From family dispersion to asylum-seeking: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Syria
Résumé
In 2011, when the Syrian crisis began, many families gradually left Syria to seek asylum in neighbouring countries. Palestinian refugees in Syria have gradually been caught up in the conflict and for some of them forced into exile. While most neighbouring countries closed their border very rapidly to this group of refugees, Lebanon adopted a more flexible position. More than 50,000 Syrian Palestinians have found asylum in Lebanon. The geography of this exile is singular. Lebanon is one of the countries in the region where the legal status of Palestinians is most precarious. More than half of the Palestinians in Lebanon still live in one of 12 refugee camps, where socio-economic conditions are very difficult. This polarization of Palestinian migration from Syria to these areas may, however, be explained by the historical ties between Palestinian refugees in both countries. Forced migration related to the current conflict in Syria is based on forms of mobility developed since the 1948 exodus (Nakba in Arabic).
This chapter is based on the story of Umm Maher, a native of Haifa, whose family have been scattered - like many Palestinians - at a regional level. If the majority of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon originates from the North of Palestine and have settled directly in the nearest country, some families have experienced more complex trajectories. Thus, refugees did not all arrive directly from Palestine to Lebanon in 1948. Some headed North of Palestine staying inside Palestinian territory to join relatives. West Bank was a first step for Palestinian families, especially the city of Nablus. The exodus has dispersed families in several host countries while the Israeli border was closed to the return or even the crossing of refugees. Palestinians had to suffer long journeys trying to gather families divided between several countries. But for the vast majority exile meant the permanence of dispersion. Perceived as a constraint, resulting of a forced exodus, this dispersion can also be considered as a resource following Emmanuel Ma Mung (1999). Multiple internal and international forced displacements, but also mobility and circulation for family reasons, contribute to the emergence of a space of cross-border mobility. From a constraint, dispersion becomes a resource available in different contexts, to establish matrimonial ties but also to facilitate access to asylum space in case of conflict. The trajectory of Umm Maher, watermark of this chapter, echoes the experience of many Palestinian families that were built into exile and dispersion.