Los Angeles County contains a community of

Palestinian Americans Palestinian Americans () are Americans who are of full or partial Palestinian descent. There are around 160,000 Palestinian American refugees according to the 2023 American Community Survey, making up around 0.05% of the U.S. population. Th ...

. There are about 15,000 Palestinians in

Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the eas ...

History

The first wave of Palestinian migration to the United States occurred in 1908 when the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

began mandating military service for Palestinians. The second wave came after the

1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight In the 1948 Palestine war, more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs – about half of Mandatory Palestine's predominantly Arab population – fled from their homes or were expelled. Expulsions and attacks against Palestinians were carried out by the ...

during the

1948 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionist forces conquered territory and established the Stat ...

. This expulsion or flight, which displaced more than 700,000 people, is known by Palestinians as the

Nakba The Nakba () is the ethnic cleansing; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; of Palestinian Arabs through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings, along with the destruction of their s ...

. The third and largest wave occurred in 1967 as a result of the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

in Israel. Although the majority of Palestinian immigrants settled on the East Coast, economic opportunity brought large concentrations of Palestinians to Los Angeles.

Demographics

No reliable immigration or census figures exist for Palestinian Americans. The count of Palestinian-Americans is complicated by the lack of a Middle East origin box to check on Census forms, leading the majority of Palestinians to self report as "white." The population of the

Palestinian diaspora The Palestinian diaspora (, ''al-shatat al-filastini''), part of the wider Arab diaspora, are Palestinian people living outside the region of Palestine and Israel. There are about 6.1 million members of the Palestinian Diaspora, most of whom live ...

in California is estimated to be 57,222 (after adjusting for undercounting), of which approximately 15,000 live in Los Angeles County. Foreign born Palestinians in Los Angeles County originate mostly from Asia and the Middle East, followed by Latin America.

Discrimination

In the 1970s, a series of terrorist attacks took place against prominent Palestinian-American activists and institutions, culminating in the murder of anti-discrimination activist

Alex Odeh Alexander Michel Odeh (; April 4, 1944 – October 11, 1985) was a Palestinians, Palestinian activist. Odeh was serving as West Coast of the United States, West Coast regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) whe ...

in Santa Ana in 1985. In 1987, eight Palestinians were arrested in Los Angeles. They were charged under an antiquated anti-communism law called the

McCarran-Walter Act The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (), also known as the McCarran–Walter Act, codified under Title 8 of the United States Code (), governs immigration to and citizenship in the United States. It came into effect on June 27, 1952. The l ...

that accused them of "supporting an organization that advocated world communism" for their possible association with the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation ...

. According to the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

, the eight were "prosecuted for ideas, beliefs and thoughts of a magazine for which none have been writers or editors.”

Economy

As of 2010, there were 1,793 Palestinians over the age of 16 living in the Los Angeles County area, 65% of whom were in the labor force (employed or seeking employment).US Census Bureau, 2006-2010 American Community Survey The unemployment rate at this time was 2.8%: much lower than the national average for the USA. The majority of Palestinians in LA work in the private sector (65% of workers), with 18.4% employed by the Government and 10.2% self-employed. The management, business, science and arts sector employs the highest percentage of Palestinians in LA, followed by sales and office work. Based on the 893 total households included in 2010 US Census data, the mean household income for Palestinians in LA County was $96,729: higher than the national average for the USA.

Education

The majority of Palestinians in LA enrolled in school attend elementary school, followed by graduate school and college. 46.8% of the Palestinian Diaspora in LA over 25 years old hold a bachelor's degree or higher and 89.6% are educated to high school level or higher.

Institutions

The Palestinian diaspora in Los Angeles has a variety of organizations and institutional groups. Political organizations with chapters in Los Angeles include: Al-Awda, dedicated to the

Palestinian right of return The Palestinian right of return is the political position or principle that Palestinian refugees, both Immigrant generations#First generation, first-generation refugees ( people still alive ) and their descendants ( people ), have a right to ...

, Palestinian American Women's Association, which works toward the empowerment and education of Arab American women and children, and

American Muslims for Palestine The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is an American nonprofit organization founded in 2006. AMP holds conferences and training sessions for coalition building and legislative advocacy, such as hosting annual Palestine Advocacy Days, that p ...

, which works toward educating people about Palestine in order to motivate changes in US foreign policy regarding Palestine. Los Angeles County also has humanitarian relief organizations such as: Palestinian Children's relief, a non profit which focuses on providing medical relief and aid for younger Palestinians in the Middle East, and Islamic Relief which provides humanitarian aid to communities after disasters.

Notable persons

List of Palestinian Americans This is a list of notable Palestinian Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants. The list is ordered by category of human endeavour. Persons with significant contributions in ...

References

{{Ethnic groups in Los Angeles Arab-American culture in California

Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...