Vehicle registration plates of the Palestinian National Authority

The Palestinian National Authority requires their residents register their motor vehicles and display vehicle registration plates. There are two different systems of registration plates: One for West Bank and other in Gaza Strip.

In West Bank

Generally, registration plates in West Bank has in the right side the Latin letter "P" for Palestine or Palestinian Authority; above that, the Arabic letter "ف" (Faa') for "فلسطين" (Falasteen) or السلطة الفلسطينية (a-Sultat al-Filastiniya).

Private vehicles

Palestinian Authority private vehicle registration plate (above current version, below older version).

Palestinian Authority private license plate with a rare 7X ending

Private vehicles have white plates with green numbers, the numbers have seven digits, the first shows the district (governorate) of the registration:

Y-XXXX-ZX

• where Y indicates the district (governorate) and can be:

1, 3: Gaza Strip - the system was changed in 2012, only the initial "3" was kept, see below.

4, 7: Northern West Bank (Nablus, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Jenin)

5, 6: Central West Bank (Ramallah, Jerusalem, Jericho)

8, 9: Southern West Bank (Bethlehem, Hebron)

• X can be:

Any numbers.

• Z can be:

3, 4, 7 & 9

Public transport

Palestinian Authority public vehicle registration plate.

Vehicles serving the public transport (taxis, shared taxis, and buses) have green plates with white numbers. Taxi plates always end in -30.

Plates for vehicles of the Authority

Current Palestinian Authority government vehicle registration plate

Older Palestinian Authority government vehicle registration plate.

Vehicles belonging to the Palestinian Authority use white number plates with red numbers. Those are officials' cars, ambulances, fire brigade police and special police (military).

The numbers match the format XXXX with leading zeros.

Currently new registered police vehicles get also green-on-white plates ending in -99.

Test plates

Test license plate

Test plates for garages and car importers are blue with white writing and display the word "TEST" in Arabic (اختبار) and Hebrew (במבחן) above the number.

In Gaza Strip

Sketch of a license plate of the Gaza Strip from 2012 (above European style plate, below American style plate

Until 2012 registration plates in Gaza Strip had the same format as in West Bank. In 2012 the authorities of the Gaza Strip replaced the PNA license plates described above with a new design. The new plates have a vertical Palestinian flag on the right (instead of the letters P/ف) in European style plate or horizontal flag on the top in American style plates. All the plates have white background. All numbers start with "3".

• Private vehicles - have black digits, number ending with "0X".
• Commercial vehicles - have green digits, number ending with "1X".
• Public vehicles - have blue digits, number ending with "2X".
• Municipal vehicles - have blue digits, number ending with "4X".
• Governmental vehicles - have red digits, number ending with "5X".
• Governmental personal vehicles - have black digits, number ending with "5X".

History

1967 - 1994

During this period of the Israeli governance of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinians had license plates issued by the Israeli civil administration. Blue (West Bank) and white (Gaza Strip) plates with a Hebrew letter in a white or orange field on the left side that identified the origin of the car's holder.^[1]

• א - Jericho (יריחו, Arabic: אריחא)
• ב - Bethlehem (בית לחם)
• ח - Hebron (חברון)
• ט - Tulkarem (טול כרם)
• נ - Jenin (ג׳נין)
• ע - Gaza (עזה)
• פ - Rafah (רפיח)
• ק - Qalqilya (קלקיליה)
• ר - Ramallah (רמאללה)
• ש - Nablus (שכם)

References

1. Nigel Parry: A Personal Diary of The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (1989 - Present), 15 November 1995, Car license plates: the road to apartheid (engl.)