Abbas Shiblak (born 6 January 1944) is a Palestinian academic, historian, Research Associate at the

Refugee Studies Centre The Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) was established in 1982, as part of the University of Oxford's Department of International Development (Queen Elizabeth House), in order to promote the understanding of the causes and consequences of forced migrati ...

(RSC),

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

(a post he has held since 1992), free-lance writer, former diplomat and an advocate of human rights. Shiblak specializes in refugee-host country relationships and international humanitarian law. For the last few years, he has been working on a paper on the topic of

statelessness In international law, a stateless person is someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law". Some stateless people are also refugees. However, not all refugees are stateless, and many people who are st ...

in the Arab region. Shiblak founded Shaml, the Palestinian Refugee and Diaspora Centre in

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusale ...

, and also served as its first director. Shiblak was also a member of the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks on the "Working Group on Refugees".

Personal life

Shiblak was born in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

on 6 January 1944 and, after completing his schooling in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, his university education in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and working in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, he moved to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

in 1975, where he completed his postgraduate education in international relations. Shiblak then pursued a career in free-lance journalism, diplomacy, and developed an interest in refugee affairs and stateless communities, with particular reference to the Middle East. He is regularly consulted by inter-governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, immigration agencies, law firms, academic institutions and the mass media to advise and comment on refugee affairs and

. Shiblak resides in the United Kingdom.

Publications

Among his most recent publications: * The Palestinian diaspora in Europe; Challenge of Adaptation and Identity (ed), Shaml & IJS, Jerusalem, 2005. * A new edition of his book on the Exodus of the Iraqi Jewish community 1949-1951, Saqi Books, London 2005. * Iraqi Jews: A History * The Lure of Zion: The Case of the Iraqi Jews * Residency status and civil rights of Palestinian refugees in Arab countries * Palestinians in Lebanon and the PLO * Statelessness among Palestinian Refugees Forthcoming work: ‘Citizens, Sub-Citizens and non Citizens: the Issue of Citizenship and Statelessness in the Arab Region’ .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shiblak, Abbas 1944 births Living people 21st-century Palestinian historians Palestinian diplomats 20th-century Palestinian historians Palestinian journalists Palestinian emigrants to the United Kingdom Academics of the University of Oxford