ThePalestinian diaspora (Arabic:الشتات الفلسطيني,al-shatat al-filastini), part of the widerArab diaspora, refers toPalestinians living outside the region ofPalestine andIsrael. There are about 6.1 million members of the Palestinian diaspora, most of whom live in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Chile.
Since the1948 Arab–Israeli War, Palestinians have experienced several waves ofexile and have spread into different host countries around the world.[6] In addition to the more than700000Palestinian refugees of 1948, hundreds of thousands were also displaced in the 1967Six-Day War. In fact, after 1967, a number of young Palestinian men were encouraged to migrate toSouth America.[7] Together, these 1948 and 1967 refugees make up the majority of the Palestinian diaspora.[6][8] Besides those displaced by war, others have emigrated overseas for various reasons such as work opportunity, education[9][10] and religious persecution.[8] In the decade following the 1967 war, for example, an average of21000 Palestinians per year were forced out of Israeli-controlled areas.[11] 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 theMandatory Palestine, exact population figures are difficult to determine. According to thePalestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the number of Palestinians worldwide at the end of 2003 was 9.6 million, an increase of800000 since 2001.[12]
The issue of thePalestinian right of return has been of central importance to Palestinians and more broadly theArab world since 1948.[6] It is the dream of many in the Palestinian diaspora, and is present most strongly in Palestinian refugee camps.[13] In the largest such camp inLebanon,Ain al-Hilweh, neighborhoods are named for theGalilee towns and villages from which the original refugees came, such asAz-Zeeb,Safsaf andHittin.[13] Even though 97% of the camp's inhabitants have never seen the towns and villages their parents and grandparents left behind, most insist that theright of return is aninalienable right and one that they will never renounce.[13]
In the United States, this includes a Palestinian community of 800-1000 inGallup, New Mexico, highly involved in the area's Southwest jewelry industry.[17][citation needed]
^Sharon Farmer. The Silk Industries of Medieval Paris. Artisanal Migration, Technological Innovation, and Gendered Experience, Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania, 2017, p. 93.
^The Lebanese in the world: a century of emigration, Albert Habib Hourani, Nadim Shehadi, Centre for Lebanese Studies (Great Britain), Centre for Lebanese Studies in association with I.B. Tauris, 1992
^Between Argentines and Arabs: Argentine orientalism, Arab immigrants, and the writing of identity, Christina Civantos, SUNY Press, 2005, p. 6.
^Arab and Jewish immigrants in Latin America: images and realities, by Ignacio Klich, Jeff Lesser, 1998, pp. 165, 108.
^"Archived copy"(PDF).www.schule-ohne-rassismus.org. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 21 September 2013. Retrieved13 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
