Palestinian Christians are Christian citizens of the State of Palestine. In the wider definition of Palestinian Christians, including the Palestinian refugees, diaspora and people with full or partial Palestinian Christian ancestry this can be applied to an estimated 500,000 people worldwide as of 2000. Palestinian Christians belong to one of a number of Christian denominations, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, Lutheranism, other branches of Protestantism and others. Bernard Sabella of Bethlehem University estimates that 6% of the Palestinian population worldwide is Christian and that 56% of them live outside of the region of Palestine. In both the local dialect of Palestinian Arabic and in Classical Arabic or Modern Standard Arabic, Christians are called Nasrani or Masihi. Hebrew-speakers call them Notzri, which means Nazarene.
The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions, bilingual in Arabic and Hebrew, and with varying social identities. Self-identification as Palestinian citizens of Israel has sharpened in recent years, alongside distinct identities including Galilee and Negev Bedouin, the Druze people, and Arab Christians and Arab Muslims who do not identify as Palestinians. In Arabic, commonly used terms to refer to Israel's Arab population include 48-Arab and 48-Palestinian. Since the Nakba, the Palestinians that have remained within Israel's 1948 borders have been colloquially known as "48-Arabs". In Israel itself, Arab citizens are commonly referred to as Israeli-Arabs or simply as Arabs; international media often uses the term Arab-Israeli to distinguish Arab citizens of Israel from the Palestinian Arabs residing in the Palestinian territories.
Elias Chacour is a Palestinian Arab-Israeli who served as the Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and All Galilee of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church from 2006 to 2014. Noted for his efforts to promote reconciliation between Palestinians and Jews, he is the author of two books about the experience of Palestinian people living in present-day Israel. He describes himself as a "Palestinian-Arab-Christian-Israeli."
Emile Shukri Habibi was a Palestinian-Israeli writer of Arabic literature and a politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the communist parties Maki and Rakah.
Sabri Jiryis, also known as Sabri Jaris, Sabri Geries or Sabri Jirais, is a Palestinian-Arab Israeli writer and lawyer, a graduate of the Hebrew University law faculty, and prominent Palestinian activist. In 1966, the first edition of his book The Arabs in Israel was published in Hebrew.
Tawfiq Ziad was a Palestinian Israeli politician well known for his "poetry of protest".
Anton Shammas, is a Palestinian writer, poet and translator of Arabic, Hebrew and English.
Christianity is the third largest religion in Israel, after Judaism and Islam. At the end of 2022, Christians made up 1.9% of the Israeli population, numbering approximately 185,000 people. 75.8% of the Christians in Israel are Arab Christians. Christians make up 6.9% of the Arab citizens of Israel.
The Sons of Eilaboun is a 2007 documentary film by Palestinian artist and film maker Hisham Zreiq (Zrake), that tells the story of the Eilabun massacre, which was committed by the Israeli army during Operation Hiram in October 1948. Eilaboun is a village in the Northern Galilee between Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. In the incident, fourteen men were killed and twelve of them were executed. The villagers were expelled to Lebanon and became refugees for few months, before being allowed to return in 1949 as part of an agreement between the state of Israel and Archbishop Maximos V Hakim.
Hisham Zreiq, also spelled Zrake, is a Palestinian Christian-Israeli Independent filmmaker, poet, animator and visual artist. He began working in computer art in 1994, and in 1996 started exhibiting his work in galleries and museums. In 2007 he filmed his first documentary, The Sons of Eilaboun, and in 2008 he created the short film Just Another Day, dealing with the life of Arabs living in western world after September 11 terror attacks. He uses his poetry and visual art in his films, as in Just Another Day, and was a member of the Culture Unplugged film festival panel. In 2018 Zreiq contributed to the book An Oral History of the Palestinian Nakba by writing a chapter based on the interviews from his documentary The Sons of Eilaboun.
Haneen Zoabi, is a Palestinian-Israeli politician. The first Arab woman to be elected to the legislature on an Arab party's list, she served as a member of the Knesset for the Balad party between 2009 and 2019. In 2021, she was convicted of forgery and fraud after pleading guilty.
Tawfik Toubi was an Israeli Arab communist politician. He was the last surviving member of the first Knesset. Tawfik Toubi was married to Olga Touma and one of his sons, Elias Toubi, studied medicine in Leningrad. He is also the second longest-serving Knesset member of all time, over 41 years of office, all consecutive.
Hadash, an acronym for HaHazit HaDemokratit LeShalom uLeShivion is a left to far-left political coalition in Israel formed by the Israeli Communist Party and other leftist groups.
Im Tirtzu is a Zionist non-governmental organization based in Israel. Its name is derived from an epigraph appended to the frontispiece of Theodor Herzl's novel Altneuland, 'if you wish it, it is no fairy-tale,' rendered into modern Hebrew in Nahum Sokolow's translation in 1903, as Im tirtzu ein zo agadah.
Gabriel Naddaf is an Israeli Greek Orthodox priest. He serves as a judge in Israel's religious court system and as a spokesman for the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. He is one of the founders of the Forum for recruiting Christians in the Israel Defense Forces.
Aida Touma-Suleiman is an Israeli Arab journalist and politician. She has been a member of the Knesset for Hadash since 2015.
Johny Srouji is an Israeli executive, currently Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Technologies.
Nidaa Khoury is a lecturer at Ben-Gurion University in the Department of Hebrew literature. She is also the first Arab-Israeli poet to be included within the literature Bagrut curriculum in Israel.
Hanna Abu-Hanna was a Palestinian writer, poet, and researcher. He was born in Reineh, Mandatory Palestine on 16 October 1928. He belongs to the first generation of Arab resistance poets in Israel. Hanna worked as Director of the Arab Orthodox College in Haifa until 1987. He was also a lecturer at the University of Haifa and at the Teacher Education College in 1973. Abu-Hanna earned a Master's degree in literature. He edited and prepared student programs in Jerusalem and Near East radio stations. He participated in the publication of the Al-Jadeed magazine in 1951, the Al-Ghad magazine in 1953, Al-Mawakib in 1984, and Al-Mawqaf in 1993.
