DOING THE TWIST -- PALESTINIANS: Part 5 of 7

The twisted terminology of Arabists have dominated the media for several decades and disinform children, youth and the general public via reference materials disseminated by highly respected publishers. The terms under discussion are found in online databases of Grolier, World Book, Gale, ABC-CLIO, and Facts on File. There are as well several well-known British publishers (Routledge, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Oxford University Press). Unfortunately, bias in publications from Great Britain can only be surprising in the breach. One leading indicator to a publisher’s dedication to present controversial issues in an unbiased manner is the language that is permitted, or not permitted, to be used in articles on these issues.

Following is a dissection of the term PALESTINIANS, in standard use by the above-mentioned publishers, that works to delegitimize the Jewish State of Israel.

  

Prior to the 1967 Six-Day War Jews were Palestinians and the Palestinians of today were Arabs.^1,2

Nowhere in history does one find an ethnicity known as “Palestinian.” The region historically known as “Palestine” (Syria Palaestina)  was so named by the Roman,  Hadrian, in 135 CE in an effort to erase the history of the Jewish connection to the land known at that time as “Judaea.”³  

Consequently, logic dictates that if there was never an ethnic people known as “Palestinians,” then there is no geographic area that can be identified as a “Palestinian homeland.” And if there is not a “Palestinian homeland” then the concept of a “right of return” to that mythical location is not possible.

The fact of the matter is that there were some indigenous Sephardic Jews and some indigenous Arabs in the area for centuries. However, the preponderance of Arabs arrived from other countries (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia) only after the arrival of European Jews in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. This new Jewish community (yishuv) created an infrastructure and employment opportunities that attracted numerous Arabs from other countries.

It is unfortunate that these terms are so commonly mis-used, inadequately defined by the media, and dutifully repeated by the publishers of reference materials. It is a sad commentary on our editorial watchdogs asleep at their desks.

¹  http://theisraelconnection.blogspot.com/2008/09/origin-of-name-palestine-truth-is.html

²  The Six-Day War was a successful preemptive strike by Israel against Egypt, Syria and Jordan, whose armed forces were massing at Israel's borders and posing a threat of war.

³  http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_early_palestine_name_origin.php

DOING THE TWIST -- NAKBA: Part 3 of 7

The twisted terminology of Arabists have dominated the media for several decades and disinform children, youth and the general public via reference materials disseminated by highly respected publishers. The terms under discussion are found in online databases of Grolier, World Book, Gale, ABC-CLIO, and Facts on File. There are as well several well-known British publishers (Routledge, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Oxford University Press). Unfortunately, bias in publications from Great Britain can only be surprising in the breach. One leading indicator to a publisher’s dedication to present controversial issues in an unbiased manner is the language that is permitted, or not permitted, to be used in articles on these issues.

Following is a dissection of the term NAKBA, in standard use by the above-mentioned publishers, that works to delegitimize the Jewish State of Israel.

Nakba means “catastrophe” in Arabic, and so present-day Arabs mourn the creation of the Jewish State of Israel as their “national catastrophe.” The real catastrophe for the Arabs was not the creation of Israel, but the ignominious failure of the Arab armies to drive the Jews into the sea. By the way, this was not the original “nakba” the Arabs experienced. It is worth citing Steven Plaut’s excellent article “How ‘Nakba’ proves there’s no Palestinian nation,”

“The term was not invented in 1948 but rather in 1920. And it was coined not because of Palestinians suddenly getting nationalistic but because Arabs living in Palestine regarded themselves as Syrians and were enraged at being cut off from their Syrian homeland…. The original “nakba” had nothing to do with Jews, and nothing to do with demands by Palestinian Arabs for self-determination, independence and statehood. To the contrary, it had everything to do with the fact that the Palestinian Arabs saw themselves as Syrians. They rioted at this nakba - at this catastrophe - because they found deeply offensive the very idea that they should be independent from Syria and Syrians.”^*

^* http://www.thejewishpress.com/pageroute.do/31503

DOING THE TWIST -- MILITANTS: Part 2 of 7

The twisted terminology of Arabists have dominated the media for several decades and disinform children, youth and the general public via reference materials disseminated by highly respected publishers. The terms under discussion are found in online databases of Grolier, World Book, Gale, ABC-CLIO, and Facts on File. There are as well several well-known British publishers (Routledge, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Oxford University Press). Unfortunately, bias in publications from Great Britain can only be surprising in the breach. One leading indicator to a publisher’s dedication to present controversial issues in an unbiased manner is the language that is permitted, or not permitted, to be used in articles on these issues.

Following is a dissection of the term MILITANTS, in standard use by the above-mentioned publishers, that works to delegitimize the Jewish State of Israel.

It is comforting to know that with one “global change” in reference databases, there are no longer terrorists anywhere in the world, unless they are certified members of Al Qaeda. All other terrorists have transmogrified into “militants,” “freedom fighters,” and “activists.” The fellows aboard the Mavi Marmara (attempting to break Israel’s perfectly legal sea blockade) in 2010 were “activists,” the so-called Palestinians are “freedom fighters,” and those masked men firing rockets into Israel from Gaza are “militants.”

Gee! Aren’t we all relieved to know that with one politically correct diktat thousands of terrorists were vaporized and morphed into people with some semblance of legitimacy attached to their acts of murder and mayhem?