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Where They Are Following the war in 1948, Palestinians were dispersed all over the Middle East and from there the world. When the UN created the Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in 1950, they were responding to the needs of about 750,000 Palestinian refugees. Now there are 4.6 million refugees eligible for UN services in the Middle East. In a press release dated 12/29/2009, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics claims that there are 10.9 million Palestinians worldwide. They report that 2.5 million live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, 1.5 million live in Gaza, 3.24 million in Jordan, 1.78 million in other Arab Countries and 618,000 in non-Arab countries. However, not all Palestinians left their homes in what is now Israel as a result of the war in 1948. They and their descendants now number about 1.5 million. These Arabs have Israeli citizenship. Of course, they are of Palestinian origin, but after more than 60-plus years many of them no longer identify themselves as Palestinian. There is a strong tie to the land that most Westerners don’t understand. If you were to meet a Palestinian and ask him where he was from, he wouldn’t tell where he lived now or even where he was born; he’d tell you the village in Palestine where his grandfather was born. Because of that, the “right of return” is an important issue for all Palestinians living outside Gaza and the West Bank, especially those who live in the refugee camps. This is one of the major reasons the Camp David peace talks broke down in 2000. Wikipedia has an interesting article on the Palestinian Diaspora. It includes the number of Palestinians in countries around the world including almost 70,000 in the USA and 25,000 in Canada. Find out more about Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria by clicking the name here or on the links to the left.
*Map and flags are from the CIA World Factbook |
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