Palestinians

===Religion===
{{see also|Religion in the State of Palestine}}
The majority of Palestinians are Muslim,<ref>{{cite web|title=Are all Palestinians Muslim?|url=http://imeu.net/news/article0042.shtml|work=[[Institute for Middle East Understanding]]|access-date=16 April 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413142345/http://imeu.net/news/article0042.shtml|archive-date=13 April 2014}}</ref> the vast majority of whom are followers of the [[Sunni]] branch of [[Islam]],<ref>Lybarger, 2007, p. 114.</ref> with a small minority of [[Ahmadiyya]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137789#.U1vh-_ldUdk |title=PA's Moderate Muslims Face Threats |date=31 May 2010 |access-date=26 April 2014 |publisher=Israel National News |archive-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814235136/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137789#.U1vh-_ldUdk |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Palestinian Christians]] represent a significant minority of 6%, and belong to several denominations, followed by much smaller religious communities, including [[Druze]] and [[Samaritans]]. [[Palestinian Jews]]&nbsp;– considered Palestinian by the [[Palestinian National Charter]] adopted by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which defined them as those "Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the [[Zionism|Zionist]] invasion"&nbsp;– today identify as Israelis<ref>''Palestinians and Israel'' {{ISBN|0-470-35211-6}} p. 53</ref> (with the exception of a very few individuals). Palestinian Jews almost universally abandoned any such identity after the establishment of Israel and their incorporation into the [[Demographics of Israel|Israeli Jewish]] population, which was originally composed of [[Aliyah|Jewish immigrants]] from around the world.[[File:PikiWiki Israel 29872 Cities in Israel.jpg|thumb|Silhouette of [[East Jerusalem]]]]Until the end of the 19th century, cross-cultural [[syncretism]] between Islamic and Christian symbols and figures in religious practice was common in the Palestinian countryside, where most villages did not have local mosques or churches.<ref name="Qleibo">{{cite web |author=Ali Qleibo |date=28 July 2007 |title=Palestinian Cave Dwellers and Holy Shrines: The Passing of Traditional Society |url=http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=2208&ed=144&edid=144These |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927122856/http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=2208&ed=144&edid=144These |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=17 August 2007 |publisher=This Week in Palestine}}</ref> Popular feast days, such as [[Thursday of the Dead]], were celebrated by both Muslims and Christians and shared prophets and saints include [[Jonah]], who is venerated in [[Halhul]] as both a Biblical and Islamic prophet, and [[St. George]], who is known in Arabic as [[Khidr|al-Khdir]]. Villagers would pay tribute to local patron saints at [[Maqam (shrine)|maqams]]&nbsp;–  domed single rooms often placed in the shadow of an ancient [[carob]] or [[Oak|oak tree]]; many of them are rooted in Jewish, Samaritan, Christian and sometimes pagan traditions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=R. Conder |first=Claude |date=1877 |title=The Moslem Mukams |url=https://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme09pale/page/n100/mode/1up?view=theater |journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=89–91 |doi=10.1179/peq.1877.9.2.89 |issn=0031-0328 |quote="In their religious observances and sanctuaries we find, as in their language, the true history of the country. On a basis of polytheistic faith which most probably dates back to pre-Israelite times, we find a growth of the most heterogeneous description: Christian tradition, Moslem history and foreign worship are mingled so as often to be entirely indistinguishable, and the so-called Moslem is found worshipping at shrines consecrated to Jewish, Samaritan, Christian, and often Pagan memories. It is in worship at these shrines that the religion of the peasantry consists. Moslem by profession, they often spend their lives without entering a mosque, and attach more importance to the favour and protection of the village Mukam than to Allah himself, or to Mohammed his prophet... The reverence shown for these sacred spots is unbounded. Every fallen stone from the building, every withered branch of the tree, is carefully preserved."}}</ref> Saints, taboo by the standards of orthodox Islam, mediated between man and God, and shrines to saints and holy men dotted the Palestinian landscape.<ref name=Qleibo/> 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 religion]]s."<ref name=Qleibo/>

Religion as constitutive of individual identity was accorded a minor role within Palestinian social structure until the latter half of the 19th century.<ref name=Qleibo/> 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."<ref name=Qleibo/>
[[File:Christians from Gaza.jpg|left|thumb|Christians from [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]]]]
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.<ref name=Qleibo/> 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.<ref name=Qleibo/>

The [[1922 census of Palestine|British census of 1922]] registered 752,048 inhabitants in Palestine, consisting of 660,641 Palestinian Arabs (Muslim and Christian Arabs), 83,790 Palestinian Jews, and 7,617 persons belonging to other groups. The corresponding percentage breakdown is 87% Muslim and Christian Arab and 11% Jewish.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Demographic War for Palestine|author=Janet Abu-Lughod|publisher=Americans for Middle East Understanding|url=http://www.ameu.org/getattachment/0ac57681-cb8e-44cd-af80-36a90f4520b1/The-Demographic-War-for-Palestine.aspx|access-date=30 November 2013|archive-date=13 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113195853/http://ameu.org/getattachment/0ac57681-cb8e-44cd-af80-36a90f4520b1/The-Demographic-War-for-Palestine.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:דרוזיות אופות פיתות-JNF022334.jpeg|thumb|Palestinian [[Druze]] family making bread 1920]]
Bernard Sabella of [[Bethlehem University]] estimates that 6% of the Palestinian population worldwide is Christian and that 56% of them live outside of historic Palestine.<ref>{{cite web|title=Palestinian Christians: Challenges and Hopes|author=Bernard Sabella|publisher=Bethlehem University|url=http://www.al-bushra.org/holyland/sabella.htm|access-date=25 April 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415005256/http://www.al-bushra.org/holyland/sabella.htm|archive-date=15 April 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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. The vast majority of the [[Palestinian community in Chile]] follow Christianity, largely [[Eastern Orthodox]] and some [[Roman Catholic]], and in fact the number of Palestinian Christians in [[Palestinian diaspora|the diaspora]] in Chile alone exceeds the number of those who have remained in their homeland.<ref name=Holston>{{citation|periodical=Américas |last=Holston |first=Mark |date=1 November 2005 |access-date=29 July 2009 |url=http://www.articlearchives.com/south-america/chile-santiago-chile/914068-1.html |issn=0379-0975 |title=Orgullosos palestinos de Chile |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505135845/http://www.articlearchives.com/south-america/chile-santiago-chile/914068-1.html |archive-date=5 May 2012 }}</ref> Saint George is the patron saint of the Palestinian Christians.<ref>{{cite book|title=Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations|first=J. Gordon|last=Melton|year=2021| isbn=9781598842050| page=334|publisher=ABC-CLIO|quote=He is also the patron saint of the Palestinian Christian community.}}</ref>

The [[Druze]] became Israeli citizens and Druze males serve in the [[Israel Defense Forces]], though some individuals identify as "Palestinian Druze".<ref>{{cite news|title=Balad's MK-to-be: 'Anti-Israelization' Conscientious Objector|author1=Yoav Stern|author2=Jack Khoury|name-list-style=amp|newspaper=[[Haaretz]]|date=2 May 2007|access-date=29 July 2007|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/854636.html|archive-date=2 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090802032505/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/854636.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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".<ref>Nissim Dana, ''The Druze in the Middle East: Their Faith, Leadership, Identity and Status'', Sussex Academic Press, 2003, p. 201.</ref>

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.<ref name=Amid>{{cite news|author=Dana Rosenblatt|title=Amid conflict, Samaritans keep unique identity|publisher=CNN|date=14 October 2002|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/10/08/samaritans/|access-date=30 May 2007|archive-date=20 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120095213/http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/10/08/samaritans/|url-status=live}}</ref> Those who live in the West Bank also are represented in the legislature for the Palestinian National Authority.<ref name=Amid/> They are commonly referred to among Palestinians as the "Jews of Palestine", and maintain their own unique cultural identity.<ref name=Amid/>

Jews who identify as Palestinian Jews are few, but include Israeli Jews who are part of the [[Neturei Karta]] group,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Jews against Zion: Israeli Jewish Anti-Zionism|author=Charles Glass|volume=5| issue=1/2|year=1975|pages=56–81|jstor=2535683|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|doi=10.2307/2535683}}</ref> and [[Uri Davis]], an Israeli citizen and self-described Palestinian Jew (who converted to Islam in 2008 in order to marry Miyassar Abu Ali) who serves as an observer member in the [[Palestine National Council]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Apartheid Israel: A Critical Reading of the Draft Permanent Agreement, known as the "Geneva Accords"|author=Uri Davis|publisher=The Association for One Democratic State in Palestine-Israel|date=December 2013|access-date=11 January 2014|url=http://odspi.org/articles/davis%27.html|archive-date=28 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428105914/http://odspi.org/articles/davis%27.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Bahá'u'lláh]], founder of the [[Baháʼí Faith]] spent his last years in [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], then part of the Ottoman Empire. He remained there for 24 years, where a [[Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh|shrine]] was erected in his honor.<ref>http://www.bic.org/statements-and-reports/bic-statements/47-0715.htm{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name=PSmith26>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Peter |title=An Introduction to the Baháʼí Faith |page=26 |year=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-86251-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z7zdDFTzNr0C |access-date=29 November 2023 |archive-date=10 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110003959/https://books.google.com/books?id=z7zdDFTzNr0C |url-status=live }}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Exterior of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem2.jpg|The [[Dome of the Rock]] in the [[Old City of Jerusalem]]
File:The Church of the Holy Sepulchre-Jerusalem.JPG|The [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] in Jerusalem, the holiest site in Christianity
File:Palestinian Christian Scouts Nativity Church in Bethlehem Christmas Eve 2006.jpg|Palestinian Christian Scouts on Christmas Eve in front of the Nativity Church in [[Bethlehem]], 2006
File:Hebron001.JPG|[[Cave of the Patriarchs]] in [[Hebron]]
File:Ben Zakai.jpg|Palestinian Jews in Ben Zakai house of prayer, Jerusalem, 1893
File:PikiWiki Israel 6935 In the holy place of jethro.jpg|Tomb of [[Shuaib]] in [[Hittin]]
File:1840 jer salat.jpg|Palestinian Muslims pray in Jerusalem, 1840. By [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]], in ''[[The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia]]''
File:Ramallah-Family-1905.jpg|A Palestinian Christian family in [[Ramallah]], 1905
File:Orthodox priest family.jpg|Palestinian [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] priest from Jerusalem with his family of three generations, circa 1893
</gallery>