| 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.
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]
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]
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]
Katamon or Qatamon, officially known as Gonen, is a neighborhood in south-central Jerusalem. It is built next to an old Greek Orthodox monastery, believed to have been constructed on the home and the tomb of Simeon from the Gospel of Luke.
Leila Sansour, is a Russian-born Palestinian film director and film producer. She is the founder and chief executive officer of Open Bethlehem, a non-governmental foundation established to promote and protect the life and heritage of the city of Bethlehem. Sansour developed the Bethlehem Passport in partnership with the city council and governor of Bethlehem. Pope Benedict XVI became the first recipient of the Bethlehem passport when he accepted the citizenship of Bethlehem from Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in December 2005.
Ghada Karmi is a Palestinian-born academic, physician and author. She has written on Palestinian issues in newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian, The Nation and Journal of Palestine Studies.
Walid Khalidi is a Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is a co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, established in Beirut in December 1963 as an independent research and publishing center focusing on the Palestine problem and the Arab–Israeli conflict, and was its general secretary until 2016.
Munib Rashid al-Masri, also known as the "Duke of Nablus", and "the Godfather"(b. 1934), is a Palestinian industrialist, and patriarch of the al-Masri family.
Palestinian handicrafts are handicrafts produced by Palestinian people or individuals. A wide variety of handicrafts, many of which have been produced by Palestine's inhabitants in Palestine for hundreds of years, continue to be produced today. Palestinian handicrafts include embroidery work, pottery-making, soap-making, glass-making, weaving, and olive-wood and Mother of Pearl carvings, among others. Some Palestinian cities in the West Bank, particularly Bethlehem, Hebron and Nablus have gained renown for specializing in the production of a particular handicraft, with the sale and export of such items forming a key part of each cities' economy.
An attack was carried out by the Jewish paramilitary group Haganah on the Christian-owned Semiramis Hotel in the Katamon neighborhood of Jerusalem during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine.
Tarab Abdul Hadi, also transliterated Tarab 'Abd al-Hadi, (1910–1976) was a Palestinian activist and feminist. In the late 1920s, she co-founded the Palestine Arab Women's Congress (PAWC), the first women's organization in British Mandate Palestine, and was an active organizer in its sister group, the Arab Women's Association (AWA).
Following are timelines of the history of Ottoman Syria, taken as the parts of Ottoman Syria provinces under Ottoman rule.
Al-Quds Arab Capital of Culture was the name given to Arab Capital of Culture programme in 2009. The programme, organised by UNESCO and the Arab League, is designed to promote Arab culture and encourage cooperation in the Arab world. The 2009 event was the 14th programme since its establishment in 1996.
Ghada is a feminine given name of Arabic origin, is used mostly in Arabic speaking countries, but also in a few other countries and languages of the world. In Arabic, it refers to women who are attractive, graceful and active, tender and enchanting, giving and enlightening.
Abbas Shiblak is a Palestinian academic, historian, Research Associate at the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), University of Oxford, free-lance writer, former diplomat and an advocate of human rights.
Arabs in Denmark are Danish permanent residents of Arab descent, who originate from Arab countries. The largest number of Arabs in the country are Iraqis. The majority hail from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine and Morocco followed by smaller groups from other Arab countries. They mainly live in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Jutland. There were 121,000 Arabs in Denmark as of 2017.
The Palestinian diaspora, part of the wider Arab diaspora, are Palestinian people living outside the region of Palestine and Israel. There are 2.1 Mio Arabs in Gaza, 2.9 in West Bank, and 1.65 in Israel. more than 6.1 Mio live outside, most of them in Jordan, Syria, Chile and Lebanon.
The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) is a UK-based advocacy group established in 1996 in London. It is an "independent consultancy focusing on the historical, political and legal aspects of the Palestinian Refugees". In July 2015, PRC was given special consultative status at the United Nations as non-governmental organisation (NGO). The centre specialises in research and analysis of issues concerning the Palestinians who were displaced, and subsequently prevented from returning, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It advocates "their internationally recognised legal right to return."
Farah Nabulsi is a British-Palestinian filmmaker and human rights activist. For her short film The Present, she was nominated for an Academy Award and won the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film.
Refqa Abu-Remaileh is a university teacher and author with a focus on Modern Arabic literature and film studies. Since 2020, she is associate professor in the department for Semitic and Arabic Studies at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. She is mainly known for her publications on the literature and films created by Palestinian people who often live as refugees and exiles, both in the Middle East and the world-wide Palestinian diaspora.
Bayan Nuwayhed is a Palestinian journalist, academic, historian and a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). She is one of the leading historians of Palestine and is the author of the book entitled Sabra and Shatila: September 1982.
