Palestinian is a national and ethnic identity, not a separate citizenship like “American” or “French,” but it is absolutely a valid nationality in the political and cultural sense.

Short answer

  • A Palestinian is generally considered an Arab ethnonational group native to the region of Palestine in the Levant (today’s West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and surrounding areas).
  • So when someone asks “what nationality is Palestinian?”, the clearest answer is: Palestinians are Palestinian Arabs – an Arab people whose nationality is Palestinian.

What “Palestinian nationality” means

Legally and historically, “Palestinian” has been used as a nationality tied to the territory of Palestine:

  • Under the British Mandate (early 20th century), there was a formal concept of Palestinian citizenship/nationality for people living in Mandatory Palestine, regardless of whether they were Muslim, Christian, or Jewish.
  • Later, Palestinian political documents (like the Palestinian National Charter) defined Palestinians as those Arab nationals who lived in Palestine until 1947 and their descendants.

So “Palestinian” functions as:

  • An ethnic identity (they are an Arab people native to Palestine).
  • A national identity (they see themselves, and are widely recognized, as a distinct nation: the Palestinian people).

Do Palestinians have a passport called “Palestinian”?

This is where it gets more complicated, because the state situation is unusual:

  • Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza hold Palestinian Authority passports/travel documents , which reflect a form of Palestinian nationality but are limited by Israel’s control and international politics.
  • Palestinians who are citizens of other countries (for example, Jordan , various European states, the US, etc.) may hold those passports but still identify their nationality/people as Palestinian by origin.
  • Palestinians inside Israel often have Israeli citizenship , but a Palestinian national or ethnic identity; Israeli law treats citizenship and “Jewish nationality” differently, which complicates recognition of Palestinian nationality inside Israel.

In everyday speech, a person might therefore say:

  • “My passport is Jordanian, but my nationality is Palestinian.”

Identity: ethnicity, language, and culture

As a people, Palestinians are:

  • An Arab ethnonational group native to Palestine.
  • Mostly Arabic-speaking , with Palestinian Arabic as the main spoken dialect.
  • Culturally part of the wider Levantine world (shared elements with Syrians and Lebanese, etc.), but with their own distinct history, cuisine, folklore, and symbols (like the kufiya and the flag).

A simple way to phrase it:

“Palestinian” is like saying “Lebanese” or “Syrian” – it’s both a people and a national identity , rooted in a specific land and shared history.

Why this is often asked

The question “what nationality is Palestinian?” often comes up because:

  • Palestine is not universally recognized as a fully sovereign state, so people wonder if “Palestinian” is “official.”
  • However, in international law and practice, nationality and citizenship can be distinct: you can be nationally Palestinian while holding another state’s citizenship, especially in exile or refugee contexts.

So, in human, political, and historical terms, “Palestinian” is a nationality of its own , belonging to the Palestinian people.

TL;DR: Palestinians are an Arab people native to Palestine; their nationality is Palestinian , even if their passports or citizenships may be Jordanian, Israeli, or from other states due to displacement and the unresolved status of Palestine.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.