Is Nazareth in Israel or Palestine?

Nazareth is a city within the State of Israel. Virtually all of its residents are Israeli citizens bearing Israeli identification cards and registered in the Israeli Ministry of Interior (maybe except for foreign workers and other rare occasions). They pay taxes to the Israeli Tax Authority and are all secured by the Israeli National Insurance Institute. While its population is mostly exempt from serving in the military, some of its residents chose to volunteer for the IDF, especially the Christian population. In the last elections in March 2020, 60% of Nazareth eligible population exercised their right and voted in the Israeli parliamentary elections.

Nazareth has 77,000 residents, which is 0.8% of Israel’s entire population. But at least three of the 120 members of the Israeli parliament hail from Nazareth, meaning that 2.5% of Israel’s parliament is represented by people from Nazareth.

These are:

Aida Touma-Suleiman, from the Hadash party. Born to a Christian family.
Mtanes Shehadeh, from the Balad party. Born to a Christian family.
Heba Yazbak, from the Balad party. Born to a Muslim family.

One of the most prominent judges in the Israeli-Arab society is Abdel Rahman Zuabi who became the chief of the Nazareth District Court. He was a member of a team of Israeli judges who investigated the Jewish terrorist attack in the Cave of Patriarchs in 1994.

Nazareth is a political center both for the Arab-speaking population of northern Israel and for the state as a whole. The government institutions of the Israeli northern district are located in Nazareth, as well as the northern headquarters of the Israeli police and the northern headquarters of the Israeli Home Front Command.

The Maccabi Ahi Nazareth F.C. plays on the Israeli national football team. Recently, and for a short period of 5 months, their coach was Nir Berkovic, a Jewish-Israeli footballer.

Nazareth is internationally recognized as an integral part of the sovereign state of Israel as it is within the green line, the armistice line drawn in 1949. There is no legal dispute on Israel’s sovereignty over Nazareth.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization has officially agreed in the past to respect Israeli sovereignty within the green line and therefore the legal representative of the Palestinian people according to international law recognizes Nazareth as part of Israel.

Here’s the trilingual sign in the entrance to Nazareth, written in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.

A polling place in Nazareth:

That question has a fault in its base, so before I answer it I’ll explain.

Before Israel, there was a British mandate, not a Palestinian state.

Before the British Mandate, there was the Ottoman Empire, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Ottoman Empire, there was the Islamic state of the Mamluks of Egypt, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Islamic state of the Mamluks of Egypt, there was the Ayubid Empire, not a Palestinian state. Godfrey IV of Boulogne, known as Godfrey de Bouillon, conqueror of Jerusalem in 1099

Before the Ayubid Empire, there was the Frankish and Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Kingdom of Jerusalem, there was the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, there was the Byzantine empire, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Byzantine Empire, there were the Sassanids, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Sassanid Empire, there was the Byzantine Empire, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Byzantine Empire, there was the Roman Empire, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Roman Empire, there was the Hasmonean state, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Hasmonean state, there was the Seleucid, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Seleucid empire, there was the empire of Alexander the Great, not a Palestinian state.

Before the empire of Alexander the Great, there was the Persian empire, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Persian Empire, there was the Babylonian Empire, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Babylonian Empire, there were the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, not a Palestinian state.

Before the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, there was the Kingdom of Israel, not a Palestinian state.

Before the kingdom of Israel, there was the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, not a Palestinian state.

Before the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, there was an agglomeration of independent Canaanite city-kingdoms, not a Palestinian state.

Actually, in this piece of land there has been everything, except a palestinian state.

The phrase “palestinian people” merely describes a political agenda set by terror groups such as Hammas, Hizbolla, and others, to justify their terror activity against the Israelis.

So if by “Palestine” the question reffers to the Gaza strip which is currently governed by the terror group Hammas, then no, Nazareth is not in Gaza, it’s in central-northern Israel, governed by Israel, mostly populated by Israelis, and also contain some arabic-originated fugitives from neighbouring arabic countries.

Others (notably Stav Bartel) have given excellent answers to this ridiculous question (which is clearly bait), but I simply cannot resist chiming in. So….Nazareth is in Israel, not Palestine. Palestine, a nebulous entity to begin with, ceased to exist in 1948, when the State of Israel was formed, in order to restore to Jews their ancient homeland. Self-proclaimed “Palestinians” are simply disgruntled Arabs, who are clinging to an absurd fantasy that the Israelis plan on vacating what little land in the Middle East they possess (only about 2%, if my memory serves me correctly). That will never, ever happen.