British Palestinians
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Regions with significant populations | |
  | |
| Languages | |
| English (British English) • Arabic (Palestinian Arabic) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Arabs in the United Kingdom • Palestinian diaspora |
Palestinians in the United Kingdom, commonly called British Palestinians, are people of Palestinian origin born or residing in the United Kingdom.
History
[edit]According to Youssef Courbage and Hala Nofal in Palestinians Worldwide: A Demographic Study (2020), Palestinian presence in the United Kingdom predates the Nakba.[2] Dina Matar writes in her 2005 thesis that the well-off and businesspeople arrived as early as the 1930s for education and work reasons.[3]
Still composed mostly of students and professionals, larger waves of Palestinians began migrating to the UK from the 1960s and on, spurred by events such as the Naksa and the Lebanese Civil War (as many Palestinians had previously fled to Lebanon during the Nakba). Since the 1980s, especially after the Second Gulf War, an increasing number of stateless Palestinians have sought asylum in European countries to escape wars and political turmoil in the Middle East.[4]
Demographics
[edit]Outlined in Abbas Shiblak's The Palestinian Diaspora in Europe (2005), it was estimated there were 20,000 Palestinians in the UK in 2001, with the number rising after 1991. However, as pointed out by Lina Mahmoud in her essay for the same publication,[1] Ghada Karmi in a 2008 article for This Week Palestine,[5] and Dina Matar in her thesis,[3] the number was impossible to calculate due to a lack of data on British-born Palestinians and Palestinian residents of Britain born in other countries. In 2020, Courbage and Nofal estimated the number was 60,000 in 2017.[2]
From 2004 to 2006 and 2011 to 2012, Stéphanie Loddo (of the EHESS) collected ethnographic data from Palestinians living in Manchester, Oxford, and London and among Palestinian-related organisations. The respondents were both migrants (belonging to various categories – students, professionals, refugees – who arrived at certain intervals in different contexts) and British-born Palestinians.[4] As a result of these migration patterns, the Palestinian community in the UK is diverse in terms of social class, civil and legal status, place of origin, and religious and cultural background.[4][3][5]
Loddo, Courbage and Nofal,[2] and Karmi[5] agreed that Palestinians typically find relative success in the UK. Loddo considered the country a "favourable environment" for Palestinians as a "world leader" in higher education, arts, Arab media, and business.[4]
Notable people
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- Ghassan Abu-Sittah, surgeon – Kuwait-born to Palestinian parents
- Nima Abu-Wardeh, journalist – Palestinian heritage
- Sarah Agha, actress and presenter – Palestinian father from Delhamiya
- Naji al-Ali, artist – born in Al-Shajara
- Naim Attallah, businessman and writer
- Faris Badwan, musician – Palestinian father
- Zaki Chehab, journalist – from Burj el-Shemali refugee camp
- Selma Dabbagh, writer – Palestinian father from Jaffa
- Saleem Haddad, writer – Palestinian paternal grandmother from Nazareth
- Isabella Hammad, novelist – Palestinian paternal heritage from Nablus
- Bilal Hasna, actor and playwright – Palestinian father
- Mona Hatoum, artist – Lebanon-born to Palestinian parents
- Joudie Kalla, chef – Palestinian grandparents
- Ghada Karmi, academic – born in Jerusalem
- Hanan Kattan, producer – Jordan-born to Palestinian parents from Jerusalem and Bethlehem
- Reem Kelani, musician – Palestinian parents from Yabad and Nazareth
- Lewis Ludlam, rugby union player – Palestinian paternal heritage
- Bashar Lulua, orchestra conductor – Syria-born to a Palestinian mother
- Shadia Mansour, rapper – Palestinian parents from Haifa and Nazareth
- Tanushka Marah, theatre director and writer – Palestinian-Jordanian heritage
- Leanne Mohamad, public speaker and political activist – Palestinian parents
- Layla Moran, Liberal Democrats MP – Palestinian mother from Jerusalem
- Farah Nabulsi, filmmaker – Palestinian parents
- Karma Nabulsi, academic
- Nadia El-Nakla, SNP politician – Palestinian father
- Rosalind Nashashibi, artist – Palestinian father
- Anbara Salam, writer – Palestinian-Lebanese father
- Leila Sansour, filmmaker – born in the USSR to a Palestinian father from Bethlehem
- Larissa Sansour, artist and filmmaker – born in Jerusalem
- Abdul Latif Tibawi, academic – born in Taybet
- Azzam Tamimi, academic – born in Hebron
- Sami Tamimi, chef and author – born in Jerusalem
Associations
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Organisations and collectives concerning British Palestinians specifically include the British Palestinian Committee (BPC),[6][7] the Association of the Palestinian Community in the UK (APC–UK), the Palestine Community Foundation (PCF),[8][9] and the Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB).[10] There is also the Scottish Palestinian Society (SPS).[11]
The Mission of Palestine (embassy) in London began operating as a delegation in the 1970s.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Shiblak, Abbas (2005). "The Palestinian Diaspora in Europe: Challenges of Dual Identity and Adaptation" (PDF). Refugee and Diaspora Studies Series, No.2. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
- ^ a b c d Courbage, Youssef; Nofal, Hala. "Palestinians Worldwide: A Demographic Study" (PDF). Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
- ^ a b c Matar, Dina (September 2005). "The Palestinians in Britain" (PDF). News, Memory and Identity: The Palestinians in Britain, and Social Uses of News. p. 108. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
- ^ a b c d Loddo, Stephanie Anna (1 March 2016). "Palestinian perceptions of home and belonging in Britain: negotiating between rootedness and mobility" (PDF). Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
- ^ a b c Karmi, Ghada (2008). "Palestinians in Britain". This Week in Palestine.
- ^ "Who We Are". British Palestinian Committee (BPC). Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ^ Gecsoyler, Sammy; Gohil, Neha (22 February 2024). "'Despicable': British Palestinians react to Commons chaos over Gaza ceasefire". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
- ^ "British-Palestinians" (PDF). Baseline Research to Assist Research on British-Arab Communities. The Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU). July 2020. p. 77. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
- ^ "Welcome: Who We Are". Palestine Community Foundation (PCF). Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ^ "Palestinian Forum in Britain invites participation in launch of Scottish branch". Middle East Eye. 8 May 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
- ^ Shawish, Wael. "The Palestinian Community and Support Organizations in Scotland". This Week in Palestine. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
- ^ "About Us: The Mission". Palestinian Mission to the United Kingdom. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
