The postcolonial global condition is often characterised by migration patterns linking urban centres of empire with former colonies. For Palestinians, the colonial condition is ongoing and operates in distinct temporal and spatial modalities, in which settler colonialism persists alongside policies of ethnic cleansing. Key markers, such as 1948 and 1967, triggered  waves of mass forced displacement both within and beyond Palestine, resulting in the presence of over 6 million Palestinians outside their homeland, scattered across the globe and denied the right of return. Variously categorised as the_ shatat_—whether as refugees, migrants, or citizens of other countries—they form transnational communities in exile spatialised in a diversity of built forms—e.g. camps, ethnic neighbourhoods, informal settlements, and urban peripheries, centres and suburbs—predominately across the Arab world, Europe, and the Americas. The shatat are simultaneously rooted in a particular locality while networked with each other and with Palestine. This social and spatial relation is dynamic, producing waves of multi-generational displacement, exile, migration, and return to and from multiple territories, geographies, and communities. The Palestinian shatat thus engages in a multi-faceted spatial politics related to both city and world-making, while maintaining a society struggling for liberation. In so doing, they have also contributed to global solidarities related to anticolonialism.

Key Questions

  • What are the main features of the shatat’s spatial politics and practices?
  • How do Palestinians in exile engage in spatial practices that connect them to Palestine and to each other? How are these practices a product of the general diasporic condition and how are they specific to the shatat in various locations? 
  • In what ways does the site of exile influence the relation to Palestine and possibilities for return?
  • How have the shatat developed social and spatial relations with other global solidarity movements?

Key Cases

  • Central and South America in the early 20th century (e.g. Chile, Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador)
  • Refugee Camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria (e.g. Yarmouk, Nahr al-Bared, Ain Al-Hilweh, Shatila, Jabal al-Hussein)
  • PLO centres in Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia
  • Gulf cities (eg Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Riyadh, Kuwait City) 
  • “Ethnic” neighbourhoods in North America and Europe (Little Palestine in Chicago; Bayridge in Brooklyn; Dearborn and Paterson in the US; Sonnenallee in Berlin; Edgware Road in London)  
  • Museums in Exile (e.g. Palestine Museum US and Scotland; Museum of the Palestinian People; International Art Exhibition for Palestine)
  • Palestinian Film and Literature Festivals
  • Transnational Palestinian conferences and forums

Key Resources

  1. Abourahme, Nasser. 2021. “Revolution after Revolution: The Commune as Line of Flight in Palestinian Anticolonialism.” Critical Times 4 (3): 445–75. ( open-access link )
  2. Bshara, Khaldun. “Space and Memory: The Poetics and Politics of Home in the Palestinian Diaspora.” PhD diss. University of California Irvine. ( open-access link )
  3. حمودي، سناء. 2023. ”مخيم عين الحلوة: ’عاصمة الشتات.‘“ مؤسسة الدراسات الفلسطينية. ( مصدر مفتوح الوصول )  
  4. Naber, Nadine. 2017. “‘The U.S. and Israel Make the Connections for Us’: Anti-Imperialism and Black-Palestinian Solidarity.” Critical Ethnic Studies 3 (2): 15. ( open-access link )

Further Resources

Please contact us if you would like access to any resources.

  1. Al-Hardeen, Anaheed. 2017. “Palestinian Refugees: Who Sets the Agenda?.” Al-Shabaka, April 27, 2017. ( open-access link )

بالعربية: الحردان، أناهيد. 2017. ”البحوث حول اللاجئين الفلسطينيين: مَن يحدد الأجندة؟.“ الشبكة، أبريل 27، 2017. ( مصدر مفتوح الوصول ).

  1. Bawalsa, Nadim. 2022. Transnational Palestine: Migration and the Right of Return before 1948. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ( Worldcat link )
  2. Brand. Laurie A. 1988. Palestinians in the Arab World: Institution Building and the Search for State. New York: Columbia University Press. ( Worldcat link )

بالعربية: براند، لوري ا. 1991. اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻄﻴﻨﻴﻮن ﰲ اﻟﻌﺎﱂ اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻲ: ﺑﻨﺎء اﳌﺆﺳﺴﺎت واﻟﺒﺤﺚ ﻋﻦ اﻟﺪوﻟﺔ. مؤسسة الدراسات الفلسطينية. ( رابط ) 

  1. Chatzitheodorou, Christina. n.d. “From Greece to Palestine: Archiving as a Form of Solidarity.” Archive Stories. ( open-access link )
  2. DeMaio, Matthew. 2024. “Made to Move: Placemaking and Accumulated Attachments among Palestinian Refugees from Syria.” PhD diss. The George Washington University. ( open-access link )
  3. Erakat, Noura, and Marc Lamont Hill. 2019. “Black-Palestinian Transnational Solidarity: Renewals, Returns, and Practice.” _Journal of Palestine Studies _48 (4): 7–16. ( open-access link )
  4. Gabiam. Nell. 2018. “Mapping Palestinian Identity in the Diaspora: Affective Attachments and Political Spaces.” South Atlantic Quarterly 117 (1): 65-90. ( link )
  5. Ghabra, Shafeeq. 1987. Palestinians in Kuwait and the Politics of Survival. Boulder: Westview Press. ( open-access link )

بالعربية: الغبرا، شفيق .2018. النكبة ونشوء الشتات الفلسطيني في الكويت. بيروت: المركز العربي للأبحاث ودراسة السياسات، ضمن سلسلة. ( رابط ) 

  1. Jamal, Manal A. 2017. “The ‘Other Arab’ and Gulf Citizens: Mutual Accommodation of Palestinians in the UAE in Historical Context.” In Arab Migrant Communities in the GCC, edited by Zahra Babar, 111–32. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ( Worldcat link )
  2. Karmi, Ghada. 2015. Return: A Palestinian Memoir. London: Verso. ( Worldcat link )
  3. Khouri, Kristine and Rasha Salti, eds. 2018. Past Disquiet: Artists, International Solidarity and Museums in Exile. Warsaw: Museum of Modern Art Warsaw. ( Worldcat link )
  4. Lindholm, Helena. 2021. “Bridging Identities through Activism: Palestinians in Sweden Navigating the Transnational Divide.” Conflict, Security & Development 21 (3): 293–312. ( open-access link ) 
  5. Lybarger, Loren D. 2020. Palestinian Chicago: Identity in Exile. Oakland: University of California Press. ( open-access link )
  6. Price, Martin. 2020. “Diasporic Urbanism: Place, Politics and Development in a Jordanian-Palestinian Neighbourhood.” PhD Diss. Durham University. ( open-access link )
  7. Rmeileh, Rami. 2023. “In the Shadow of Palestinian Time and the Camp’s Alleyways.” Institute of Palestine Studies ( open-access link )
  8. Said, Edward. 1999. Out of Place: A Memoir. New York: Vintage Books. ( open-access link )

بالعربية: سعيد، إدوارد. 2000. خارج المكان. ترجمة فواز طرابلسي. بيروت: دار الآداب. ( رابط )  

  1. Salih, Ruba, Elena Zambelli, and Lynn Welchman. 2021. “‘From Standing Rock to Palestine We Are United’: Diaspora Politics, Decolonization and the Intersectionality of Struggles.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 44 (7): 1135–53. ( open-access link )
  2. Sayigh, Rosemary, ed. 2024. Becoming Pro-Palestinian: Testimonies from the Global Solidarity Movement. London: I.B. Tauris. ( link )
  3. Suleiman, Yasir, ed. 2016. Being Palestinian: Personal Reflections on Palestinian Identity in the Diaspora. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ( Worldcat link ) 
  4. Thomson, Sorcha and Pelle Valentin Olsen, eds. 2023. Palestine in the World: International Solidarity with the Palestinian Liberation Movement. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. ( Worldcat link )

Audiovisual Material

  1. Abu-Remaileh, Refqa. Country of Words: A Transnational Atlas for Palestinian Literature ( website )
  2. afikra. 2025. Palestinian Writing From the Diaspora | Sahar Mustafah Interviews Susan Muaddi Darraj. YouTube. ( online interview )
  3. Amer, Mohammed and Ramy Youssef. creators. 2022-25. Mo. Netflix. ( link )
  4. Fathy, Sherif, director. 2011. Palestine Amore. Al Jazeera English. 47 mins. ( open-access film )
  5. Hafeda, Mohamad. director. 2018. Sewing Borders. Ashkal Alwan for Video Works. 25 mins. ( link )
  6. Jabaly, Mohamed. A Palestinian filmmaker caught between two worlds in exile for seven years. Al Jazeera English. 47 mins. ( open-access film ) 
  7. Palestinian Oral History Archive. American University of Beirut. ( archive )

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Image: Palestine House in London, 2024. Photograph by Dena Qaddumi.

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