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Urban Palestinian-American Refugees of the Nakba
Abstract
For most people, the words “Palestinian refugees” evoke images of poverty and refugee camps. The majority of the refugees from the 1948 Palestine war were farmers living and working their lands. There is however another side to the Palestinian refugee story. It is the story of the Palestinian middle and upper classes who lived in Palestine’s main cities of Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, Tiberias, Safad, and Lid. They were professional well-to-do doctors, lawyers, merchants, teachers, and artists. They lived in beautiful well-furnished stone homes with lovely gardens. These Palestinian urbanites lived a good life, socializing, and conducting business with their Jewish neighbors. They traveled internationally, owned properties, factories, farmlands, and businesses in Palestine and abroad. Most of the upper and middle class Palestinians left most of their property and possession behind when they fled the fighting during the 1948 war. Their losses in lands, buildings, capital, and moveable property were estimated in the billions of British pounds in 1948. Some of these urban Palestinians sought refuge in the United States immediately after the 1948 Palestine war or subsequent Middle East wars. Most were never able to return to their homeland or to receive compensation for their lost properties and possessions. This audio-visual presentation will share the stories of Palestinian Americans from Jerusalem, Haifa, Acre, and Jaffa based on my interviews and various collections of oral histories, documentary and photographic archives, and memoirs.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Palestine
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries