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The Politics of Palestinian Exile
Yezid Sayigh
Third World Quarterly
, Vol. 9, No. 1, The Politics of Exile. (Jan., 1987), pp. 28-66.
Stable URL:http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0143-6597%28198701%299%3A1%3C28%3ATPOPE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1
Third World Quarterly
is currently published by Taylor & Francis, Ltd..Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtainedprior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content inthe JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/journals/taylorfrancis.html.Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.The JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository providing for long-term preservation and access to leading academic journals and scholarly literature from around the world. The Archive is supported by libraries, scholarly societies, publishers,and foundations. It is an initiative of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community takeadvantage of advances in technology. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.http://www.jstor.orgThu Jan 24 17:25:43 2008
 
YEZID
SAYIGH
The politics of Palestinian exile
Uprooting, occupation, and dispersal
In
1948,
78
per cent of the historic land of Palestine came underoccupation by the newly established State of Israel. Of a totalPalestinian Arab population of
1.3
million.
60
per cent became refugeesin the remaining parts of Palestine and in neighbouring Arab countries.'Between
83
per cent and
93
per cent of the inhabitants of the arcas nowoccupied by Israel were uprooted and sent into exile. Most of therefugees crowded in with the original residents of the Gaza Strip, underEgyptian administration, and of the West Bank. which was formallyannexed to Jordan in
1950,
while additional numbers settled in Syria.Lebanon, and 'Transjordan. or even further afi~ld.~Different legal conditions pertained to the refugee community ineach Arab country. In Jordan. the Palestinians were granted fullcitizenship, including the issuing of passports. in accordance with the
1950
Act of Union. Syria granted equal rights (including the vote) withits own citizens and Iraq waived the need for residence and workpermits. whereas Egypt permitted certain political and militaryactivities but confined its Palestinians to the Gaza Strip: Lcbanonimposed major restrictions on all aspects of refugee life.' In severalArab countries. a minority of refugees became full nationals. but the
'
Variously chtirnatcd
at
75(&840.000
people. There are many accounts of the circunistancessurrounding the flight
of
the Palestinians and their resettling. One is
N
Nazzal.
The P~~le~tit~irinE.~odusfronrGaliler. 1948.
Beirut: Institute for Palestine Studies.
1978.
Another 1s
R
Sayigh.
Palestiniarts: Frottl Pmsiint.~
o
Rt~~~olutionciries,
ondon: Zed Press. 1979. A more generalhistory is
D
Hirst,
The
Gun
arlclrhe Oll\,e Branch.
London: Fabcr and Faher.
1977.
Recently. anIsraeli journalist unearthed official Israeli Army document< confirming the fact that thep.1
'I
.
' '
estln1:tns fled as a result of Zion~stmilitary action and not because of exhortations to do
so
byArab leaders. B Morris, 'Operation Dani and the Palestinian Exodus from Lydda and Ramle in1948',
The Aliridle Easr Journul40(1)
Winter 1986. pp
82-109.
'
200,000
refugees joined
800.000
residents in the Gaza Strip while
360,000
others joined the
325.000
residents in the West Rank. Over
100.000
refugees fled to each of Lebanon. Syria. and Transjordan. 
-
These countries have issued special 'Palestinian refugee' identity cards and travel docurncnts. In many cases in Lebanon. refugees could only obtain
liiisvez-paaer
papers defining them as 'stateless' and 'of uncertain or~gin'. he
PLO
has frequently pressed the Arab League to issue a recognised Palestinian passport. See Interview with the 11~0's 'foreign minister', Farouq Qaddoumi. in the
pro
week11
Filitrin nrl1-T/zuit'rah 571)
24 August
1985,
p
20.
For a portrait of refugee life in Lebanon. see F'l'urki,
The Disitzherired: Jourtlul ofci Palestinian Exile.
New York: Monthly Re\-iew Press, 1972.
28
TWQ
9(1)
Januar)
1987:ISSN
014S6597i87
31.25
 
THE
POLITICS OF PALESTINIAN EXILE
individuals affected usually enjoyed family or religious affinity with theissuing authorities (as in Syria and Lebanon). or provided neededprofessional and technical skills to the host country (as in the Gulf).In
1967,
Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, forcing300,000 persons, many refugees for the second time, into Jordan. Thewhole of Palestine was now under occupation, as well as Egyptian Sinaiand the Syrian Golan Heights. Israel also ruled over
1.5
millionPalestinians:
1
million inhabitants of the so-called 'OccupiedTerritories' of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and
0.5
million 'IsraeliArabs' in Israel proper. By
1986,
the captive population had grown to
2
million, with another
2.5
million Palestinians in the Arab Diaspora.'
Elements
of
uniqueness
The Palestinians are not the only people to have experiencedoccupation and national subjugation. Many peoples around the worldhave suffered colonial domination, during which they experiencedcollective political and physical repression and economic exploitation.In the post-colonial era, many ethnic or tribal minorities have alsosuffered expulsion and mass migration as a result of inherent conflictswithin their new nation-states. Rarely, though, has a whole people beensubjected simultaneously to uprooting, expulsion, dispersal, andcomplete denial of nationhood, as have the Palestinians; in history, onlythe Armenians and Kurds have suffered somewhat similar experiences.Since its establishment, Israel has undertaken a systematic attempt todeny the very existence of the Palestinians and to erase their nationalidentity: by treating the Palestine question solely as one of refugees, byrewriting history textbooks, demolishing villages, and changinghistorical
landscape^.^
This is what makes the Palestinian case unique inthe modern world.
'
here were 1.25 million refugees and migrants in Jordan.
J-500.000
in the Arab oil states.
400,000
in Lebanon. and
25&300.000
in Syria. On Palestinian demography, see
E
Said.
E
Zureik,
J
Abu-Lughod, I Abu-Lughod and
M
Hallaj (eds),
A
Profile of the P(z1rstinian People.
Chicago: Palestine Human Rights Campaign.
1983.
In 1979, there were
1.803.564
registeredPalestine refugees still receiving benefits from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency forPalestine Refugees.
Report ofthe Cornmission~rGeneral of UNRU'A.
1978-9. paragraph
2.
The former Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir, best expressed this process when she respondedto a journalist's question by asking: 'The Palestinians, who are they? They do not exist.' Westerncountries have assisted in the denial of Palestinian rights. The implication that the Palestiniansare not a legitimate national community is the essence of US and Israeli policy that 'is so extremethat Palestinians are not even permitted to select their own representatives for eventualnegotiations about their fate'.
N
Chonisky. 'Thought control in the
USA:
the case of the MiddleEast'.
Itzdex on Censorsl~ip
7)
1986,
p
2.
of 00

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