Contrary to conventional wisdom, the geographic term "Palestine" was
predominantly associated - from biblical times until the 1948
establishment of Israel- with the Jewish people, Jewish history and
Jewish geography. It was the crux of Jewish national aspirations, the
Jewish Homeland.
In 135 AD, Judaea was renamed "Palestina," by the Roman Emperor
Hadrian, following the suppression of the Jewish uprising, in order to
eradicate Jewish nationhood and to uproot the inherent Jewish attachment
to the Land of Israel. Similarly, Jerusalem was renamed "Aelia
Capitolina," in honor of Aelius Hadrian and the Roman Capitol, in an
attempt to obliterate Jewish association with the spiritual and physical
core of Judaism.
Since 1949, and increasingly since 1967, the term "Palestine" has
been employed, by Israel's enemies, in order to delegitimize the
existence of the Jewish State. In April 1950, Judea and Samaria were
renamed "the West Bank", by the Jordanian occupation, in order to assert
Jordanian rule, and expunge Jewish connection to the cradle of Jewish
history. Until 1950, all official Ottoman, British and prior records
referred to "Judea and Samaria" and not to the "West Bank."
"Palestine" is a derivative of the Hebrew term "Plishtim" (invaders),
the Biblical name of the Philistines, non-Semites from the Greek
islands and from Phoenicia, who migrated in the 12th century BCE to
Pleshet, along the Mediterranean. The term "Palestine" was established,
in the 5th century BC, by the Greek historian, Herodotus, and adopted in
135 AD, by the Roman Empire, in an attempt to erase "Judaea" from human
memory.
According to Prof. Bernard Lewis, the icon of Mid-East historians
(International History Review, January, 1980), "the earliest attempts at
a territorial definition of the country later known as Palestine are in
the Bible." In its attempts to devastate Jewish national aspirations,
the Roman Empire attached Palestine to the province of Syria. In 400 AD,
Palestine was split into Palestina Prima - with its capital in Caesarea
- and Palestina Secunda - with its capital in Bethshean, further
diminishing the stature of Jerusalem.
Prof. Lewis notes that the 7th century Arab conquest of Palestine
perpetuated the neglect of Jerusalem, while elevating the status of
Lydda, Ramla and Tiberias. "In the early medieval Arabic usage, Filastin
[Palestine] and Urdunn [Jordan] were sub-districts forming part of the
greater geographical entity known as Syria.... Under Roman, Byzantine
and Islamic rule, Palestine was politically submerged. It reappeared
only under the Crusaders.... the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem....
"Under the successors of Saladin, and still more under the Mamluks,
the country was redistributed in new territorial units ... with its
capital in Damascus.... After the Ottoman conquest in 1516-17, the
country was divided into Ottoman administrative districts... subject to
the authority of the Governor-General of Damascus....
"[The term Palestine] was no longer used by Muslims, for whom it had
never meant more than an administrative sub-district and it had been
forgotten even in that limited sense....
"With the British conquest in 1917-18, Palestine became the official
name of a definite territory for the first time since the early Middle
Ages.... Palestine at this moment included both banks of the Jordan....
On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the UN adopted a
[non-binding] resolution approving the partition of mandatory Palestine
into three components: a Jewish state, an Arab state and an
international zone.... [The Arab] rejected the partition resolution and
went to war to prevent its implementation.... The Palestine entity,
formally established and defined by Britain, was formally abolished in
1948 with the termination of the Mandate."
The Land of Israel (Palestine) has played a critical role in Jewish
history, religion, nationalism, culture, language and personal and
communal relationships, compared with the marginal role played by
Palestine in Arab and Muslim history. Hence, the moral high ground for
mandating the establishment of a Jewish State by the 1917 Balfour
Declaration (on both sides of the Jordan River) and the 1922 League of
Nations' British Mandate for Palestine (from the Jordan River to the
Mediterranean). Article 80 of the UN Charter upholds the "Mandate for
Palestine," which has not been overruled until today.
The fact that most Arab towns and villages in Judea and Samaria have
retained their original Biblical Jewish names, highlights Jewish roots
in the Land of Israel (Palestine). For example, Bethlehem, Hebron,
A-Dura is Biblical Adora'yim, A-Ram is Haramah, Anata is Anatot, Batir
is Beitar, Beit-Hur is Beit Horon, Beitin is Bethel, Mukhmas is
Mikhmash, Seilun is Shilo, Tequa' is Teqoah, etc.
These sites are not occupied by the Jewish State. They are the
epitome of the Jewish moral high ground and Statehood in the Land of
Israel, Palestine.
See also: Who are the Palestinians
Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger
The Ettinger Report
"Second Thought: A US-Israel Initiative"
First published in
First published in "Israel Hayom" newsletter, December 16, 2011
