What Does "Palestine" Mean?
“If names are not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language is not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.” (“The Analects”)
Lately, we’ve been hearing and reading phrases like “support for Palestine,” “pro-Palestinian demonstrations,” “the occupation of Palestinian lands,” and so on. But in the vast majority of cases, people who use the expressions “Palestine” or “Palestinian” have no idea of the true meaning of these words.
Origin of the Term
Historically, the term dates back to "Eretz Plishtim" — “the land of the Philistines” (ארץ פלשתים) mentioned in Gen. 21:34 as the place where Abraham lived.
In 135 A.D., the Roman emperor Hadrian officially renamed the Province of Judaea (Latin: Iudaea) to “Syria Palaestina,” a term that the Greeks had previously applied to this territory (specifically Παλαιστίνη in Herodotus).
Before Judaea became a Roman province, it was an independent kingdom with the same name (Kingdom of Judah, or in Hebrew יְהוּדָה).
Subsequent Use of the Term
So, initially, the term “Syria Palaestina” or simply “Palestine” designated a Roman province previously called Judaea, which before that had been the “Kingdom of Judah.”
Subsequently, the Romans divided the province into parts, which were called Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda, and Palaestina Salutaris (Tertia), respectively.
This same term was preserved during the Byzantine period. And after the Arab conquest, the military district of Jund Filastin (جند فلسطين) was formed within the Caliphate
It is important to note that the Byzantines used Roman toponymy, and the Arabs then used the Byzantine one, but this was only the name of the region, inherited from the Roman name for Judaea; neither the Byzantines nor the Arabs had any separate national or cultural identity in this region.
The name “Palestine” was preserved in this region as a geographical one, but it never designated a state, nor a cultural or ethnic distinctiveness: neither Roman, nor Byzantine, nor Arab.
From 1516 to 1917, this territory was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, but it was not distinguished or designated separately within the Ottoman Empire itself. The lands of the Ottoman Empire were divided into Eyalets or Vilayets, but there was no Vilayet or Eyalet of “Palestine.”
The word “Palestine” was only used in the Christian (and specifically Christian) tradition to denote the territory where biblical events took place (i.e., it was a historical synonym for the concepts of “Kingdom of Judah,” “Land of Israel,” or “Province of Judaea”).
The Mandate for Palestine
In 1917, the territories of the Ottoman Empire were captured by Great Britain. And on November 2, 1917, the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, sent a letter to Lord Rothschild in which he wrote that the British government would “view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” This letter is known as the “Balfour Declaration.”
On July 24, 1922, the League of Nations approved the Mandate, which designated Palestine as a separate territory and placed it under the administration of Great Britain. The text of the Mandate itself stated that this was done to implement the Balfour Declaration:
“The Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty.”
The text of the Mandate itself stated that it was approved “Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.”
Thus, the term “Palestine” at that time was seen as emphasizing the historical connection of the Jewish people to this land.
The term “Palestine” had no associations with the Arab people or with Islam (an “exception that proves the rule”: the Arabic-language newspaper “Falastin” was specifically a Christian newspaper, initially focusing on church matters).
That is, during the Mandate period, the very word “Palestine” designated a territory intended for the creation of a Jewish state, and was considered to emphasize the connection of the Jewish people with this land.
During the Mandate period, official documents, banknotes, and coins contained the name “Palestine” in three languages: in English, "Palestine," in Arabic, "فلسطين" (Filastin), and in Hebrew, "(פלשתינה (א״י," where the designation in parentheses ( א״י ) was an abbreviation for the words “Land of Israel” (Eretz Israel).
Thus, during the Mandate period, the terms “Palestine” and “Land of Israel” (i.e., the land of the people of Israel) were officially recognized as synonyms, meaning terms designating the same meaning.
Example: a travel document from the Mandate period, issued by the British authorities (source: Wikimedia):
The document states in English “Government of Palestine,” and the inscription in Hebrew reads “Government of Palestine (Land of Israel).”
At that time, Arabs did not associate themselves with Palestine and did not consider themselves “Palestinians,” a clear indication of which is that when the League of Nations decided to allocate a part of Palestine for the creation of an Arab state, and this state was created in 1946 (Jordan), it did not in any way connect itself with the concept of “Palestine,” and its population never identified itself as “Palestinians.”
The Creation of the Myth of Palestine as a State of the "Palestinian People"
The myth of a “Palestinian people” and that Palestine is the state of the Palestinian people arose as a result of the activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the KGB, which financed its activities, armed and trained its militants and leaders, and developed propaganda narratives for it.
Specifically, the “Palestinian people” were invented. See more in my article “The Palestinian People and Their Right to Self-Determination: A Legal and Historical Analysis”.
Since the Jewish state created in accordance with the goals outlined in the Mandate for Palestine was named not “Palestine” but the “State of Israel,” documents, maps, banknotes, and the like with the designation “Palestine” were used as proof that a state of “Palestine” supposedly existed here before Israel, and that this was something different from the Jewish state planned by the Mandate.
Of course, with a knowledge of history, particularly the provisions of the Mandate, it seems absurd that the Palestine Liberation Organization (i.e., the Land of Israel) proclaimed the “State of Palestine” in the city of Algiers in 1988 as an alternative to the Jewish state.
And it is even more absurd to claim (repeated in hundreds of UN documents) that Israel “occupies Palestine,” for this is tantamount to saying that “Jews occupy Judaea,” or “Israel occupies the Land of Israel.”
This is as absurd as if Jews living in Italy declared themselves the “Roman people” - “Romans ” - and, showing ancient maps and artifacts, said that this was proof that they, the “Romans,” were a truly existing people, and that they once had their own state (“the Roman Empire”), and now the Italians must recognize the “Romans’” right to self-determination and end the occupation of Rome.
Conclusions
Originally, “Palestine” was the Roman name for Judaea.
In the legal, official, and political terminology of the Mandate period, “Palestine” is a synonym for “Land of Israel.” And Israel, I remind you, is the name of the people.
The deceitful myth of a "State of Palestine" that supposedly existed on this territory before Israel and was seized by the Israelis and of a "Palestinian people" distinct from Israelis was invented and is being propagated by anti-Israel propaganda.
Therefore, the questions: “Do you support Palestine or Israel?”, or "Are you for the Palestinians or for Israel?" are meaningless, since Palestine is nothing other than the Land of Israel, and the “Palestinian people” are the people of the Land of Israel, that is, the Israelis. And the “Palestinian state,” in the true meaning of the word, is the State of Israel.
And anyone who uses the words "Palestinian," "Palestinians," and "Palestine" not in their true meaning is thereby supporting anti-Israel propaganda.
Therefore, it is very important to abandon the term "Palestinians" in relation to the Arafat-Hamasists, to remove the word "Palestinian" from the name of the Arab autonomy, and to emphasize that the "Palestinian state" is the State of Israel and nothing else.
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