The Palestinian Diaspora in Europe: Challenges of Dual Identity and Adaptation

The papers which make up this book were presented at a workshop held at the Middle East Centre at St. Anthony’s College, University of Oxford, between 5th and 6th May 2000, but were later revised and updated. The papers by H.Schulz and S. Shawa were added later. The workshop on ‘Palestinian Communities in Europe’ was organised jointly by the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) at the University of Oxford and the Palestinian Refugee and Diaspora Centre (Shaml) in Ramallah. I would like to express my gratitude to the Organising Committee members for their efforts and invaluable help. In particular, I am thankful to Dr. Eugene Rogan of St. Anthony’s, Dr David Turton, the ex-Director of the RSC, Dr Dawn Chatty of the RSC, Dr. Nadje Al-Ali of Exeter, Dr. Nick Van Hear, Paul Ryder and Dominique Attala of the RSC. Also to Dr. Sharif Kanaana, the cofounder and ex-Director of Shaml and Judge Eugene Cotran, the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Shaml. To Said Kamal and Ghayth Armanzi of the League of Arab States (LAS) and to Ford Foundation in Cairo, for the financial assistance which made the workshop the success that it was. I would like to extend my thanks to the indefatigable researchers who contributed to this groundbreaking workshop, to the translators: Ramsey Amin, Ihsan Al-Kharouf, Rami Cheblak and to Genevieve de Winter who went through the English text and made useful stylistic changes.