Palestinian people

Palestinians
الفلسطينيون
Flag of Palestine
Total population
14.3 million
Regions with significant populations
Palestine
5,350,000
 – West Bank (Palestine)3,190,000 (of whom 912,879 are registered refugees as of 2024)
 – Gaza Strip (Palestine)2,170,000 (of whom 1,476,706 are registered refugees as of 2024)
Jordan2,307,011 (2024, registered refugees only)–3,240,000 (2009)
Israel2,037,000 (2022)
Syria568,530 (2021, registered refugees only)
Chile500,000
Saudi Arabia426,000
Qatar356,000
United States255,000
Germany200,000
United Arab Emirates200,000
Lebanon174,000 (2017 census)–458,369 (2016, registered refugees)
Egypt135,932
Kuwait80,000
Honduras27,000–200,000
Libya72,000
El Salvador70,000
Iraq57,000
Brazil50,000
Canada45,905
Yemen37,000
Turkey23,569
United Kingdom20,000
Peru15,000[source?]
Mexico13,000
Colombia13,000
Netherlands9,000–15,000
Australia~7,000
Sweden7,000
Algeria4,020
Languages
Arabic (Palestinian Arabic)
Religion
Majority:
Sunni Islam
Large minority:
Christianity (many denominations)
Minority:
Related ethnic groups
Jordanians, Lebanese, and other Arabs

The Palestinians are an Arab national group who speak Arabic as their mother tongue and are native to the region of Palestine, descended from those who have inhabited the area over the millennia. Today, there are about 10 million Palestinians in the world, including their children and grandchildren.

About half of all Palestinians (49% to 51%) live in the region of historic Palestine, which is now Israel, the West Bank and Gaza (State of Palestine), and parts of Jordan and Syria.

The other half are part of the Palestinian diaspora. This means they had to leave their homeland. Many are refugees and are not citizens of any country. Large Palestinian populations live in other countries:

Religion

Palestinian schoolgirls

Most Palestinians are Muslim, particularly of the Sunni branch of Islam. However, a significant minority of the world's Palestinians belong to various Christian denominations, Judaism or smaller religious communities.

No matter what religion they follow, Palestinians share a common dialect of Arabic. Among those who are citizens of Israel (known as Arab Israelis), many are bilingual in Hebrew.

Recent genetic research has showed that Arabs and Bedouins of the State of Palestine share genetics with the ancient Levantines. It also shows that Palestinians descend from people who lived in Roman-Palæstina beginning in prehistoric times. Palestinians acculturated and even established Arabic as the area's official language, due to Pre-Islamic Nabataean influences on ancient Israel and Judaea. Arabic eventually became the primary language spoken by locals. Over time, most of these people converted to Islam from various prior faiths.

Name

Palæstinian refugees during Nakba

The name "Palestinian" was in use before World War I, referring to the nationalist concept of a Palæstinian people who would include the local Arabic-speaking population of Palestine. On 21 September 1921, the and the first demand for national independence was issued by the Arab's Syrian-Palæstinian Congress issued the first demand for national independence.

Before and after Zionism, the Nakba, and the Exodus of 1967, "Palæstinian" came include a sense of shared past and future in the form of a ethnostate of Palestina.

National authorities

The Palestina Liberation Organization (PLO) represents the Palestinian People before the international community.

The Palæstinian National Authority governs the Palestinian center in the West Bank, while Gaza is governed by far-right-wing Hamas.

Notable

Some well known Palestinians are:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "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. 1 2
  3. 1 2 "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. ↑
  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. 1 2 "Where We Work UNRWA". UNRWA. Archived from the original on 7 July 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  10. ↑ "Zalaquett pone a Chile como modelo de convivencia palestino-judía" [Zalaquett sets Chile as a model for Palestinian-Jewish coexistence]. Diario La Nación (in Spanish). 16 October 2009. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  11. ↑ "Cómo llegó Chile a tener la mayor comunidad de palestinos fuera de Israel y del mundo árabe" [How Chile came to have the largest Palestinian community outside Israel and the Arab world]. BBC Mundo (in Spanish). 6 November 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Arab, Palestinan". Joshua Project. Archived from the original on 15 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  13. ↑ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 27 December 1996. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  14. ↑ "Palästinenser in Deutschland – "Das ist nicht mehr mein Land"". fr.de (in German). 2024-02-12. Retrieved 2025-02-16.
  15. ↑ "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.
  16. ↑ "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.
  17. ↑ "Migration Stock in Egypt 2022" (PDF). International Organization for Migration (IOM). Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  18. ↑ "Palestinians Open Kuwaiti Embassy". Al Monitor. 23 May 2013. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  19. ↑ Jorge Alberto Amaya (23 July 2015). "Los Árabes y Palestinos en Honduras: su establecimiento e impacto en la sociedad hondureña contemporánea: 1900–2009" [The Arabs and Palestinians in Honduras: Their Establishment and Impact on Contemporary Honduran Society: 1900–2009] (in Spanish). 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. [In short, Arabs and Palestinians, who arrived in the country at the end of the 19th century, dominate the country's economy today and are increasingly emerging as important players in the Honduran political class, forming, after Chile, the largest concentration of Palestinian descendants in Latin America, with between 150,000 and 200,000 people.]
  20. ↑ "El Salvador's Palestinian connection". 26 February 2006. Archived from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  21. ↑ "Factsheet: Palestinian Refugees in Iraq". Al Awda California. Archived from the original on 20 July 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  22. ↑ "Estatísticas gerais: imigrantes e descendentes". memorialdoimigrante.org. Archived from the original on 23 March 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
  23. ↑ "Ethnic or cultural origin by gender and age: Canada, provinces and territories". Statistics Canada. 26 October 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  24. ↑ "Tabiiyete Göre Yabancı Nüfus" [Foreign Population by Nationality] (in Turkish). Turkish Statistical Institute. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  25. ↑ "The Palestinian Diaspora in Europe". Archived from the original on 18 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  26. ↑ "Did you know that ... Palestinians in the Netherlands". Palestine Link. Archived from the original on 4 November 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  27. ↑ "Handing on the key: Palestians in Australia" (PDF). Immigration Museum. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
  28. ↑ "Australians' Ancestries" (PDF). Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2001. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 March 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  29. ↑ Benito, Miguel. "Palestinier". Invandringens encyklopedi. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  30. ↑ "UNHCR Global Appeal 2014–2015: Algeria" (PDF). United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  31. ↑ "Regrettable statistical error". Ynetnews.com. 2 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
  32. ↑ Abbas Shiblak (2005). "Reflections on the Palestinian Diaspora in Europe" (PDF). The Palestinian Diaspora in Europe: Challenges of Dual Identity and Adaptation. Institute of Jerusalem. Studies. ISBN 9950315042. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2009-11-14.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  33. ↑ From 1918-22 the region of modern-day Jordan, then called Transjordan, was one of two constituent territories that comprised the British Mandate of Palestine (so-named after the other constituent, Palestine) which was separated to form a new Arab monarchy. Unless otherwise specified, this article uses "British Mandate" and related terms to refer to historic Palestine, that is, the 20% of the post-1922 mandate west of the Jordan river.
  34. ↑ Villegas, Alexander (7 November 2023). "In Chile, a Palestinian diaspora makes its voice heard on Gaza". Reuters. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  35. ↑ Das, R; Wexler, P; Pirooznia, M; Elhaik, E (2017). "The Origins of Ashkenaz, Ashkenazic Jews, and Yiddish". Frontiers in Genetics. 8 87. doi:10.3389/fgene.2017.00087. PMC 5478715. PMID 28680441.
  36. ↑ Gibbons, Ann (October 30, 2000). "Jews and Arabs Share Recent Ancestry". ScienceNOW. American Academy for the Advancement of Science.
  37. ↑ Hammer, et al. Figure 2: Plot of populations based on Y-chromosome haplotype data Archived 2008-04-05 at the Wayback Machine.
  38. ↑ "Myth: Palestinians are Arabs that arrived in the 7th century | Decolonize Palestine". decolonizepalestine.com. 2021-03-14. Retrieved 2024-11-13. "There are a couple of glaring problems with this line of thought. First of all, there is a clear conflation of the Arab(ian)(s), Muslims and Palestinians. None of these are interchangeable. Arabs have had a long history in the Levant before the advent of Islam. For example, Nabataean kingdom ruled over Jordan, Southern Palestina and Sinai a whole millennium before Muslims ever set foot in the area. Another example would be the Ghassanid kingdom, a Christian Arabian (!) kingdom that extended over vast areas of the region. As a matter of fact, many prominent Christian families in Palestina today, such as Maalouf, Haddad and Khoury, can trace their lineage back to the Ghassanid kingdom".
  39. 1 2 "Palestine". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  40. ↑ Porath, 1974, p. 117.
  41. ↑ "Who Represents the Palestinians Officially Before the World Community?". Institute for Middle East Understanding. 2006–2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
  42. ↑ "Mahmoud Darwish". www.aljazeera.com.
  1. ↑ See: White Australia Policy and Arab Australians