Palestinians

==Etymology==
{{See also|Timeline of the name Palestine{{!}}Timeline of the name ''Palestine''}}
The [[Greek language|Greek]] toponym ''Palaistínē'' (Παλαιστίνη), which is the origin of the [[Arabic]] ''Filasṭīn'' (فلسطين), first occurs in the work of the 5th century BCE [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] historian [[Herodotus]], where it denotes generally<ref name="Exception">With the exception of Bks. 1, 105; 3.91.1, and 4.39, 2.</ref> the coastal land from [[Phoenicia]] down to [[Egypt]].<ref name="Herodotus1">[[Herodotus]] describes its scope in the Fifth Satrapy of the Persians as follows: "From the town of Posidium, [...] on the border between [[Cilicia]] and Syria, as far as [[Egypt]]&nbsp;– omitting Arabian territory, which was free of tax, came 350 talents. This province contains the whole of Phoenicia and that part of Syria which is called Palestine, and Cyprus. This is the fifth Satrapy." (from Herodotus Book 3, 8th logos).[http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.mb.txt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629060743/http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.mb.txt|date=29 June 2011}}</ref><ref name="Cohenp36">Cohen, 2006, p. 36.</ref> Herodotus also employs the term as an [[ethnonym]], as when he speaks of the "Syrians of Palestine" or "Palestinian-Syrians",<ref name="Herodotus2">Herodotus, ''The Histories'', Bks. 2:104 (Φοἰνικες δἐ καὶ Σὐριοι οἱ ἑν τᾔ Παλαιστἰνῃ, "Phoinikes de kaì Surioi oi en té Palaistinē"); 3:5; 7:89.</ref> an ethnically amorphous group he distinguishes from the Phoenicians.<ref name="Kasher">Kasher, 1990, p. 15.</ref><ref>David Asheri, ''A Commentary on Herodotus, Books 1–4,'' Oxford University Press, 2007 p.402: "'the Syrians called Palestinians', at the time of Herodotus were a mixture of Phoenicians, Philistines, Arabs, Egyptians, and perhaps also other peoples. . . Perhaps the circumcised 'Syrians called Palestinians' are the Arabs and Egyptians of the Sinai coast; at the time of Herodotus there were few Jews in the coastal area."</ref> Herodotus makes no distinction between the inhabitants of Palestine.<ref>W.W. How, J. Wells (eds.), ''A Commentary on Herodotus'', Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1928, vol.1 p.219.</ref>

[[File:Medieval Arab Palestine.jpg|thumb|A depiction of Syria and Palestine from CE 650 to 1500]]

The Greek word reflects an ancient Eastern Mediterranean-Near Eastern word which was used either as a [[toponym]] or [[ethnonym]]. In [[Afroasiatic languages|Ancient Egyptian]] ''Peleset/Purusati''<ref>''pwlɜsɜtj''. John Strange, ''Caphtor/Keftiu: a new investigation,'' Brill, 1980 p. 159.</ref> has been conjectured to refer to the "[[Sea Peoples]]", particularly the [[Philistines]].<ref name="AK2013">{{citation|title=The Philistines and Other "Sea Peoples" in Text and Archaeology|work=Society of Biblical Literature Archaeology and biblical studies|volume=15|first=Ann E.|last=Killebrew|publisher=Society of Biblical Lit|date=2013|isbn=9781589837218|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBCl2IQfNioC&pg=PA1|page=2|access-date=29 November 2023|archive-date=29 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129192547/https://books.google.com/books?id=gBCl2IQfNioC&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the French Egyptologist G. Maspero (1896), the somewhat misleading term "Sea Peoples" encompasses the ethnonyms Lukka, Sherden, Shekelesh, Teresh, Eqwesh, Denyen, Sikil / Tjekker, Weshesh, and Peleset (Philistines). [Footnote: The modern term "Sea Peoples" refers to peoples that appear in several New Kingdom Egyptian texts as originating from "islands" (tables 1–2; Adams and Cohen, this volume; see, e.g., [[Robert Drews|Drews]] 1993, 57 for a summary). The use of quotation marks in association with the term "Sea Peoples" in our title is intended to draw attention to the problematic nature of this commonly used term. It is noteworthy that the designation "of the sea" appears only in relation to the Sherden, Shekelesh, and Eqwesh. Subsequently, this term was applied somewhat indiscriminately to several additional ethnonyms, including the Philistines, who are portrayed in their earliest appearance as invaders from the north during the reigns of Merenptah and Ramesses Ill (see, e.g., Sandars 1978; Redford 1992, 243, n. 14; for a recent review of the primary and secondary literature, see Woudhuizen 2006). Hencefore the term Sea Peoples will appear without quotation marks.]</ref><ref name="Drews48">[https://books.google.com/books?id=bFpK6aXEWN8C&pg=PA48 The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe Ca. 1200 B.C., Robert Drews, p48–61] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129192547/https://books.google.com/books?id=bFpK6aXEWN8C&pg=PA48#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=29 November 2023 }} Quote: "The thesis that a great "migration of the Sea Peoples" occurred ca. 1200 B.C. is supposedly based on Egyptian inscriptions, one from the reign of Merneptah and another from the reign of Ramesses III. Yet in the inscriptions themselves such a migration nowhere appears. After reviewing what the Egyptian texts have to say about 'the sea peoples', one Egyptologist (Wolfgang Helck) recently remarked that although some things are unclear, "eins ist aber sicher: Nach den ägyptischen Texten haben wir es nicht mit einer "Völkerwanderung" zu tun." ("one thing is clear: according to the Egyptian texts, we are not dealing here with a '[[Migration Period|Völkerwanderung]]' [migration of peoples as in 4th–6th-century Europe].") Thus the migration hypothesis is based not on the inscriptions themselves but on their interpretation."</ref> Among [[Semitic languages]], [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] ''Palaštu'' (variant ''Pilištu'') is used of 7th-century Philistia and its, by then, four city states.<ref>Seymour Gitin, 'Philistines in the Book of Kings,' in [[André Lemaire]], Baruch Halpern, Matthew Joel Adams (eds.) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=1SXbIFYu-ZAC&pg=PA312 The Books of Kings: Sources, Composition, Historiography and Reception] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129192658/https://books.google.com/books?id=1SXbIFYu-ZAC&pg=PA312#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=29 November 2023 }}'', BRILL, 2010 pp.301–363, for the Neo-Assyrian sources p.312: The four city-states of the late Philistine period (Iron Age II) are ''Amqarrūna'' ([[Ekron]]), ''Asdūdu'' ([[Ashdod]]), ''Hāzat'' ([[Gaza City|Gaza]]), and ''Isqalūna'' ([[Ashkelon]]), with the former fifth capital, [[Gath (city)|Gath]], having been abandoned at this late phase.</ref> [[Biblical Hebrew]]'s cognate word ''Plištim'', is usually translated [[Philistines]].<ref>Strange 1980 p.159.</ref>

When the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] conquered the region in the first century BCE, they used the name [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]] for the province that covered most of the region. At the same time, the name ''Syria Palestina'' continued to be used by historians and geographers to refer to the area between the [[Mediterranean Sea]] and the [[Jordan River]], as in the writings of [[Philo]], [[Josephus]] and [[Pliny the Elder]]. During the early 2nd century CE, [[Syria Palaestina]] became the official administrative name in a move viewed by scholars as an attempt by emperor [[Hadrian]] to disassociate Jews from the land as punishment for the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]].<ref name="H.H. Ben-Sasson, 1976, page 334">H.H. Ben-Sasson, ''A History of the Jewish People'', Harvard University Press, 1976, {{ISBN|0-674-39731-2}}, page 334: "In an effort to wipe out all memory of the bond between the Jews and the land, Hadrian changed the name of the province from Judaea to Syria-Palestina, a name that became common in non-Jewish literature."</ref><ref name="Ariel Lewin p. 33">Ariel Lewin. ''The archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine''. Getty Publications, 2005 p. 33. "It seems clear that by choosing a seemingly neutral name – one juxtaposing that of a neighboring province with the revived name of an ancient geographical entity (Palestine), already known from the writings of Herodotus – Hadrian was intending to suppress any connection between the Jewish people and that land." {{ISBN|0-89236-800-4}}</ref><ref name="F90">{{harvnb|Feldman|1990|p=19}}: "While it is true that there is no evidence as to precisely who changed the name of Judaea to Palestine and precisely when this was done, circumstantial evidence would seem to point to Hadrian himself, since he is, it would seem, responsible for a number of decrees that sought to crush the national and religious spirit of thejews, whether these decrees were responsible for the uprising or were the result of it. In the first place, he refounded Jerusalem as a Graeco-Roman city under the name of Aelia Capitolina. He also erected on the site of the Temple another temple to Zeus."</ref> Jacobson suggested the change to be rationalized by the fact that the new province was far larger.{{sfn|Jacobson|2001|p=44-45|ps=: "Hadrian officially renamed Judea Syria Palaestina after his Roman armies suppressed the Bar-Kokhba Revolt (the Second Jewish Revolt) in 135 C.E.; this is commonly viewed as a move intended to sever the connection of the Jews to their historical homeland. However, that Jewish writers such as Philo, in particular, and Josephus, who flourished while Judea was still formally in existence, used the name Palestine for the Land of Israel in their Greek works, suggests that this interpretation of history is mistaken. Hadrian's choice of Syria Palaestina may be more correctly seen as a rationalization of the name of the new province, in accordance with its area being far larger than geographical Judea. Indeed, Syria Palaestina had an ancient pedigree that was intimately linked with the area of greater Israel."}}{{sfn|Jacobson|2001|p=44–45|ps=:"Hadrian officially renamed Judea Syria Palaestina after his Roman armies suppressed the Bar-Kokhba Revolt (the Second Jewish Revolt) in 135 C.E.; this is commonly viewed as a move intended to sever the connection of the Jews to their historical homeland. However, that Jewish writers such as Philo, in particular, and Josephus, who flourished while Judea was still formally in existence, used the name Palestine for the Land of Israel in their Greek works, suggests that this interpretation of history is mistaken. Hadrian's choice of Syria Palaestina may be more correctly seen as a rationalization of the name of the new province, in accordance with its area being far larger than geographical Judea. Indeed, Syria Palaestina had an ancient pedigree that was intimately linked with the area of greater Israel."}} The name was thenceforth inscribed on coins, and beginning in the fifth century, mentioned in [[Rabbinic literature|rabbinic texts]].<ref name="H.H. Ben-Sasson, 1976, page 334" /><ref name="Cohenp37">Cohen, 2006, p. 37.</ref>{{sfn|Feldman|1996|p=553}} The Arabic word ''Filastin'' has been used to refer to the region since the time of the earliest [[medieval]] Arab [[geographer]]s. It appears to have been used as an [[Arabic]] [[nisba (suffix)|adjectival noun]] in the region since as early as the 7th century.<ref name=Kishp200>Kish, 1978, p. 200.</ref>

[[File:Khalil Beidas.jpg|thumb|150px|left|[[Khalil Beidas]] (1874–1949) was the first person to self-describe Palestine's Arabs as "Palestinians" in the preface of a book he translated in 1898.]]

In modern times, the first person to self-describe Palestine's Arabs as "Palestinians" was [[Khalil Beidas]] in 1898, followed by Salim Quba'in and [[Najib Nassar]] in 1902. After the 1908 [[Young Turk Revolution]], which eased press censorship laws in the Ottoman Empire, dozens of newspapers and periodicals were founded in Palestine, and the term "Palestinian" expanded in usage. Among those were the ''Al-Quds'', ''Al-Munadi'', ''[[Falastin (newspaper)|Falastin]]'', ''[[Al-Karmil]]'' and Al-Nafir newspapers, which used the term "Filastini" more than 170 times in 110 articles from 1908 to 1914. They also made references to a "Palestinian society", "Palestinian nation", and a "Palestinian diaspora". Article writers included Christian and Muslim Arab Palestinians, Palestinian emigrants, and non-Palestinian Arabs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/49925414|title=The Origins of the term "Palestinian" ("Filasṭīnī") in late Ottoman Palestine, 1898–1914|work=Emmanuel Beshka|year=2021|publisher=Academia Letters|access-date=29 November 2023|archive-date=22 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622134525/https://www.academia.edu/49925414|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Palestine Facts|publisher=PASSIA: Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs|url=http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/chronology/14001962.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116190029/http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/chronology/14001962.htm|archive-date=16 January 2013}}</ref> The Palestinian Arab Christian Falastin newspaper had addressed its readers as Palestinians since its inception in 1911 during the Ottoman period.<ref name="AAP1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHa3AwAAQBAJ|title=The PFLP's Changing Role in the Middle East|page=36|author=Harold M. Cubert|publisher=Routledge|date=3 June 2014|isbn=978-1-135-22022-8 |accessdate=31 December 2023|quote=That year, Al-Karmil was founded in Haifa 'with the purpose of opposing Zionist colonization...' and in 1911, Falastin began publication, referring to its readers, for the first time, as 'Palestinians'.}}</ref><ref name="APP2">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kdnxxIskv_MC|title=The Arabs and Zionism Before World War I|page=128|author=Neville J. Mandel|year=1976|accessdate=31 December 2023|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-02466-3 |quote=As befitted its name, Falastin regularly discussed questions to do with Palestine as if it were a distinct entity and, in writing against the Zionists, addressed its readers as "Palestinians".}}</ref>

During the [[Mandatory Palestine]] period, the term "Palestinian" was used to refer to all people residing there, regardless of religion or [[ethnicity]], and those granted [[citizenship]] by the British Mandatory authorities were granted "Palestinian citizenship".<ref>{{cite web |author=Government of the United Kingdom |title=Report by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of Palestine and Trans-Jordan for the Year 1930 |publisher=[[League of Nations]] |date=31 December 1930 |url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/a47250072a3dd7950525672400783bde/c2feff7b90a24815052565e6004e5630!OpenDocument |access-date=29 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070222095422/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/a47250072a3dd7950525672400783bde/c2feff7b90a24815052565e6004e5630%21OpenDocument |archive-date=22 February 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Other examples include the use of the term [[Palestine Regiment]] to refer to the Jewish Infantry Brigade Group of the British Army during World War II, and the term "Palestinian Talmud", which is an alternative name of the [[Jerusalem Talmud]], used mainly in academic sources.

[[File:Filastin 1936 issue (cropped).png|thumb|1936 issue of the Palestinian Arab Christian ''[[Falastin (newspaper)|Falastin]]'' newspaper addressed its readers as "Palestinians" since its establishment in 1911.<ref name="AAP1"/>]]

Following the 1948 [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|establishment of Israel]], the use and application of the terms "Palestine" and "Palestinian" by and to [[Palestinian Jews]] largely dropped from use. For example, the English-language newspaper ''[[The Palestine Post]]'', founded by Jews in 1932, changed its name in 1950 to ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]''. The term [[Arab Jews]] can include Jews with Palestinian heritage and Israeli citizenship, although some Arab Jews prefer to be called [[Mizrahi Jews]]. Non-Jewish [[Arab citizens of Israel]] with Palestinian heritage identify themselves as Arabs or Palestinians.<ref name=Kershner>{{cite news|title=Noted Arab citizens call on Israel to shed Jewish identity|author=Isabel Kershner|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/08/africa/web.0208israel.php|newspaper=International Herald Tribune|date=8 February 2007|access-date=8 January 2007|archive-date=16 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016194050/http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/08/africa/web.0208israel.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> These non-Jewish Arab Israelis thus include those that are Palestinian by heritage but Israeli by citizenship.<ref name="CFR-Kurlantzick">{{Cite news |last=Macfarlane |first=Julia |title=Behind the uprisings among Palestinians with Israeli citizenship |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/uprisings-palestinians-israeli-citizenship/story?id=77741627 |date=21 May 2021 |work=[[ABC News]] |access-date=14 October 2023 |archive-date=11 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231011104824/https://abcnews.go.com/International/uprisings-palestinians-israeli-citizenship/story?id=77741627 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Palestinian National Charter]], as amended by the PLO's [[Palestinian National Council]] in July 1968, defined "Palestinians" as "those Arab nationals who, until 1947, normally resided in Palestine regardless of whether they were evicted from it or stayed there. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father&nbsp;– whether in Palestine or outside it&nbsp;– is also a Palestinian."<ref name=charter>{{cite web|title=The Palestinian National Charter|publisher=Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations|url=http://www.un.int/palestine/PLO/PNAcharter.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100909035853/http://www.un.int/palestine/PLO/PNAcharter.html|archive-date=9 September 2010}}</ref> Note that "Arab nationals" is ''not'' religious-specific, and it includes not only the Arabic-speaking Muslims of Palestine but also the [[Arab Christians]] and other religious communities of Palestine who were at that time Arabic-speakers, such as the [[Samaritans]] and [[Druze]]. Thus, the [[Palestinian Jews|Jews of Palestine]] were/are also included, although limited only to "the [[Arab Jews|[Arabic-speaking] Jews]] who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the [pre-state] [[Zionist]] invasion." The Charter also states that "Palestine with the [[Border|boundaries]] it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit."<ref name=charter/><ref name=Draft>{{cite web|title=Constitution of the State of Palestine|publisher=Constitution Committee of the Palestine National Council Third Draft, 7 March 2003, revised on 25 March 2003|via=Jerusalem Media and Communication Center|date=25 March 2003|access-date=21 August 2007|url=http://www.jmcc.org/documents/palestineconstitution-eng.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708061923/http://www.jmcc.org/documents/palestineconstitution-eng.pdf |archive-date=8 July 2007}} The most recent draft of the Palestinian constitution would amend that definition such that, "Palestinian nationality shall be regulated by law, without prejudice to the rights of those who legally acquired it prior to May 10, 1948 or the rights of the Palestinians residing in Palestine prior to this date, and who were forced into exile or departed there from and denied return thereto. This right passes on from fathers or mothers to their progenitor. It neither disappears nor elapses unless voluntarily relinquished."</ref>