For a long time, I refused to use the "P" word at all, unless it was in quoted text. Then I vainly I admit began adding it, with "sic" before and both italicized, to attract google and other internet searches to my blogs. But if he's correct, I guess I need a new way of mentioning that false people, the one invented by the British to prevent the Jewish People from receiving all of our Historic Homeland. The Balfour Declaration declared that we, the Jewish People, should be given our Land, which the international community had labeled "Palestine." But then the British brought in the Hashemites, declared them to be the rulers (king) over the territory east of the Jordan River and began inventing a history, culture etc.
That act was typical of the way the British treated their "colonies." They played G-d.
I have always placed the "sic" before, because we must say "bli neder" before the thing we don't pledge to do. I feel it necessary to indicate that the "Palestinians" sic are a false nation before the word is even read or pronounced. After over a decade of EFL teaching, I have no doubt that people don't read all the words, so I need to warn them that I don't recognize a separate Arab nation here.
But back to proper grammar combined with accurate history. I guess I ought to write it this way:
Pseudistinians, AKA "Palestinians" sic,
Does anyone have a better idea?
20 comments:
yeah. how about just calling the palestinians. we can argue about history till we are blue in the fingertips, but this is how they self-identify, as a distinct culture in a distinct land. the question is what we can do to live with them.
Not so simple, a. That's what the British named them when they re-wrote history, and people like you fell for it.
Always call them the "boor Balestinians". With thanks to Dry Bones comics from decades ago.
Shy, sounds good. Did you see the comments on a7 for this post?
how about"arabian colonists of the Land of Israel"
No. Link?
I googled (sic) "pelishtim" to verify my (admittedly flawed) memory that it comes from a word meaning "invaders" using the search terms "Plishtim invaders translation" and got the following results.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=POr&ei=nGz5SuPmDIKBnQerzuj9DA&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&ved=0CAgQBSgA&q=Plishtim+translation+invaders&spell=1
I find it interesting that the enemy would insist that they are "invaders" and admit (via their own invented name for themselves) that they are not native to the land. Of course, that same google search also points out that up until the founding of the state, the term actually meant the Jews and Christians who lived there and explicitly excluded the Moslems.
Some people will use the phrase "so-called Palestinians" to show that it was an invented term that really does not apply.
Actually, I need to expand on my last sentence as I do not want to give the impression that the Jews and Christians were referred to as "invaders". When the Romans destroyed Judea, they attempted to wipe out all memory of the Jews by renaming the country "Philistia" from the invaders who had settled the Gaza coastline. The British picked up the term, after WW I, from the Ottoman Turks who really did not have an accurate mapping for the region. During that period, the term "Palestinian" meant the Jews and Christians who lived in the area. Any Moslems who were there were never referred to as "Palestinians", but were always referred to by their area of origin (Syrians, Egyptians, etc). After World War I and until the end of the mandate, the world referred to the Jews as the "Palestinians". Once the Arabs decided to use "nationalism" as an excuse to wipe out the state of Israel, they decided to apply the name to themselves.
bs"d
Call them "araviyey Eretz Yisrael"
david
FWIW, in the army/miluim, I call them Yishmaelim.
josh, there's a problem with that in you're giving them a long history. Moslems are much newer to the scene. Prior to Zionism, our land was empty and getting emptier. Jewish life, business, industry has made it a magnet for Arab Moslems from all over. Most here aren't descended from Biblical personalities.
again: i dont care so much about history, written or re-written. this is how they seem themselves today, and it is *this* reality we must deal with.
In a lot of cases they are the "Jews who think they are Arabs". Check out Tsvi Misinai.
a, reality for me is what's best for my security.
goyish, that's a totally different story.
I usually refer to them in writing as "Palestinian Arabs" to distinguish them from Palestinian Jews (i.e. Jews born here before 1948). In my terminology, I think it's important to point out that they are Arabs (not Jews, and not natives, as simply calling them "Palestinians" might imply), and that they reside in the land that was once labeled (however ludicrously) "Palestine."
I would never use such a term. It give them a national identity. Other won't understand your distinction.
I believe some of your history is a bit wrong. The British did not call them Palestinians. They called them Arabs. Palestinian was an adjective, if used at all.
There were no Palestinians after 1948 eithehr. There were Palestinians refugees but not Palestinians.
In 1968, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was described as a Jordanian.
Later on, or startinbg around that time, there were Palestinian terrorists but still no Palestinians.
The "Palestinian people" were invented in November 1974, at an Arab League conference in Rabat, Morocco, at the same timee when Yasir Arafat was declared to be their leader. They were invented in order tp give Arafat a people to be a leaderr of. At the same time, King Hussein gave up any claim over the West Bank. He also at some point asked some [people to choose between Jordanian or Palestinian citizenship.
There were no Palestinians until November 1974.
The best thing to do now is maybe first, to avoid the use of the term when you are saying something on your own, and to use it when you quote or use the name of oan organization, maybe som,etimes to use quotation marks and other times give an explanation.
Palestinian, of course, has now become a legal status, but it doesn't reflect underlying historical reality. It's really a citizenship status.
To put it simply, Palestinian is a citizenship status created mostly after 1974, and to some degree after 1948 outside of Israel and areas ruled by Jordan, except that in those cases they were mostly considereed stateless, that is, really, ex-Palestinians except that the Arabs declared they had rightt to, and should, return (to what was then Israel, a name they would not use)
Israeli Arabs are not Palestinians and neither are most residents of Jordan.
Sammy, thanks for all the clarifications.
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