Total population | |
---|---|
50,245-110,000[ citation needed ] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Cairo (Greater Cairo) | |
Languages | |
Arabic (Palestinian Arabic) | |
Religion | |
Sunni Islam and Coptic | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Palestinians |
Palestinians in Egypt refers to the Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled to Egypt during the 1948 Palestine war, and their descendants, as well as Palestinians expelled from Jordan, following the events of Black September. Palestinians and their descendants have never been naturalized and so keep the distinct status of Palestinian refugee. Some Palestinians, mostly Christians, [1] received Egyptian citizenship through marriage with Egyptian nationals or by other means.
There was also an earlier wave of Palestinian immigration, in which Palestinian Christians settled in Egypt and other surrounding countries, fleeing genocides during the Ottoman era, along with Lebanese and Syrians, forming what was known as the "Shawam" (شوام) Christian community.
The 1922 census of Palestine lists 1,612 Palestinians as living abroad in Egypt: 614 Muslims, 756 Jews, and 242 Christians. [2]
Estimates of the size of the Palestinian population in Egypt range from 50,245 to 110,000. [1]
Palestinians or Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinian Arabs, are an ethnonational group descending from peoples who have inhabited the region of Palestine over the millennia, and who today are culturally and linguistically Arab.
Palestinian Christians are a religious community of the Palestinian people consisting of those who identify as Christians, including those who are cultural Christians in addition to those who actively adhere to Christianity. They are a religious minority within the State of Palestine and within Israel, as well as within the Palestinian diaspora. Applying the broader definition, which groups together individuals with full or partial Palestinian Christian ancestry, the term was applied to an estimated 500,000 people globally in the year 2000. As most Palestinians are Arabs, the overwhelming majority of Palestinian Christians also identify as Arab Christians.
Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–1949 Palestine war and the Six-Day War. Most Palestinian refugees live in or near 68 Palestinian refugee camps across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In 2019 more than 5.6 million Palestinian refugees were registered with the United Nations.
Kuwaykat, also spelled Kuweikat, Kweikat or Kuwaikat, was a Palestinian village located 9 km northeast of Acre. It was depopulated in 1948.
This article lists expulsions, refugee crises and other forms of displacement that have affected Jews.
Rafah is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. It is the capital of the Rafah Governorate of the State of Palestine, located 30 kilometers (19 mi) south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889. As a result of massive bombardment and ground assaults in Gaza City and Khan Yunis by Israel during the Israel–Hamas war, about 1.4 million people are believed to be sheltering in Rafah as of February 2024.
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.
The phenomenon of large-scale migration of Christians is the main reason why Christians' share of the population has been declining in many countries. Many Muslim countries have witnessed disproportionately high emigration rates among their Christian minorities for several generations. Today, most Middle Eastern people in the United States are Christians, and the majority of Arabs living outside the Arab World are Arab Christians.
The Arab–Israeli conflict began in the 20th century, evolving from earlier Intercommunal violence in Mandatory Palestine. The conflict became a major international issue with the birth of Israel in 1948. The Arab–Israeli conflict has resulted in at least five major wars and a number of minor conflicts. It has also been the source of two major Palestinian uprisings (intifadas).
Bayt Jirja or Beit Jerja was a Palestinian Arab village 15.5 km Northeast of Gaza. In 1931 the village consisted of 115 houses. It was overrun by Israeli forces during operation Yo'av in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Bayt Jirja was found depopulated in November 1948, during "clean up sweeps" to expel any partial inhabited villages and destroy village housing to prevent any possible re-occupation in the area. The village was completely destroyed after the occupation and only one tomb remains.
The Palestinian right of return is the political position or principle that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees and their descendants, have a right to return and a right to the property they themselves or their forebears left behind or were forced to leave in what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories during the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight and the 1967 Six-Day War.
Qira was a Palestinian Arab village, located 23 kilometers southeast of Haifa. It was locally referred to as Qira wa Qamun.
Indur was a Palestinian village, located 10.5 kilometres (6.5 mi) southeast of Nazareth. Its name preserves that of ancient Endor, a Canaanite city state thought to have been located 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the northeast. The village was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and its inhabitants became refugees, some of whom were internally displaced. In Israel today, there are a few thousand internally displaced Palestinians who hail from Indur, and continue to demand their right of return.
Tabsur, also Khirbat 'Azzun, was a Palestinian village located 19 kilometres southwest of Tulkarm. In 1931, the village had 218 houses and an elementary school for boys. Its Palestinian population was expelled during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
Subbarin was a Palestinian Arab village located 28 kilometers south of Haifa. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine.
From 1923 to 1948, there were seven villages in Mandatory Palestine for which the population was predominantly Shia Muslim. They were Tarbikha, Saliha, Malkiyeh, Nabi Yusha, Qadas, Hunin, and Abil al-Qamh. These villages were transferred from the French to the British sphere as a result of the border agreement of 1923. All of them were depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and their former locations are now in northern Israel.
Al-Ashrafiyya, was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Baysan. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. It was located 4.5 km southwest of Baysan.
Umm az-Zinat was a Palestinian Arab village in the Haifa Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 War on May 15, 1948, by Golani Brigade's Fourth Battalion. It was located 20.5 km southeast of Haifa.
In the 1948 Palestine war more than 700000 Palestinian Arabs – about half of Mandatory Palestine's Arab population – fled from their homes or were expelled, at first by Zionist paramilitaries, and after the establishment of Israel, by its military. The expulsion and flight was a central component of the fracturing, dispossession, and displacement of Palestinian society, known as the Nakba. Dozens of massacres targeting Arabs were conducted by Israeli military forces and between 400 and 600 Palestinian villages were destroyed. Village wells were poisoned in a biological warfare programme and properties were looted to prevent Palestinian refugees from returning. Other sites were subject to Hebraization of Palestinian place names.
The Palestinian diaspora, part of the wider Arab diaspora, are Palestinian people living outside the region of Palestine.