Waves of Resistance: Palestinian Irregular Migration Challenging European Border Regimes

Abstract

Since 2015, a surge of stateless Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have embarked on irregular migration journeys across the Mediterranean. This paper investigates how protracted stateless Palestinians navigate European border sovereignty across the Mediterranean and reconfigure the sea as a site of political contestation. To answer this question, the research draws on 15 in-depth semi-structured interviews whereby eight conducted with refugees who reached Europe through irregular migration between 2015 and 2025, and seven with those who remain in Lebanon but aspire to make similar journeys. These narratives trace the lived experiences of waiting, departure, interception, and death across multiple border regimes. Their journey from Lebanon to Europe reflects more than a search for safety; it reveals a contestation with the systems that deny them rights, belonging, and recognition. Grounded in critical border and migration studies, the analysis reveals how Lebanese exclusionary policies and EU externalization regime intersect to control Palestinians mobility. Through the Palestinians sea crossings, mobility becomes an act of political resistance; a defiant assertion of existence against the structures that strip belonging. Framed as a site of deterrence and death, the sea simultaneously emerges as a space of resistance and hope whereby stateless Palestinian refugees contest their imposed invisibility and reclaim agency over mobility and belonging.