Mandatory Palestine passport facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mandatory Palestine passport |
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The front cover of a Mandatory Palestine passport.
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| Type | Passport |
| Issued by |  British Mandate for Palestine |
| Purpose | Identification |
Mandatory Palestine passports were travel documents. They were given out by the British government in Mandatory Palestine to people living there. This happened between 1925 and 1948.
The first passports had a brown cover and appeared around 1927. This was after a new rule called the Palestinian Citizenship Order, 1925 was made. From 1926 to 1935, about 70,000 of these travel documents were issued.
Contents
Travel Before 1925
Before 1925, there wasn't a clear law about who was a citizen of Palestine. The British government in Palestine gave out different travel documents:
- They gave British passports to people who were British citizens.
- They also gave out two other types of travel documents to other people:
- A Provisional Certificate of Palestinian Nationality. This was for people who wanted to become citizens of Mandatory Palestine. They had to plan to live there. This was also for people born in Palestine or whose father was born there. Some former Russian citizens who became Ottoman citizens in Palestine during the war could also get one. Wives of these people could also get one from late 1924.
- An emergency Laissez-passer. This was a special travel pass.
Soon after, a rule was made. It allowed the High Commissioner (the main British official) to give passports to citizens of Mandatory Palestine.
Becoming a Citizen: The 1925 Law
The rules for who was a citizen of Mandatory Palestine were not clear until 1925. The way to become a citizen was set out in a special rule. This rule was called an Order in Council. It was made on July 24, 1925.
People who were Turkish citizens and lived in Palestine on August 1, 1925, automatically became citizens. They could choose not to, but most did. Many other groups of people could also ask to become citizens. The High Commissioner would decide if they could.
Palestinian people living in other countries had two years to apply for citizenship. But the High Commissioner soon made this time shorter, to about one year. This meant some people lost their old Ottoman citizenship. But they couldn't get Palestinian citizenship. These people became "stateless". This means they didn't officially belong to any country.
The British government had been talking about Palestinian citizenship since 1920. But it was delayed because Turkish citizens were seen as enemies. This changed after the Treaty of Lausanne was agreed upon in 1923.
What Rights Did Citizens Have?
Palestinian citizens had the right of abode in Palestine. This means they had the right to live there. However, they were not considered full British subjects. Instead, they were called British protected persons. This meant Britain offered them some protection, but they didn't have all the rights of British citizens.
After 1948
Mandatory Palestine passports stopped being valid on May 15, 1948. This was when the British Mandate ended. Even in the early 1950s, people still kept these old passports. United Nations officials said they were "mementos of identity" for refugees.
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, new passports were offered. These included Israeli, All-Palestine Government passports, and Jordanian passports. Former British Mandate residents received these based on their new citizenship. Many Arab Palestinians became stateless. This was especially true for those in the Gaza Strip and those who found safety in Syria and Lebanon.
See also
- Israeli passport
- Jordanian passport
- Egyptian passport
- Palestinian Authority passport
