Author: Bashir Ahmad
The current thesis aims to investigate the political alienation among Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora. The study approached on both the literature of theoretical and empirical work. The importance of the study is that it is the first topic, which proposes political alienation among Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora, to the author’s knowledge using a large sample that covered all Palestinian refugees worldwide. The study is considered one of the pioneering studies that examined this subject due to the scarcity of studies that dealt with the issue of political alienation among Palestinian refugees. The study constituted an important reference for researchers who are interested in the issue of political alienation in general, in addition to researchers interested in the issue of Palestinian question in particular.
To achieve the study aims, the study adopted the descriptive method used a triangulation approach of quantitative and qualitative designs, and a questionnaire, which is appropriate to the exploratory nature of the research, which will provide more meaningful in-depth data. The target population consists of Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora during 2021 that includes 15,378,205 Palestinians. The overall sample composed of nine thousands five hundred and ninety-eight Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora (5822 males and 3776 females) 15 years of age or above stratifiedly selected, due to region. The participants were from, Palestine, neighbor countries, Arab countries, South America, Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia.
Political alienation among Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora was evaluated using an index of a 40-item scale. A 5-point Likert scale (Strongly agree, agree, neither, disagree and strongly disagree) was used to assess the political alienation among the sampled population through an online survey that was launched on May 19, 2021, and the data were collected for a period of twelve months. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-23).
In total, nine thousands five hundred and ninety-eight were conducted. Respondents were above 15 and 87 years of age (M 33.38, SD 13.64); and the vast majority (82.9%) were married. Males represented 60.7% of the participants, while the remaining 39.3% were females. Half (49.4%) of the respondents had a secondary degree, and almost 48.3% had highly religious committed. The majority (57.4%) were working, and had on average of 5.56 family members, with a range of 1 to 15 (SD 2.45). Party affiliation represented 55.8% of the participants, while the remaining 44.2% do not have any party affiliation; and the majority (58.4%) were independent, (22.6%) were from Fateh, (13.6%) from Islamic trends (Hamas, Islamic Jihad), (3.7%) from left Trends (People's, Democracy, FDA, People's Party), and (1.8%) from other political fractions.
The findings showed that, the political alienation as experienced by the sample of nine thousands five hundred and eighty-nine Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora was moderate (M 3.20 SD 0.54). Of the Palestinian refugees surveyed in the Diaspora, 64% preserved a moderate level of political alienation.
Furthermore, the study explored the demographic breakdown over the political alienation among Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora with the aim of identifying any differences. Findings showed that all of the study independent variables were significant predictors for the political alienation among Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora that are, gender, age, marital status, number of family members, educational level, religion commitment, relation to work force, Political party affiliation, fraction affiliation, and the religion commitment.
In light of the study findings and the discussion, the study recommends, given the concept of political socialization the utmost importance in the teaching curriculum and the different media outlet, it is necessary to activate the political participation of the Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora, by taking charge of the refugees themselves or choosing their representative in any future solutions to their just cause, activating all official and popular institutions to support the Palestinian refugee cause, which is the basis of the Palestinian cause, and since there is large proportion of politically independents, the study recommends the emergence of a new party linked to the Palestinian refugee issues, which will have a prominent role in the conflict solution, especially the political participation, the right of return, and the right to self-determination. Holding the Palestinian elections as soon as possible with the participation of all Palestinian factions and all Palestinians in the Diaspora. Empowerment the role of women in the Palestinian political life through awareness programs and amending the mechanisms of the Palestinian political system.
Keywords: Political alienation, political socialization, political participation, Nakba, refugees, Diaspora, Palestine.
Bashir Ahmad, Assistant Professor, Institute of Migrations, Faculty of Political Sciences & Sociology, University of Granada, Spain. Independent Researcher, Ramallah, Palestine. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
