The Origin and Appropriation of the Word ‘Palestine’ May Surprise You.

 As appeared on Israel National News/Artuz Sheva and my Times of Israel blog. 

 

What’s in a name? An often-asked question whose answer is complicated. For example: Why does the media call them Arab towns but Israeli settlements? Why did Greece protest when a new country, located to their north, named itself Macedonia, and then forced by the outcry to rename itself North Macedonia? Why did my mother insist I am David and not Dave?

The simple answer: Words have meaning.

Creation of the Palestinian Liberation movement. In 1964, at a conference in Cairo, Egypt, it was outsiders (Russia, Egypt, the Arab League), not the “Palestinians,” who created the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

By definition, “appropriation” is the action of taking something for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission. The Arab leadership took the name “Palestinian/Palestine” and attached it to the Arab refugees of the 1948-49 Israel War of Independence. Five Arab nations (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia) immediately attacked the nascent State of Israel with the aim to commit “genocide” (see item ‘C’ in their own words below) but failed. The resultant Arab refugees were treated differently from any other refugees, under a newly created UN agency, UNRWA.

 

According to their website, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is an agency of the UN, created to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees. In response to the displacement caused by the 1948-49 Arab Israeli conflict, UNRWA initially served around 750,000 Arab refugees. Today, it supports approximately 5.9 million Arabs (known as “Palestinian refugees”) consisting of multi-generational descendants of the original 750,000. This ignores the original mission of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to enable the re-settling of refugees.

During the Israeli War of Independence, the attacking Arab countries lured their fellow Arabs to leave Israel with a promise that they would return as conquers, even though the Israeli Declaration of Independence clearly states: “it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion… will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions.” (Italic emphasis added.) And to this day, Israel has done so.

In comparison, post-1949, approximately 850,000 Jews were thrown out of Arab countries (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, etc.) where they had lived for nearly 1,000 years. These Jews were often given only days to leave and permitted to take only the clothes on their backs. Interestingly, there are no Jewish refugees today from that time, as they became citizens of the various countries in which they settled.

UNRWA’s website has not been updated to include their treasonous role of teaching an inciting terroristic curriculum to Palestinian children in Gaza and Lebanon over many decades, and even employing known Hamas operatives.

 

These facts raise some questions: Why are Palestinian refugees treated differently than all other refugees in the world? Why weren’t they placed under the care of the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, whose website states that their mission is to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge, fleeing persecution or war at home? What is the endgame of this segregation of Palestinian/Palestine refugees and their descendants?

The answer might be that a new “Palestinian” people was not the creation of a liberation movement but a tactic to be used as a weapon. The proof is in consistent statements made by Arab leaders throughout the decades. Following are just five examples of the Arab and “Palestinian” leadership, in their own words…

1. During the Peel Commission testimony (1937), Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, an Arab leader said, “There is no such country [as Palestine]! Palestine is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country is part of Syria.”
2. In May 1947, Haj Amin el-Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and representative of the Arab Higher Commission to the United Nations said to the UN General Assembly, “Palestine was part of the Province of Syria…Politically, the Arabs of Palestine were not independent in the sense of forming a separate political entity.”
3. According to a February 1948 UN memorandum, Azzman Pasha, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, referring to the upcoming 1948 war said, "This war will be a war of extermination (of the Jews) and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongol massacres and the Crusades." (Italic emphasis added.)
4. Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee member Zahir Muhsein said: “The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism.” He further stated there were "no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese", though Palestinian identity would be emphasized for political reasons. Source: March 1977, Dutch newspaper Trouw (Italic emphasis added.)

Palestine and the original Palestinians. The modern State of Israel was born on the shoulders of Biblical interpretations, archaeological proof, international law, and defensive warfare. Yet its legitimacy is constantly challenged. There is no dispute or challenge to the existence, rights, or sovereignty of any other country created by internationally sanctioned agreements, except Israel!

There is history and nuance behind specific words and names. Here’s a little history. (The dates below are accepted approximations.)

The Jewish people (aka The Children of Israel), settled in the Promised Land (Israel) about 3,724 years ago (1250 BCE) with Jerusalem as its capital.

The First Temple in Jerusalem, was built on the Temple Mount, completed by King Solomon 2,981 years ago (957 BCE) and destroyed by the conquering Babylonians (after standing for 371 years) in 586 BCE, thus sending the Jews into exile. The Jews were allowed to return in 538 BCE.

The Second Temple in Jerusalem was built on the ruins of the First Temple 2,540 years ago (516 BCE). After standing for 586 years, it was destroyed in 70 CE by the Roman Empire, in retaliation for an Israeli revolt. After the failed Judean Bar Kochba revolt in 135 CE, the Romans decided to wipe “Israel” off the map by renaming Jerusalem “Aelia Capitonia” and Judea “Palæstina.”  Over the years, Palæstina became Palestine.

Where did Roman Emperor Hadiran get the idea to rename this region Palæstina come from? During the 12^th century BCE (3,200 years ago), the Philistines settled in an area on the coast between Israel and Egypt. This area contained five cities of the Philistine confederacy (Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron), known as Philistia, or the Land of the Philistines. By early seventh century BCE, the Philistines became vassals of the Assyrian rulers. In 135 AD, Hadiran used the name of this civilization that had disappeared 680 years earlier, to rebrand the territory of the Jewish Kingdom of Israel as “Palæstina.” Thus, “Palestine/Palestinian” is just another name for Israel and the Jews.

[To put these large numbers into perspective, the United States is only 248 years old (1776). The Magna Carta is only 809 years old (1215). The Titanic sank only 112 years ago (1912).]

Throughout history, there has always been a Jewish presence in the area originally called Israel. Although there have been many conquerors (Babylonian, Roman, Byzantine, Early Muslim, Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman) in this territory once called Palestine, throughout the ages, it has always been referred to as the Holy Land or the Promised Land.

Therefore, Palestine = The Holy Land = The Promised Land = Israel (including the Temple Mount) and the Israelites/Jewish people. Not Persians, Christians, Arabs, or Arabs who identify as Palestinians. In other words, “Palestine” was always inexorably tied to “Israel.”

Even the United Nations agrees. The UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (29 November 1947), Part I (“Future Constitution and Government of Palestine”), Section A (“Termination of Mandate, Partition, and Independence”), Paragraph 3 reads: “Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem, set forth in Part III of this Plan, shall come into existence in Palestine two months after the evacuation of the armed [British] forces of the mandatory Power has been completed but in any case not later than 1 October 1948.” (Italic emphasis added.) Note the specific mention in UN Resolution 181 is for a Jewish State and Arab State, not a “Palestinian,” state.

What’s in a name? Palestinian, Arab, Israeli, Jew, Muslim, Christian? Most of us are a combination of several identities. In Israel, there’s always been a Jewish presence and since the late 1800’s Jews in the diaspora began returning home in greater numbers. There are Arabs and Christians who have lived in Israel for just a few generations or for many years. Some immigrated to Israel for love, education, or a career.

The obstacle for peace – Islamic Jihadism. As stated repeatedly, by their own words and actions, many Arab nations in Israel’s neighborhood want to destroy it and kill the Jewish people. Why can’t the Middle East live in peace?

There seems to be one major obstacle to peace – acceptance. Acceptance that the State of Israel is a place where all can practice their religion, have access to their holy sites, and be free to live and build a prosperous life. Instead of being a Muslim-run theocracy, as are some other countries, Israel is a Jewish democratic-theocracy. It is comparable to the concept that Western civilization has adopted by creating countries consisting of European Christian (of various denominations) democracies.

Unfortunately, this concept of religious equality and freedom goes against Islam’s fundamental Quranic belief that only it is the supreme religion, and all others are subservient, who must therefore live as second-class citizens (dhimini), or convert, or die. See Quran 9:33 and other relevant verses.

Islam repeatedly and consistently demonstrates its lack of acceptance of other religions and cultures by wiping them out as they expand. Recent proof can be found in Pakistan, which was a Hindu majority before the jihadist Islamic conquest. Due to Muslim persecution, the indigenous Pakistani Hindu community is on the verge of extinction. And Bethlehem, had a majority Christian population when the Palestinian Authority (PA) took control in 1995. By 2016, the Christian population in Bethlehem had dropped to just 12%.

The world needs to realize the continuing global domination goal of Islam is currently being carried out by the violent instability wrought in the Middle East and through the long-term Islamification of Europe and other countries.

Israel, as the democratic middle eastern country, is the first to battle with Islamic Jihadists. The democratic nations of the world must confront and force Islam to change (read: acceptance of others).

If the world democracies, including NATO and the United Nations, do not join Israel to fight this world-threating Islamic Jihadist movement now, their countries will undoubtedly be the next to be appropriated and taken over.