Brainstorming Sessions

How can “law and society” as an approach serves to better understanding and dealing with refugees as an exception to the normal application of law.

In other words, how can “law and society” help normalize the exceptional case that represents refugee hood for the normal proceeding of law. Palestinian refugees are living under the state of exception in most host countries.

This study explores Israeli language engineering and the Hebracization of the landscape, with a special emphasis on the cultural and the legal discourse of Palestinian resistance from 1997 to 2010.

Because Palestine lives under a harsh colonial condition under Zionist occupation, the language of struggle and the struggle on language needs to be dealt with accordingly.

Palestinian Migrants in Ramallah, by: Dr. Majid Shihade – Identity, Conflict, Modernity, and Anthropology of knowledge 

The research paper looks into the situation of Palestinian migrants in the Ramallah area. It will examine the question of Palestinians who migrate to the Ramallah area for work, and what issues they face here, and how would this research complicate further the question of the Palestinian migration and refugees.

The main points of the presentation, in reaction to the article in Majallat Al-Derasat Al-Falasteenya (2010, pp. 30-43) on Civil Rights of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon, for Sari Hanafi. Here are some of the points that were raised: 

Roula El-Rifai a Senior Program Specialist, Middle East Unit at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) presented an overview of the IDRC focus on Palestinian Refugees and the Middle East peace process. She mentioned the importance of policy papers versus research projects.

She stated that the key research projects are concentrated on compensation, absorption of Palestinian refugees and public opinion.

The five grounds for persecution or fear of persecution as stated in Article 1A of the 1951 Geneva Convention are 'race, religion, nationality, and membership of a particular social group or political group.’ The 1951 Refugee Convention grounds of '...race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion' are certainly not an exhaustive list for invoking refugee status as proved by the subsequent developments and codification of international refugee law.