Reclaiming the Name. Reclaiming the Identity.

I recently stumbled across something called The Palestine Project.

It describes itself simply:

“The Palestine Project promotes the Palestinian narrative.”

Then I found an article associated with the project titled:

‘Anti-Palestinianism’: Why we should start using this term

“Anti-Palestinianism is hatred towards or prejudice against Palestinians as Palestinians.”

Because I have been using these words too.

Palestine. Palestinian. Palestinian identity.

In fact, I have a Palestine Project too.

My project is a reclamation project.

Reclaim Palestine. Reclaim Palestinian. Reclaim the Palestinian identity.

For years, I have been writing about the name Palestine, the identity Palestinian, and the extraordinary transformation in the meaning of both.

I have spent years arguing that these very words have been appropriated, redefined, and turned into weapons against Israel.

So apparently, we have something else in common: a Palestinian narrative.

We even use the same vocabulary.

There is only one problem.

We disagree about what the vocabulary means.

And that disagreement is precisely what this article is about.

My Palestine Project begins with a simple proposition:

Palestine is Israel. Palestinians are Israelis.

I am a citizen of Israel.

Therefore, I am a Palestinian.

UNRWA clientele are not Palestinians.

To many readers, this will sound strange.

The strangeness is a product of the twisting and appropriation of the word Palestinian.

Today, Palestinian is commonly used exclusively to describe UNRWA clientele.

That meaning is now so familiar that many people assume it has always existed.

Jews living in Palestine used the word.

Jewish institutions used it.

Jewish newspapers used it.

Jewish businesses used it.

Zionist organizations used it.

The Palestine Post was a Jewish newspaper. The Palestine Symphony Orchestra was a Jewish institution. The Anglo-Palestine Bank was a Zionist financial institution. The Jewish Agency for Palestine proudly used the name.

The word Palestinian was an integral part of Jewish identity in Palestine before it was appropriated. And Palestine was never an Arab name.

That history has been largely erased from public consciousness.

My project is about bringing it back.

The Great Palestinian Identity Theft

The theft did not happen overnight.

In 1948, the Jewish state was established under the name Israel.

That name restored the ancient national name of the Jewish people.

But the name Palestine was left behind.

And names do not remain politically empty forever.

Over the following decades, the word Palestinian was stolen.

Its meaning was appropriated, its history was rewritten, and a name that had been part of Jewish identity in Palestine was weaponized against that very identity.

This was the Great Palestinian Identity Theft.

The result is the linguistic equation most people now........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)