Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925

Palestinian Citizenship Order in Council, 1925 was a law of Mandatory Palestine that created a Palestinian citizenship for residents of the territory of the Palestinian Mandate, except for those resident in Transjordan. It was announced on 24 July 1925 and came into force on 1 August 1925.¹ The Order remained in effect until 14 May 1948, when the British withdrew from the Mandate, and Palestinian citizenship came to an end. Israel enacted a Citizenship Law in 1952 , while West Bank residents (except for Jews) came under Jordan’s nationality law.² The law gave effect to Article 7 of the British Mandate for Palestine (legal instrument) , which stated: "The Administration of Palestine shall be responsible for enacting a nationality law. There shall be included in this law provisions framed so as to facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews who take up their permanent residence in Palestine." It also gave effect to the Treaty of Lausanne , which came into force on 6 August 1924, and stated that the Ottoman nationals who were "habitually residents" of what became Palestine "will become ipso facto" nationals of that territory. The Order granted Palestinian citizenship to "Turkish subjects habitually resident in the territory of Palestine upon the 1st day of August, 1925". Transjordan was specifically excluded. Under some circumstances citizenship was also conferred on some persons habitually resident abroad, as well as the children or wife of a Palestinian man. The Order contained no test based on race or religion, except that non-Arabs could opt out of Palestinian citizenship if they were accepted by another state in which their race was a majority. Ottoman citizenship arose from the Ottoman Nationality Law of 1869 , which created a common Ottoman citizenship irrespective of religious or ethnic affiliation. Under the Order, Palestinian citizenship could be acquired by: natural change from Ottoman to Palestinian citizenship (Part I of the Order) birth to a father who was a Palestine citizen himself, or birth within Palestine without acquiring the nationality of any other State (Part II of the Order) naturalization following a period of residence in Palestine (Part III of the Order) Palestinian citizens had the right of abode in Palestine, but were not British subjects , and were instead considered British protected persons .³