Who are Palestinian citizens of Israel?
Read and share this explainer from Standing Together.
About 20% of Israel's population are Palestinians who hold Israeli citizenship — nearly two million people.
They are referred to in different ways:
- 1948 Palestinians
- Arab-Israelis
- Arab citizens of Israel
- Palestinian citizens of Israel
How did this happen?
In 1948, during what Palestinians call the "Nakba" (Catastrophe), most Palestinians were expelled or fled amid the violence that began after the UN partition vote in late 1947 and intensified during the 1948 war. By the end of the fighting, around 150,000 Palestinians remained within the borders of the newly established State of Israel.
They were granted Israeli citizenship, yet from 1948 to 1966 they lived under military rule that restricted their movement, requiring permits to travel between towns. These Palestinians continued to see themselves as part of the Palestinian people, despite families having been scattered across the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon.
What about the Palestinians in East Jerusalem?
Palestinians in East Jerusalem live under a different legal status than Palestinian citizens of Israel. After Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967, most Palestinians were not granted citizenship but "permanent residency" status. This means they live under Israeli municipal authority, pay taxes, and receive certain social benefits, yet they cannot vote in national elections, and their residency can be revoked if the state [wishes].
Some have applied for Israeli citizenship, but approval is limited and the process is lengthy and political. The majority remain residents without full political rights. Their identity, like their legal status, exists in tension: Palestinians by national belonging, governed by Israeli institutions, but without full political inclusion.
Today, Palestinian citizens of Israel carry Israeli passports, vote in elections, pay taxes, attend Israeli universities, and work across every sector of society — as doctors, teachers, engineers, construction workers, artists, judges, and members of parliament. Still, underfunding, the inability to build and expand Palestinian towns and cities, and discrimination continue to be felt by Palestinians across the country.
Since 1948, large portions of Palestinian-owned land have been expropriated. Palestinian towns receive significantly lower municipal budgets per capita than Jewish towns. Building permits are routinely denied, creating severe housing shortages.
Entire communities are "unrecognised" by the state, leaving them without basic infrastructure such as roads, water, and electricity. And politically, Palestinian representatives in parliament are frequently delegitimised, suspended, or treated as inherently suspect.
For many Palestinian citizens of Israel, identity is not neat, but an ongoing political tension: Palestinian in language, history, and national belonging, yet citizens of a state that defines itself constitutionally as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
Today, Palestinian towns inside Israel are facing a devastating surge in organised crime and violence — Palestinian crime groups are murdering an average of one Palestinian citizen every day. For years, there has been chronic governmental abandonment, weak enforcement against illegal weapons, limited investment in social services, and deep socio-economic neglect. The result is a crisis that costs hundreds of lives each year.
Palestinians in Israel, who lived on the land long before the state was established, have continued to build communities, families, and a connection to their identity. They demand what every citizen deserves: equality, safety, and dignity.
Posted 27 February 2026