Arab self-identification as “palestinians” has been a thing only since around 1968. Prior to 1948, “palestinian” was an identifier used only by Jewish citizens of Mandatory Palestine. Arabs used the term to disparage Jews. In May 1948, with the establishment of Israel, palestinian Jews became Israelis. The term was mostly retired after that until Yasser Arafat established the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Arabs thus became “palestinians” and they “needed to be liberated.”
Actually, the history of Palestine is a fascinating study in and of itself. The designation was first used by the Romans. After the Bar Kochba revolt (132-136 ce), the Romans renamed Judea “Syria Palestina” in order to dislodge Jewish identification with the region (Judea means “of the Jews”). Over the next century or so, the name was discarded while the region came under control of several imperial regimes, culminating with it being part of the Ottoman Empire. (You might want to read Mark Twains travelogue, The Innocents Abroad, where he describes the conditions of the Holy Land circa 1869.)
Following the desolation of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the League of Nations gave the UK control over what it named the Mandate for Palestine. This would be the first time the name was used for a governmental body in that region since before the crusades.
Do “palestinians” have the right to self-determination and a right to land of their own? Yes. The fact is, the land of Palestine exists today and has existed since May 25, 1946.
The British Mandate for Palestine consisted of the entire territory of what we today call Israel and Jordan. That entire territory was promised by the UK (via the Balfour Declaration) to be a “homeland for the Jews.” But in May 1946, the Brits, in order to reward Arab armies for helping out elsewhere, hived the area East of the Jordan River (agriculturally the more productive of the entire mandate) off to the Arabs to form Jordan.
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There is your two-state- solution. Even the official flags of Jordan and Palestine give it away: they are near identical. But that has never been good enough for the Arabs, so time and time again they have been offered other solutions and have rejected every one of them, often starting a little mini-war in the wake. For over 80 years the Arabs have wanted one and only one thing: for the Jews to to vacate “from the river to the sea.”
That’s never going to happen.
In 2005 Israel decided to force a Palestinian state, and withdrew every one and every thing from Gaza. From then until now, Gaza has continuously fired rockets at cities and towns throughout southern Israel, culminating on October 7th 2023 with an actual real genocidal act. And Israel retaliated.
Honestly, Israel is the single most powerful nation in the Middle East. They have the best trained military on Earth and some of the most sophisticated and lethal hardware. The charge of genocide is contingent upon intent. I guarantee you, if Israel’s intent was genocide the war which started 10/7/2023 would have been over by Samhain 2023. That’s a fact.
“Books,” as Ringo Star stated in A Hard Days Night “are Good.”
I recommend this book for any one who wants to learn the truth about “palestine.” In fact, it should be mandatory reading for every college student in the country:
