Palestinian Jew
Encyclopedia
A Palestinian Jew is a Jewish inhabitant of Palestine
(or Land of Israel
) at various points in the region's history (see Dispute over usage of the term below). Jews in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel are more commonly referred to as "Yishuv
" (Jewish Community). A distinction is drawn between the "Old Yishuv
," that is, the pre-existing Jews in the land of Israel, and the "New Yishuv," that is, the newly-arrived Jewish immigrants after the First Aliyah
in 1881. After the modern State of Israel was born in 1948, native Jews in Palestine became citizens of Israel
, and the term "Palestinian Jews" largely fell into disuse.
in the mid-16th century, there were no more than 10,000 Jews in all of Palestine, where they made up around 5% of the population, possibly forming the biggest concentration of Jews in ratio to the non-Jewish population in a particular region at the time. Prior to the Empire's dismemberment, the population of the area comprising modern Israel
, the West Bank
, and Gaza Strip
was not exclusively Muslim. By the mid-19th century, Turkish sources recorded that 80% of the 600,000-strong population was identified as Muslim, 10% as Christian Arab and 5-7% as Jewish.
The situation of the Jewish community in Palestine was more complicated than in neighbouring Arab countries. Whereas in Yemen
, Iraq
, Syria
and Lebanon
, communities were largely homogeneous in ethnic and confessional terms, in Palestine in the nineteenth century, Jewish pilgrims and European Christian colonial projects attracted large numbers of Ashkenazi immigrants from Eastern Europe and Sephardic groups from Bulgaria
, Turkey
and North Africa
. The Jews of Palestine were not exclusively of Iberian
origins, and included substantial Yiddish speaking communities who had established themselves in Palestine centuries earlier.
Towards the end of the Ottoman era
in Palestine
, native Jewish communities lived primarily in the four 'holy cities' of Safed
, Tiberias, Hebron
and Jerusalem. The Jewish population consisted of Ashkenazim (Judeo-German speakers) and Sephardim, the latter of which could be further subdivided as Sephardim proper (Judeo-Spanish speakers) and Moghrabim (Arabic speakers). The majority of Jews in the four holy cities, with the exception of Jerusalem, were Arabic
and Judaeo-Spanish
speakers. The dominant language among Jews in Jerusalem was Yiddish, due to the large migration of pious Ashkenazi Jews from Russia
and Eastern Europe
. Still, in 1882, there were 7,620 Sephardim in Jerusalem, of whom 1,290 were Moghrabim, from the Maghreb
or North Africa. Natives of the city, they were Turkish subjects, and fluent in Arabic. Arabic also served as the lingua franca between the Sephradim/Moghrabim and Ashkenazim and their non-Jewish Arab counterparts in mixed cities like Safed and Hebron.
In the narrative works of Arabs in Palestine in the late Ottoman period, as evidenced in the autobiographies and diaries of Khalil al-Sakakini
and Wasif Jawhariyyeh
, "native" Jews were often referred to and described as abnaa al-balad (sons of the country), 'compatriots', or Yahud awlad Arab (Jews, sons of Arabs). When the First Palestinian Congress of February 1919 issued its anti-Zionist
manifesto rejecting Zionist
immigration, it extended a welcome to those Jews "among us who have been Arabicized
, who have been living in our province since before the war; they are as we are, and their loyalties are our own."
an Jews were commonly considered an "Oriental" people in many of their host countries. Thus figures such as Immanuel Kant
(18th-century Prussia
n philosopher) referred to European Jews as "Palestinians living among us." The British mandatory authorities referred to all citizens of Palestine, whether Arab, Jewish, or other, as "Palestinians".
in July 1968, defined "Palestinians" as "those Arab nationals who, until 1947, normally resided in Palestine regardless of whether they were evicted from it or stayed there. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father — whether in Palestine or outside it — is also a Palestinian." Additionally, "the Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion are considered Palestinians."
See also Definitions of Palestinian
.
, an Israel
i citizen, academic, activist and observer-member in the Palestinian National Council
living in the Arab town of Sakhnin
, identifies himself as an "anti-Zionist Palestinian Jew". Davis explains, "I don’t describe myself as a Palestinian Jew, I actually happen to be a Palestinian Jew, I was born in Jerusalem in 1943 in a country called Palestine and the title of my birth certificate is 'Government of Palestine'. That is neither here nor there, though. It is significant only in a political context in which I am situated, and the political context that is relevant to my work, my advocacy of a critique of Zionism
. I'm an anti-Zionist Jew." He has since converted to Islam in 2008 to marry a Palestinian Muslim woman Miyassar Abu Ali whom he met in 2006.
The actor, director and activist Juliano Mer-Khamis
, the son of an Israeli Jewish mother and a Palestinian father, described himself in a 2009 interview with Israel Army Radio
as "100 percent Palestinian and 100 percent Jewish".
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
(or Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
) at various points in the region's history (see Dispute over usage of the term below). Jews in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel are more commonly referred to as "Yishuv
Yishuv
The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
" (Jewish Community). A distinction is drawn between the "Old Yishuv
Old Yishuv
The Old Yishuv refers to the Jewish community that lived in the Land of Israel from the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE to the First Aliyah in 1881-82, prior to the onset of Zionist immigration....
," that is, the pre-existing Jews in the land of Israel, and the "New Yishuv," that is, the newly-arrived Jewish immigrants after the First Aliyah
First Aliyah
The First Aliyah was the first modern widespread wave of Zionist aliyah. Jews who migrated to Palestine in this wave came mostly from Eastern Europe and from Yemen. This wave of aliyah began in 1881–82 and lasted until 1903. An estimated 25,000–35,000 Jews immigrated to Ottoman Syria during the...
in 1881. After the modern State of Israel was born in 1948, native Jews in Palestine became citizens of Israel
Israeli nationality law
Israel's nationality law defines the terms through which one can be granted citizenship of the state of Israel. It also includes the Right of return for Jewish diaspora...
, and the term "Palestinian Jews" largely fell into disuse.
Overview
Under the rule of the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in the mid-16th century, there were no more than 10,000 Jews in all of Palestine, where they made up around 5% of the population, possibly forming the biggest concentration of Jews in ratio to the non-Jewish population in a particular region at the time. Prior to the Empire's dismemberment, the population of the area comprising modern Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, and Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
was not exclusively Muslim. By the mid-19th century, Turkish sources recorded that 80% of the 600,000-strong population was identified as Muslim, 10% as Christian Arab and 5-7% as Jewish.
The situation of the Jewish community in Palestine was more complicated than in neighbouring Arab countries. Whereas in Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, communities were largely homogeneous in ethnic and confessional terms, in Palestine in the nineteenth century, Jewish pilgrims and European Christian colonial projects attracted large numbers of Ashkenazi immigrants from Eastern Europe and Sephardic groups from Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
. The Jews of Palestine were not exclusively of Iberian
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
origins, and included substantial Yiddish speaking communities who had established themselves in Palestine centuries earlier.
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, native Jewish communities lived primarily in the four 'holy cities' of Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
, Tiberias, Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
and Jerusalem. The Jewish population consisted of Ashkenazim (Judeo-German speakers) and Sephardim, the latter of which could be further subdivided as Sephardim proper (Judeo-Spanish speakers) and Moghrabim (Arabic speakers). The majority of Jews in the four holy cities, with the exception of Jerusalem, were Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and Judaeo-Spanish
Judaeo-Spanish
Judaeo-Spanish , in Israel commonly referred to as Ladino, and known locally as Judezmo, Djudeo-Espanyol, Djudezmo, Djudeo-Kasteyano, Spaniolit and other names, is a Romance language derived from Old Spanish...
speakers. The dominant language among Jews in Jerusalem was Yiddish, due to the large migration of pious Ashkenazi Jews from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. Still, in 1882, there were 7,620 Sephardim in Jerusalem, of whom 1,290 were Moghrabim, from the Maghreb
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
or North Africa. Natives of the city, they were Turkish subjects, and fluent in Arabic. Arabic also served as the lingua franca between the Sephradim/Moghrabim and Ashkenazim and their non-Jewish Arab counterparts in mixed cities like Safed and Hebron.
In the narrative works of Arabs in Palestine in the late Ottoman period, as evidenced in the autobiographies and diaries of Khalil al-Sakakini
Khalil al-Sakakini
Khalil al-Sakakini was a Palestinian Christian, Arab Orthodox, educator, scholar, poet, and Arab nationalist.-Early life:Khalil Sakakini was born into an Arab Christian family in Jerusalem on January 23, 1878...
and Wasif Jawhariyyeh
Wasif Jawhariyyeh
Wasif Jawhariyyeh was a citizen of Jerusalem and a well known composer, oud player, poet and chronicler. He is noted for his memoirs, The Diaries of Wasif Jawhariyyeh, that spans over six decades from 1904 to 1968, covering Jerusalem's turbulent modern history, including four regimes and five...
, "native" Jews were often referred to and described as abnaa al-balad (sons of the country), 'compatriots', or Yahud awlad Arab (Jews, sons of Arabs). When the First Palestinian Congress of February 1919 issued its anti-Zionist
Anti-Zionism
Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionistic views or opposition to the state of Israel. The term is used to describe various religious, moral and political points of view in opposition to these, but their diversity of motivation and expression is sufficiently different that "anti-Zionism" cannot be...
manifesto rejecting Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
immigration, it extended a welcome to those Jews "among us who have been Arabicized
Arabization
Arabization or Arabisation describes a growing cultural influence on a non-Arab area that gradually changes into one that speaks Arabic and/or incorporates Arab culture...
, who have been living in our province since before the war; they are as we are, and their loyalties are our own."
Reference to European Jews as "Palestinians" prior to 1948
EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an Jews were commonly considered an "Oriental" people in many of their host countries. Thus figures such as Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
(18th-century Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n philosopher) referred to European Jews as "Palestinians living among us." The British mandatory authorities referred to all citizens of Palestine, whether Arab, Jewish, or other, as "Palestinians".
PLO usage
The Palestinian National Charter, as amended by the PLO's Palestinian National CouncilPalestinian National Council
The Palestinian National Council is the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization and elects its Executive Committee, which assumes leadership of the organization between its sessions. The Council normally meets every two years. Resolutions are passed by a simple majority with a...
in July 1968, defined "Palestinians" as "those Arab nationals who, until 1947, normally resided in Palestine regardless of whether they were evicted from it or stayed there. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father — whether in Palestine or outside it — is also a Palestinian." Additionally, "the Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion are considered Palestinians."
See also Definitions of Palestinian
Definitions of Palestinian
-By place of birth:A "Palestinian" can mean a person who is born in the geographical area known prior to 1918 as "Palestine", or a former citizen of the British Mandate territory called Palestine, or an institution related to either of these...
.
Israeli usage
Uri DavisUri Davis
Uriel "Uri" Davis is an academic and activist who works on civil rights in Israel, Palestinian National Authority and the Middle East. Davis has served as Vice-Chairman of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights and as lecturer in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford...
, an Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i citizen, academic, activist and observer-member in the Palestinian National Council
Palestinian National Council
The Palestinian National Council is the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization and elects its Executive Committee, which assumes leadership of the organization between its sessions. The Council normally meets every two years. Resolutions are passed by a simple majority with a...
living in the Arab town of Sakhnin
Sakhnin
Sakhnin is a city in Israel's North District. It is located in the Lower Galilee, about east of Acre. Sakhnin was declared a city in 1995. Its population of 25,100 is Arab, mostly Muslim with a sizable Christian minority. It is located on the site of the ancient Jewish town Sikhnin, which...
, identifies himself as an "anti-Zionist Palestinian Jew". Davis explains, "I don’t describe myself as a Palestinian Jew, I actually happen to be a Palestinian Jew, I was born in Jerusalem in 1943 in a country called Palestine and the title of my birth certificate is 'Government of Palestine'. That is neither here nor there, though. It is significant only in a political context in which I am situated, and the political context that is relevant to my work, my advocacy of a critique of Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
. I'm an anti-Zionist Jew." He has since converted to Islam in 2008 to marry a Palestinian Muslim woman Miyassar Abu Ali whom he met in 2006.
The actor, director and activist Juliano Mer-Khamis
Juliano Mer-Khamis
Juliano Mer-Khamis was an Israeli actor, director, filmmaker and political activist of Jewish and Christian Arab parentage. On 4 April 2011, he was assassinated by a masked gunman in the Palestinian city of Jenin, where he established the Freedom Theatre....
, the son of an Israeli Jewish mother and a Palestinian father, described himself in a 2009 interview with Israel Army Radio
Israel Army Radio
Army Radio or Galei Tzahal known in Israel by its acronym Galatz , is a nationwide Israeli radio network operated by the Israel Defense Forces....
as "100 percent Palestinian and 100 percent Jewish".
See also
- YishuvYishuvThe Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
- Definitions of PalestinianDefinitions of Palestinian-By place of birth:A "Palestinian" can mean a person who is born in the geographical area known prior to 1918 as "Palestine", or a former citizen of the British Mandate territory called Palestine, or an institution related to either of these...
- History of the Jews in the Land of IsraelHistory of the Jews in the Land of IsraelThe history of the Jews in the land of Israel can be traced from the first appearance of the name "Israel" in the historic record, an Egyptian inscription of c.1200 BCE where it refers to an ethnic group apparently located in the northern part of the central highlands between the Mediterranean and...
- Palestinian peoplePalestinian peopleThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
- Arab citizens of IsraelArab citizens of IsraelArab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
- :Category:Jews in Ottoman and British Palestine