DISTRIBUTION OF THE PALESTINIAN POPULATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00875R000600030005-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 10, 2001
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: June 18, 1974
• Content Type: MF

2116/1
SEOETMD-r-DISTRIBUTION OF
THE .: PALESTINIAN POPULATION
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25X1A
CIA,tliGI PN 62.2116/1
l8 January 1074
MUMORANDUM FOR: OCI
SUBJECT : Distribution of the Palestinian Population
INTRODUCTION
MICROFILMED
1. A Palestinian is dofinod here as any Arabic
speaking person who lives in or comes from the area
known as Palestine under the British Mandate. Today
this includes Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank
of Jordan and Gaza Strip. The groat majority of them
arc Moslem, while most of the remainder are Christian.
At present they number approximately 2,900,000, about
one-half of whom are under Israeli rule.
2. Until 1948 Palestinians lived in the political
entity known as the Mandate of Palestine under a
British administrator. They were identified as British
subjects, although they did not hold British citizenship.
1'hr Mandate had its own currency, stamps, laws, and local
government. When Israo1 was created, its Jewish and some
of its Arab inhabitants became citizens of the new state
of Israel. The approximately 1,300,000 Palestinian
Arabs who fled were left with no recognized citizenship
status. Within the next decade, Palestinians who remained
in Jordan were },ranted Jordanian citizenship; the others
have remained stateless persons, living in "host"
countries on sufferance. Syria, while refusinc; them
citizenship, crantcd then mnn:? citizenship rights; but
I'a lcstinians can not vote or own property in Syria.
Lebanon wan, reluctant to offer citizenship to the large
;i:r:nhor of 'Moslem Palestine refugees living., within its
borders for rear they would de:;troy the balance between
the country's Christians and `?loslems. F. ;ynt kept most of
the E'alc,tinians under its jurisdiction in the tiny Gaza
enclave, which it governed as a separate entity.
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3. Almost half of all known Palestinians are
UNRWA-rogistorod refugees, living in Jordan, Egypt,
Syria, Lebanon, and the Israeli,-occupiod territories
of Gaza and the West Bank. Some 510,000 of their
number live in UNRWA camps or emergency camps*. When
they can, the refugees live with relatives rather than
in the camps and go to the camps for rations, education
and medical facilities.
4. UNRIIA's strict interpretation of the
definition of a refugee as one who lost both his home
and livelihood in 1948 excluded many Palestinians;
thus the IINRWA refugee statistics do not include the
self-supporting Palestinians in exile. 'T'heir figures
for the number of registered refugees are considered a
little high: UNItWA records state that the statistics
do not necessarily reflect the actual rpfugea population
owing to factors such as unreported deaths, false
registrations or undetected absences.
5. More than 400,000 of the Arabs who fled Israel
in 19,18 did not become UNRWA refugees because they were
able to find work elsewhere. Since that time, many more
who were initially UNRWA refugees have become self-
supporting and so have had their names removed from
UNRIIAIs roles. Authorities estimate that both groups
and their offspring total over one million. It is
virtually impossible to enumerate or even to identify
Palestinians once they acquire Jordanian or Lebanese
citizenship. The following paragraphs represent the
re'-suits of recent attempts to determine the current
distribution of I'aiestinians.
* l::rcrgency camps were established by UNR IM in Syria
to accommodate some 8,000 UNRW.1 refugees who left the
Golan Heights in June 19(37 and in Jordan to house some
30,000 of the Palestinian.,; who fled eastward from the
West Bank and from the camps in the area immediately
cast of the Jordan River in the summer of 1967.
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EAST JORDAN
6. 'rho NIS estimated that in mid-1972 about
862,000 Palestinians lived on the East Bank of Jordan.
Over two-thirds of them are UNRIVA-rogistorod refugees,
of which 40 percent reside in camps. Accurate
information on the number and location of East !Bank
Jordan's Palostinittus is not available because the
census figures are not reliable, there arc discrepancies
in the UNRWA refugee roles, and many Palestinians become
Jordanian citizens in 1950, when the West Bank became
part of Jordan.
LEBANON
7. Lebanon has some 180,000 registered refugees,
over half of whom live in UNRIVA camps. . There are many
Palestinians -- mcstly Christians -- in Lebanon who
are not registered refugees. The NIS estimates their
number at 40,000; the Department of State estimates
their number at between 60,000 and 70,000.
8. Syria harbors about 173,000 Palestinians,
50,000 of whom live in refugee camps. UNRWA operates
in Syria, but its administration is limited in many
cases by the lack of cooperation on the part of the
Syrian Government. Recently the Syrians have started
helping UNRIV1\ rectify its roles by reporting; deaths,
prolonged absences, and marriages of refugee women to
non-refugee men.
9. There are some 33,000 Palestinians in Egypt,
most of whom are refugees of the 1948 war. There are
about 3,000 registered refugees who fled the Gaza Strip
in Junc 1967. UN161A does not operate in Egypt, but it
giv the Egyptian Government money for these registered
refugees.
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1,i.) J" ,
ISRAELI-OCCUPILD TERRITORY
10. In November 1971 the 'Israelis estimated the
number of Palestinians on the West Bank to be about
700,000 of whom about 72,000 to 74,000 lived in East
Jerusalem. The American Consul in Jerusalem noted
that the Israeli government would certainly not inflate
this particular set of statisticr, and that any
inaccuracies are probably on the low side.
11. The Israeli census of 1967 listed 356,000 as
the total population in the Gaza Strip. Since then, the
Israelis have combined the figures for the Jaza Strip
and North Sinai. Some transfers of population outside
the strip have occurred. By August 18, 1971 about
2,000 refugees had boon resettled in Sinai, near
Al Arish; about 100 others had been moved to near Jenin,
on the West Bank.
ISRAEL PROPER
12. The 340,000 Palestinians now in Israel are
those who remained after the cease-fire in 1948. They
have been assimilated into the economy and have acquired
Israeli citizenship, with all its rights except the
right to serve in the armed forces. Among these non-
Jews, only the I)ruso have been allowed to volunteer for
the armed forces.
SAUDI ARABIA, KUWAIT, AND OTHER COUNTRIES
13. Aral) sources estimate that some 100,000
Palestinians work in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq --
primarily in the oil fields -- and that some 50,000
other Pa lestinians live elsewhere in the world.
These cannot be specifically identified as Palestinians
because their passports and citizenships are usually
Jordanian.
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THE PALESTINE LIT313RATION ORGANIZATION CENSUS
14. In 1970 the Palestine. Liberation Organization
Research Centro in Beirut began a census of Palestinians
to learn their precise numbers, their whereabouts, and
their educational and professional levels. The initial
findings of this census wore published in the Journal of
Palestine Studies, Winter 1972. This census is t o on y
attempt to count Palestinians worldwide. It should be
used with reserve; although such an organization might
be expected to inflate its figures, some Palestinians
in Arab countries (Algeria has an estimated 5,000) are
not listed in this PLO census-based article.
25X1A
Chiet, Middle east Africa)
Western Hemisphere Branch
Geography Division
Attachments
Table 1. UNRWA's Distribution of Total Registered
Refugee Population and of Camp Population
on 30 Jun: 1973.
Table 2. Recent Censuses and Estimates of the
Palestinian Population.
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I~
Table 1
UNRWA's Distribution of Total Registered Refugee
Population and of Camp Population on 30 Juno 1973*
Number living in camps:
Established Emergency
East Jordani
568,170
110,781
118,046
West Bank
283,430
73,294
Gaza Strip
327,629
199,255
Lebanon
187,529
94,621
Syria2
173,9 36
32,361
15,735
Total
1,540,694
510,312
133,781.
* Report of the Commissioner-General of the United Nations
Relief and .Ior s Agency Tor Palestine Refugees in the Near
East 1 my 1972--30 June 19731, Table 7, p. 79.
1 East Jordan camps include 45,000 others displaced as a
result of the June 1967 hostilities or subsequent fighting
in the Jordan valley in early 1968. -
2 Does not include the Syrians displaced from the Golan
Heights during the 1967 War.
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Table 2
Recent Censuses and Estimates of the Palestinian Population
Israeli
Censuses
NIS
Estimates
UN RIVA
Rogistorod
Rofugoos
(1973)
PLO Censusl
(1970
Other
Sources
862,295
(mid-1972)
568,170
900,000
624,800
(Nov. 72)
(exc. Jerusalem)
283,430
670,0002
356,261
(1967)
327,629
364,000
458,500
(1971)
(inc. Jerusalem)
340,0003
187,529
240,000
300,0004
175,000
(1970)
173,936
155,000
77,712
(1965)
140,000
15,000
J1960)
33,0005
20,0006
15,000
15,000
,. 7
East Jordan
West Bank
Gaza Strip
Israel
Lebanon
Syria
Kuwait
Egypt
Saudi Arabia
Persian Gulf States
West Germany
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