The Palestinians are an Arab national group from the Southern Levant, predominantly the modern State of Israel.
Palestinians are predominantly Sunni Muslims, thought there are a minority of Christian and Shia Palestinians, as well as Druze and Samaritians that identify as Palestinian. There is dispute about when the Palestinian identity coalesced, be it in the post- or pre-war periods, and if it was an internal development or in direct response to the zionist movement.
The war that established Israel between Jewish and Arab forces resulted in a mass displacement of Palestinian Arabs. There is a significant diaspora of Palesitnians, especially in neighbouring Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. 20% of Israeli citizens are Arabs, of which many also identify as Palestinian. Many Diaspora Palesitnians, as well as those from families displaced from beyond the 1948 armistice lines, identify as refugees.
Many Palestinian political movements lay claim to all the land of Israel as the future Palestinian state. The Palestinian Authority is one of the pirmary bodies that governs the Palestinians, with varying degrees of control in the West Bank. Palestinians have autonomy in Gaza, which is under the rule of Hamas.
While support for the two-state solution has dropped, the number of Palestinians who support a bi-national state solution has increased.
An estimated 1,000-1,300 Christians live in Gaza among two million Muslims.
The international community and the Palestinian Authority have condemned plans to build in an area located over the pre-1967 lines.
These anti-Israel activists should not be welcomed in spaces where they cannot show genuine solidarity; these cynical hijackings show their true colors.
Every aspect of Hamas is criminal and murderous. Over the years it tried to pretend it might change its ways, but in the recent war it fired 4,000 rockets at Israeli civilians.
For over a decade, NGO Monitor’s research has exposed multiple links between the six designated NGOs (among others) and the PFLP.
Readers of The Jerusalem Post have their say.
Whenever there is a terrorist attack that results in deaths, it brings all the trauma of the second intifada back to the surface again.
Hamas is perceived as having initiated the war to stop the Sheikh Jarrah evictions and force Israel to rescind its strict security measures in Jerusalem’s Old City and the all-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Clashes began shortly after security officers entered Jenin Refugee Camp to arrest Palestinians wanted by the PA for possession of illegal weapons and involvement in criminal activities.
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