Flexible Citizenship and the Inflexible Nation-State: New Framework for Appraising the Palestinian Refugees’ Movements

Abstract

This paper is a synthetic piece drawn from my writings from the past 14 years on Palestinian refugees’ problems. These writings were based on surveys among the Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and in the diaspora, in-depth interviews, and participant observation, as well as secondary data. The aim is to discuss the interplay between three key factors which impact the construction of “Palestinian-ness” and will impact the process of return: geographical borders, social boundaries, and nation-state policies in the region. The interplay between them will be used to depict (1) the problematic relationship between the diaspora and the OPT in the current/eventual return movement of Palestinian refugees and the absence of the diaspora as a social space; (2) the flexibility of transnational strategies adopted by the Palestinians, whether citizens, refugees, current returnees, or transmigrants; and (3) the inflexibility of the policies of the nation-states in the region.