There Never Has Been a State of Palestine

There never has been an independent, self-governed national entity called “Palestine.”

In Biblical times, the region now encompassing Israel was known as Canaan, which included the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The term “Palestine” originally referred to a small area occupied by the Philistines (as one theory has it), from whence comes the name “Palestine.” In Roman times, the area was known as Judea and was ruled by Jewish kings, and, under the Roman Emperor Constantine, became a Christian province generally known in Europe simply as “The Holy Land.” The name “Palestine” was not legally applied until the British occupation starting in 1915.

And, of course, following the Second World War and the Holocaust, the region was established as Israel, a Jewish state, although Arab Muslims have full civil rights in that nation. But an independent, self-governed state of “Palestine” did not exist.

That is the claim made and supported by my good friend Jillian Becker, who has traveled through Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) strongholds while writing her book “The Plo: The Rise and Fall of the Palestine Liberation Organization.” Ms. Becker, who has also authored, among other works, “Hitler’s Children: The Story of the Baader-Meinhof Terrorist Gang,” is an accomplished author and researcher who has made a study of this topic. On the topic of Palestine, she writes:

If there is one issue in world politics on which opinions are held most strongly while being least informed it is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Vast numbers of people, almost certainly a majority, believe these falsehoods:

1. The Palestinians had their country taken away from them by the Jews.
2. The Israelis expelled the Palestinians.
3. The Israelis illegally occupy territories that belong to the Palestinians.
4. The Israelis refuse to negotiate for peace with Palestinian leaders.
5. Israeli intransigence impeded a peace process that Palestinian leaders pursued in good faith.

We summarily dismiss points 1 and 2: –

1. There never was, in all history, a State of Palestine.
2. There is no evidence that any Arabs were expelled from the State of Israel. There is evidence that in at least one city – Haifa – they were implored to stay. There is also evidence that the Mufti of Jerusalem and Arab leaders urged them to leave before five Arab armies invaded the newly-declared State of Israel, promising them a victory after which the refugees would return to their homes. And there is absolute certainty that hundreds of thousands of Jews were forcibly expelled – stripped of all they possessed – from the Arab states. 

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