Palestinian identity

Prior to the rise of nationalism during the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the term Palestinian referred to any person born in or living in Palestine, regardless of their ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious affiliations. During the British Mandate over Palestine, the term "Palestinian" referred to any person legally considered to be a citizen of Mandatory Palestine as defined in the 1925 Citizenship Order.

Starting from the late 19th-century, the Arabic-speaking people of Palestine have used the term "Palestinian" as one of the endonyms of self-identification, with other terms such as "Arab" and "Palestinian Arab" being more frequent and dominant in usage ^[1] until recent times.

After the establishment of the State of Israel during the 1948 Palestine War, the Jews of Mandatory Palestine became known as "Israeli Jews", having developed a national Jewish identity centered on a Jewish National Homeland in Palestine, derived from a political and ideological movement known as Zionism. By the mid-1950s, the term "Palestinian" has shifted to be a demonym that exclusively refers to the Arabs of former Mandatory Palestine who did not become citizens of the State of Israel, including their descendants, who had developed a distinctly Palestinian-Arab national identity.

In contemporary times, the term "Palestinian" is the national demonym of the Palestinian people.

^ Lockman, Zachary (1996). Comrades and Enemies Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906–1948. University of California Press. p. 18. I generally use the terms "Palestinian Arab," "the Arabs of Palestine," or (where the meaning is clear) simply "Arab" to refer to the Arab community in Palestine during the mandate period. Adding the term "Arab" when referring to the people whom we would today simply call "the Palestinians" may seem redundant, but in fact it avoids an anachronism, for it was really only after 1948 that the Palestinian Arab people came to call themselves, and be called by others, simply Palestinians. During the mandate period most Palestinian organizations and institutions (in today's sense) officially called themselves "Arab," sometimes with "Palestinian" as a modifier; hence the Arab Executive, the Arab Higher Committee, the Arab Workers' Congress, the Palestinian Arab Workers' Society, and so forth.

[1] Lockman, Zachary (1996). Comrades and Enemies Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906–1948. University of California Press. p. 18. I generally use the terms "Palestinian Arab," "the Arabs of Palestine," or (where the meaning is clear) simply "Arab" to refer to the Arab community in Palestine during the mandate period. Adding the term "Arab" when referring to the people whom we would today simply call "the Palestinians" may seem redundant, but in fact it avoids an anachronism, for it was really only after 1948 that the Palestinian Arab people came to call themselves, and be called by others, simply Palestinians. During the mandate period most Palestinian organizations and institutions (in today's sense) officially called themselves "Arab," sometimes with "Palestinian" as a modifier; hence the Arab Executive, the Arab Higher Committee, the Arab Workers' Congress, the Palestinian Arab Workers' Society, and so forth.

[1]