Historical Context of the Jewish State
Did you know that in the original mandate that broke up the Ottoman Empire into several states, the one that designated the area for the Jewish State included the words “giving recognition to the historical connection between the Jewish people and Palestine”? The word “Palestine” in a political context appears only twice: once ending Jewish sovereignty and once in anticipation of building Jewish sovereignty.
Roman Era and the Name “Palestine”
The first time it is established in a political context is by the Roman Empire after it puts down the repeated Jewish rebellions. It was not only enough to crush the rebellion and send many of the Judeans into exile, but the idea was also to rename the area so that the Judeans in exile would no longer be recognized as having a connection with Judea. Therefore, the province of Judea was renamed by the Roman Empire as Syria Palestina, using Roman historians Herodotus’ notion that this area had a connection with an invading people—Plet means invading—with an invading people known as Philistines on the coastline. From that moment on, the Roman heirs, Europe, and Christianity knew the name “Palestine” for centuries and millennia as the geography in which the Jewish homeland once stood. In that sense, the Roman Emperor failed in the ability to disconnect the name of Palestina (Palestine) from its connection with Jewish sovereignty.
The Mandate System Post-World War I
Nearly 2,000 years later, the name “Palestine” appears again in a political context after the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. It was understood that the people of the Empire—the Kurds, the Armenians, the Arabs, the Turks, and the Jews—would have their states, but in the process, they would be tutored by the victorious powers, the British and the French. This interim process, called the mandate, was created for Arab states (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq) and also for a Jewish state. The mandate that was unanimously given by the League of Nations to the Jewish state for the Jewish people to achieve sovereignty included the following sentence: “giving recognition to the historical connection between the Jewish people and Palestine.” That recognition of the historical connection was therefore raised in the mandate as the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country. It was understood that the name “Palestine” means the geography where the Jewish homeland once stood and where it will once stand again.
Recognition and Usage of the Name “Palestine”
Recognizing the historic connection between the Jewish people and Palestine made sense to everyone. This is why it was unanimously agreed upon because everyone understood that “Palestine” was the Roman, European, Christian colonial name given to the geography where the Jewish homeland once stood and where it would one day be reconstituted. As a result, when the Jewish people under the British mandate created the institutions that would one day become the institutions of their sovereign state, they all included the name “Palestine” because everyone understood that this meant “Jewish.”
Misconceptions and Historical Reality
Sometimes you see on the internet these memes that say, “Oh, Palestine once existed,” in order to somehow claim that it was stolen by the Jews. They bring these images of a Palestine football club, and you think, “Oh my God, this is the football team of the Palestine that was stolen.” Then you zoom in only to realize that the names of the football players are Castenbam, Noodleman, and Fredman—they were all Jews because this was the football team of the Jewish priate here. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra was called the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra, and it was the orchestra of Jewish players who were no longer allowed to play in European orchestras. The Palestine Post later became the Jerusalem Post.
Decolonization and the Indigenous Name
When Israel finally declares independence, there is no longer a Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire, or British Empire. Finally, the Jewish people have decolonized themselves from multiple empires. They did what every self-respecting people did at that time when they finally threw off the yoke of their colonial rulers: they called themselves by their indigenous name. Gold Coast became Ghana, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, and Ceylon became Sri Lanka. The Jewish people did the same by throwing off the name “Palestine,” which was understood to be the colonial name, and giving their own indigenous name that had a connection to the land and the history—Israel.