Palestinians

"Palestinian" redirects here. For other uses, see Palestinian (disambiguation).

Palestinians
الفلسطينيون (Arabic)
al-Filasṭīniyyūn
Flag of Palestine
Total population
14.3 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
 State of Palestine
5,350,000[1]
 – West Bank3,190,000[1] (of whom 912,879 are registered refugees as of 2024)[2][3][4]
 – Gaza Strip2,170,000 (of whom 1,476,706 are registered refugees as of 2024)[1][5][2][3]
 Jordan2,307,011 (2024, registered refugees only)[6]–3,240,000 (2009)[7]
 Israel2,037,000[8]
 Syria568,530 (2021, registered refugees only)[9]
 Chile500,000[10][dubious – discuss]
 Saudi Arabia461,000[11]
 Qatar356,000[11]
 United States255,000[12]
 United Arab Emirates200,000[13]
 Lebanon174,000 (2017 census)[14]–458,369 (2016, registered refugees)[9]
 Honduras27,000–200,000[11][15]
 Egypt135,932[16]
 Germany100,000[17]
 Kuwait80,000[18]
 El Salvador70,000[19]
 Brazil50,000[20]
 Libya72,000[11]
 Iraq57,000[21]
 Canada45,905[22]
 Yemen37,000[11]
 United Kingdom20,000[23]
 Peru15,000[citation needed]
 Mexico13,000[11]
 Colombia13,000[11]
 Netherlands9,000–15,000[24]
 Australia~7,000[a][25][26]
 Sweden7,000[27]
 Algeria4,020[28]
Languages
In Palestine and Israel:
Arabic, Hebrew, English
Diaspora:
Local varieties of Arabic and languages of host countries for the Palestinian diaspora
Religion
Majority:
Sunni Islam
Minority:
Christianity (various denominations), non-denominational Islam, Druzism, Samaritanism,[29][30] Shia Islam[31]
Related ethnic groups
Jordanians, Lebanese, Syrians and other Arabs[32][33]

Palestinians (Arabic: الفلسطينيون, romanized: al-Filasṭīniyyūn) are an Arab ethnonational group native to the region of Palestine.[34][35][36][37]

In 1919, Palestinian Muslims and Palestinian Christians constituted 90 percent of the population of Palestine, just before the third wave of Jewish immigration and the setting up of British Mandatory Palestine after World War I.[38][39] Opposition to Jewish immigration spurred the consolidation of a unified national identity, though Palestinian society was still fragmented by regional, class, religious, and family differences.[40][41] The history of the Palestinian national identity is a disputed issue amongst scholars.[42][43] For some, the term "Palestinian" is used to refer to the nationalist concept of a Palestinian people by Palestinian Arabs from the late 19th century and in the pre-World War I period, while others assert the Palestinian identity encompasses the heritage of all eras from biblical times up to the Ottoman period.[37][44][45] After the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the 1948 Palestinian expulsion, and more so after the 1967 Palestinian exodus, the term "Palestinian" evolved into a sense of a shared future in the form of aspirations for a Palestinian state.[37]

Founded in 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization is an umbrella organization for groups that represent the Palestinian people before international states.[46] The Palestinian National Authority, officially established in 1994 as a result of the Oslo Accords, is an interim administrative body nominally responsible for governance in Palestinian population centres in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.[47] Since 1978, the United Nations has observed an annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. According to British historian Perry Anderson, it is estimated that half of the population in the Palestinian territories are refugees, and that they have collectively suffered approximately US$300 billion in property losses due to Israeli confiscations, at 2008–2009 prices.[48]

Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one half of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the territory of former Mandatory Palestine, now encompassing Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.[49] In Israel proper, Palestinians constitute almost 21 percent of the population as part of its Arab citizens.[50] Many are Palestinian refugees or internally displaced Palestinians, including over 1.4 million in the Gaza Strip,[2] over 870,000 in the West Bank,[51] and around 250,000 in Israel proper. Of the Palestinian population who live abroad, known as the Palestinian diaspora, more than half are stateless, lacking legal citizenship in any country.[52] 2.3 million of the diaspora population are registered as refugees in neighboring Jordan, most of whom hold Jordanian citizenship;[6][53] over 1 million live between Syria and Lebanon, and about 750,000 live in Saudi Arabia, with Chile holding the largest Palestinian diaspora concentration (around half a million) outside of the Arab world.

  1. ^ a b c d "Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) Presents the Conditions of Palestinian Populations on the Occasion of the International Population Day, 11/07/2022" (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). 7 July 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 November 2023. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Where We Work – Gaza Strip". UNRWA. August 2023. Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  3. ^ a b "PCBS reports Palestinian population growth to 4.81 million". Ma'an News Agency. 11 July 2016. Archived from the original on 13 July 2016.
  4. ^ "West Bank". The World Fact Book. CIA. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021.
  5. ^ "PCBS: The Palestinians at the end of 2015". Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. 30 December 2015. Archived from the original on 3 May 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Where We Work - Jordan". UNRWA. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  7. ^ "Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) Press Release" (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  8. ^ "Israel's population approaches 9.7 million as 2022 comes to an end". The Times of Israel. 29 December 2022. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Where We Work UNRWA". UNRWA. Archived from the original on 7 July 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference laventana1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ a b c d e f g "Arab, Palestinan". Joshua Project. Archived from the original on 15 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  12. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 27 December 1996. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  13. ^ "Palestinians Living in UAE Uncertain Over Peace Deal With Israel". The Media Line. 16 August 2020. Archived from the original on 24 May 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  14. ^ "Lebanon conducts first-ever census of Palestinian refugees". Jordan Times. 21 December 2017. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  15. ^ Jorge Alberto Amaya (23 July 2015). "Los Árabes y Palestinos en Honduras: su establecimiento e impacto en la sociedad hondureña contemporánea:1900–2009". Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. En suma, los árabes y palestinos, arribados al país a finales del siglo XIX, dominan hoy en día la economía del país, y cada vez están emergiendo como actores importantes de la clase política hondureña y forman, después de Chile, la mayor concentración de descendientes de palestinos en América Latina, con entre 150,000 y 200,000 personas.
  16. ^ "Migration Stock in Egypt 2022" (PDF). International Organization for Migration (IOM). Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  17. ^ Unicomb, Matt (7 July 2022). "Inside Berlin's famous Palestinian neighbourhood". Middle East Eye. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  18. ^ "Palestinians Open Kuwaiti Embassy". Al Monitor. 23 May 2013. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  19. ^ "El Salvador's Palestinian connection". 26 February 2006. Archived from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  20. ^ "Estatísticas gerais: imigrantes e descendentes". memorialdoimigrante.org. Archived from the original on 23 March 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
  21. ^ "Factsheet: Palestinian Refugees in Iraq". Al Awda California. Archived from the original on 20 July 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  22. ^ "Ethnic or cultural origin by gender and age: Canada, provinces and territories". Statistics Canada. 26 October 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  23. ^ "The Palestinian Diaspora in Europe". Archived from the original on 18 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  24. ^ "Did you know that ... Palestinians in the Netherlands". Palestine Link. Archived from the original on 4 November 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  25. ^ "Handing on the key: Palestians in Australia" (PDF). Immigration Museum. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
  26. ^ "Australians' Ancestries" (PDF). Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2001. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 March 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  27. ^ Benito, Miguel. "Palestinier". Invandringens encyklopedi. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  28. ^ "UNHCR Global Appeal 2014-2015: Algeria" (PDF). United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  29. ^ Mor, M.; Reiterer, F. V.; Winkler, W. (2010). Samaritans' Past and present: Current studies. Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 217.
  30. ^ Miller, Elhanan (26 April 2013). "Clinging to ancient traditions, the last Samaritans keep the faith". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  31. ^ "Chapter 1: Religious Affiliation". The World’s Muslims: Unity and Diversity. Pew Research Center. 9 August 2012. Archived from the original on 21 May 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  32. ^ Hajjej, Abdelhafidh; Almawi, Wassim Y.; Arnaiz-Villena, Antonio; Hattab, Lasmar; Hmida, Slama (9 March 2018). "The genetic heterogeneity of Arab populations as inferred from HLA genes". PLOS ONE. 13 (3): e0192269. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1392269H. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0192269. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 5844529. PMID 29522542.
  33. ^ Fernandes, Verónica; Triska, Petr; Pereira, Joana B.; Alshamali, Farida; Rito, Teresa; Machado, Alison; Fajkošová, Zuzana; Cavadas, Bruno; Černý, Viktor; Soares, Pedro; Richards, Martin B.; Pereira, Luísa (2015). Chaubey, Gyaneshwer (ed.). "Genetic Stratigraphy of Key Demographic Events in Arabia". PLOS ONE. 10 (3): e0118625. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1018625F. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118625. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4349752. PMID 25738654. Palestinians (similar to the Samaritans and some of the Druze), highlighting their primarily indigenous origin
  34. ^
    • Dowty 2023, 10. The Perfect Conflict: "Palestinians are the descendants of all the indigenous peoples who lived in Palestine over the centuries; since the seventh century, they have been predominantly Muslim in religion and almost completely Arab in language and culture."
    • Gelvin 2021, p. 100: "Furthermore, Zionism itself was also defined by its opposition to the indigenous Palestinian inhabitants of the region. Both the 'conquest of land' and the 'conquest of labor' slogans that became central to the dominant strain of Zionism in the Yishuv originated as a result of the Zionist confrontation with the Palestinian 'other'."
    • Danver 2015, p. 554: "The origin of the term Palestinian is uncertain. Some historians connect it to the Philistines, a biblical people that resided on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea as early as the twelfth century B.C.E. Thus, Palestinians are considered by some to be the indigenous people of present-day Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Other scholars dispute this view, asserting that Jews and others resided in Palestine—usually defined as the narrow strip of land bordered by the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea—long before these Arabs arrived in the seventh century."
    • Esposito 2004, Arab-Israeli Conflict: "Although their leaders welcomed the Jews as refugees, many Palestinians (the indigenous Arab population of Palestine) viewed the arrival of Jewish settlers as a threat to their security and to their land."
  35. ^
    • Wittes 2005, p. 5: "But given that the groups we are concerned with (Israelis and Palestinians) are ethnonational groups, their political cultures are heavily shaped by their ethnonational identities."
    • Jabareen 2002, p. 214: "This blurring has led to a situation in which characteristics of the State of Israel are presented as characteristics of a nation-state, even though (de facto) it is a binational state, and Palestinian citizens are presented as an ethnic minority group although they are a homeland majority."
    • Hussain & Shumock 2006, p. 269ff, 284: "The Palestinians...are an ethnic minority in their country of residence."
    • Nasser 2013, p. 69: "What is noteworthy here is the use of a general category 'Arabs', instead of a more specific one of 'Palestinians.' By turning to a general category, the particularity of Palestinians, among other ethnic and national groups, is erased and in its place Jordanian identity is implanted."
    • Haklai 2011, p. 112: "...throughout the 1990s and 2000s a growing number of PAI political organizations have been increasingly promoting Palestinian consciousness, advancing ethnonationalist objectives, and demanding recognition of collective group rights."
    • Abu-Rayya, Hisham Motkal; Abu-Rayya, Maram Hussien (2009). "Acculturation, religious identity, and psychological well-being among Palestinians in Israel". International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 33 (4): 325–331. doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2009.05.006. ISSN 0147-1767.
    • Moilanen-Miller, Heather. "The Construction of Identity through Tradition: Palestinians in the Detroit Metro Area". International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Science. 4 (5): 143–150. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  36. ^
    • New York Times 1978: "The Palestinians are an Arab people, largely Moslem but with important numbers of Christians, who live in, once lived in, or trace their descent through parents or grandparents to the land once known as Palestine, which came under a British mandate in 1922 and now is the land of Israel, the West Bank of the Jordan and the Gaza Strip."
    • Yakobson & Rubinstein 2009, p. 179: "Of course, the notion that the Palestinians are an Arab people, an integral part of the Arab world ('the Arab nation'), is wholly legitimate and natural, given the history and culture of the people in question."
    • Wilmer 2021, p. 14: "People know who they are, where they live, and where their families have lived for centuries or millennia."
    • Abu-Libdeh, Turnpenny & Teebi 2012, p. 700: "Palestinians are an indigenous people who either live in, or originate from, historical Palestine.... Although the Muslims guaranteed security and allowed religious freedom to all inhabitants of the region, the majority converted to Islam and adopted Arab culture."
    • Encyclopedia Britannica, From the Arab conquest to 1900: "The process of Arabization and Islamization was gaining momentum there. It was one of the mainstays of Umayyad power and was important in their struggle against both Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula.... Conversions arising from convenience as well as conviction then increased. These conversions to Islam, together with a steady tribal inflow from the desert, changed the religious character of Palestine's inhabitants. The predominantly Christian population gradually became predominantly Muslim and Arabic-speaking. At the same time, during the early years of Muslim control of the city, a small permanent Jewish population returned to Jerusalem after a 500-year absence."
    • Lewis 1999, p. 169
    • Parkes 1970, pp. 209–10: "the word 'Arab' needs to be used with care. It is applicable to the Bedouin and to a section of the urban and effendi classes; it is inappropriate as a description of the rural mass of the population, the fellaheen. The whole population spoke Arabic, usually corrupted by dialects bearing traces of words of other origin, but it was only the Bedouin who habitually thought of themselves as Arabs. Western travelers from the sixteenth century onwards make the same distinction, and the word 'Arab' almost always refers to them exclusively.... Gradually it was realized that there remained a substantial stratum of the pre-Israelite peasantry, and that the oldest element among the peasants were not 'Arabs' in the sense of having entered the country with or after the conquerors of the seventh century, had been there already when the Arabs came."
  37. ^ a b c Encyclopedia Britannica, The term 'Palestinian': "The Arabs of Palestine began widely using the term Palestinian starting in the pre–World War I period to indicate the nationalist concept of a Palestinian people. But after 1948—and even more so after 1967—for Palestinians themselves the term came to signify not only a place of origin but also, more importantly, a sense of a shared past and future in the form of a Palestinian state."
  38. ^ Christison, Kathleen (2001). Perceptions of Palestine: Their Influence on U.S. Middle East Policy. University of California Press. p. 32.
  39. ^ Andrea, Alfred J.; Overfield, James H. (2011). The Human Record: Sources of Global History, Volume II: Since 1500 (7th ed.). Cengage Learning. p. 437. ISBN 978-1-133-42004-0.
  40. ^ Khalidi 2010, pp. 24–26
  41. ^ Scham, Paul; Salem, Walid; Pogrund, Benjamin, eds. (2005). Shared Histories: A Palestinian-Israeli Dialogue. Left Coast Press. pp. 69–73. ISBN 978-1-59874-013-4. Archived from the original on 29 November 2023.
  42. ^ Cite error: The named reference Likhovski was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  43. ^ Gelvin, James L. (2014). The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War (3 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-107-47077-4. Archived from the original on 29 November 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023. Palestinian nationalism emerged during the interwar period in response to Zionist immigration and settlement. The fact that Palestinian nationalism developed later than Zionism and indeed in response to it does not in any way diminish the legitimacy of Palestinian nationalism or make it less valid than Zionism. All nationalisms arise in opposition to some "other". Why else would there be the need to specify who you are? And all nationalisms are defined by what they oppose. As we have seen, Zionism itself arose in reaction to anti-Semitic and exclusionary nationalist movements in Europe. It would be perverse to judge Zionism as somehow less valid than European anti-Semitism or those nationalisms. . . Furthermore, Zionism itself was also defined by its opposition to the indigenous Palestinian inhabitants of the region. Both the "conquest of land" and the "conquest of labor" slogans that became central to the dominant strain of Zionism in the Yishuv originated as a result of the Zionist confrontation with the Palestinian "other".
  44. ^ Lewis 1999, p. 169
  45. ^ Cite error: The named reference Khalidip18 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  46. ^ "Who Represents the Palestinians Officially Before the World Community?". Institute for Middle East Understanding. 2007. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2007.
  47. ^ "Palestinian Authority definition". TheFreeDictionary.com. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  48. ^ Anderson, Perry (November–December 2015). "The House of Zion". New Left Review. No. 96. pp. 5–37, p.31 n.55. Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2024, citing Brynen, Rex; E-Rifai, Roula, eds. (2013). Compensation to Palestinian Refugees and the Search for Palestinian-Israeli Peace. London: Pluto Press. p. 10,132–69.
  49. ^ Farsoun, Samih K. (2005). "Palestinian Diaspora". In Ember, Melvin; Ember, Carol R.; Skoggard, Ian A. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. Springer. pp. 234–. ISBN 978-0-306-48321-9. Archived from the original on 29 November 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  50. ^ Dowty, Alan (2004). Critical issues in Israeli society. Greenwood. p. 110.
  51. ^ "Where We Work – West Bank". UNRWA. 1 January 2012. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  52. ^ Arzt, Donna E. (1997). Refugees into Citizens – Palestinians and the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Council on Foreign Relations. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-87609-194-4.
  53. ^ "Palestinians at the end of 2012" (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2013.


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