Palestinian Metawalis

Palestinian Metawalis are a Palestinian Shiite community.

Orientalists Louis Lortet and Ernest Renan believe that Metawalis are Kurds, who migrated from Iraq to Palestine in the 13th century.^[1] During the time of Mandatory Palestine, Palestinian Metawalis had seven villages wherein they constituted the majority.^[2] During the first census of the British protectorate, Palestinian Metawalis were one of eight religious demographic groups categorized,^[3] and tensions existed regarding whether these people would be geopolitically united with their Shiite Arab counterparts in southern Lebanon.^[2]