refugee situations. They have explored the phenomenon of repatriation and its various forms such as voluntary repatriation and involuntary repatriation such as the case of the Afghan and Iraqi refugees. The chapters also have discussed the Palestinian ‘right of return’ within the context of legal, emotional and cultural expressions. In addition to these, the crisis in identity in exile has been addressed to provide a better understanding of assimilation, integration and alienation. Policies have also been considered to understand the international refugee regime as well as national and regional interpretations. The chapters in this volume hope to prove to be significant contributions to the understanding of the plight of refugees and displaced people and the political and economic universe in which they must operate. Refugees are categories of people who have lost the protection of their government and who thrive at the margins of the global nation-state system. Their struggle to survive depends upon turning their exile or forced migration around; to regain the protection of a government and to become ‘citizens’ once again either in the original homeland or a new nation. It is a quest all should sympathize with and support.