Palestine

This chapter and the next, Israel, describe the same small piece of land from the center of the world's most closely watched conflict. They are written to be read together, but each stands on its own, including its own distinct culture and cuisine. This book does not tell you who is right. It lays out the documented history and the honestly held, deeply opposed narratives, and marks clearly where facts are disputed.

TL;DR. Palestine is the homeland of the Palestinian Arab people, with deep Muslim and Christian roots in a land sacred to three religions. Under Ottoman then British rule it had an Arab majority. The rise of Jewish nationalism (Zionism) and the founding of Israel in 1948 led to the displacement of most Palestinians, an event they call the Nakba (catastrophe). Since 1967 Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza have lived under Israeli occupation. Today Palestinians are divided politically between Fatah (West Bank) and Hamas (Gaza), have no fully sovereign state, and the conflict remains unresolved and often violent.

Key takeaways

• Palestinians are an Arab people, mostly Sunni Muslim with an ancient Christian minority, with a strong identity tied to the land.
• 1948 (the Nakba) and 1967 (occupation) are the two hinge dates.
• Palestinians are politically split: Fatah runs the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank; Hamas governs Gaza.
• The core dispute is land: occupation, settlements, refugees, and the status of Jerusalem.
• Read alongside the Israel chapter to hold both narratives at once.

Main events at a glance

Don't be confused: this is contested ground, including the words. Even basic terms are political. The same 1948 war is the "War of Independence" to most Israelis and the "Nakba" to Palestinians. This chapter gives both labels and attributes contested claims rather than asserting one side's framing.

The land and the deep past

The land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean has been inhabited and fought over for thousands of years. Its layers include Canaanites and the coastal Philistines (whose name is the root of "Palestine"), the Israelite and Judean kingdoms central to Jewish history, Roman Judea (the setting for the life of Jesus and the birth of Christianity), Byzantine Christian rule, then the Islamic conquest of 638 CE. Jerusalem became holy to Islam too: the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock were built on the hill Jews revere as the Temple Mount. Then came centuries of Muslim rule, the Crusader interludes, and finally the Ottomans. The key point: this is a land sacred to three religions at once, with a long continuous presence of multiple peoples.

The rise of two national movements

Under the Ottomans, the area that became Mandate Palestine had an Arab majority, mostly Muslim with a significant Christian minority, plus a long-standing Jewish community, especially in Jerusalem. In the late 1800s two forces converged: growing Arab national feeling, and Zionism, the movement for a Jewish national home, which led to rising Jewish immigration. Both peoples came to see the same land as their national home. That is the root of the conflict. (Zionism's story is told in the Israel chapter.)

The British Mandate and 1948

After World War I, Britain governed Palestine under a League of Nations mandate, having made overlapping promises: the Balfour Declaration (1917) supporting a Jewish national home, while also pledging not to harm the existing communities. As Jewish immigration rose, Arab fears of displacement grew into the Arab revolt of 1936 to 1939. In 1947 the UN proposed partition; Jewish leaders largely accepted, Arab leaders rejected it as unjust to the Arab majority, and civil war broke out.

On 14 May 1948 Israel declared independence, and neighbouring Arab states invaded. For Palestinians the war was the Nakba: around 700,000 Palestinian Arabs, more than half the Arab population, fled or were expelled, becoming refugees, many never allowed to return; hundreds of villages were depopulated. Whether the flight was mainly under fire or by organised expulsion is debated by historians, but the scale of displacement is not. No Arab state of Palestine was created. Instead the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) came under Jordanian control and the Gaza Strip under Egyptian control.

1967 and occupation

In the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. From that point, Palestinians in those territories have lived under Israeli military occupation. Israel began building settlements for Jewish citizens in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Most of the world, through repeated UN resolutions, considers these settlements illegal under international law; Israel disputes this. The status of this land is the core of the dispute today.

The Palestinian movement, conflicts, and alliances

Palestinian politics and the wars around it have involved a shifting web of allies. Who stood with whom:

• 1948. Several Arab states (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon) invaded in the name of the Palestinians, but they were poorly coordinated and pursued their own interests; Jordan, for instance, took and kept the West Bank.
• The PLO, founded in 1964 and long led by Yasser Arafat, became the main voice of Palestinian nationalism, first through armed struggle (including attacks many countries classified as terrorism), later through diplomacy. Based in Jordan, then Lebanon, the PLO allied with Lebanese leftist and Muslim factions during the Lebanese Civil War against the Christian militias, which is part of why that war drew in Israel and Syria (see the Lebanon chapter).
• Black September (1970). When the PLO challenged the monarchy in Jordan, the Jordanian army expelled it, a reminder that Arab states and the Palestinians were not always allies.
• The intifadas. The First Intifada (1987 to 1993) was a largely grassroots uprising against occupation. The Second Intifada (2000 to 2005), after peace talks collapsed, was far bloodier, with suicide bombings and heavy Israeli military operations.
• The Oslo Accords (1993 to 1995) saw the PLO and Israel recognise each other and created the Palestinian Authority (PA) to govern parts of the territories, meant as a step toward two states. The process stalled.
• The split. In 2006 the Islamist movement Hamas won Palestinian elections, beating Arafat's secular Fatah. After fighting in 2007 the territories split: Hamas governs Gaza, the Fatah-led PA administers parts of the West Bank. They remain divided, with very different foreign alignments: Hamas is backed by Iran and parts of the "axis of resistance," with political support from Qatar and Turkey; the PA is aligned with the West and works (uneasily) with Israel on security.

The Gaza wars. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Hamas-run Gaza, citing security; critics called it collective punishment of two million people. Wars followed in 2008 to 2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021. On 7 October 2023, Hamas led a surprise attack into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking some 240 hostages. Israel responded with a massive campaign in Gaza that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians (figures from Gaza's health ministry, contested by Israel but cited by the UN), caused mass displacement and a severe humanitarian crisis, and drew international legal cases. As of this book's writing in early 2026 the aftermath is still unfolding.

Don't be confused: Hamas, Fatah, the PA, and the PLO are different. Fatah is the secular nationalist party that dominates the PA and the PLO (the umbrella that signed Oslo). Hamas is a separate Islamist movement that governs Gaza, is not part of the PLO, and is designated a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US, the EU, and others. "The Palestinians" are not a single political bloc.

How people lived: daily life and lifestyle

Palestinian identity is deeply rooted in the land and in village life. For generations most Palestinians were farmers, and the olive harvest each autumn remains a central seasonal ritual, almost sacred, with olive oil at the heart of the kitchen and the economy. The land also shaped crafts: tatreez, the intricate cross-stitch embroidery on dresses, traditionally carried village-specific patterns, so a woman's dress could signal where she was from. The keffiyeh, the black-and-white checked scarf, became a global symbol of Palestinian identity.

Today Palestinian life is fragmented by geography: villages and cities of the West Bank under occupation with checkpoints and settlements; the densely crowded, blockaded Gaza Strip; Palestinian citizens inside Israel; and a vast worldwide refugee diaspora, many still in camps in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Family, hospitality, education, and memory of ancestral villages are powerful threads holding this scattered people together.

Music, poetry, and the arts

Palestinians have a strong artistic culture, much of it bound up with identity and resistance. The dabke, a line dance with stamping footwork, is performed at every wedding and celebration. Mahmoud Darwish is revered as the national poet, his verse known across the Arab world. The novelist Ghassan Kanafani and the scholar Edward Said (author of Orientalism) shaped how Palestinians and the wider world think about the cause. The cartoonist Naji al-Ali created Handala, the small barefoot refugee boy seen from behind, an enduring symbol. In music, the oud ensemble Le Trio Joubran, the hip-hop group DAM, and the singer Mohammed Assaf, a young man from Gaza whose 2013 win on Arab Idol became a moment of national pride, are all distinctly Palestinian voices.

Notable people

• Yasser Arafat, longtime PLO leader and symbol of the national cause.
• Mahmoud Darwish, the national poet.
• Edward Said, the influential literary scholar and public intellectual.
• Hanan Ashrawi, scholar and prominent peace negotiator and spokesperson.
• Mohammed Assaf, the singer who became a cultural icon.

Religion, coexistence, and minorities

Palestinians are mostly Sunni Muslim, with a small but historically vital Christian minority concentrated around Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Nazareth, among the oldest Christian communities on earth. For centuries Muslim and Christian Palestinians shared towns, language, customs, and the national movement; Christians have been prominent leaders in Palestinian politics and culture. Their numbers have fallen sharply through emigration driven by conflict and economic hardship, a loss felt across Palestinian society. A tiny ancient community, the Samaritans, who follow an early offshoot of the Israelite religion, still lives near Nablus on Mount Gerizim, maintaining ties across both Palestinian and Israeli societies.

Food: Palestine's own table

Palestinian cuisine is its own celebrated tradition, built on olive oil, wheat, sumac, and the produce of the land, with distinct regional styles between the West Bank, the Galilee, and Gaza.

• Musakhan, often called the national dish: roasted chicken seasoned heavily with sumac and onions, served over taboon flatbread soaked in olive oil.
• Maqluba ("upside-down"), a layered pot of rice, fried vegetables, and meat that is flipped onto a platter to serve.
• Knafeh Nabulsiyeh, the famous hot cheese pastry of Nablus, soaked in syrup and crowned with orange-tinted shredded pastry, a point of deep Palestinian pride.
• Za'atar, the wild-herb and sumac blend eaten daily with olive oil and bread, and freekeh, smoky roasted green wheat used in hearty dishes.
• Gaza's distinct, fiery cuisine: dishes like sumagiyya (a sumac-and-chard stew), rummaniyya (lentils with pomegranate), and zibdiyit gambari (a spicy clay-pot shrimp dish), reflecting the coast and a love of chili and dill.

Everyday life: relationships, family, and home

Family is the heart of Palestinian society, and the extended family matters far more than the household alone. Many people belong to a larger clan, the hamula, a network of relatives that can shape support, reputation, and sometimes politics. People meet through family, neighbourhoods, study, and work, and although personal choice has grown, especially among educated younger people and in the diaspora, marriages are still often guided by the families on both sides. Customs vary widely between conservative villages, big cities like Ramallah, refugee camps, and Christian communities. A typical path runs through an engagement visit, in which the man's family formally asks for the woman's hand, followed by agreement on the mahr (a marriage gift or payment from the groom to the bride, set out in the marriage contract). Weddings tend to be large, joyful, and public, with feasting, music, and the dabke line dance described earlier.

Children are raised inside this thick web of relatives, with strong bonds to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Respect for elders is expected, and it is common for several generations to share one home or live close together, with older parents cared for by their children rather than moving away. The family home, the land, and especially the olive tree carry deep meaning, standing for roots, continuity, and belonging; losing access to family land is felt as a wound, not just an economic loss. Hospitality is a point of honour, and a guest is almost always offered coffee or tea. As in much of the region, pets are kept less commonly than in many Western countries, though attitudes are changing in cities; cats are tolerated around homes, and dogs are more often working animals than household companions. Cleanliness is valued, and for observant Muslims wudu, the ritual washing of hands, face, arms, and feet before the five daily prayers, is part of everyday routine.

All of this is shaped by hard realities. In the West Bank, checkpoints, the separation barrier, and settlement growth can split families and make ordinary visits slow or uncertain. In Gaza, years of blockade and repeated wars have battered homes, livelihoods, and family life. Many families also live divided across the West Bank, Gaza, Israel, and the diaspora, so phone calls and rare reunions carry great weight.

School, work, and the economy

Palestinians place a very high cultural value on education, often seen as the one form of wealth that cannot be taken away, and literacy rates are high despite decades of disruption. Children attend primary and secondary school, run by the Palestinian Authority, by UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian refugees) in many camps, and by private and religious schools. Secondary study builds toward the tawjihi, the national exams whose results heavily shape university options and are a source of family pride. There are well-regarded universities, including Birzeit near Ramallah, An-Najah in Nablus, and Bethlehem University, and Palestinians are widely educated as a people, with a strong skilled and professional diaspora working across the Gulf, Europe, and the Americas. War and closures, however, repeatedly interrupt schooling, and in Gaza the education system has been severely damaged.

Working life looks much like elsewhere, with a weekend that commonly falls on Friday (the Muslim day of communal prayer) and sometimes Saturday or Sunday, especially around Christian areas. The economy is small and under heavy strain. Movement restrictions, occupation, settlement expansion, and the Gaza blockade limit trade, travel to work, and investment, and much of the territory's economy depends on Israel, on foreign aid, and on remittances sent home by relatives abroad. Key sectors include agriculture (olives and olive oil above all, plus fruit, vegetables, and herbs), services, small manufacturing and crafts, construction, and tourism around the holy sites. Many West Bank Palestinians also work inside Israel or in settlements when permits allow. Unemployment is high, particularly among the young and especially in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation has at times been catastrophic. These hardships are real and well documented.

Language, idioms, and words to know

The everyday language is Arabic, specifically the Palestinian variety of the wider Levantine dialect spoken across the eastern Mediterranean; formal writing and news use Modern Standard Arabic. Many Palestinians also speak English, and those who are citizens of Israel or who have lived there commonly speak Hebrew.

A few useful phrases, written the way they sound:

• as-salamu alaykum (as-sa-LAA-mu a-LAY-kum): "peace be upon you," the standard greeting; the reply is wa alaykum as-salam.
• shukran (SHOOK-ran): "thank you."
• yallah (YAL-lah): "let's go" or "come on," used constantly.
• inshallah (in-SHAA-llah): "God willing," said about anything hoped for in future.
• ahlan wa sahlan (AH-lan wa SAH-lan): "welcome."

Some widely known Arabic proverbs and their meanings:

• Al-jaar qabl al-daar: "the neighbour before the house," meaning choose good neighbours, because who is around you matters more than the home itself.
• Al-sabr miftah al-faraj: "patience is the key to relief," a common saying that hardship passes for those who endure.

The beloved national poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote often of exile, memory, and the land. One of his best-known poems opens with the line, "Record! I am an Arab" (from "Identity Card"), a verse widely quoted as a statement of Palestinian presence and dignity.

Famous places to know

• Jerusalem (Arabic Al-Quds, "the Holy"): claimed as a capital by Palestinians, its walled Old City holds Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, the third holiest site in Islam, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered by Christians as the site of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection.
• Bethlehem: just south of Jerusalem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus and home to the Church of the Nativity, a major Christian pilgrimage site.
• Hebron (Arabic Al-Khalil): home to the Ibrahimi Mosque / Cave of the Patriarchs, tomb of Abraham, sacred to Muslims and Jews and a flashpoint of the conflict.
• Nablus: a historic West Bank city famed for its old town, soap-making tradition, and the cheese pastry knafeh.
• Ramallah: the de facto administrative and cultural centre of the West Bank, seat of the Palestinian Authority and a hub of business and nightlife.
• Jericho: near the Jordan River, often described as one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns on earth.
• Gaza: an ancient port city and the heart of the densely populated, blockaded Gaza Strip, devastated by repeated wars.

Fitting in: visiting, impressing people, and being a good citizen

Palestinians are widely known for warm hospitality, and a visitor will quickly be offered coffee, tea, or food. Accepting at least a little is a sign of respect; refusing everything can seem cold. Bitter cardamom-scented Arabic coffee and sweet tea are part of welcoming a guest. Modest dress is appreciated, especially near religious sites and in more conservative towns and villages: covering shoulders and knees is sensible, and women may carry a scarf for mosques and churches. As across the region, eat and pass food with the right hand. During the holy month of Ramadan, many Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, so avoid eating, drinking, or smoking in public during daylight out of courtesy.

Because this is a place of deep conflict, be thoughtful and sensitive. Listen more than you pronounce on politics, treat people's experiences of displacement and life under occupation with respect, and avoid careless or provocative remarks. Photographing soldiers, checkpoints, or military sites can cause real problems, so ask and use judgment. Travel itself is heavily shaped by Israeli-controlled access: entry, checkpoints, and permits affect where and when you can go, conditions can change quickly, and the situation in Gaza in particular has been severe. Always check current official government travel advice and security guidance before any trip. None of this is legal advice.

Suggested reading, news, and links

Books

• Rashid Khalidi, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine, a widely read history from a Palestinian perspective.
• Works by and about Edward Said, including his memoir Out of Place and his influential study Orientalism, for the intellectual story behind the cause.
• Fiction and essays by Ghassan Kanafani and the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish give a literary window into Palestinian life and exile.

News

• International outlets such as the BBC, Reuters, and Al Jazeera all cover the region heavily. Reading more than one helps balance perspectives.
• Local Palestinian outlets exist as well, but note that media on all sides of this conflict is politically contested, so compare sources rather than relying on one.

Useful links

• The BBC publishes country and region profiles with background and timelines.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica (britannica.com) has detailed, regularly updated entries on Palestine, Gaza, the West Bank, and the wider conflict.

Today, and how to talk about it

There is no Palestinian state with full sovereignty; the West Bank is under occupation with expanding settlements and divided governance, and Gaza has been devastated by war. A majority of UN member states recognise a State of Palestine, though several key Western powers historically have not. Debate continues over a two-state solution versus other outcomes.

If you talk with Palestinians: this is a matter of home, family, and dispossession, not abstract politics, and feelings run deep. Listen first. Recognising the human reality of displacement and life under occupation, while not denying Israelis' own history and fears, is the respectful starting point. Read the Israel chapter next so you hold both stories at once. 👉