Germany hosts Europe’s largest Palestinian refugee population, but it has not welcomed that population with open arms. The Israel-Hamas war has further complicated the situation for incoming Palestinian refugees. I hope to report on these bureaucratic difficulties by telling the story of the people who have learned to navigate them as part of a broader story about the Palestinian community in Berlin. In doing so, I also plan to write about Germany’s ongoing crackdown on Palestinian dissent, including by threatening deportation, due to the country’s support for Israel.
Approximately 100,000-200,000 Palestinians live in Germany, although that figure is virtually impossible to verify because the government does not recognize Palestinian as a state and therefore does not collect data on the Palestinian population. Instead, Palestinians are frequently classified under “unclarified nationality,” which denies them “freedom of movement, access to education and healthcare, and the right to work,” according to one article. Granted “Duldung,” or “toleration” permits, refugees are barred from the naturalization process and are at higher risk of deportation. Indeed, because Palestinians are administered under the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA), the German government does not consider them refugees and therefore has created a separate, less accommodating asylum application process for them. Many Palestinians also come from refugee camps in Syria, and this secondary migration adds additional complications in the eyes of German bureaucracy. The government has therefore limited economic opportunities for Palestinians and put them in an arduous if not vulnerable legal situation.
After October 7, the situation has worsened. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees “deprioritized” asylum applicants from the Gaza Strip in January 2024, referencing “uncertainty” in the situation on the ground in Gaza, before resuming applications in July of this year. This decision blocked Palestinians from entering the country. Furthermore, with UNWRA banned by Israel and struggling to fulfill its obligations toward Palestinian refugees, lawyers and legal scholars have begun to question the legal justification for Germany denying those refugees the regular asylum process.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian community in Berlin lives a precarious existence. Some individuals have recently faced deportation because they were granted international protection status in other countries. The community as a whole has suffered from “intensified state surveillance and police crackdowns.” Indeed, the activist community has been hardest hit, with pro-Palestine demonstrations facing severe repression. The German government has revoked the refugee status of activists and arrested individuals walking near pro-Palestine protests for “looking Palestinian.”
I propose to connect the uniquely challenging asylum process for Palestinian migrants with the current hostile environment toward migrant activists from the community. I hope to do this by speaking with individuals from different waves of Palestinian immigration, with a special focus on more recent arrivals.
To tell the activism side of the story, I hope to interview Zaid Abdulnasser, a refugee and former head of Samidoun Berlin, an activist group that Germany banned in 2023. I also want to talk to current and former Palestinian students to learn more about the student experience and its relation to activism. Finally, I would like to interview Palestinian politicians such as Ramsis Kilani, a former Der Linke member who was expelled from the party because of his statements on the Israel-Hamas war, and Samira Tanana, a Green MP who is vice chair of Palestinian community center Al-Huleh.
Questions for AfD reps:
- What would be your ideal immigration policy?
- What are your thoughts on Germany’s demographic decline and what to do about it?
- What are some of AfD’s policies that receive less media attention than you would like?
- How do you connect with younger voters?
