Out of reach, yet never abandoned The paradoxical experiences of the right of return among Palestinians in the Netherlands
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2025-08-25
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en
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This thesis examines how Palestinians in the Netherlands experience and interpret the right of return, situating these narratives within broader debates on the universality of human rights. Although the right of return is recognized in international law, for Palestinians it remains out of reach, revealing the distance between universal principles and everyday realities. By foregrounding the voices of Palestinians in the Netherlands, this study explores how rights endure as emotional, symbolic and collective necessities even when denied in practice. The research is based on eight semi-structured interviews with Palestinians of different generations living in the Netherlands. The findings reveal that participants experience the right of return as a double paradox: it is denied in practice yet deeply necessary in their lives and seen as unrealistic yet indispensable. Bureaucratic erasure of Palestinian identity in the Netherlands, silences in education and broader feelings of exclusion deepen mistrust in universal rights systems, while at the same time reinforcing the symbolic and emotional significance of return. The right of return is sustained not only as a political demand but also through embodied attachments, collective practices and intergenerational transmission. Even when physical return feels impossible, recognition itself is regarded as essential. By connecting these findings to debates on relative universality and affect, the thesis shows that universality should not be understood as a fixed or uniform principle, but as something constantly negotiated between abstract ideals and lived experience.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen