Mark Humphrys (politics)

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Israel - Israeli-Palestinian conflict - The Palestinian nation was invented


 

Before the 1940s - Jews, Christians and Muslims

1940s to 1960s - The Arab-Israeli conflict

1962 book - "Palestinians" do not yet exist

1960s on - The Israeli-"Palestinian" conflict

The imaginary country called "Palestine"


The Palestinian nation was invented

The "Palestinian nation" is a recent invention - a tactic in the larger Arab war on Israel. It was invented to appeal to western leftists and the like. It succeeded.

Let us be clear what we mean:

  1. We do not deny that a region called "Palestine" has long existed.

  2. We do not deny the long-time existence of Arab Muslim and Arab Christian peoples in this region.

The claim rather is that:

  1. The term "The Palestinians" to refer to the Arabs of Palestine was invented in the 1960s. This is true, and can be proven. And this is important, because the concept of "The Palestinians" was basically invented in the 1960s.




Before the 1940s - Jews, Christians and Muslims

Before the 1940s, a mixture of Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in the region of Palestine. And Jews were not everywhere a minority.





Israel-haters talk as if the Jews are a recent arrival in the region.
The most casual investigation of history and archaeology reveals a different story.
This is from the entry for Jerusalem on p.77 of A Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine (1868).
Jerusalem in 1868 was 50 percent Jewish, 25 percent Muslim.



From a stereographic library of images from the Holy Land, Keystone View Company, 1905.
Says Jerusalem is 74 percent Jewish, 15 percent Christian, 11 percent Muslim.
Posted here.



The entry for JERUSALEM in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
Jerusalem in 1905 was 67 percent Jewish, 22 percent Christian, 12 percent Muslim. (Adds to over 100 due to rounding.)



The entry for PALESTINE in the 1911 Encyclopædia notes that it is not a country but rather an inexactly-defined region.



The entry for NAZARETH in the 1911 Encyclopædia shows it was majority Christian.
It is now majority Muslim.



The Middle East in 1914.
Israel is just a region in the Ottoman Empire.
There is no country called "Palestine".
From here.



Flags of the World book in 1939.
Note the Jewish nature of the flag for the British Mandate for Palestine.




1940s to 1960s - The Arab-Israeli conflict




New York Times in 1948.
At this point, the Israelis were referred to as the Jews of "Palestine".
Israel's local Muslim enemies were just called the "Arabs".
The name "Palestinians" was only invented later.



Danny Ayalon explains how the West Bank is not "occupied" territory.
Rather it is disputed territory, like many other places in the world.
It did not belong previously to a country called "Palestine".
Rather it belonged to Jordan, an aggressor state whose claim on it was itself dubious.




1962 book - "Palestinians" do not yet exist

Here is a Life book on Israel from 1962, shortly before the concept of the "Palestinians" was invented.


Front cover.
Posted here.



The index does not mention anyone called the "Palestinians".
See full size. Posted here.
The Philistines get a mention. The "Palestinians" do not.


  

1960s on - The Israeli-"Palestinian" conflict




From The Sentinel, May 5, 1977.
JCNS is the Jewish Chronicle News Service.
Posted here.



Anti-Israel Arab nationalist Christian Azmi Bishara in a pre-1996 video.
Translation: "Well, I dont think there is a Palestinian nation at all. I think there is an Arab nation. I always thought so and I did not change my mind. I do not think there is a Palestinian nation ... When were there any Palestinians? Where did it come from? I think there is an Arab nation. I never turned to be a Palestinian nationalist, despite my decisive struggle against the occupation. I think that until the end of the 19th century, Palestine was the south of Greater Syria."




The imaginary country called "Palestine"




The State of "Palestine" Quiz.
From Dry Bones.



Another version.
I love number 6!



The word "Palestinian" was invented in the 1960s.
This is a search on Google Books Ngram Viewer for the count of various words in scanned Google Books in 1900 to 2000.
It shows Israelites, Armenians, Kurds, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Samaritans as all ancient names, but Palestinians as a 1960s invention.



The region of "Palestine" existed.
The concept of the "Arabs" existed.
The concept of the "Palestinians" did not exist, before the 1960s.
From search of words in Google Books in 1800 to 2000.




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