Palestinian ‘Diaspora’ in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Africa

Abstract

Abstract This chapter highlights Palestinian dispersal in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Africa. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, members of the Palestinian (refugee) ‘diaspora’ have progressively found roots in all continents. Palestinians who were abroad at the end of the British Mandate and in 1948 were not allowed to return effectively became the first Palestinian refugees sur place. In the 1950s and 1960s, Palestinian refugees (including descendants) moved further afield from their places of residence (often de facto asylum), namely Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and present-day occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). They moved primarily to MENA countries, but also, to Western Europe and North America, looking for better life opportunities and increasingly, from the 1980s and 1990s, for international protection. This triggered the application of Article 1D(2) of the 1951 Refugee Convention discussed in Chapter II. In many countries, however, Article 1D continues not to be applied (or not applied properly), with claims of Palestinian refugees being assessed under Article 1A(2), downplaying the distinctive regime set up for them under the 1951 Convention, and the continuity of protection incorporated therein. Countries that offer more robust protection – including through accessible naturalization procedures – have steadily represented important destinations for Palestinians fleeing various parts of the Middle East in search of safe haven. However, in recent years restrictive asylum policies in Western countries (rectius, the Global North) may have contributed to an unprecedented rise in numbers of Palestinian refugees seeking sanctuary in new destinations. Ultimately, the growing Palestinian dispersal around the world, marked by growing vulnerability to protection therats, is a direct result of the failure to find a just solution to their plight.