2021 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 3(2) Several participants noted how, due to their PRS label, they were forced to act ‘illegally’ in order to access ‘legal’ migration pathways available for those labelled as refugees from Syria (this is not to say that Syrian citizens did not also have to undertake similar actions at times). 59 The most notable example of this was the smuggling of participants into Turkey or Lebanon in order for them to attend interviews for, or undertake, family reunification in Sweden. This often involved smuggling family members in and out of Syria several times. Despite the multiple and interconnected labels denoting their need for protection — ‘refugee’, ‘stateless’ and ‘family reunification migrant’ — their Palestinianness or Syrian Palestinianness was used to exclude them from some protection, assistance and opportunities in Syria’s neighbouring states and the wider region. This exclusion put them in contrast to those labelled as being Syrian refugees or Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. ENTERING AND MOVING THROUGH EUROPE Entering and moving through Europe was not a linear process for the participants. Often, it meant repeated failed attempts at accessing states, constant rejection by migration authorities and forced relocation back to countries of transit. Participants recalled being re/de-labelled as they moved through and into these bureaucracies. Re/de-labelling occurred for those who had significant contact with European states’ asylum bureaucracies before reaching Sweden (others simply being allowed to keep moving without being processed). This re/de-labelling was often highlighted as a moment of distress for the participants as, pending refugee status determination, they were labelled as asylum seekers from Syria. As such, the participants saw the simultaneous removal of their Palestinian, stateless and refugee labels, as well as then being asked to prove that they were deserving of being re-labelled as such. This removal of their Palestinian, stateless and refugee labels by asylum bureaucracies is similar to what Liisa Malkki referred to as the recasting of refugees, whereby refugees are positioned beyond and above history and politics. 60 This occurs as asylum seekers are framed as a ‘monolithic mass of clients’ who are approaching authorities — the gatekeepers to assistance and services. 61 The bureaucratic systems designed to process this monolithic mass do not accommodate prior imposed refugee or stateless labels (such as PRS). Refugeeness and statelessness, thus, have to be reassessed and renegotiated. Being re-labelled as a refugee, or some form of refugee, was possible for nearly all of the participants as they moved through Europe. It was their Palestinian label that proved most problematic, often being lost in these re-labelling negotiations. This re-labelling was often referred to as being traumatic, as the ‘erasure’, ‘white washing’ or ‘loss’ of their Palestinianness. Mohammed reflected upon this: Even in Egypt … I was always called a Palestinian. ‘You are Palestinian’. Okay in Syria it’s very easy to say, ‘I am a Palestinian, from Yarmouk’. And in Egypt also, they mixed that you are coming from Syria and that you are Palestinian … But in Europe, that choice is not available. You are stateless. So, I remember thinking: 59 60 61 Thomas Mcgee, From Syria to Europe: Experiences of Stateless Kurds and Palestinian Refugees from Syria Seeking Protection in Europe (Report, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, ASKV and European Network on Statelessness 2019). Malkki (n 26) 514. Ludwig (n 26) 7. 342