The Myth of Palestine
Among Arab leaders, sympathizes, protestors and commentators, one hears usage of the term “Israel” only to be condemned. We are all familiar with the mantra “Death to Israel” and the phrase “Israel, the little Satan”, etc. The preferred term among these speakers is, of course, “Palestine.” In the view of many modern Arabs, Palestine was a bright and shinning Arab community on the eastern Mediterranean between Syria and Egypt that was annihilated by a series of military interventions which ultimately displaced Palestinians who have been trying to take back their homeland ever since. The remarkable thing about this narrative is, simply, that it is false!
Although the term Philistia can be found in the Bible, and was used by the historian Herodotus, there was NO Arab population there! As noted by the highly respected biblical scholar Thomas S. McCall, ThD., the area was populated by European people from the Adriatic region and was, accordingly GREEK. (By the way, the term “Philistia” referred to the area along the Mediterranean Coast, whereas the hilly inland area was referred to as Canaan.) To quote Mr. McCall “both the Canaanites and Philistines had disappeared as distinct peoples at least by the time of the Babylonian captivity of Judea (586 B.C.) and no longer exist.” Widespread usage of the term Palestine however can be credited to Roman Emperor Hadrian who chose to use that name after the Romans put down the second Jewish revolt in 135 A.D. The idea then, as it is today, was to stamp out all traces of Israel by erasing its very NAME.
In conclusion, the story of Palestine that one hears again and again is a false narrative designed to delegitimize the State of Israel and promulgate the case for Arabian Statehood. It has NO basis in historical fact.