Palestinian diaspora

The Palestinian diaspora (Arabic: الشتات الفلسطيني, al-shatat al-filastini), part of the wider Arab diaspora, are Palestinian people living outside the region of Palestine.

History

Palestinian individuals have a long history of migration. Silk workers from Tiberias are mentioned in 13th-century Parisian tax records. However, the first large emigration wave of Arab Christians out of Palestine began in the mid-19th century; factors driving the emigration included economic opportunities, avoiding forced military service, and localized conflicts such as the 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus.

The 1922 census of Palestine's returns for Palestinians living abroad listed 4,054 Muslims, 6,264 Jews, 10,107 Christians, and 181 Druze.

Since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Palestinians have experienced several waves of exile and have spread into different host countries around the world. In addition to the more than 700,000 Palestinian refugees of 1948, hundreds of thousands were also displaced in the 1967 Six-Day War. In fact, after 1967, a number of young Palestinian men were encouraged to migrate to South America. Together, these 1948 and 1967 refugees make up the majority of the Palestinian diaspora. Besides those displaced by war, others have emigrated overseas for various reasons such as work opportunity, education and religious persecution. In the decade following the 1967 war, for example, an average of 21,000 Palestinians per year were forced out of Israeli-controlled areas. The pattern of Palestinian flight continued during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Population

In the absence of a comprehensive census including all Palestinian diaspora populations and those that remained within the area once known as the Mandatory Palestine, exact population figures are difficult to determine. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the number of Palestinians worldwide at the end of 2003 was 9.6 million, an increase of 800,000 since 2001.

The issue of the Palestinian right of return has been of central importance to Palestinians and more broadly the Arab world since 1948. It is the dream of many in the Palestinian diaspora, and is present most strongly in Palestinian refugee camps. In the largest such camp in Lebanon, Ain al-Hilweh, neighborhoods are named for the Galilee towns and villages from which the original refugees came, such as Az-Zeeb, Safsaf and Hittin. Even though 97% of the camp's inhabitants have never seen the towns and villages their parents and grandparents left behind, most insist that the right of return is an inalienable right and one that they will never renounce.

Population figures

It is estimated that more than 6 million Palestinians live in a global diaspora.

The countries outside the Palestinian territories with significant Palestinian populations are:

• Jordan 3,240,000
• Israel 1,650,000
• Syria 630,000
• Chile 500,000 (largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East).
• Lebanon 402,582
• Saudi Arabia 280,245
• Egypt 270,245
• United States 255,000 (the largest concentrations in Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles; History of Palestinians in Los Angeles).
• Honduras 250,000
• Guatemala est. 200,000
• Mexico 120,000
• Qatar 100,000
• Germany 80,000
• Kuwait 80,000
• El Salvador 70,000
• Brazil 59,000
• Iraq 57,000
• Yemen 55,000
• Canada 50,975
• Australia 45,000
• Libya 44,000
• Puerto Rico est. 30,000
• Greece est. 30,000
• United Kingdom 20,000
• Peru 19,000
• Denmark 15,000
• Colombia 12,000
• Japan est. 10,000
• Paraguay 10,000
• Netherlands 9,000
• Sweden 7,000
• Algeria 4,030
• Austria 4,010
• Norway 3,825
• The rest of Latin America, India, Russia, Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia has fairly small Palestinian populations.

The majority of the estimated 100,000 Palestinians in the European Union (EU) are in Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. Outside the EU is the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland. Germany's capital Berlin has one of the largest Palestinian communities outside of the Middle East with about 30,000-40,000 people of Palestinian origin residing in the city (~1% of the total population).

In the United States, this includes a Palestinian community of 800-1,000 in Gallup, New Mexico, highly involved in the area's Southwest jewelry industry.

Notable Palestinians in the diaspora

• Raed Arafat, Romanian physician and politician, founder of SMURD
• Alex Atala, Brazilian chef
• Antoine Izméry, Haitian businessman and activist
• Belly, Canadian rapper
• Edílson, Brazilian footballer
• Edward Said, Palestinian-American intellectual
• Gabriel Zaid, Mexican novelist and poet
• Jorge Yarur Banna, Chilean banker
• José Zalaquett, Chilean lawyer and human rights activist
• Lina Meruane, Chilean novelist
• Linda Sarsour, American political activist
• Miguel Littín, Chilean film director
• Nagwa Fouad, Egyptian belly dancer
• Nasri, Canadian pop singer
• Nathalie Handal, Haitian poet and playwright
• Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, former mayor of San Salvador
• Raed Jarrar, American architect
• Rakad Salem, Iraqi politician
• Rashida Tlaib, American politician, lawyer
• Ricardo Abumohor, Chilean businessman, owner of Primera División club O'Higgins
• Ruba Nadda, Canadian film director
• Sama Alshaibi, Iraqi designer and conceptual artist
• Salvador Nasralla, Vice President of Honduras, former sports journalist

See also

• 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight
• Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries in the 20th century
• 1949–56 Palestinian exodus
• 1967 Palestinian exodus
• Palestinian exodus from Kuwait (Gulf War)
• Arab diaspora
• List of Palestinians

References

External links

• Shaml - The Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Centre
• The Palestinian Christian Diaspora in Jordan
• The French Le Monde Diplomatique ("The Diplomatic World") has two web sites with more accurate information on the Palestinian diaspora:
  • The global Palestinian diaspora in the world (in French), Fébruary 2000;
  • The Palestinian Refugee population in the Middle East (in French), Fébruary 2000.