PALESTINIANS IN QATAR: AN ORAL HISTORY OF MIGRATION, MEMORY, CITIZENSHIP AND THE RIGHT OF RETURN

Abstract

This thesis adopts an oral history approach to study the lived experiences of the Palestinian community in Qatar. Despite significant scholarly attention being paid to the Palestinian narratives of displacement, this has been limited to specific countries around the world. Therefore, many of the literature have so far failed to address the specificities of Palestinian life in the Gulf, including Qatar. My interviewees settled in Qatar at the time of the state's formation and the economic growth in the Gulf. By using data gathered from reviewing the previous scholarships and two extended oral history interviews, this project provides an overview of the Palestinian diaspora in Qatar, and their current conditions in Qatar in terms of their identity, citizenship, right of return, and feeling of belonging. The study does not aim at generating generic or representative facts about all Palestinians in Qatar, but rather takes a qualitative in-depth look at some specific lived experiences of Palestinians in this context. The core questions that I will address in this project are: How do Palestinians in Qatar narrate their lives in Palestine and Qatar, and how do their memories and life stories compare to Israeli narratives? This topic will be addressed by drawing attention to four main themes: Palestinians’ narratives of migration, their memories of their life in Palestine and Qatar, their feelings of belonging and citizenship, and their politics of reconciling their current life in the diaspora with their right of return. I argue that Palestinians, despite the long period they have been living in Qatar, still act as protagonists of different forms of political resistance. They still embrace their right to return, and their desire and return will never be extinguished from their memories.

Date of Award	2023
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Humanities and Social Science