The term Diaspora refers to communities of peoples living outside of their homeland. It was most commonly used to refer to the Jewish community in exile, particularly referring to the dispersion of Jews from Biblical
Israel beginning in 586 BCE with the destruction of the First Temple. It is more recently used to refer to any large community in exile or in dispersion. Palestinians in exile (who were dispersed/exiled in waves which include
Palestinian Christians leaving Ottoman-controlled
Palestine, the
1948 War, and the
1967 War) are often called "diaspora" though there are some who feel that use of the word obscures Palestinians' status as refugees and their right to return to Palestine. See "
A Shared Blessing for a Far-Flung People: 'At Home in Exile,' on the Jewish Diaspora, by Alan Wolfe," Michael Roth, The New York Times, Oct 26, 2014. See also "
Rethinking the Palestinians Abroad as a Diaspora: The Relationships between the Diaspora and the Palestinian Territories," Sari Hanafi, The Palestinian Refugee and Diaspora Center, 2003; and "
The Role of the Palestinian Diaspora," by Nadia Hijab, Khalil Hindi, Aziz Khalidi, Jaber Suleiman, and Antoine Zahlan. Al-Shabaka, 2010; and
Palestinian Diaspora in Transnational Worlds: Intergenerational Differences in Negotiating Identity, Belonging and Home by Ismat Zaidan, Birzeit University, 2012.