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.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
View of the Holy Sepulchre, East Jerusalem, Israeli-occupied West Bank
The oldest surviving Christ Pantocrator icon, 6th century, Saint Catherine's Monastery
A late 11th century depiction of Christ
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.
A depiction of Syria and Palestine from CE 650 to 1500
Khalil Beidas (1874–1949) was the first person to self-describe Palestine's Arabs as "Palestinians" in the preface of a book he translated in 1898.
Palestinian mother and child
A 1930 Palestinian women's protest in Jerusalem against the British Mandate. The sign reads "No dialogue, no negotiations until termination [of the Mandate]"
