It is not often remembered that before 1948 the term 'Palestinian' referred exclusively to Jews. Arabs rejected the term, they weren't Palestinians, they were part of the Arab nation.
I just watched this interesting film about Tel Aviv, Palestine, from 1947 (via Not a Fish). It was very interesting to see what had changed, and what hadn't. I recognized most of the sites in Tel Aviv, the brand names, etc.
It was also interesting to see some important themes that we seem to have forgotten, for example the theme of freedom. The narrator makes a point that most people in Tel Aviv are engaged in peaceful industries, "I haven't heard an explosion since I got here," he says at one point.
One of the last lines of the film:
Posted by David Boxenhorn at March 16, 2005 11:14 AMWhen he is asked, "Who are you, and where are you from?" he will say, "I am a Jew, and I am from Tel Aviv, Palestine."
Palestine had the same borders as Israel, including the West Bank and Gaza (but not the Golan) in 1947. At an earlier point it included (Trans-)Jordan. What are now Syria and Lebanon were given to France after WWI, when the UK got Iraq and what became Palestine. All these areas were carved from the Turkish Empire, which divided up the region differently.
Posted by: David Boxenhorn at March 16, 2005 09:45 PM PermalinkI'm familiar with the post-Great War divisions. I was thinking in terms of prior alignments. Or was "Palestine" even a word before that. I guess I keep going back to the time of Herod and the Romans.
Posted by: Mike at March 17, 2005 01:13 AM PermalinkI guess I keep going back to the time of Herod and the Romans.
The word Palestine, in its modern usage was invented by the British, who didn't want to call it, "The Land of Israel" or "Judea". Before that, it wasn't used since the Romans changed the name of Judea to Palestina (after the Jews' long-gone enemies the Philistines) as a punishment for rebelling against Rome. See here.