The Term ‘Palestinian’ Is a Political Invention, Not an Actual People

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Let’s talk about the “Palestinians.” This ethnic descriptor is synonymous with the idea of resistance for millions of jihad-minded Muslims and their Ivy League sycophants. The term in and of itself seems to carry an air of dignity and pride, humility and revolution, pain and persistence. 

It doesn’t come across the history books with the flash-bang, in-your-face effect of the British or the Chinese or especially of us loudmouth Americans. Rather, the term “Palestinian” comes across like a forgotten offshoot of a greater power long ago, like a lesser tribe of Native Americans or Siberian nomads, their spartan naïveté unjustly smothered under the colonialist onslaught of savvier, more treacherous forces. At least that’s how willing dupes in the West understand the “Palestinian.”

But to understand it in its proper historical context, the label “Palestinian” denotes geographic location, not ethnic identity. Residency in the Midwest, the Rust Belt, or the Great Plains doesn’t mean there are separate ethnic groups of Midwesterners, Rustbeltics, and Great Plainsians. The current political entity of Israel sits on land that witnessed the comings and goings of many ethnic groups over thousands of years, all of which could rightfully call themselves “Palestinians.” Prior to the current conflict, the term was never used to describe a specific religion, nationality, ethnicity, or political ideology.

The name “Palestine” is Hebrew (or possibly Aramaic) in origin. It first appeared in the Book of Exodus as “Pelishtim,” thought to have its origin between 1440 and 1400 BC. By the 5th century BC, the Greeks had already adapted the name into “Palaistine”, which roughly translates from Greek to “wrestler.” This supports the theory of its Hebraic origin, as the word Israel means “those who wrestle with God.” The Romans continued its usage as “Palaestina.”

It was used to describe the region’s various Semitic inhabitants, a diverse mix of Ammonites, Moabites, Hittites, Assyrians, Canaanites, and most significantly Hebrews. In the ensuing centuries, the Babylonians destroyed the Moabites. The Egyptian records document that an unknown “sea people” destroyed the Hittites. Modern-day Ammonites inhabit Iraq and Jordan (whose capital is Amman). While the Hebrews generally get credit for annihilating the Canaanites, modern scholarship suggests the latter group survived and that its descendants reside in modern-day Lebanon.

The Hebrews have a stronger ancestral claim than any other group to the land once called “Palestine,” and have lived there for longer than any other group. It’s mind-boggling that the same Western activists hyperventilating that the entire Western hemisphere is “stolen land” refuse to apply that same logic to the historical realities that apply to Israel. For anyone counting, the Jews called “Palestine” their home over 2,000 years before Islam was even a religion.

No pan-Arab political ideology, even in the 20th century, referred to a distinct “Palestinian” people until after the 1967 war. The newly-founded Palestinian Liberation Organization defined Palestinians as “an integral part of the Arab nation” and originally advocated for their eventual integration into “the greater Arab homeland.” 

But Muslims know a thing or two about “stolen land.” Their entire religion was built on it. Today’s Muslim “Palestinians” are largely ethnic Arabs, the grim result of their ancestors having launched several invasions since the 6th century and never stopping. Had they been white Europeans, any Western activist would decry them as “colonizers” and “occupiers.”

The Muslims occupying Gaza and their Iranian masters don’t care about the physical land. When then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally pulled the IDF out of Gaza, the occupying Muslims promptly destroyed every structure that the Jews left behind. They care about the land in the abstract, to the extent that they see it as belonging to them by divine right. 

But don’t take my word for it. The Quran itself exhorts its followers, “Kill them whenever you come upon them and drive them out of the places from which they have driven you out.” This passage is an extremely important point and explains the mindset of radical Muslim extremists worldwide.

Muslims are instructed to “drive them out of the places from which they have driven you out.” What the more fundamentalist strain of Islam has always interpreted this to mean is that once Islam has claimed or conquered land, it is the duty of Muslims to fight for its reclamation should that land fall back under the control of the infidel.

For example, Osama bin Laden (and other Islamic extremists) often referred to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) as “al-Andalus.” This was the name Muslim invaders gave to this area during their 700-year occupation. Christians eventually drove these occupiers out by 1492. However, according to their interpretation of the Quran, hardcore Islamists consider it a religious duty to reclaim Spain from the infidels even if Muslims stole it first.

Got that? They can steal from us, and it’s Quranically sanctioned. But if we infidels win that land back, they consider it an affront to their theological order and are duty-bound to continue fighting for the particular land in question until they re-steal it back. If you examine their rhetoric, this holds true not just for Israel, but also for land they’ve “lost” in Spain, Italy, France, southern Europe, Turkey, northern India, Kashmir, and elsewhere.

To put it another way, let’s say a Muslim breaks into your house and forcibly evicts you (assuming he doesn’t kill you and sell your children into slavery, as they did with millions of Europeans). And then let’s say you muster up enough strength to re-enter your house and kick out the Muslim who stole it from you. And then the Muslim says that he now must keep fighting you until you leave your own house because the Quran instructs him to “drive them out of the places from which they have driven you out,” conveniently glossing over the fact that he stole it from you first.

This is the logic we’re dealing with when Muslims say they’re “resisting” Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Muslims first occupied the Holy Land in 636 AD, when Arab armies laid siege to and conquered Jerusalem. Aside from a brief respite during the Crusades, Muslim empires (first Arab, then Turkish) occupied Palestine until the creation of the state of Israel. But contrary to ill-informed college opinion, there were never no Jews on the land. Palestine has been their homeland since the Exodus, despite pogroms, exiles, and oppressions, and has remained so even throughout the worst of the Muslim occupation.

But since Jews now govern the land, the radical Islamists see this as an affront to their religion because they once governed it and they consider it theirs by right for eternity. This explains the current obsession with this strip of land smaller than the state of New Jersey. Before the creation of Israel, the occupying Muslims had largely neglected and sparsely inhabited the land itself. If they ever regain control, it will quickly revert to this neglected state.

The jihadist’s focus today is the reclamation of Israel. Tomorrow, it will be the reclamation of Spain, Italy, and southeast Europe. And since radical Muslims see the entire world as “Dar al-Islam,” it’s just a matter of time before they use these theological justifications as an excuse to conquer what remains of the West. That means no more parades, Queers for Palestine.

To recap, the term “Palestinian” is operationally useless but politically genius. It’s the verbal equivalent of the Che Guevara t-shirt for morons who think it makes them revolutionary but fail to grasp a single implication of the underlying issues. But the current Muslim occupiers calling themselves “Palestinians” are the ones living on land their ancestors stole. The true “Palestinians,” were it an actual ethnic phrase, are the Hebrews who have lived there continuously for over 3,000 years now.

For some wholesome fun, find a leftist who is taking a breather between screams. Start explaining to them the actual history of the term “Palestine” and record the nanoseconds it takes for them to start screaming again. It’s as good a thing to bet on as any.