The paper shows the complexity of the mental images conveyed in the Middle East by the terms: citizen, citizenship and secularism; then their influence on the lives of Palestinians through 50 years of gradual change; finally, the role of religion in these transmutations. Although Palestine is a secular state, the domination of Islam is strong, at the expense of the non-believers and of the many religious minorities. In the author’s university, most students admit religious freedom as a Human Right, but only as long as it does not hurt Islam. The paper offers a new approach to these concepts, based on respect for the ethnic, social, cultural and religious diversity of the peoples of the region