‘I Must Be from Somewhere. I’m Not from the Moon’ The journey itself was considered as being of great significance in this research because ‘labels form a life narrative and an overlapping sequence of events, not just static features of geographical origin, national identity and legally designated statuses.’ 38 The interview questions and the structure of the interviews in both projects were, thus, designed to ensure that the shifting experiences of these labels over time and space — in what Heaven Crawley and Dimitris Skleparis refer to as the often overlooked ‘in between’ spaces — were captured. 39 The research had its limitations, as it was only a snapshot of the participants’ migration histories. Further to this, deploying standpoint theory as an analytical lens could run the potential risk of essentialising statelessness and refugeeness. Despite this, the theory provides a useful empirical lens through which to reflect upon the relationship between the stateless and refugee labels and to explore their socio-political powers and different legal implications in how they are imposed and how they are experienced. It is to the participants’ experiences that we turn now. BEING PALESTINIAN SYRIAN A Denizenship Plus/Citizenship Lite in Syria Many of those spoken to began their narratives by describing how well-regarded Palestinians in Syria were before 2011. As mentioned previously, they had, and still technically do have, almost equal rights compared to Syrian citizens. As Mamdouh recalled: 40 In Syria, you lived like a Syrian just without the right to vote. And even with the Syrians, most Syrians were very kind to you as a Palestinian. So, it wasn’t a problem at all just to be Palestinian. And you felt that you are Palestinian at the same time: you were living in a camp and speaking with a different dialect, a different accent and you felt that your identity is more Palestinian … It was a kind of resistance to be Palestinian. My father and my mother were born in Syria, and I can … I felt that I belonged to Syria exactly as I belonged to Palestine. 41 When discussing their conceptualisation of the labels imposed on them when living in Syria before they fled, the participants outlined that their refugee label was only raised in relation to Israel and the ‘right of return’ to Palestine. Regarding Syria, they saw themselves as only being labelled as Palestinians and not as refugees. They considered themselves as refugees from Palestine but not as Palestinian refugees in Syria. Instead, they were Palestinian Syrians. None of the interviewees perceived themselves as stateless during this time. This label had not been imposed upon them (yet) due to their exceptionalism as Palestinians. By not considering themselves as stateless, the participants should 38 39 40 41 Zetter, ‘More Labels, Fewer Refugees’ (n 26) 183. Heaven Crawley and Dimitris Skleparis, ‘Refugees, Migrants, Neither, Both: Categorical Fetishism and the Politics of Bounding in Europe’s “Migration Crisis”’ (2017) 44(1) Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 48, 55. Interview with Mamdouh, 46 years old from Yarmouk (Jason Tucker, 10 February 2017). Yarmouk (or Yarmouk Camp) is an urban part of the Syrian capital Damascus. It was home to the largest Palestinian community in Syria before the war. See ‘Yarmouk (Unofficial Camp*)’, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Web Page, 1 January 2019) <https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/syria/yarmoukunofficial-camp>. 337