[Captain Sam]

The West Bank use to be part of Jordan, the Gaza Strip used to be part of Egypt and the Golan Heights use to be part of Syria, but lost those territories when the Arab nations lost the 6-day war.

So where does the name Palestinian come from? Where does the name Palestine come from? Isn't Palestine the region of Israel and Jordan? Shouldn't they just be called Arabs, and not Palestinians?

Can someone please tell me the name and origins of the words Palestine and Palestinians. And wouldn't Israeli's and Jordanian's also be technically called Palestinians?

[LehmanB]

the answer is - they are arabs. and define themselves as arabs.
there are arabs who lives in syria, egypt, saudia arabia and france.

i will write again what i have written in other place-

the decleration of a palestinian arab- small part of their empire- any arab who lived in palestine (=all ofisrael and jordan of today) for atleast two years before 1948.
and arab who immigrated to israel in 1946, is a palestinian arab.
if he lives now in kweit- he is kewit arab.
an arab who lived for generations in amman, the capital of jordan- is a palestinian arab.

there is a huge arab empire today. small part of it is under jewish hands now. it doesnt means arabs are not independent now.

[sploop!]

Where did the name Palestine come from?

The name Palestine refers to a region of the eastern Mediterranean coast from the sea to the Jordan valley and from the southern Negev desert to the Galilee lake region in the north. The word itself derives from "Plesheth", a name that appears frequently in the Bible and has come into English as "Philistine". Plesheth, (root palash) was a general term meaning rolling or migratory. This referred to the Philistine's invasion and conquest of the coast from the sea. The Philistines were not Arabs nor even Semites, they were most closely related to the Greeks originating from Asia Minor and Greek localities. They did not speak Arabic. They had no connection, ethnic, linguistic or historical with Arabia or Arabs.

The Philistines reached the southern coast of Israel in several waves. One group arrived in the pre-patriarchal period and settled south of Beersheba in Gerar where they came into conflict with Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. Another group, coming from Crete after being repulsed from an attempted invasion of Egypt by Rameses III in 1194 BCE, seized the southern coastal area, where they founded five settlements (Gaza, Ascalon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gat). In the Persian and Greek periods, foreign settlers - chiefly from the Mediterranean islands - overran the Philistine districts.

From the fifth century BC, following the historian Herodotus, Greeks called the eastern coast of the Mediterranean "the Philistine Syria" using the Greek language form of the name. In AD 135, after putting down the Bar Kochba revolt, the second major Jewish revolt against Rome, the Emperor Hadrian wanted to blot out the name of the Roman "Provincia Judaea" and so renamed it "Provincia Syria Palaestina", the Latin version of the Greek name and the first use of the name as an administrative unit. The name "Provincia Syria Palaestina" was later shortened to Palaestina, from which the modern, anglicized "Palestine" is derived.

This remained the situation until the end of the fourth century, when in the wake of a general imperial reorganization Palestine became three Palestines: First, Second, and Third. This configuration is believed to have persisted into the seventh century, the time of the Persian and Muslim conquests.

The Christian Crusaders employed the word Palestine to refer to the general region of the "three Palestines." After the fall of the crusader kingdom, Palestine was no longer an official designation. The name, however, continued to be used informally for the lands on both sides of the Jordan River. The Ottoman Turks, who were non-Arabs but religious Muslims, ruled the area for 400 years (1517-1917). Under Ottoman rule, the Palestine region was attached administratively to the province of Damascus and ruled from Istanbul. The name Palestine was revived after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and applied to the territory in this region that was placed under the British Mandate for Palestine.

The name "Falastin" that Arabs today use for "Palestine" is not an Arabic name. It is the Arab pronunciation of the Roman "Palaestina". Quoting Golda Meir:

The British chose to call the land they mandated Palestine, and the Arabs picked it up as their nation's supposed ancient name, though they couldn't even pronounce it correctly and turned it into Falastin a fictional entity. [In an article by Sarah Honig, Jerusalem Post, November 25, 1995]

source

This is the very first google response you get when you type 'origin palestinian' into google. It sounds pretty reasonable to me.

[Ontiphishtim]

Can someone please tell me the name and origins of the words Palestine and Palestinians. And wouldn't Israeli's and Jordanian's also be technically called Palestinians?

Palestine does not have any clear boundries and never did have. The occupiers (e.g., Romans, Arabs, Ottomans, British etc') have changed the boundries of Palestine and even divided it into parts. For instance the Romans divided 'Palaestina' into three parts: Palaestina Prima (First Palestine), Palaestina Secunda (You can guess) and Palaestina Terita (same).

[sploop!]

^ Answered different question to the one asked.

[Ontiphishtim]

My bad. I thought he asked why Jordan isn't techincally 'Palestine'.

Well, anyway, the Israelis and Jordanians aren't technically Palestinians because there is no longer such adminastrative region, and 'Palestinians' has already totally different meaning that was 200-100 years ago.

[Sephardi]

Jordan should be renamed to Palestine, The West Bank and Golan Heights (including East Jerusalem) fully annexed to Israel, and Gaza Strip becomes its own independent city-state as we end this crap once and for all.

[Aekos]

What are you on? Arabs would become 38% of Israel's population. In a few decades, they would make up a large majority. Unless you want all of Israel to become Palestine in this century, abandon the idea of annexing the West Bank.

[Sephardi]

What are you on? Arabs would become 38% of Israel's population. In a few decades, they would make up a large majority. Unless you want all of Israel to become Palestine in this century, abandon the idea of annexing the West Bank.

Who said I'm not gonna deport them?

[Aekos]

Yep, because that's totally feasible and not Nazi, because it's possible that world community wouldn't react at all.

[War Angel]

Arabs cannot even pronounce the word 'Palestine'. They say "Falah-steen" instead.

[sploop!]

I think this is a cultural thing. I know Israelis have a similar problem with the word 'Peace' - they tend to say 'Destroy' instead.

[LehmanB]

http://yoramettinger.newsnet.co.il/Front/Newsnet/reports.asp?reportId=263922

[LehmanB]

there is no 'palestinian nation'.

[Aekos]

Keep telling yourself that.

[Ontiphishtim]

I think this is a cultural thing.

No, they just can't pronouce 'P'.

[LehmanB]

aekos- the arabs in israel told me that

[sploop!]

No, they just can't pronouce 'P'.

Yeah, but that doesn't explain why 'Peace' comes out as 'Destroy'. Surely it should be 'Eace', or something?

[LehmanB]

sploop, people dont trust your suggestions to take their land ("peace"), because you cant post 50 links against them, showing they have no rights to exists, and than politely ask for a land which strategicly controls their heart- the west bank, which is the center of Israel land unit. it doesnt work like that.

[Tailz]

sploop, people dont trust your suggestions to take their land ("peace"), because you cant post 50 links against them, showing they have no rights to exists, and than politely ask for a land which strategicly controls their heart- the west bank, which is the centre of Israel land unit. it doesnt work like that.

People don’t trust your suggestion to take their land – settlement – all that much either.

Who has no rights to exist? And can you provide a quote of the text in which Sploop advocates this?