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:
We do not deny that a region called "Palestine"
has long existed.
We do not deny the long-time existence of Arab Muslim and Arab Christian peoples in this region.
The claim rather is that:
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, a mixture of Jews, Christians and Muslims
lived in the region of Palestine.
And Jews were not everywhere a minority.
Tour of the Holy Land in 1695
shows no Islamic nation at all:
This tour is described in Palaestina (1714)
by Reland.
This post
thought Reland made the tour in 1695.
But
Reland did not travel to Palestine himself.
He was a scholar of the region based in the Netherlands.
The post above summarises the book:
"Most of the land was empty, desolate, and the inhabitants few in number and mostly concentrated in the towns of Jerusalem, Acco, Tzfat, Jaffa, Tiberius and Gaza. Most of the inhabitants were Jews and the rest Christians. There were few Muslims, mostly nomad Bedouins.
...
In the Galilee capital, Nazareth, lived approximately 700 Christians and in Jerusalem approximately 5000 people, mostly Jews and some Christians.
...
In Gaza for example, lived approximately 550 people, 50 percent Jews and the rest mostly Christians."
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.
Writings almost never referred to Israel's enemies as the Palestinians.
The word barely existed.
Israel's enemies were the Arabs.
Before 1967, why were there were no demands for a "Palestinian" state in the West Bank and Gaza?
Jordanian rule over the West Bank 1948 to 1967.
Under Jordanian rule, there were no demands for a "Palestinian" state in the West Bank.
Why not?
Egyptian rule over Gaza 1948 to 1967.
Under Egyptian rule, there were no demands for a "Palestinian" state in Gaza.
Why not?
The answer is because the "Palestinians"
don't really care about a "Palestinian" state.
They never have.
Bruce Thornton, Dec 2011:
"The truly "ignorant," however, are those who have bought the "Palestinian homeland" propaganda. Where was all this talk about a homeland for the Palestinians in 1948, when the Arab armies invaded Israel? Their aim was not to create a Palestinian state, but rather to carve up the rest of British Mandatory Palestine ... "Abdullah [ruler of Transjordan] was to swallow up the central hill regions of Palestine . . . The Egyptians would get the Negev. The Galilee would go to Syria, except that the coastal part as far as Acre would be added to the Lebanon." Until 1967, the so-called "West Bank" was part of Jordan, but none of the Arab nations agitated for the creation of a Palestinian state. The "Palestinian homeland" became a tactical weapon after violence failed to achieve the real aim, the destruction of Israel."
Who Really Cares About the Palestinians? by Mitchell Bard, 19 Feb 2013.
On the Arab world's indifference to the oppression, expulsion and
slaughter of Palestinians
if it cannot be blamed on the Jews.
And the Arab world's indifference to a Palestinian state
before 1967.
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.
Robert Spencer, 9 Dec 2011, sums it up:
"The Palestinian nation was invented as a tool of the jihad against Israel. Instead of tiny Israel surrounded by huge and hostile Arab states, the picture suddenly changed to the powerful Israeli war machine victimizing an even tinier people."
PLO leader Zuheir Mohsen
tells the truth in 1977 about the invention of
"Palestine" as part of the struggle against Israel:
"The Palestinian people does not exist. ... In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. 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.
For tactical reasons, Jordan ... cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."
David Pryce-Jones, Dec 2013,
reviews
State Of Failure: Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Unmaking of the Palestinian State (2013)
by Jonathan Schanzer.
David Pryce-Jones says:
"The thrust of his book is that Palestine is neither a country nor a state, but only a cause with the one-track purpose of getting rid of the Jews. By definition, a cause is not open to negotiation and compromise but has to be satisfied by absolute victory. A Palestinian ruler who struck a genuine bargain with Jews could expect to lose power and probably his life as well, as Anwar Sadat did.
Yasser Arafat .. had the chance to transform Palestine into a state and a country but decided instead that the rewards from organising a cause would be greater."
Terrorist leader Yasser Arafat was given every opportunity to set up a functioning Palestinian state.
But he refused to do so.
He had no interest in such a thing.
Hamas now had a chance to ignore Israel and set up a functioning Palestinian state in Gaza.
But of course they refused to do so.
They have no interest in such a thing.
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."
How many millions of people around the world vaguely think that the occupied territories used to be part of a country called "Palestine"?
In reality, of course, they were previously part of Egypt and Jordan
(or to be precise, previously occupied by Egypt and Jordan).
This country called "Palestine" has never existed.
Lefties are so invested in their concept of a "country" called "Palestine"
that they get furious when you question it:
I calmly point out
to Irish leftie "Auntie Dote"
that her map showing "Palestinian land" is:
"Fake history. No such concept as "Palestinians" before 1960s."
She responds:
"Wrong. Fail. Bye."
and blocks me!
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.