The “Palestine passport” myth debunked.

Yes, there were Palestine passports before 1948. No, they do not prove an Arab Palestinian state ever existed.

Those passports were issued by Britain, under the League of Nations Mandate.

 They were held by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike—including Golda Meir and David Ben-Gurion.

“Palestinian” was a geographic label, not a nationality.

“Palestine” had no government, no army, no parliament, no sovereignty.

A Passport Without a Country: The Truth About “Palestine” Before 1948

One of the most persistent myths in the Israel–Palestine debate is the claim that a “Palestine passport” proves the existence of a historic Arab Palestinian state. It sounds persuasive. It feels official. And it is completely false.

During the British Mandate of Palestine between 1920 and 1948, the British authorities issued passports and travel documents labeled “Palestine.” These documents are now waved around on social media as supposed evidence of lost Palestinian sovereignty. But documents do not create states. Governments do.

The passports in question were British Mandate passports, issued by His Britannic Majesty’s Government under authority granted by the League of Nations. They functioned exactly like colonial passports in British India, Kenya, or Nigeria. No one seriously argues that those territories were sovereign nations simply because Britain issued paperwork in their name.

Who held these passports? Everyone who was legally resident in Mandatory Palestine: Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, Armenians, and others. Some of the most famous holders were Jews like Golda Meir, David Ben-Gurion, and Chaim Weizmann among them. At the time, Jews were routinely referred to as “Palestinians,” and Jewish institutions openly embraced the label. The Palestine Post, today’s Jerusalem Post, was a Jewish newspaper.

What Palestine was not is even more important.

Palestine was never an Arab sovereign state. Not before 1948. Not during the Mandate. Not even briefly.

No Palestinian Arab government

No independent foreign policy

Before World War I, the land was part of the Ottoman Empire. After the Ottomans fell, it became a temporary British-administered territory. Sovereignty did not belong to the local Arab population, just as it did not belong to the local Jewish population. It belonged to Britain.

After 1948, when Israel declared independence, the areas now called Gaza and the West Bank were controlled by Egypt and Jordan respectively. Still, no Palestinian Arab state was created. Even Arab League documents of the time did not describe Palestine as a former sovereign country.

So why does the passport myth persist?

Because modern political narratives retroactively impose nationhood where none existed. The word “Palestinian” is projected backward as if it meant in 1930 what it means today. It did not. Then, it was an administrative label. Now, it is a national identity that developed primarily after Israel’s establishment.

History does not disappear because it is inconvenient.

A colonial passport does not equal a country. A geographic name does not equal sovereignty. And repeating the myth does not make it true.

The “Palestine passport” proves one thing and one thing only: that Britain ruled the land.

Anything more is not history. It is storytelling.

Time To Stand Up for Israel

Time To Stand Up for Israel is an independent foundation dedicated to fighting misinformation, countering antisemitism, and providing clear, fact-based education about Israel. We do not engage in internal Israeli politics. We stand on two core principles: Israel has the right to exist. Israel has the duty to defend itself. Support our work: Donate and/or subscribe at: www.timetostandupforisrael.com

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