Definitions of Palestine and Palestinian

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The term Palestine and the related term Palestinian have several overlapping (and occasionally contradictory) definitions.

See also:

Contents

[edit] Palestine

[edit] Prehistoric times

The term Palestine is derived from the name of the Philistines, a people of uncertain origins, possibly Aegean, who, in the 12th century BCE, settled along the southern Mediterranean coastal plain of what is now Israel and the Gaza Strip and disappeared several centuries later. After crushing Bar Kokhba's revolt (132-135), the Romans Latinized the hitherto seldom-used Greek name Palaestina (Παλαιστίνη) and applied it to the entire region that had formerly included Iudaea Province (which combined Judea, Samaria, and Idumea). To Jews, the name had connotations of past conflicts. This was done to send a message to any remaining Jewish rebels that they were no longer the owners of the land. The Arabic toponym Filastin (فلسطين) is derived from this name.

[edit] Palestine in history and geography

In historical contexts, especially predating the establishment of the State of Israel, Palestine was mostly a geographical term, particularly used in Greek, Latin, Arabic, and other languages taking their geographical vocabulary from them; it comprised the Roman sub-province of Syria Palaestina, roughly equivalent to ancient Canaan (including the Biblical kingdoms of Israel, Judah, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia) and thus included much of the land on either side of the Jordan River although with further political sub-divisions along the River Jordan valley .

See also: History of Palestine.

Also in geographical contexts, "Palestine" is often used, as it is a distinctly unique natural unit. Rivers, vegetation and bird migration have ignored political boundaries, while contributing to the development of the natural character of the land.

See also: Geography of the Palestinian territories and Geography of Israel

[edit] Is Jordan part of historical Palestine?

Before the establishment of the British mandate (see below), most of the area that is today Jordan was part of the Ottoman Vilayet of Syria (previously called the Vilayet of Damascus), the southern part of Jordan was part of the Vilayet of Hejaz. Palestine was divided between the Vilayet of Beirut and the Sanjak of Jerusalem. Sometimes the rift valley comprising Wadi Arabah, the Dead Sea and River Jordan has formed a political and administrative frontier, even within empires which controlled both territories and sometimes not. The ancient Kingdom of Israel and the Hasmonean state for example included territories on both sides of the river. During the period of the Caliphate what is today southern Israel/Palestine and southern Jordan were termed Jund Filasteen (جند فلسطين) and the northern parts of these land as Al Jund al Urdun. In 1920, most of modern Jordan was incorporated into the planned League of Nations mandate territory termed Palestine. Trans-Jordan became a separate political unit on April 11, 1921 and the Mandate came into force in September 1923 as the Emirate of Transjordan.

[edit] British Mandate of Palestine

Between 1922 and 1948, the term Palestine referred to the portion of the British Mandate of Palestine lying to the west of the Jordan River; that is, all of what is now Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip. It was used by both Arabs and Jews without any ethnic connotations. For example, the Jerusalem Post, an Israeli newspaper, was known as the Palestine Post from its founding in 1932 until 1950.

[edit] Palestinian Authority

Sometimes people use the term Palestine to refer to lands currently under the administrative control of the Palestinian Authority, a quasi-governmental entity which governs but lacks full sovereignty. Since the late 1990s, this has included the Gaza Strip and most of the West Bank.

[edit] Palestine as a state

Modern usage of the term Palestine usually refers to a prospective Palestinian state, incorporating both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Some who oppose the existence of a Jewish state regard all the land west of the Jordan River, including territory of modern State of Israel, as the territory of a Palestinian state "from the river to the sea".

The term is also used to convey the sense that Palestine is already a state, either (a) consisting only of Gaza & West Bank or (b) including as well all land held by Israel (see views of Palestinian statehood).

[edit] Palestinian: (noun) indigenous inhabitant of Palestine.

This section describes several viewpoints of what makes a person a "Palestinian".

[edit] By place of birth

A "Palestinian" can mean a person who is born in the geographical area known prior to 1918 as "Palestine", or a former citizen of the British Mandate territory called Palestine, or an institution related to either of these. Using this definition, both Palestinian Arabs and Palestinian Jews were called "Palestinians".

Before the establishment of the State of Israel, the meaning of the word "Palestinian" didn't discriminate on ethnic grounds, but rather referred to anything associated with the region. The local newspaper (now the Israeli Jerusalem Post) was called "the Palestine Post". There was a [Jewish] Palestine Symphony Orchestra, and when in World War II the British assembled a Jewish brigade to fight the Axis powers, it was known as the Palestine regiment.

Since the establishment of Israel, the term "Palestinian" is a reference to the native Arabs of Palestine.

[edit] Mandate definition

Britain used the term "Palestinian" to refer to all persons legally residing in or born in the boundaries of the Palestine without regard to their ethnicity, religion, or place of origin.[citation needed]

[edit] By place of origin

In its common usage, "Palestinian" refers to a person whose ancestors had lived in the territory corresponding to British Mandate Palestine for some length of time prior to 1948. This definition includes the inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (including Dom and Samaritans, but excluding Israeli settlers and most Armenians), the Israeli Arabs (including Druze and Bedouin), the Israeli Jews whose families moved there prior to The founding of the State of Israel, and the Arab refugees and emigrés from 1948 and their descendants (though not the pre-Israeli Independence (1948) non-Bedouin population of Jordan.)

JSource, the Jewish Virtual Library, uses a similar but slightly narrower definition: "Although anyone with roots in the land that is now Israel, the West Bank and Gaza is technically a Palestinian, the term is now more commonly used to refer to Arabs with such roots ... Most of the world's Palestinian population is concentrated in Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jordan, although many Palestinians live in Lebanon, Syria and other Arab countries." JSource Virtual Library definition of Palestinian

[edit] By citizenship

A more specific widespread usage of "Palestinian" sometimes heard is to refer to native residents of British Mandate Palestine who do not have Israeli or Jordanian citizenship, and to institutions outside the Israeli state and territories not incorporated into it.

[edit] By ethnic origin

[edit] Referring to the Arab subculture of the southern Levant

The word "Palestinian" is occasionally used by ethnographers and linguists to denote the specific Arab subculture of the southern Levant; in that sense, it includes not only the Arabs of British Mandate Palestine, but also those inhabitants of Jordan who are originally from Palestine and the Druze, while excluding both Bedouin (who culturally and linguistically group with Arabia) and ethnic minorities such as the Dom and Samaritans. However, some of this definition is not accepted. The Samaritans of the West Bank are usually referred to as Palestinian [1].

[edit] Referring to Jews in a national rather than religious sense

The major English language Zionist newspaper of the Yishuv was called The Palestine Post. Founded in 1932, in 1950 it was renamed into The Jerusalem Post.
The major English language Zionist newspaper of the Yishuv was called The Palestine Post. Founded in 1932, in 1950 it was renamed into The Jerusalem Post.

[edit] External links

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