Palestinian Americans (Arabic: فلسطينيو أمريكا) are Americans who are of full or partial Palestinian descent. It is unclear when the first Palestinian immigrants arrived in the United States, but it is believed that they arrived during the early 1900s.
Numbering 170,000 individuals, the Palestinian community in the United States is small, making up less than half a tenth of a percent of the U.S. population. However, this number could be underestimated as Palestinian Americans may consider themselves as just Arab (600,000 people identify themselves as "Arab" or "Other Arab" on the Census), or some Palestinian immigrants with less immersion in the English language may not be able to fill out the Census form with accurate information. There is not an Arab or Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) category on the Census, though this notion has been considered.
The Palestinian community is concentrated in the New York City, Houston, Chicago, and Detroit metropolitan areas, with other populations in the Los Angeles and San Francisco metropolitan areas. Some Palestinians have emigrated to smaller metropolitan or micropolitan/rural areas such as Gallup, New Mexico, in the late 20th and 21st century.
The first Palestinians who immigrated to the United States arrived after 1908, when the Ottoman Empire passed a new conscription law mandating all Ottoman citizens into the military.[2] These Palestinians were overwhelmingly Jewish, and only a minority of them were Muslims. The 1922 census of Palestine lists 3,441 Palestinians living abroad in the United States (1,644 Jews, 1,352 Christian, 426 Muslim, along with 19 Druze), the second highest number behind the group listing of South and Central American republics.[3] Palestinian immigration began to decline after 1924, with a new law limiting the number of immigrants, as well as the Great Depression, which heavily reduced immigration.
Palestinian exodus
The population in the United States began to increase after World War II. The establishment of the state of Israel led to many Palestinian Jews becoming Israeli citizens, and those that remained Palestinian were principally Arab, many of which were then displaced in the Nakba due to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. During the 1950s, many Christians from Ramallah started immigrating to the states, then followed by Muslims from nearby towns. However, the greatest wave of Palestinian immigration began in 1967 after the Six-Day War, or as Middle Easterners and North Africans call it, the June War. This wave of immigrants reached its peak in the 1980s.[4]
Modern history
After the Immigration and Nationality act of 1965 was enacted, many Palestinians started immigrating again into the United States. Most Palestinians that immigrated to the United States in this period were more educated than the Palestinians that arrived before 1967, due to the schools sponsored by the United Nations and the increasing number of universities in the Middle East.[5]
Bay Ridge's Arab community in Brooklyn, New York, is also a significant neighborhood home to an estimated population of 35,000,[11] in which its largest Arab ethnic groups are Palestinians and Yemenis.[8][12] However, it is also home to many other Arab ethnic groups, making Bay Ridge's Arab community also a strongly diverse population.
Bay Ridge in Brooklyn, New York City; also has a strongly diverse Arab community, in which its largest Arab groups are Palestinians and Yemenis. Its strong presence is noticeable from Arab shops to Babel Barber Shop, shown above during the January 2016 snow storm.
Chicago, Illinois, is also home to a significant population of Palestinians. There is an estimated population of 85,000 Palestinians in Chicago, and Palestinians form 60% of the Arab community in the area.[13][14]Bridgeview, Illinois, also has a significant population of Palestinian Americans.
According to the 2000 United States Census, there were 72,112 people of Palestinian ancestry living in the United States, increasing to 85,186 by the 2009–2013 American Community Survey. It is difficult to count the numbers of Palestinian Americans, since the United States does not recognize the State of Palestine, and only recognizes "Palestinian" as a nationality.
Top 10 Cities with the Largest Palestinian Community in the United States are, according to Zip Atlas:[15]
In the United States approximately 46% of Palestinians have obtained at least a college degree, compared to 18% of the American population.[20][failed verification] The study of culture and the Arabic language is increasingly important among Palestinians, especially in college and graduate school. Thus, some Palestinian or Arab organizations are working to monitor and improve the teaching of Arab history and culture in the American schools.[5] Palestinians, along with Jordanians, have one of the highest education rates among the arab countries.[21]
Socioeconomics
Among the 90 percent of Palestinian American men and 40 percent of women who are in the labor force, 40 percent and 31 percent, have either professional, technical, or managerial positions. There are also large numbers in sales: 26 percent of men, and 23 percent of women. The self-employment rate for men is a significant 36 percent (only 13 percent for women), compared to 11 percent for non-immigrant men. Of the self-employed, 64 percent are in retail trade, with half owning grocery stores. In terms of income, the mean for Palestinian families in 1979 was $25,400, with 24 percent earning over $35,000 and 20 percent earning less than $10,000.[17]
Palestinian Americans have owned Middle Eastern groceries, shops and restaurants ever since their immigration to the United States. Most of these businesses are in large cities such as New York City and Chicago.[23]
Huwaida Arraf is a Palestinian activist, author and lawyer based in the city of Ramallah who founded an organization called the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) which seeks to help the Palestinian side of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through non-violent protests.[25] She was also a part of a peace initiative called Seeds of Peace which sought to create communication between Palestinian and Jewish youth.[26]
Gigi Hadid and Bella Hadid, two sisters who are both models, are of Palestinian descent through their father Mohamed. Both sisters have expressed their public support for the Palestinian cause.[28][29]
Politics
Domestic politics
Rashida Tlaib the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress.
A poll in October 2016 found that 60% of Arab-American (including Palestinian-Americans) voters voted for Hillary Clinton (with 26% voting for Donald Trump). The survey found evidence of continued movement by Arab-American voters away from the Republican Party, and that 52% of voters identified as Democrats with only 26% calling themselves Republicans.[30]
2016 Election
Arab Americans who supported Hillary Clinton believed that addressing gun violence, health care, and Social Security were important to electing the President, however those who supported Donald Trump saw combatting terrorism, further regulating government spending, and creating stricter immigration policies as of chief importance after "Jobs and the economy".[30] Both groups believed Hillary Clinton to be a stronger choice when it came to improving education and resolving racial tensions.[30]
2020 Election
Despite 26% of Arab-Americans voting for Trump in 2016, the President's Pro-Israel policies such as the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital by moving of the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem have considerably lessened his support from Arab-Americans and Palestinian-Americans in particular.[31] Initiatives such as "Yalla Vote" have formed to encourage Arab voters to register and participate in the 2020 Election and boost the number of Arab-American votes.
Foreign politics
While Palestinian Americans are typically not more politically active than the population at large they are very politically aware of their history and the issues facing their homeland. They are more active in social organizations such as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), through mosques, churches and local organizations, than in larger political ones, though the former tend to have strong political implications. In the absence of a unified Palestinian state, the unity and preservation of communities in the diaspora serve to maintain Palestinian identity.[citation needed]
