History of Palestinian Nationality

During the British Mandate, “Palestinian” applied to Arabs and Jews alike; since the early 1960s, common usage has primarily associated the designation with Palestinian Arabs in the territories, refugees, and communities of Palestinian origin abroad.[7] Some writers also apply it to Arabs who hold Israeli citizenship.[7] The history of the term therefore includes a change in ordinary usage as well as changes in the laws governing citizenship.[7]

Legal nationality concerns an individual's relationship with a state, whereas national identity concerns collective belonging.[1] The two did not develop in identical ways: Mandate citizenship provided a territorial legal status, while Palestinian Arab nationalism developed within a political landscape that also included Ottoman allegiance, Arab nationalism, Syrian unity, and competing Jewish national aspirations.[1][3] Under the Mandate, citizenship did not necessarily specify an individual's ethnic or communal affiliation, and the system accommodated Arabs and Jews within the same territorial framework.[4]

After the War of Independence, Palestinians lived under several different governments and legal systems.[4] Some became Israeli citizens.[8] Jordan extended citizenship to West Bank Palestinians, while Gaza came under Egyptian administration.[9][4] Refugee and diaspora communities experienced still other circumstances, making place of residence and individual legal history central to any account of Palestinian citizenship.[4]

Political representation followed a different institutional trajectory.[5] The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), founded in 1964, became the principal organization claiming to represent the Palestinian people, obtained international recognition, and entered mutual recognition with Israel in 1993.[5] Palestinian Authority travel documents, the proclamation of a Palestinian state, and United Nations observer-state status each addressed particular aspects of administration or international standing rather than a single, comprehensive citizenship settlement.[6][4]

Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1517 to 1917.[10] Its administrative boundaries changed, and much of the area was divided among the provinces of Damascus and Beirut under the arrangements associated with the 1864 Vilayet Law.[3] Jerusalem, Gaza, Hebron, and Beersheba formed a district governed directly from Constantinople.[3] These arrangements placed local political life within a wider imperial framework rather than a separate Palestinian territorial state.[3]

Nineteenth-century Arab elites in the region generally supported Ottoman reforms, and some occupied influential government posts.[3] Local distinctiveness coexisted with broader political loyalties, while an Arab decentralist movement emerged within wider pan-Arab sentiment before World War I.[3] The Young Turk Revolution of 1908, pan-Turkish ideology, and growing opposition to Zionism contributed to a stronger sense of Palestinian patriotism.[3] During World War I, most Palestinian elites remained loyal to the Ottoman sultan, although some intellectuals identified with emerging pan-Arab nationalism.[3] Famine, drought, a locust plague, and repression under Cemal Paşa increased opposition to Ottoman authority.[3]

The Arabic name “Filastin” was used in the nineteenth century for a broad area on both sides of the Jordan River, acquiring a political-national meaning toward the century's end.[11] Under British rule, “Palestinian” was applied territorially to residents, Jews and Arabs alike, while Arabs increasingly adopted the designation as a marker of distinct national identity.[11] In later usage, the term primarily denoted Palestinian Arab national identity rather than the Mandate-era territorial label.[7][8]

British occupation during World War I opened a new period of political organization.[3] The Muslim-Christian Association first appeared in Jaffa in November 1918, opposing Zionism and expressing cooperation between Muslims and Christians.[3] It helped convene the first Palestine Arab Congress in Jerusalem from January 27 to February 9, 1919.[3] Six further congresses followed, the last in 1928, and the association initiated the Arab Executive Committee to coordinate political activity during the 1920s and early 1930s.[3]

Local independence and Syrian unity could appear within the same political program.[12] In 1918, Amin al-Husayni became president of the Arab Club, which advocated Arab unity, union between Palestine and Syria, and an end to Jewish immigration.[12] Demonstrations he organized in 1920 opposed the Balfour Declaration, demanded Palestine's independence, and promoted union with Syria.[12] After France defeated Faisal's Arab kingdom in July 1920, leaders who had pursued an independent Greater Syria increasingly concentrated on local opposition to the Mandate and the Jewish national home.[3] Rivalry between the Husayni and Nashashibi families remained a persistent weakness in political organization.[3]

British administration gave Palestine fixed boundaries, a government, and a political identity distinct from neighboring territories.[3] The League of Nations Mandate, dated July 24, 1922, assigned the administration responsibility for enacting a nationality law.[2] Article 7 specifically required provisions facilitating Palestinian citizenship for Jews taking up permanent residence in Palestine.[2] Article 2 required the development of self-governing institutions and protection of the civil and religious rights of all inhabitants, irrespective of race or religion.[2] In 1923, Britain divided the original mandate area into Transjordan east of the Jordan River and western Palestine; the Jewish national-home provisions applied to the latter.[3]

The Mandate referred to the Arab population as the “existing non-Jewish communities,” rather than explicitly recognizing Arab national rights, while prohibiting discrimination between inhabitants.[3] Palestinian Arab leaders sought self-determination and an Arab state and feared that Jewish immigration and land purchases would produce Jewish domination.[3] The resulting struggle involved both competing national projects and disagreement over the political institutions that should govern the territory.[3]

King George V assented to the Palestine Citizenship Order-in-Council on July 24, 1925, and it took effect on August 1.[4] The order implemented nationality arrangements following Turkey's renunciation of Palestine under the Treaty of Lausanne.[13] Turkish subjects habitually resident in Palestine on August 1, 1925, became Palestinian citizens.[13] An amendment also covered some people who had been resident on August 6, 1924, but left before August 1, 1925, provided they had not acquired another nationality.[13]

The interval between the Treaty of Lausanne's entry into force and the order's effective date created difficulties for some former Ottoman subjects abroad.[4] Those who had left Palestine before August 1, 1925, and lacked provisional citizenship certificates could lose Turkish nationality without being attributed Palestinian citizenship under the order.[4] A 1931 Order-in-Council addressed this situation.[4] The citizenship system subsequently operated through orders extending to 1942.[9]

Mandate-era national mobilization included demonstrations, petitions, and unrest in 1920, 1921, 1922, 1929, and 1933, followed by the Arab Revolt of 1936–1939.[3] In spring 1936, tensions over Jewish immigration, land purchases, and the failure to establish a Palestinian governing body escalated into prolonged violence.[12] Arab nationalist leaders formed a national committee for independence and called a general strike.[12] The Arab Higher Committee demanded an end to Jewish immigration, a ban on transferring Arab land to Jews, and an Arab national government; in 1937 it called for dissolution of the Mandate and Palestinian self-government.[12]

The revolt weakened Palestinian political organization through internal divisions, British suppression, and extensive casualties and detention.[3] By October 1936, 306 people had been killed and 1,322 injured.[12] For the broader revolt, estimates include more than 3,000 Palestinians killed, 15,000–20,000 wounded, and more than 5,000 leaders and fighters detained.[3] These events linked demands for national government to conflict over immigration, land, and British authority.[3][12]

On November 29, 1947, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 proposed partition and arrangements for citizenship in the proposed Arab and Jewish states.[14] Palestinian citizens resident outside Jerusalem, together with resident Arabs and Jews who lacked Palestinian citizenship, were to become citizens of the state where they resided upon recognition of independence, with full civil and political rights.[14] These were proposed arrangements contingent on the partition plan, not an implemented citizenship system.[6]

The British Mandate ended on May 14, 1948, when representatives of the Jewish community proclaimed Israel's establishment; five Arab armies subsequently invaded the new state.[7] During the War of Independence, more than 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes, an experience Palestinians call the Nakba, or “catastrophe.”[8] The displacement fragmented Palestinian society and dispersed communities among different jurisdictions.[15] The war ended with armistice agreements between Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.[7]

The West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — came under Jordanian administration, while Gaza came under Egyptian administration.[4] Jordan annexed the West Bank in April 1950, extending Jordanian citizenship to its Palestinian residents.[9] Many Palestinian Arabs who remained in Israel became Israeli citizens.[8] Gaza remained under Egyptian administration, and the postwar legal landscape diverged among Israel, Jordan, Gaza, refugee communities, and the diaspora.[4]

After 1948, Palestinian nationalism was initially overshadowed by wider Arab nationalism, and dispersal across host countries complicated the development of a single organizational framework.[15] Frustration with Arab League efforts encouraged Palestinians to develop their own leadership.[15] Refugee camps fostered a diaspora consciousness that contributed to renewed national identity and social institutions.[16] A new leadership emerged partly through UNRWA schools and universities in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, western Europe, and the United States.[16] By the late 1960s, educated and mobile Palestinians participated in Arab-state institutions and economies as well as in West Bank and Gaza communities.[16]

The PLO was founded in 1964 in the context of the Arab summit in Cairo as an umbrella organization for Palestinian groups, initially under strong Egyptian influence.[5][15] Its National Covenant was adopted that year and revised in 1968.[5] The 1967 war strengthened Palestinian national identity and encouraged a movement less dependent on Arab-state patronage.[17] Yasir Arafat's election as PLO chairman in February 1969 marked a turn toward organizational independence, with Fatah becoming the dominant party.[17][5]

In 1974, an Arab summit recognized the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people.[17] The United Nations General Assembly also invited it to participate in deliberations as the Palestinian people's representative and granted it observer status.[6] PLO programs in 1974 and 1977 reflected growing support for a diplomatic settlement and a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.[15]

The first intifada began in December 1987 following a traffic accident in which an Israeli truck driver struck and killed four Palestinians.[17] The demonstrations became a catalyst for changes in the PLO's political position, asserting Palestinian nationhood and opposition to incorporation into Israel.[17] One formulation of the demonstrators' message was: “We do not want a state instead of Israel but rather a state alongside Israel.”[17]

In 1988, King Hussein announced Jordan's legal and administrative disengagement from the West Bank.[7] On November 15 that year, the Palestine National Council proclaimed the State of Palestine in Algiers, with Jerusalem as its capital.[6][7] The PLO accepted Resolution 181 and the principle of two states, and subsequently accepted the 1967 lines as the borders of a Palestinian state.[17] In December 1988, the General Assembly decided to use “Palestine” instead of “Palestine Liberation Organization” within the UN system without changing the PLO's observer status or functions.[6]

In a letter dated September 9, 1993, Arafat recognized Israel's right to exist, renounced terrorism, and pledged to remove charter clauses calling for Israel's destruction.[5] Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and began formal negotiations with it.[5] The Palestinian National Authority was established in 1994 to administer areas during further negotiations under the Oslo process.[15] In April 1996, the Palestine National Council voted to cancel charter provisions calling for Israel's destruction and to draft a new charter.[18] A further vote to revise the charter took place in 1998, although its original text continued to appear on some Palestinian Authority websites.[5]

On November 29, 2012, General Assembly Resolution 67/19 accorded Palestine non-member observer State status and reaffirmed the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and independence.[6] The vote was 138 in favor, nine against, and 41 abstentions.[19] The decision preserved the PLO's acquired rights, privileges, and representative role, and observer-state status remained distinct from full UN membership.[6][19]

The 1925–1942 citizenship orders provided several routes to Palestinian citizenship, including descent, specified connections to the territory, and naturalization.[13] Citizenship at birth could derive from a Palestinian-citizen father.[13] Certain people born in Palestine who had not acquired another nationality, or whose nationality was unknown, were also covered.[13] Some people born in Palestine to Turkish-national parents who were abroad at the relevant date could opt for citizenship by demonstrating an unbroken personal connection to Palestine and an intention to return; this option expired on July 24, 1945.[13]

Naturalization generally required residence in Palestine for two of the preceding three years, good character, adequate knowledge of English, Arabic, or Hebrew, and an intention to reside permanently in Palestine.[13] The order did not distinguish between citizens by birth and naturalized citizens.[4] The High Commissioner could allow expedited or exceptional naturalization, and a 1937 administrative report recorded a fee of 500 mils.[13][20] For former Ottoman subjects abroad seeking to opt for citizenship, requirements included birth in the territory and a preliminary six-month period of residence.[4]

Marriage to a Palestinian citizen did not itself confer citizenship on a woman, although she could apply for naturalization.[13] Between August 1, 1925, and September 30, 1945, there were 100,005 naturalization applications and 91,350 certificates delivered.[13] Another 132,616 people acquired citizenship through the naturalization of husbands, fathers, or mothers, although complete statistics for non-Jewish naturalization were unavailable.[13]

Mandate demographic classifications were not identical to citizenship categories.[13] Administrative reporting distinguished Muslims, Jews, Christians, and others by religion, alongside an Arab, Jewish, and Other classification described as racial or national.[13] An estimate for the end of 1944 placed the population at 1,765,000, including 1,179,000 Arabs and 554,000 Jews, using stated assumptions about the Arab share of religious groups.[13] These figures were estimates, and official, Jewish Agency, and Food Controller calculations of the Jewish population differed.[13]

Resolution 181 proposed an option for adults over eighteen to choose citizenship in the other proposed state within one year.[14] However, Arabs resident in the proposed Arab state could not opt for citizenship in the proposed Jewish state, and Jews resident in the proposed Jewish state could not opt for citizenship in the proposed Arab state.[14] An opting adult's spouse and children under eighteen were included in the option's scope.[6] The resolution also called for the Mandate to terminate no later than August 1, 1948.[14]

Israel's Nationality Law of 1952 provided routes to nationality through return, residence, birth, and naturalization.[21] Under its residence provision, former Palestinian citizens who did not acquire nationality through return could qualify through registration as inhabitants on March 1, 1952, residence when the law came into force, and presence in Israel or an area that became Israeli territory during the specified period, or lawful entry during that period.[21] The law superseded the Mandate-era citizenship framework within Israel.[1][21]

Israel's 1950 Absentees' Property Law used a separate, statute-specific definition of “Palestinian citizen.”[22] It included holders of Mandate citizenship and Palestinian residents with no nationality or citizenship, or with undefined or unclear status.[22] Its definition of an absentee concerned specified property and residence circumstances, including departure to a place outside Palestine or to a place held by forces fighting Israel.[22] This definition served that law's purposes rather than establishing that every person it covered had held Mandate citizenship.[22]

Jordanian citizenship followed another legal sequence.[9] West Bank Palestinians received the right to claim Jordanian citizenship in December 1949, followed by citizenship associated with the April 1950 annexation.[9] Article 3 of Jordan's 1954 Citizenship Law covered a person who was not Jewish, had been a Palestinian citizen before May 15, 1948, and resided in Jordan between December 20, 1949, and February 16, 1954.[9] These rules show that residence dates, location, and individual legal history mattered to citizenship status.[9][4]

West Bank residents continued to hold Jordanian citizenship after Israel took control in 1967.[9] King Hussein's 1988 disengagement announcement stated that the territory's inhabitants would cease to be Jordanian citizens.[9] Elsewhere in the region, refugee and diaspora status varied by host country and personal legal history rather than following a single rule.[4] The broader legal landscape combined Ottoman, British Mandate, Egyptian, Jordanian, and, after 1967, Israeli law.[4]

PLO documents supplied political definitions of belonging rather than a universally applicable citizenship code.[23] The 1964 Covenant defined Palestinians as Arab nationals normally resident in Palestine until 1947, whether displaced or not, and those born afterward to a Palestinian father inside or outside Palestine.[23] Article 4 described Palestinian identity as transmitted from parents to children.[23] The 1968 Charter likewise emphasized Palestinian nationalism, self-determination, sovereignty, and Palestine as the homeland of the Palestinian Arab people.[18]

A draft Palestinian Nationality Law circulated in the mid-1990s but was never voted on.[4] The Palestinian Basic Law, passed by the Legislative Council in 1997 and promulgated in 2002, stipulated that nationality must be regulated by law.[4] Palestinian self-government began issuing Palestinian Authority passport and travel documents in 1995.[24] At the time described in a U.S. government country report, those documents were accepted for travel and visa purposes, but the United States did not regard them as conferring citizenship because it did not recognize Palestine as a country.[24] That position concerned a particular government's treatment of the documents, rather than determining nationality universally.[24]

Palestinian national identity can coexist with citizenship in another state.[8] In a 2019 interview, Arab Israeli parliamentarian Ahmad Tibi expressed that distinction directly: “We are Palestinians by nationality, and we are Israeli citizens.”[8] Many Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel identify with the Palestinian people, while surveys frequently show a majority preferring to retain Israeli citizenship rather than accept citizenship in a future Palestinian state.[8]

The Mandate period is important because it established a legal citizenship shared by Jews and Arabs without making their national aspirations identical.[2][4] Article 7's provisions for Jewish permanent residents demonstrate why a reference to a “Palestinian citizen” in a Mandate-era document cannot automatically be read as a reference to Palestinian Arab national identity.[2] Conversely, later Palestinian national identification did not depend on possession of a single common citizenship, as communities lived under divergent legal systems.[4]

Displacement and education helped give national belonging a cross-border character.[16] Refugee camps, schools, universities, and professional mobility sustained social connections beyond the boundaries of any one host country.[16] After 1948, and still more strongly after 1967, “Palestinian” increasingly conveyed a shared history and an anticipated future associated with a Palestinian state, rather than geographic origin alone.[7][8]

International recognition addressed collective rights and representation through several distinct steps.[6] In 1974, General Assembly Resolution 3236 reaffirmed Palestinian rights to self-determination without external interference, independence, and national sovereignty, together with refugee return and restitution claims.[25] The PLO's observer status, the UN's adoption of the name “Palestine” in 1988, and observer-state status in 2012 marked changes in international standing rather than the creation of an individual citizenship regime applicable everywhere.[6]

Refugee questions also retained their own legal and political history.[6] Resolution 194, adopted on December 11, 1948, stated that refugees wishing to return home and live at peace with their neighbors “should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.”[6] It called for compensation for those not returning and for property loss or damage, and instructed the UN Conciliation Commission to facilitate repatriation, resettlement, rehabilitation, and compensation.[6] These provisions addressed refugees and remedies, rather than defining the nationality of every displaced Palestinian.[6]

The principal historiographical disagreement concerns when local attachments became a distinct national consciousness or an organized national movement.[8][26] Some accounts identify the 1834 revolt against Egyptian conscription and taxation as formative, while others emphasize late Ottoman developments, the Mandate, or the decades between the 1920s and 1967.[8] A review in the Jewish Review of Books criticizes Rashid Khalidi's dating of national consciousness to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as pushing its emergence “somewhat artificially” earlier.[26] These arguments concern the chronology of identity formation, not the existence of Mandate citizenship.[26]

Other interpretations emphasize different stages: broader Syrian loyalties and the 1919 congress's declaration that Palestine formed part of Arab Syria; the postwar territorial division of the mandates; the modern movement's emergence around 1920–1921; or national revival after 1948.[27][28] A study of the movement's formative years emphasizes leadership crisis, fragmentation, neighboring states, the Sons of Nakba, Fatah, and the creation of the PLO before 1967.[29] Such institutional milestones do not establish a single date when all Palestinian identity began.[29]

Legal disagreements concern statehood, citizenship, residency, and the effect of particular governments' decisions.[4] A 2013 legal discussion characterized the situation at that time as Palestinian residency rather than citizenship; this is a dated legal assessment, not a current universal determination.[30] Jordanian denationalization also became controversial: a 2010 report described allegations that more than 2,700 citizens of Palestinian origin lost citizenship administratively between 2004 and 2008, affecting property, education, and public life.[31] Jordan's Interior Ministry denied that citizenship was revoked arbitrarily.[31] These disputes underline the importance of jurisdiction, date, and individual circumstances when describing legal nationality.[4]