c



  
 

Map of    - Philistines area marked out.

The term 
 and the related term 
  have several overlapping (and occasionally
contradictory) definitions.
 
? î Palestine
? î.î Origin of the term
? î.2 Palestine in history and geography
? î.3 Jordan and Palestine
? î.4 British Mandate of Palestine
? î.5 Palestine as a region
? î.6 Palestine as a state
? 2 Palestinian
? 2.î By place of birth
? 2.2 Mandate definition
? 2.3 By place of origin
? 2.4 By citizenship
? 2.5 By ethnic origin
? 2.5.î Referring to the Arab subculture of the southern Levant
? 2.5.2 Referring to Jews in an ethnic rather than religious sense
? 3 See also
? 4 References
?


 

  
Œ
 Palestine ± Boundaries and name
The term  
is derived from Greek: ȆĮȜĮȚıIJȚȞȘ/Latin:  
, which refers to the
biblical Philistines, a people of Aegean origin who settled in the southern coastal plains of
Canaan, in the î2th century BC, their territory being named Philistia.
After crushing Bar Kochba's revolt in î32-î35, the Romans applied the name to the entire region
that had formerly included Iudaea Province,[î in an attempt to suppress Jewish national
feelings.[2 [3 The Arabic toponym  
(Arabic: ϦϴτδϠϓ) is also derived from the Latin name.
"The name Palestine, which the Romans had bestowed on the conquered and subjugated land of
Judea, had been retained for a time by the Arab conquerors to designate an administrative
subdivision of their Syrian province." The name had disappeared from the region prior to the
arrival of the Crusaders. The term was rediscovered in Europe at the time of the Renaissance and
used to refer to what "European Christians ... previously called the Holy Land." "The name was
not used officially, and had no precise territorial definition until it was adopted by the British to
designate the area which they acquired by conquest at the end of World War I and ruled under
mandate from the League of Nations."[4

    

Roman Province of Iudaea. Notice the coastal province of    , which the Greeks called
 
 and the Romans  
.
In historical contexts predating the British mandate of Palestine,  
was mostly a
geographical term, particularly used in the Roman Latin and Greek, and also other languages
taking their geographical vocabulary from them. The Romans united Iudaea with the Galilee to
form the Roman sub-province of Syria Palaestina (encapsulating territories of ancient Canaan,
Kingdom of Israel, Judah, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia) and thus included much of the land on
both sides of the Jordan River although with further political sub-divisions along the Jordan
River 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
a  
 
Œ


 

 





Sykes-Picot Agreement, Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire among France and Britain
Prior to the Allied Powers victory in World War I and the Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire,
which created the British mandate in the Levant, most of the northern area of what is today
Jordan formed part of the Ottoman Vilayet of Damascus (Syria), while the southern part of
Jordan was part of the Vilayet of Hejaz. What later became part of British Mandate Palestine was
in Ottoman times divided between the Vilayet of Beirut (Lebanon) and the Sanjak of
Jerusalem.[5
The Jordan Rift Valley (comprising Wadi Arabah, the Dead Sea and River Jordan) has at times
formed a political and administrative frontier, even within empires that have controlled both
territories. At other times, such as during the rule of the Kingdom of Israel and the Hasmonean
state for example, territories on both sides of the river formed part of the same administrative
unit.[  


  Alternatively, during the Arab Caliphate period, parts of southern Lebanon and
the northern highland areas of Palestine and Jordan were administered as 




,
while the southern parts of the latter two formed part of 

 , which after the ninth
century was attached to the administrative unit of 

 
(Arabic: ϦϴτδϠϓ ΪϨΟ).[6
In î
20, most of modern-day Jordan was at first incorporated into the planned League of Nations
mandate territory of Palestine. However, the Transjordan was made into a separate political unit
on April îî, î
2î, and its separate Mandate came into force in September î
23 as the Emirate of
Transjordan.
Nineteenth century sources refer to Palestine as extending from the sea to the caravan route,
presumably the Hejaz-Damascus route east of the Jordan River valley. Others refer to it as
extending from the sea to the desert.
   

 
Palestine and Transjordan under the British Mandate
Between î
22 and î
48, the term  
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. During the period of the British Mandate of Palestine, the term "Palestinian"
referred to all people residing there, regardless of religion, and those granted citizenship by the
Mandatory authorities were granted "Palestinian citizenship".[7 The term was used without any
ethnic connotations. For example, the 
  
, an Israeli newspaper, was called 

 

 from its founding in î
32 until î
50.

    
Sometimes people use the term  
in a limited sense 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 î

0s, this has included the Gaza Strip and most of the
West Bank. However in colloquial everyday usage residents of all parts of Palestine continue
using the name for the entire region of Historic Palestine (as defined before the creation of the
State of Israel). Palestinian citizens of Israel (who are officially referred to by Israel as "Israeli
Arabs") generally make a distinction between the land (Palestine) and the political structures
governing it (Israel, Palestinian Authority). Thus, many Palestinians in Israel, the Occupied
Territories and in dispersion use the word "Palestine" to refer to Historic Palestine, even when
they recognize Israel's existence and affirm its right to continue to exist; for such people,
Palestine and Israel are one and the same territory.

     


  
 

 


 

Modern usage of the term 
 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 in the region regard all the land west of the Jordan River as the territory of a
Palestinian state "from the river to the sea," in denial of Israel's existence or right to exist in the
future.
The term is also used to convey the sense that Palestine is   a state, either (a) consisting
only of Gaza & West Bank or (b) including as well all land held by Israel. Since the î
88
Palestinian Declaration of Independence, the UN General Assembly has recognized the PLO
mission there under the name "Palestine."[8

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

A "Palestinian" can mean a person who is born in the geographical area known prior to î
î8 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, founded in î
32 by Gershon Agron, was called 
 

. In î
50 its
name was changed to 
  
.
In î
23, Pinhas Rutenberg founded the Palestine Electric Company, Ltd. (later to become the
Israel Electric Corporation, Ltd.) There was a [Jewish Palestine Symphony Orchestra, and in
World War II, the British assembled a Jewish Brigade, to fight the Axis powers, that was known
as the Palestine regiment.
Since the establishment of Israel, its citizens are called   , while the term  


usually refers to the Palestinian Arabs.
   

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


 

 

In its common usage today, the term "Palestinian" refers to a person whose ancestors had lived in
the territory corresponding to British Mandate Palestine for some length of time prior to
î
48.[  


  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 Non-Jewish Arab refugees and émigrés from î
48 and
their descendants (though not the pre-Israeli Independence (î
48) non-Bedouin population of
Jordan.)
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 Non-Jew 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."[

 
This section       
     .
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. —  ! 
"##$%
A more specific widespread usage of "Palestinian" sometimes heard is to refer to native residents
of historic Palestine.
 

  
 
    
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.[î0
 
a      
  
The term "Palestinian" used to refer to Jews in Europe who were regarded as an alien presence.
For example, Immanuel Kant referred to European Jews as "the Palestinians living among us."[îî
 

!? Palestine (disambiguation)
!? Palestinian territories - variously defined
!? Palestinian National Authority - government over West Bank and Gaza
!? Palestinian people
!? Palestinian Jew

  
î.? ƒ The Bar-Kokhba Revolt (î32-î35 C.E.) by Shira Schoenberg, The Jewish Virtual Library
2.? ƒ 'The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered' By Peter Schäfer, ISBN 3-î6-î48076-7
3.? ƒ 'The Name ³Palestine´, The Jewish Virtual Library
4.? ƒ Bernard Lewis (î


). Semites and Anti-Semites, An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice. W.W. Norton
and Company. pp. î6
. ISBN 0-3
3-3î83
-7.
5.? ƒ "Palestinim, Am Behivatsrut," by Kimmerling, Baruch, and Joel S. Migdal - Keter Publishing, ISBN

65-07-07
7-2
6.? ƒ Kamal Suleiman Salibi (î

3). The Modern History of Jordan. I.B.Tauris. pp. î7±î8.
ISBN î8606433î0.
7.? ƒ Government of the United Kingdom (December 3î, î
30). 0&0
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0 Œ0&0
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'
10
2$3#. League of Nations.
http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/a47250072a3dd7
50525672400783bde/c2feff7b
0a248î5052565e6
004e5630!OpenDocument. Retrieved 2007-05-2
.
8.? ƒ Eric Suy, Karel Wellens (î

8). International Law: Theory and Practice : Essays in Honour of Eric
Suy. Martinus Nijhoff. p. 378. ISBN
04îî05824. http://books.google.ca/books?id=Nv6CuZ-
AcoYC&pg=PA377&dq=palestinian+right+of+return+subject:%22law%22&lr=&as_brr=0&sig=o85m0
WKxoB4R4btNjzuîJAvJknw#PPA377,Mî.

.? ƒ Definition of Palestinian (Jewish Virtual Library)
î0.? ƒ Amid conflict, Samaritans keep unique identity by Dana Rosenblatt (CNN)
îî.? ƒ Kant, Immanuel (î
74): 
4,


, 



 5 Translated by Mary J. Gregor.
The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, cited in Chad Alan Goldberg,    
0   . University of
Wisconsin-Madison
?