The Palestinian passport () is a passport issued by the State of Palestine for the purpose of international travel based on the agreements established in the 1993 Oslo Accord. It is issued to Palestinians who hold Palestinian citizenship. Most of the Palestinian diaspora are unable to obtain this passport for various reasons, such as security restrictions imposed by the Israeli government or the fact that they do not possess a Palestinian hawwiya (ID card).
Between 1924 and 1948, the term "Palestinian passport" referred to the travel documents that were available to residents of British Mandate Palestine. Issued by the High Commissioner for Palestine, they were officially titled, "British passport, Palestine". These passports became invalid with the termination of the British mandate on 15 May 1948. Israeli and Jordanian passports were offered to former British Mandate subjects according to the citizenship they acquired in the aftermath of the 1948 ArabâÂÂIsraeli War. A significant number of Palestinian Arabs, especially in the Gaza Strip and those who found refuge in Syria and Lebanon, remained stateless, as Egypt, Syria and Lebanon did not allow them to integrate as citizens.
The All-Palestine Government issued All-Palestine passports between 1949 and 1959 to Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip and Egypt. However, passport holders were not permitted to move freely into Egypt. In the meantime, Jordan annexed the West Bank and Palestinian residents of the West Bank became citizens of Jordan.
After the 1967 Six-Day War, during which Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan, Arabs of Palestinian origin who lived there remained Jordanian. Palestinian refugees actually living in Jordan were also considered full Jordanian citizens. In July 1988, Jordan severed all legal and administrative ties with the West Bank. Any Palestinian living in Jordan would stay Jordanian; but residents of the West Bank would not.
Till now, Jordan has continued to issue passports to residents of the West Bank, but they were for travel purposes only and not as indication of citizenship. Palestinians in the West Bank who had regular Jordanian passports were issued with temporary ones upon expiration of the old ones, and entry into Jordan by Palestinians became time-limited and considered for tourism purposes only.
On 2 April 1995, two years after the Oslo Accords of 1993, the Palestinian Authority started issuing Palestinian passports. These passports retained the personal ID number issued by the Israeli Civil Administration.
Starting March 2022, the Palestinian Ministry of Interior (responsible for issuing Palestinian passports) started issuing biometric passports. The passport contains a digitized photo, fingerprints and signature of the holder.
Since 1997, Palestinian passports were not issued in the name of the State of Palestine. Some countries, including the United States, recognize Palestinian passports as acceptable travel documents, though the recognition of the passports does not imply recognition by them of citizenship, since they are not issued by a government which they recognize. Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have indicated only (in May 2002) that the passports, along with valid visas or other necessary papers, would allow their holders to travel to their countries.
In 2016, President Mahmoud Abbas announced that a change in the official name appearing on Palestinian passports would be implemented, however this change has not been yet implemented as of 2026.
There are three types of Palestinian passports, and they are as follows:
As of June 2024, the Palestinian passport allows entry to 53 countries and territories without a visa or by visa on arrival, ranking the Palestinian passport at 91st in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley Passport Index, which ties with both the Libyan and North Korean passport.
The document contains a note on the second page (inside of the cover) stating: