This issue of al-Majdal is looking specifically at the multiple displacements of Palestinian refugees from the perspective of the international response or lack thereof to this situation. The articles examine the asylum procedures of a number of countries, spanning Europe and the Americas. Specifically, this issue contains articles highlighting the situation of Palestinian refugees from Syria seeking asylum in the United Kingdom (UK), France, Germany and Greece, and in Europe more generally. Looking at the Americas, the articles provide an overview of Palestinian communities there, especially Brazil and Cuba, as well as the situation of more recent Palestinian refugees arriving to the Americas in the last two decades. 

Palestinian refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) worldwide suffer from a grave ‘protection gap’, which refers to the lack of protection they are entitled to in accordance to international law. Individual states bear the primary responsibility for protecting the rights of their citizens and those subject to their authority and jurisdiction. In light of Israel’s failure to afford this protection to Palestinian refugees, the international community has an obligation to protect the rights of Palestinians, in particular the right to self-determination and the right of Palestinian refugees and IDPs to reparation (repatriation/return to their homes of origin, property restitution, compensation and non-repetition).

Israel’s implementation of protracted occupation, apartheid and colonization is hyper-legalized. This regime is sterilized through the language of law and its violence dispersed through many bureaucratic institutions and complex legislation. In tandem, law is used to criminalize acts of political expression – Palestinian Sheikh Sayah Aturi from the community of al-Araqib was released from detention on 11 December 2013 after he was held for almost a month for his attempts to impede Israel’s 62^nd demolition of his village in the Naqab.¹ Nearly 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners are currently held in Israeli detention.

Witnesses to Displacement

In the past year, BADIL conducted more than 60 interviews with Palestinian victims of Israeli forcible displacement. These interviews were an essential part of the handbookpublished earlier this year, and for which we dedicated the 53rd issue of al-Majdal. In this section of the magazine, we bring you the summary of a compelling story of displacement and resistance. We hope this interview sheds light on the human dimensions of forced population transfer, an issue more often dealt with in dry and distanced legal language.

Eight years since the 2005 BDS Call, the principal question for the movement is if the tactic is being incorporated into a common Palestinian vision and political commitment? It is important to cultivate a culture of ‘internal’ resistance (within the homeland) that feeds into actions on ‘external’ levels (internationally). Several factors contribute to the current condition of political inaction among the Palestinian populace: pending reform of the Palestine Liberation Organization, fractured Palestinian political factions, the reign of the Palestinian Authority and the logic of Oslo, the widespread disappointment with the Palestinian leadership’s performance and the growth of an ‘NGO culture’ oriented towards donors’ agendas rather than collective concerns. As a result, Palestinian national values of struggle for liberation have receded.

Affecting more Palestinians than any single military operation could, displacement is the biggest threat to Palestinian life today. In the past year alone, Israel displaced thousands of Palestinians in Jerusalem, West Bank Area C and the Gaza Strip Buffer Zone. In May, Israel approved the Prawer Plan that threatens to forcibly displace up to 70,000 Palestinian Bedouins in the Naqab.

In the past year, BADIL has conducted more than 60 interviews with Palestinian victims of Israeli forcible displacement. These interviews were an essential part of the handbookpublished earlier this year, and for which we dedicate this issue of al-Majdal. In this section of the magazine, we bring you summaries of two compelling stories of displacement and resistance. We hope these interviews shed light on the human dimensions of forced population transfer, an issue more often described in dry and distanced legal language.

Summary of interview with Alaa Salman, a resident of Beit Safafa - by Halimah Al Ubeidiya and Wassim Ghantous

In the past year, BADIL has conducted more than 60 interviews with Palestinian victims of Israeli forcible displacement. These interviews were an essential part of the legal handbookpublished earlier this year, and for which we dedicate this issue of al-Majdal. In this section of the magazine, we bring you summaries of two compelling stories of displacement and resistance. We hope these interviews shed light on the human dimensions of forced population transfer, an issue more often described in dry and distanced legal language.

BADIL’s Ongoing Nakba Education Center Visualizes Palestine’s Struggle through Film and Photography

"Everyday we live through there is a new massacre, there is steadfastness and there are people displaced from their lands. The Nakba and everything that Israel puts on us is an ongoing process..."

Amal Obeidi - Lifta