To date, only one report has been published on the risks faced by LGBTQ Palestinians in the territories—and it was released a decade ago. In recent years, HIAS, a Jewish international organization founded in 1881 that provides legal representation to refugees in Israel, has assisted 20 Palestinians who fled to Israel due to their sexual or gender identity.
The newly released report is based on information gathered from those cases and aims to examine the risks LGBTQ individuals face in the Palestinian Authority areas of the West Bank, as well as Israel's treatment of asylum seekers from this group. The research draws on first-hand testimonies from LGBTQ Palestinians who escaped the territories, input from their legal representatives, and current academic literature and case law.
Key Findings – Patterns of Persecution:
Violent persecution by family and close community:
The primary sources of danger are male family members, who perceive sexual and/or gender nonconformity as a violation of "family honor"—a serious offense against the patriarchal social order. Due to the geographic size of the West Bank and the widespread presence of extended families, LGBTQ individuals cannot easily escape threats by relocating, even to cities with more liberal attitudes or areas far from their families.
Persecution by the Palestinian police:
LGBTQ individuals may be charged with “promoting homosexuality” or violating moral codes.
Suspicion of collaboration with Israel:
Given reports that Israeli intelligence has blackmailed LGBTQ Palestinians into collaborating, those entering Israel for romantic or medical reasons (e.g., hormone therapy) are often suspected of treason, especially if they cross into Israel multiple times.
Israeli Policy and Its Impact:
The second part of the report explores Israel’s policies, which deny protection to this population and exclude them from asylum procedures in violation of the Refugee Convention. As a result, LGBTQ Palestinians are left vulnerable—exposed to arrest, deportation, and extreme poverty. After more than a decade of legal battles against Israel’s refusal to grant asylum to these individuals, the courts have yet to rule on the matter. Instead, a bureaucratic mechanism under military authority was established, which fails to provide meaningful protection.
Interviewees report living in constant fear of arrest and experiencing extreme survival challenges—leading to poverty, transactional sex, and despair.
The report is published amid a political awakening within the Palestinian LGBTQ community. On July 26, 2019, a young Arab man was stabbed by his brother after leaving "Beit Dror," a shelter for LGBTQ youth in Israel. Following the attack, Palestinian organizations including Al Qaws, Aswat, and Adalah organized an unprecedented pride demonstration in Haifa and a meeting in Nablus.
In response, on August 17, 2019, the Palestinian Police issued a statement opposing the organization’s activities, accusing its members of “harming traditional Palestinian values,” labeling them “foreign agents,” and urging citizens to report LGBTQ activists to the police so they could be arrested and prosecuted.
On October 30, 2019, Al Qaws reported that following the police’s statement, police persecution of LGBTQ individuals in general—and the organization’s activists in particular—intensified.
Conclusion:
The report illustrates how LGBTQ Palestinians face severe persecution in the territories with no protection from local authorities, and how Israeli control and restricted mobility exacerbate their vulnerability. Those who escape to Israel in search of protection often find themselves arrested for unlawful presence, with no access to the asylum system.
Currently, HIAS is supporting about 15 LGBTQ Palestinians—some of whom also receive services from The Aguda (Israel’s LGBTQ Task Force) and Al-Bait Al-Mukhtalif (“The Different House”). Thanks to these efforts, some have received permits allowing them to remain in Israel, but they are not allowed to work and are denied access to basic rights—leaving them in poverty and distress as they wait for the chance to be resettled in a Western country.
Recently, HIAS, together with Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, and Kav LaOved (in HCJ 7126/19, filed by attorney Adi Lustigman), petitioned the Israeli High Court to grant Palestinians staying in Israel with permits—including LGBTQ individuals—the right to work, as well as access to medical and social services. The petition argued that the current policy violates human dignity and fundamental rights, forcing individuals into lives of illness, poverty, and legal limbo.
Read the report in English: I Wanted to be Like Them But I Could Not – Palestinian LGBT Asylum Seekers in Israel