It is believed that the number of Palestinian refugees is more than 6 million. In this sense, it is the largest refugee population in the world.
Palestinian refugees live mainly in the Palestinian territories and neighboring countries.
According to the United Nations, 1.8 million Palestinians have been internally displaced in Gaza following Israel’s attack in October.
Although there is a population of Palestinians living abroad in many countries around the world, the majority of the population is settled in West Asia only.
But why did it happen that they had to leave their ancestral home in the Palestinian area and then which countries did they turn to and why?
12 January 2024
It is believed that the number of Palestinian refugees is more than 6 million. In this sense, it is the largest refugee population in the world.
Palestinian refugees live mainly in the Palestinian territories and neighboring countries.
According to the United Nations, 1.8 million Palestinians have been internally displaced in Gaza following Israel’s attack in October.
Although there is a population of Palestinians living abroad in many countries around the world, the majority of the population is settled in West Asia only.
But why did it happen that they had to leave their ancestral home in the Palestinian area and then which countries did they turn to and why?
Why are there such a large number of Palestinian refugees?
Displacement and migration have played an important role in Palestinian history since the formation of Israel.
Shortly after World War II, in 1947, ‘Resolution 181’ was passed in the newly formed United Nations.
This proposal was actually about a plan to divide the Palestinian territories under British rule into Arab and Jewish states.
Palestine had been under British rule since 1922 and a large population of Jews were arriving here fleeing Nazi atrocities in Europe. Because of this, tension between Arabs and Jews was increasing here.
According to Don Shaty, Professor at the Refugee Studies Center at the University of Oxford, “By this time there was a sense of guilt in Europe for the Holocaust and they were assuming that large numbers of European Jews would arrive in Palestine. “They were trying to settle them.”
Although the Palestinian Arabs rejected ‘Proposition 181’ (a large area being given to a small Jewish population), Israel declared itself independent on the basis of this partition plan.
There was a war in 1948 regarding the formation of Israel, during which about 7.5 lakh Palestinians were driven from their homes and land (today Israel) or were forced to leave.
Palestinians know this incident as ‘Nakba’, which means ‘devastation’ in Arabic.
When the 1949 war ended, Israel refused to allow the refugees to return to their homes.
Later, during the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel also blockaded the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
According to the United Nations, due to this 3.25 lakh Palestinians became homeless again.
For the next few years, an average of 21,000 Palestinians were displaced from Israeli-controlled areas every year.
Israel rejected the Palestinian demand for return of refugees in any peace agreement.
How many Palestinian refugees are there in the whole world?
Those national and international news which made headlines throughout the day.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was formed in 1949 to oversee aid programs for Palestinian refugees.
According to UNRWA, ‘Palestinian refugees’ are those “who were residents of Palestine between 1 June 1946 and 15 May 1948 and who lost both their homes and livelihoods during the 1948 conflict.”
Children of people falling within this definition, including adopted children, are entitled to register themselves as refugees.
According to the agency, when UNRWA started working in 1950, it was taking care of the needs of 7.5 million Palestinian refugees.
Today approximately 5.9 million Palestinian refugees are entitled to UNRWA’s assistance.
Of these, 15 lakh people live in 58 refugee camps recognized by UNRWA.
These camps are in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza Strip and the West Bank including East Jerusalem.
However, there are many areas outside these recognized camps where the number of Palestinian refugees is concentrated, such as the Yarmouk area near the Syrian capital Damascus.
Why are there refugee camps for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank?
According to Professor Don Shaty, when Israel was formed, most of the Arab people of Palestine living in the areas designated for the Jewish state, fled to the areas that were designated for Arabs.
She says, “They took refuge in Gaza and the West Bank. He became a refugee of 1948.”
There are more than 8.71 lakh registered refugees in the West Bank. According to UNWRA, a quarter of them live in 19 refugee camps.
There are 17 lakh refugees in Gaza. Of these, about 6.20 lakh live in eight recognized camps of UNRWA.
How big is the Palestinian diaspora?
According to an estimate, more than 1 million Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.
Most Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have been living in refugee camps since 1948 and have not received civil or social rights.
On the other hand, Palestinians living in Syria have equal social rights as Syrian citizens. However, after the start of the Syrian war, most Palestinians left the country.
In their book ‘Palestinians World Wide: A Demographic Study’, Yousef Kohbeg and Hala Nofal write, “The presence of Palestinians in the Arab countries of the Gulf was recorded almost a century ago.”
According to him, “Before the Second Gulf War, 90% of Palestinian workers used to go to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, after which most of the Palestinian workers turned towards Qatar and United Arab Emirates.”
Professor Don Shaty says that the demand for Palestinian refugees in the Gulf countries was high because they were in great need of educated workers who could speak both English and Arabic.
Due to the good education received in UNRWA camps, Palestinians reached high positions there.
Palestinian population outside West Asia
Most of the current Palestinian migrant population outside West Asia migrated in the late 19th century. At that time this area was under the Ottoman Empire.
The repression of the first Arab nationalist movements and the economic crisis promoted the migration of Christian Palestinian traders, especially to North America and South America.
The next wave of migration began after the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and then after the formation of Israel.
However, it is difficult to know the exact figure.
According to Kohbeg and Nofal, “The number of Palestinians in South America is unclear because they are placed in a single category of “Arabs.”
The Palestinian population in Chile is estimated to be around half a million, making it the country with the largest Palestinian population outside West Asia.
Apart from this, there are a good number of Palestinians in Honduras, Guatemala and Brazil.
The migration of Palestinians to America also started from the end of the 19th century and at present there are about two lakh Palestinians here.
Germany has the largest Palestinian population in Europe, followed by Britain, Greece, France, Denmark and Sweden.