Palestinian Metawalis

Palestinian Metawalis are a Palestinian Shiite community.

Orientalists Louis Lortet and Ernest Renan believe that Metawalis are Kurds, who migrated from Iraq to Palestine in the 13th century.[1] During the time of Mandatory Palestine, Palestinian Metawalis had seven villages wherein they constituted the majority.[2] During the first census of the British protectorate, Palestinian Metawalis were one of eight religious demographic groups categorized,[3] and tensions existed regarding whether these people would be geopolitically united with their Shiite Arab counterparts in southern Lebanon.[2]

  1. ^ Weiss, Max (2010). In the Shadow of Sectarianism: Law, Shi'ism, and the Making of Modern Lebanon. Princeton, New Jersey: Harvard University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0674052987.
  2. ^ a b "The Seven Lost Villages". Haaretz. 4 August 2006.
  3. ^ Barron, Table I.