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For the term "Palestinian" as applied to Jews, see Palestinian Jew. For other uses, see Definitions of Palestine and Palestinian.
| Palestinians | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Palestinian "Ayoub" family of Ghassanid ancestry from Ramallah ca 1905 | |
| Total population |
10,574,521 (estimated) |
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| Regions with significant populations |  Palestinian territories: 3,760,000\'Palestinians grow by a million in decade\', Jerusalem Post, Feb 9, 2008"208,000 Palestinians were counted in east Jerusalem ... 2.345 million in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and 1.416 million in Gaza" |
|
| Language(s) | Arabic | Religion(s) | Sunni Islam, Christianity, others | Related ethnic groups | Other Arabs, Jews, Bedouins, and other Semitic peoples |
Palestine frontier 1922
Palestinian people (Arabic: الشعب الفلسطيني, ash-sha\'ab il-filastini), Palestinians (Arabic: الفلسطينيين, al-filastiniyyin), or Palestinian Arabs (Arabic: العربي الفلسطيني, al-\'arabi il-filastini) are terms used to refer to an Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine.
The first widespread use of "Palestinian" as an endonym to refer to the nationalist concept of a Palestinian people by the Arabs of Palestine began prior to the outbreak of World War I,Palestine. Encyclopædia Britannica (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-29. and the first demand for national independence was issued by the Syrian-Palestinian Congress on 21 September, 1921.Porath, 1974, p. 117. After the exodus of 1948, and even more so after the exodus of 1967, the term came to signify not only a place of origin, but the sense of a shared past and future in the form of a Palestinian nation-state.
The total Palestinian population worldwide is estimated to be between 10 and 11 million people, over half of whom are stateless, lacking citizenship in any country.Abbas Shiblak (2005). "Reflections on the Palestinian Diaspora in Europe". The Palestinian Diaspora in Europe: Challenges of Dual Identity and Adaptation. Institute of Jerusalem Studies. Palestinians are predominantly Sunni Muslims, though there is a significant Christian minority as well as smaller religious communities.
Roughly half of all Palestinians continue to live in parts of the former British Mandate—an area today known as Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. The other half, many of whom are refugees, live elsewhere in different places throughout the world. (See Palestinian diaspora.)
The Palestinian people as a whole are represented before the international community by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).Who Represents the Palestinians Officially Before the World Community?. Institute for Middle East Understanding (2006–2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-27. The Palestinian National Authority, created as a result of the Oslo Accords, is an interim administrative body nominally responsible for governance in Palestinian population centers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Contents |
A map of Palestine as described by the medieval Arab geographers, with the Jund Filastin[1] highlighted in grey
The Greek toponym Palaistinê (Παλαιστίνη), with which the Arabic Filastin (فلسطين) is cognate, first occurs in the work of the Ionian historian Herodotus, active in the middle of the 5th century BCE, where it denotes generallyWith the exception of Bks. 1, 105; 3.91.1, and 4.39, 2. the coastal land from Phoenicia down to Egypt.Herodotus describes its scope in the Fifth Satrapy of the Perthians as follows: "From the town of Posidium, [...] on the border between Cilicia and Syria, as far as Egypt - omitting Arabian territory, which was free of tax, came 350 talents. This province contains the whole of Phoenicia and that part of Syria which is called Palestine, and Cyprus. This is the fifth Satrapy." (from Herodotus Book 3, 8th logos).[2] Herodotus also employs the term as an ethnonym, as when he speaks of the \'Syrians of Palestine\' or \'Palestinian-Syrians\',Herodotus, The Histories, Bks. 2, 104: 3.5. an ethnically amorphous group he distinguishes from the Phoenicians.Kasher, 1990, p. 15. The word bears comparison to a congeries of ethnonyms in Semitic languages, Ancient Egyptian Prst, Assyrian Palastu, and the Hebraic Plishtim, the latter term used in the Bible to signify the Philistines.Plesheth, (from the root palash or falash) was a general Semitic-language term meaning "rolling and spreading" or "migratory". It referred to the Philistines\' invasion and conquest of the coast from the sea. The Philistines (a part of the Sea People) were most closely related to the ancient Greeks (the Ionians), originating from Asia Minor and Greek localities (See also: Pelasgians).
The Arabic word Filastin has been used to refer to the region since the earliest medieval Arab geographers adopted the Greek name. Filastini (فلسطيني), also derived from the Latinized Greek term Palaestina (Παλαιστίνη), appears to have been used as an Arabic adjectival noun in the region since as early as the 7th century CE.Michael Lecker. On the burial of martyrs. Tokyo University.:"For example, \'Abdallah b. Muhayriz al-Jumahi al-Filastini was the name of an ascetic who lived in Jerusalem and died in the early 700s." See also: Palestine Under the Arab Caliphs. However, the name had disappeared from the region prior to the arrival of the Crusaders nine centuries ago. The term was rediscovered in Europe at the time of the Renaissance and used to refer to what "European Christians ... previously called the Holy Land. By the early 20th century, with the predominance of European influence and with it of the European language of discourse, the name Palestine came to be used even in the country. This was, however, in the main confined to Christians and to a very small group of westernized Muslims." The name had no official use and “no precise territorial definition” until it was used by the British to name an area acquired during World War I.Bernard Lewis (1999). Semites and Anti-Semites, An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice. W.W. Norton and Company, 169. ISBN 0-393-31839-7.
Nablus city in 19th century
Nablus city in 19th century
During the British Mandate of Palestine, the term "Palestinian" was used to refer to all people residing there, regardless of religion or ethnicity, and those granted citizenship by the Mandatory authorities were granted "Palestinian citizenship".Government of the United Kingdom (December 31, 1930). "REPORT by His Majesty\'s Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of PALESTINE AND TRANS-JORDAN FOR THE YEAR 1930". League of Nations. Retrieved on 2007-05-29. Following the 1948 establishment of the State of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people, the use and application of the terms "Palestine" and "Palestinian" by and to Palestinian Jews largely dropped from use. The English-language newspaper The Palestine Post for example — which, since 1932, primarily served the Jewish community in the British Mandate of Palestine — changed its name in 1950 to The Jerusalem Post. Jews in Israel and the West Bank today generally identify as Israelis. Arab citizens of Israel identify themselves as Israeli and/or Palestinian and/or Arab.Isabel Kershner (8 February 2007). Noted Arab citizens call on Israel to shed Jewish identity. International Herald Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-01-08.
Saladin\'s Falcon:Coat of Arms and Embelm of Palestine and the Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian National Charter, as amended by the PLO\'s Palestine National Council in July 1968, defined "Palestinians" as: "those Arab nationals who, until 1947, normally resided in Palestine regardless of whether they were evicted from it or stayed there. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father — whether in Palestine or outside it — is also a Palestinian."The Palestinian National Charter. Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations. This definition also extends to, "The Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion." The Charter also states that "Palestine with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit."Constitution Committee of the Palestine National Council (Third Draft, 7 March 2003, revised in March 25, 2003). Constitution of the State of Palestine. Jerusalem Media and Communication Center. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. The most recent draft of the Palestinian constitution would amend that definition such that, "Palestinian nationality shall be regulated by law, without prejudice to the rights of those who legally acquired it prior to May 10, 1948 or the rights of the Palestinians residing in Palestine prior to this date, and who were forced into exile or departed there from and denied return thereto. This right passes on from fathers or mothers to their progenitor. It neither disappears nor elapses unless voluntarily relinquished."
In his 1997 book, Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness, historian Rashid Khalidi notes that the archaeological strata that denote the history of Palestine—encompassing the Biblical, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, Fatimid, Crusader, Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman periods—form part of the identity of the modern-day Palestinian people, as they have come to understand it over the last century.Khalidi, 1997, p. 18. Khalidi stresses that Palestinian identity has never been an exclusive one, with "Arabism, religion, and local loyalties" continuing to play an important role.Khalidi, 1997, p. 19–21.
Echoing this view, Walid Khalidi writes that Palestinians in Ottoman times were "[a]cutely aware of the distinctiveness of Palestinian history ..." and that "[a]lthough proud of their Arab heritage and ancestry, the Palestinians considered themselves to be descended not only from Arab conquerors of the seventh century but also from indigenous peoples who had lived in the country since time immemorial, including the ancient Hebrews and the Canaanites before them."Khalidi, W., 1984, p. 32.
Ali Qleibo, a Palestinian anthropologist, explains how identity is "a discursive narrative that validates the present by selecting events, characters, and moments in time as formative beginnings."Dr. Ali Qleibo (28 July 2007). Palestinian Cave Dwellers and Holy Shrines: The Passing of Traditional Society. This Week in Palestine. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. Qleibo critiques Muslim historiography for assigning the beginning of Palestinian cultural identity to the advent of Islam in the seventh century. In describing the effect of such a historiography, he writes: "Pagan origins are disavowed. As such the peoples that populated Palestine throughout history have discursively rescinded their own history and religion as they adopted the religion, language, and culture of Islam".Dr. Ali Qleibo (28 July 2007). Palestinian Cave Dwellers and Holy Shrines: The Passing of Traditional Society. This Week in Palestine. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. That the peasant culture of the large fellahin class embodied strong elements of both pre-Arabic and pre-Israelitic traditions was a conclusion arrived at by the many Western scholars and explorers who mapped and surveyed Palestine in great detail throughout the latter half of the 19th century,Parkes, 1970, pp. 209-210. and this assumption was to influence later debates on Palestinian identity by local ethnographers.
The contributions of the \'nativist\' ethnographies produced by Tawfiq Canaan and other Palestinian writers and published in The Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society (1920-1948) indicate that the disavowal of pre-Islamic roots was not complete. Canaan and his colleagues were driven by the concern that the "native culture of Palestine", and in particular peasant society, was being undermined by the forces of modernity.Salim Tamari (Winter 2004). "Lepers, Lunatics and Saints: The Nativist Ethnography of Tawfiq Canaan and his Jerusalem Circle" Issue 20. Jerusalem Quarterly. Retrieved on 2007-08-18. Salim Tamari writes that:"Implicit in their scholarship (and made explicit by Canaan himself) was another theme, namely that the peasants of Palestine represent—through their folk norms ... the living heritage of all the accumulated ancient cultures that had appeared in Palestine (principally the Canaanite, Philistine, Hebraic, Nabatean, Syrio-Aramaic and Arab)."Indeed, the folklorist revival among Palestinian intellectuals such as Nimr Sirhan, Musa Allush, Salim Mubayyid, and the Palestinian Folklore Society of the 1970s, emphasized pre-Islamic (and pre-Hebraic) cultural roots, re-constructing Palestinian identity with a focus on Canaanite and Jebusite cultures.Salim Tamari (Winter 2004). "Lepers, Lunatics and Saints: The Nativist Ethnography of Tawfiq Canaan and his Jerusalem Circle" Issue 20. Jerusalem Quarterly. Retrieved on 2007-08-18. Such efforts seem to have borne fruit as evidenced in the organization of celebrations like the Qabatiya Canaanite festival and the annual Music Festival of Yabus by the Palestinian Ministry of Culture. Nonetheless, some Palestinians, like Zakariyya Muhammad, have criticized "Canaanite ideology" as an "intellectual fad, divorced from the concerns of ordinary people."
The timing and causes behind the emergence of a distinctively Palestinian national consciousness among the Arabs of Palestine are matters of scholarly disagreement. Baruch Kimmerling and Joel S. Migdal consider the 1834 revolt of the Arabs in Palestine as constituting the first formative event of the Palestinian people. Under the Ottomans, Palestine\'s Arab population mostly saw themselves as Ottoman subjects. In the 1830s however, Palestine was occupied by the Egyptian vassal of the Ottomans, Muhammad Ali and his son Ibrahim Pasha. The revolt was precipitated by popular resistance against heavy demands for conscripts, as peasants were well aware that conscription was little more than a death sentence. Starting in May 1834 the rebels took many cities, among them Jerusalem, Hebron and Nablus. In response, Ibrahim Pasha sent in an army, finally defeating the last rebels on 4 August in Hebron.Kimmerling and Migdal, 2003, p. 6-11 Nevertheless, the Arabs in Palestine remained part of a Pan-Islamist or Pan-Arab national movement.Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, pp.40-42 in the French edition.
Rashid Khalidi argues that the modern national identity of Palestinians has its roots in nationalist discourses that emerged among the peoples of the Ottoman empire in the late 19th century, and which sharpened following the demarcation of modern nation-state boundaries in the Middle East after World War I. Khalidi also states that although the challenge posed by Zionism played a role in shaping this identity, that "it is a serious mistake to suggest that Palestinian identity emerged mainly as a response to Zionism."
Historian James L. Gelvin argues that Palestinian nationalism was a direct reaction to Zionism. In his book The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War he states that "Palestinian nationalism emerged during the interwar period in response to Zionist immigration and settlement."Gelvin, 2005, p. 92-93. Gelvin argues that this fact does not make the Palestinian identity any less legitimate:
"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."
Bernard Lewis argues it was not as a Palestinian nation that the Arabs of Ottoman Palestine objected to Zionists, since the very concept of such a nation was unknown to the Arabs of the area at the time and did not come into being until very much later. Even the concept of Arab nationalism in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire, "had not reached significant proportions before the outbreak of World War I."Bernard Lewis (1999). Semites and Anti-Semites, An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice. W.W. Norton and Company, 169. ISBN 0-393-31839-7.
Tamir Sorek, a sociologist, submits that, "Although a distinct Palestinian identity can be traced back at least to the middle of the nineteenth century (Kimmerling and Migdal 1993; Khalidi 1997b), or even to the seventeenth century (Gerber 1998), it was not until after World War I that a broad range of optional political affiliations became relevant for the Arabs of Palestine."Tamir Sorek (2004). "The Orange and the Cross in the Cresent". Nations and Nationalism 10 (3): pp. 269-291.
Whatever the differing viewpoints over the timing, causal mechanisms, and orientation of Palestianian nationalism, by the early 20th century strong opposition to Zionism and evidence of a burgeoning nationalistic Palestinian identity is found in the content of Arabic-language newspapers in Palestine, such as Al-Karmil (est. 1908) and Filasteen (est. 1911).Khalidi, 1997, p. 124–127. Filasteen, published in Jaffa by Issa and Yusef al-Issa, addressed its readers as "Palestinians",Palestine Facts. PASSIA: Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs. first focusing its critique of Zionism around the failure of the Ottoman administration to control Jewish immigration and the large influx of foreigners, later exploring the impact of Zionist land-purchases on Palestinian peasants (Arabic: فلحين, fellahin), expressing growing concern over land dispossession and its implications for the society at large.
The first Palestinian nationalist organisations emerged at the end of the World War I.Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, p.48 in the French edition. Two political factions emerged. Al-Muntada al-Adabi, dominated by the Nashashibi family, militated for the promotion of the Arabic language and culture, for the defense of Islamic values and for an independent Syria and Palestine. In Damascus, al-Nadi al-Arabi , dominated by the Husayni family, defended the same values.Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, p.49 in the French edition.
The historical record continued to reveal an interplay between "Arab" and "Palestinian" identities and nationalisms. The idea of a unique Palestinian state separated out from its Arab neighbors was at first rejected by some Palestinian representatives. The First Congress of Muslim-Christian Associations (in Jerusalem, February 1919), which met for the purpose of selecting a Palestinian Arab representative for the Paris Peace Conference, adopted the following resolution: "We consider Palestine as part of Arab Syria, as it has never been separated from it at any time. We are connected with it by national, religious, linguistic, natural, economic and geographical bonds."Yehoshua Porath (1977). Palestinian Arab National Movement: From Riots to Rebellion: 1929-1939, vol. 2. Frank Cass and Co., Ltd., 81-82.
After the Nabi Musa riots, the San Remo conference and the failure of Faisal to establish the Kingdom of Greater Syria, a distinctive form of Palestinian Arab nationalism took root between April and July 1920.Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, pp.49-50 in the French edition.Tom Segev, One Palestine, Complete, p.139n. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the French conquest of Syria, the formerly pan-Syrianist mayor of Jerusalem, Musa Qasim Pasha al-Husayni, said "Now, after the recent events in Damascus, we have to effect a complete change in our plans here. Southern Syria no longer exists. We must defend Palestine".[citation needed]
Conflict between Palestinian nationalists and various types of pan-Arabists continued during the British Mandate, but the latter became increasingly marginalized. Two prominent leaders of the Palestinian nationalists were Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem,appointed by the British, and Izz ad-Din al-Qassam.The History of Palestinian Revolts. Al Jazeera (9 December 2003). Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
Palestinians have never exercised sovereignty over the land in which they have lived. Palestine was administered by the Ottoman Empire until World War I, and then by the British Mandatory authorities. Israel was established in parts of Palestine in 1948, and in the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were occupied by Jordan, and the Gaza Strip by Egypt, with both countries continuing to administer these areas until Israel occupied them during the 1967 war. Avi Shlaim explains that the argument that "you never had sovereignty over this land, and therefore you have no rights," has been used by Israelis to deny Palestinian rights and attachment to the land.Don Atapattu. Interview With Middle East Scholar Avi Shlaim: America, Israel and the Middle East. The Nation. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
Today, the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is generally recognized, having been affirmed by the Security Council, the General Assembly, the International Court of Justice and even by Israel itself.John Dugard\'s "Situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967" About 100 nations recognize Palestine as a state,How many countries recognize Palestine as a state?. Institute for Middle East Understanding (2006-2007). Retrieved on 2008-02-27. with Costa Rica being the most recent country to do so, in February of 2008.[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/958208.html The Associated Press,\'Israeli diplomat postpones meeting after Costa Rica recognizes Palestinian state,\' Haaretz 26/02/2008] However, Palestinian sovereignty over the areas claimed as part of the Palestinian state remains limited, and the boundaries of the state remain a point of contestation between Palestinians and Israelis.
British Indian Soldiers search Arab sheikhs in the streets of Jerusalem during the 1920 Palestine riots
Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni leader of the Palestinian Army in 1948
After the British general, Louis Bols, declared the enforcement of the Balfour Declaration in February of 1920, some 1,500 Palestinians demonstrated in the streets of Jerusalem. A month later, during the 1920 Palestine riots, the protests against British rule and Zionist immigration became violent and Bols banned all demonstrations. In May 1921 however, further anti-Zionist riots broke out in Jaffa and dozens of Arabs and Jews were killed in the confrontations.
In 1922, the British authorities over Mandate Palestine proposed a draft constitution which would have granted the Palestinian Arabs representation in a Legislative Council. The Palestine Arab delegation rejected the proposal as "wholly unsatisfactory," noting that "the People of Palestine" could not accept the inclusion of the Balfour Declaration in the constitution\'s preamble as the basis for discussions. They further took issue with the designation of Palestine as a British "colony of the lowest order."[3] Correspondence with the Palestine Arab Delegation and the Zionist Organization]. United Nations (original from His Majesty\'s Stationery Office) (21 February 1922). Retrieved on 2007-08-01. The Arabs tried to get the British to offer an Arab legal establishment again roughly ten years later, but to no avail."Palestine Arabs." The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East. Ed. Avraham Sela. New York: Continuum, 2002.
After the killing of Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam by the British in 1935, his followers initiated the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, which began with a general strike in Jaffa and attacks on Jewish and British installations in Nablus. The Arab High Committee called for a nationwide general strike, non-payment of taxes, and the closure of municipal governments, and demanded an end to Jewish immigration and a ban of the sale of land to Jews. By the end of 1936, the movement had become a national revolt, and resistance gre during 1937 and 1938. In response, the British declared martial law, dissolved the Arab High Committee and arrested officials from the Supreme Muslim Council who were behind the revolt. By 1939, five thousand Palestinians had been killed in British attempts to quash the revolt and more than 15,000 were wounded.
Fatah COA established 1954
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and the accompanying Palestinian exodus, known to Palestinians as Al Nakba (the "catastrophe"), there was a hiatus in Palestinian political activity which Khalidi partially attributes to "the fact that Palestinian society had been devastated between November 1947 and mid-May 1948 as a result of a series of overwhelming military defeats of the disorganized Palestinians by the armed forces of the Zionist movement."Khalidi, 1997, p. 178. Those parts of British Mandate Palestine which did not become part of the newly declared Israeli state were occupied by Egypt and Jordan. During what Khalidi terms the "lost years" that followed, Palestinians lacked a center of gravity, divided as they were between these countries and others such as Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere.Khalidi, 1997, p. 179.
In the 1950s, a new generation of Palestinian nationalist groups and movements began to organize clandestinely, stepping out onto the public stage in the 1960s.Khalidi, 1997, p. 180. The traditional Palestinian elite who had dominated negotiations with the British and the Zionists in the Mandate, and who were largely held responsible for the loss of Palestine, were replaced by these new movements whose recruits generally came from poor to middle class backgrounds and were often students or recent graduates of universities in Cairo, Beirut and Damascus. The potency of the pan-Arabist ideology put forward by Gamel Abdel Nasser—popular among Palestinian for whom Arabism was already an important component of their identityKhalidi, 1997, p. 182.—tended to obscure the identities of the separate Arab nation-states it subsumed.Khalidi, 1997, p. 181.
Since 1967, pan-Arabism has diminished as an aspect of Palestinian identity. The Israeli capture of the Gaza Strip and West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War prompted fractured Palestinian political and militant groups to give up any remaining hope they had placed in pan-Arabism. Instead, they rallied around the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), founded in 1964, and its nationalistic orientation.The PNC program of 1974. Mideastweb.org (8 June 1974). Retrieved on 2007-08-17.The PNC adopted the goal of establishing a national state in 1974. Mainstream secular Palestinian nationalism was grouped together under the umbrella of the PLO whose constituent organizations include Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, among others.Khalidi, 1997, p. 149. These groups have also given voice to a tradition that emerged in 1960s that argues Palestinian nationalism has deep historical roots, with extreme advocates reading a Palestinian nationalist consciousness and identity back into the history of Palestine over the past few centuries, and even millennia, when such a consciousness is in fact relatively modern.Khalidi, 1997, p. 149. Khalidi writes : \'As with other national movements, extreme advocates of this view go further than this, and anachronistically read back into the history of Palestine over the past few centuries, and even millennia, a nationalist consciousness and identity that are in fact relatively modern.\'
The Battle of Karameh and the events of Black September in Jordan contributed to growing Palestinian support for these groups. In 1974, the PLO was recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people by the Arab states and was granted observer status as a national liberation movement by the United Nations that same year.Security Council. WorldMUN2007 - United Nations Security Council (26 March–30 March 2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-31. Israel rejected the resolution, calling it "shameful".48 Statement in the Knesset by Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Allon- 26 November 1974. Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (26 November 1974). Retrieved on 2007-07-31. In a speech to the Knesset, Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Yigal Allon outlined the government\'s view that: \'No one can expect us to recognize the terrorist organization called the PLO as representing the Palestinians—because it does not. No one can expect us to negotiate with the heads of terror-gangs, who through their ideology and actions, endeavour to liquidate the State of Israel.\'
The British historian Eric Hobsbawn allows that an element of justness can be discerned in skeptical outsider views that dismiss the propriety of using the term \'nation\' to peoples like the Palestinians: such language arises often as the rhetoric of an evolved minority out of touch with the larger community that lacks this modern sense of national belonging. But at the same time, he argues, this outsider perspective has tended to "overlook the rise of mass national identification when it did occur, as Zionist and Israeli Jews notably did in the case of the Palestinian Arabs."Hobsbawm, 1990, p. 152.From 1948 through until the 1980’s, according to Eli Podeh, professor at Hebrew University, the textbooks used in Israeli schools tried to disavow a unique Palestinian identity, referring to \'the Arabs of the land of Israel\' instead of \'Palestinians.\' Israeli textbooks now widely use the term \'Palestinians.\' Podeh believes that Palestinian textbooks of today resemble those from the early years of the Israeli state.Jennifer Miller. Author Q & A. Random House: Academic Resources. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
Various declarations, such as the PLO\'s 1988 proclamation of a State of Palestine, have further served to reinforce the Palestinian national identity.[citation needed] Today, most Palestinian organizations conceive of their struggle as either Palestinian-nationalist or Islamic in nature, and these themes predominate even more today. Within Israel itself, there are political movements, such as Abnaa el-Balad that assert their Palestinian identity, to the exclusion of their Israeli one.
Qalqiliya Martyrs square
Palestinian ethnic identity today is based primarily on two elements: the village of origin and family networks. The village of origin holds a privileged place in Palestinian memory because of its historically important role as a center for religious and political power throughout Palestine\'s administration by various empires. The village of origin also represents "the very expression of their Arabic Palestinian culture and identity," and is a site central to kinship and familial ties. The progressive deterritorialization experienced by Palestinians has rendered the village of origin a symbol of lost territory, and it forms a central part of a diasporic consciousness among Palestinians.Al-Ali and Koser, 2002, p. 92.
First Intifada (War of the Stones) 1978-1993.
Second Intifada (Al-Aqsa Intifada) 2000- Present.
In the absence of a comprehensive census including all Palestinian diaspora populations, and those that have remained within what was British Mandate Palestine, exact population figures are difficult to determine.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) announced on October 20, 2004 that the number of Palestinians worldwide at the end of 2003 was 9.6 million, an increase of 800,000 since 2001.Statistical Abstract of Palestine No. 5.
Palestinians living outside the West Bank and Gaza Strip
| Country or region | Population |
|---|---|
| West Bank and Gaza Strip | 3,760,000[4] 2008 Census done by the Palestinian Authority. Includes Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem. |
| Jordan | 2,700,000 |
| Israel | 1,318,000 |
| Syria | 434,896Table 1.0: Total Registered Refugees per Country per Area. UNRWA. |
| Lebanon | 405,425 |
| Chile | 300,000Boyle & Sheen, 1997, p. 111. |
| Saudi Arabia | 327,000Drummond, 2004, p. 50. |
| The Americas | 225,000Cohen, 1995, p. 415. |
| Egypt | 44,200 |
| Kuwait | (approx) 40,000 |
| Other Gulf states | 159,000 |
| Other Arab states | 153,000 |
| Other countries | 308,000 |
| TOTAL | 10,574,521 |
In 2005, a critical review of the PCBS figures and methodology was conducted by the American-Israel Demographic Research Group.[http://www.pademographics.com/ American-Israel Demographic Research Group (AIDRG)], is led by Bennett Zimmerman, Yoram Ettinger, Roberta Seid, and Michael L. Wise In their report,Bennett Zimmerman, Roberta Seid & Michael L. Wise. The Million Person Gap: The Arab Population in the West Bank and Gaza. Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. they claimed that several errors in the PCBS methodology and assumptions artificially inflated the numbers by a total of 1.3 million. The PCBS numbers were cross-checked against a variety of other sources (e.g., asserted birth rates based on fertility rate assumptions for a given year were checked against Palestinian Ministry of Health figures as well as Ministry of Education school enrollment figures six years later; immigration numbers were checked against numbers collected at border crossings, etc.). The errors claimed in their analysis included: birth rate errors (308,000), immigration & emigration errors (310,000), failure to account for migration to Israel (105,000), double-counting Jerusalem Arabs (210,000), counting former residents now living abroad (325,000) and other discrepancies (82,000). The results of their research was also presented before the United States House of Representatives on March 8, 2006.Bennett Zimmerman, Roberta Seid, and Michael L. Wise, Voodoo Demographics, Azure, Summer 5766/2006, No. 25
The study was criticised by Sergio DellaPergola, a demographer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Sergio DellaPergola, Letter to the editor, Azure, 2007, No. 27, [5] DellaPergola accused the authors of misunderstanding basic principles of demography on account of their lack of expertise in the subject. He also accused them of selective use of data and multiple systematic errors in their analysis. For example, DellaPergola claimed that the authors assumed the Palestinian Electoral registry to be complete even though registration is voluntary and good evidence exists of incomplete registration, and similarly that they used an unrealistically low Total Fertility Ratio (a statistical abstraction of births per woman) incorrectly derived from data and then used to reanalyse that data in a "typical circular mistake".
DellaPergola himself estimated the Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza at the end of 2005 as 3.33 million, or 3.57 million if East Jerusalem is included. These figures are only slightly lower than the official Palestinian figures.
Palestinian kids in Nazareth
In Jordan today, there is no official census data that outlines how many of the inhabitants of Jordan are Palestinians, but estimates by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics cite a population range of 50% to 55%.Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (January 1, 2006). Palestinians in Diaspora and in Historic Palestine End Year 2005. The Palestinian Nongovernmental Organization Network (PNGO).Latimer Clarke Corporation Pty Ltd.. Jordan - Atlapedia Online:. Latimer Clarke Corporation Pty Ltd..
Many Arab Palestinians have settled in the United States, particularly in the Chicago area.Ray Hanania. Chicago\'s Arab American Community: An Introduction.Palestinians. Encyclopedia of Chicago.
In total, an estimated 600,000 Palestinians are thought to reside in the Americas. Arab Palestinian emigration to South America began for economic reasons that pre-dated the Arab-Israeli conflict, but continued to grow thereafter.Farsoun, 2004, p. 84. Many emigrants were from the Bethlehem area. Those emigrating to Latin America were mainly Christian. Half of those of Palestinian origin in Latin America live in Chile. El SalvadorMatthew Ziegler. El Salvador: Central American Palestine of the West?. The Daily Star. and HondurasLarry Lexner. Honduras: Palestinian Success Story. Lexner News Inc.. also have substantial Arab Palestinian populations. These two countries have had presidents of Palestinian ancestry (in El Salvador Antonio Saca, currently serving; in Honduras Carlos Roberto Flores Facusse). Belize, which has a smaller Palestinian population, has a Palestinian minister — Said Musa.Guzmán, 2000, p. 85. Schafik Jorge Handal, Salvadoran politician and former guerrilla leader, was the son of Palestinian immigrants.Diego Mendez (January 30 2006). Obituary; Shafik Handal; leader of El Salvador\'s leftist party; 75. Associated Press. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
Palestinian refugees in 1948
There are 4,255,120 Palestinians registered as refugees with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). This number includes the descendants of refugees from the 1948 war, but excludes those who have emigrated to areas outside of UNRWA\'s remit.Table 1.0: Total Registered Refugees per Country per Area. UNRWA. Based on these figures, almost half of all Palestinians are registered refugees. The 993,818 Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip and 705,207 Palestinian refugees in the West Bank who hail from towns and villages that now located in Israel are included in these UNRWA figures.Publications and Statistics. UNRWA (31 March 2006). Retrieved on 2007-05-30. UNRWA figures do not include some 274,000 people, or 1 in 4 of all Arab citizens of Israel, who are internally displaced Palestinian refugees.Badil Resource Centre for Palestinian Refugee and Residency RightsInternal Displacement Monitoring Center
Virtually every Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the West Bank is organized according to a refugee family\'s village or place of origin. Among the first things that children born in the camps learn is the name of their village of origin. David McDowall writes that, "[...] a yearning for Palestine permeates the whole refugee community and is most ardently espoused by the younger refugees, for whom home exists only in the imagination."McDowall, 1989, p. 90.
===Religion=== popopopopopopopopopop
A medieval drawing by a German traveller of Jerusalem in the fifteenth century showing the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the middle of the "City of Minarets"
Until the end of the nineteenth century, most villages in the countryside did not have local mosques. Cross-cultural syncretism between Biblical and Islamic symbols and figures in religious practice was common. For example, Jonah is worshipped in Halhul as both a Biblical and Islamic prophet and St. George, known to Muslims as el Khader, is another shared symbol. Villagers would pay tribute to local patron saints at a maqam — a domed single room often placed in the shadow of an ancient carob or oak tree.Dr. Ali Qleibo (28 July 2007). Palestinian Cave Dwellers and Holy Shrines: The Passing of Traditional Society. This Week in Palestine. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. Saints, taboo by the standards of orthodox Islam, mediated between man and Allah, and shrines to saints and holy men dotted the Palestinian landscape. Ali Qleibo, a Palestinian anthropologist, states that this built evidence constitutes "an architectural testimony to Christian/Moslem Palestinian religious sensibility and its roots in ancient Semitic religions."
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a portrait from the 17th century
Religion as constitutive of individual identity was accorded a minor role within Palestinian tribal social structure until the latter half of the 19th century. Jean Moretain, a priest writing in 1848, wrote that a Christian in Palestine was "distinguished only by the fact that he belonged to a particular clan. If a certain tribe was Christian, then an individual would be Christian, but without knowledge of what distinguished his faith from that of a Muslim."
The concessions granted to France and other Western powers by the Ottoman Sultanate in the aftermath of the Crimean War had a significant impact on contemporary Palestinian religious cultural identity. Religion was transformed into an element "constituting the individual/collective identity in conformity with orthodox precepts", and formed a major building block in the political development of Palestinian nationalism.
The British census of 1922 registered 752,048 inhabitants in Palestine, consisting of 589,177 Palestinian Muslims, 83,790 Palestinian Jews, 71,464 Palestinian Christians (including Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and others) and 7,617 persons belonging to other groups. The corresponding percentage breakdown is 78% Muslim, 11% Jewish, and 9% Christian. Palestinian Bedouin were not counted in the census, but a 1930 British study estimated their number at 70,860.Janet Abu-Lughod. The Demographic War for Palestine. Americans for Middle East Understanding.
Palestinians attending prayers at the Dome of the Rock in Al-Quds old city
Currently, no comprehensive data on religious affiliation among the worldwide Palestinian population is available. Bernard Sabella of Bethlehem University estimates that 6% of the Palestinian population is Christian.Bernard Sabella. Palestinian Christians: Challenges and Hopes. Bethlehem University. According to the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, the Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip is 97% Muslim and 3% Christian.Dana Rosenblatt (October 14, 2002). Amid conflict, Samaritans keep unique identity. CNN.
All of the Druze living in what was then British Mandate Palestine became Israeli citizens, though some individuals identify themselves as "Palestinian Druze".Yoav Stern & Jack Khoury (2 May 2007). Balad\'s MK-to-be: \'Anti-Israelization\' Conscientious Objector. Haaretz. Retrieved on 2007-07-29.For example, Said Nafa, a self-identified "Palestinian Druze" serves as the head of the Balad party\'s national council and founded the "Pact of Free Druze" in 2001, an organization that aims "to stop the conscription of the Druze and claims the community is an inalienable part of the Arabs in Israel and the Palestinian nation at large." According to Salih al-Shaykh, most Druze do not consider themselves to be Palestinian: "their Arab identity emanates in the main from the common language and their socio-cultural background, but is detached from any national political conception. It is not directed at Arab countries or Arab nationality or the Palestinian people, and does not express sharing any fate with them. From this point of view, their identity is Israel, and this identity is stronger than their Arab identity".Nissim Dana, The Druze in the Middle East: Their Faith, Leadership, Identity and Status, Sussex Academic Press, 2003, p. 201.
There are also about 350 Samaritans who carry Palestinian identity cards and live in the West Bank while a roughly equal number live in Holon and carry Israeli citizenship.Dana Rosenblatt (October 14, 2002). Amid conflict, Samaritans keep unique identity. CNN. Those who live in the West Bank also are represented in the legislature for the Palestinian National Authority. They are commonly referred to among Palestinians as the "Jews of Palestine."
Jews who identify as Palestinian Jews are few, but include Israeli Jews who are part of the Neturei Karta group,Charles Glass (Autumn 1975–Winter 1976). "Jews against Zion: Israeli Jewish Anti-Zionism" 5 No. 1/2: 56–81. Journal of Palestine Studies. and Uri Davis, an Israeli citizen and self-described Palestinian Jew who serves as an observer member in the Palestine National Council.Uri Davis (December 2003). APARTHEID ISRAEL: A Critical Reading of the Draft Permanent Agreement, known as the "Geneva Accords". The Association for One Democratic State in Palestine-Israel. Retrieved on 2007-07-29.
Palestinian culture is most closely related to the cultures of the nearby Levantine countries such as Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan and of the Arab World. It includes unique art, literature, music, costume and cuisine. Though separated geographically, Palestinian culture continues to survive and flourish in the Palestinian territories, Israel and the Diaspora.
Poetry, using classical pre-Islamic forms, remains an extremely popular art form, often attracting Palestinian audiences in the thousands. Until 20 years ago, local folk bards reciting traditional verses were a feature of every Palestinian town.Shahin, 2005, p. 41.
After the 1948 Palestinian exodus, poetry was transformed into a vehicle for political activism. From among those Palestinians who became Arab citizens of Israel after the passage of the Citizenship Law in 1952, a school of resistance poetry was born that included poets like Mahmoud Darwish, Samih al-Qasim, and Tawfiq Zayyad.
The work of these poets was largely unknown to the wider Arab world for years because of the lack of diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab governments. The situation changed after Ghassan Kanafani, another Palestinian writer in exile in Lebanon published an anthology of their work in 1966.
Palestinian poets often write about the common theme of a strong affection and sense of loss and longing for a lost homeland.
Arabic Calligraphy detailing circa 7th century and 11th century
Arabisque Mosaic plate in a villa circa 735 AD at Khirbat Al-Mafjar near Hebron
Similar to the structure of Palestinian society, the Palestinian art field extends over four main geographic centers: 1) the West Bank and Gaza Strip 2) Israel 3) the Palestinian diaspora in the Arab world, and 4) the Palestinian diaspora in Europe and the United States.Tal Ben Zvi (2006). <
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