If you have seriously researched the question of Palestine for any amount of time, then it is safe to say that you have come across your fair share of wild and unsubstantiated claims and arguments from advocates of Israel. Perhaps one of the more consistently asserted ones is the claim that the name Palestine originated with the Romans, and came into existence as a punishment by the Romans against the Jewish people.
It is quite interesting how selective people can be when they read history. They often learn just enough to support their world view, separating it completely from any historical context or the larger picture of the region. I do not know where this talking point comes from, or who popularized it, but it is simply incorrect, and frankly quite comical in how lazy it is. Without exaggeration, this talking point could be debunked with a 10 second search, that’s how easily disproven it is. However, even the crudest of propaganda can be useful as a teaching tool. Keep in mind, of course, that when it comes to history there is a wealth of details and nuances involved which keep it from being a simplistic black and white affair, that’s why ethno-nationalists with their dualistic worldviews tend to have terrible historical literacy.
The very first traces of the name Palestine come from the time of Ramses II and III, roughly around the mid-12th century BC. There is an inscription dated to around 1150 BC at the Medinet Habu temple in Luxor which refers to the Peleset (PLST) among those who fought against Ramses III. Today we know the Peleset as the Philistines.
Interestingly enough, it was long thought that the Philistines were sea-faring marauders, possibly Aegean in origin who invaded the Levant. This would neatly tie them into the Biblical narrative. However, there has been mounting evidence to suggest that the Philistines were actually an indigenous population originating in the region. According to advocates of this relatively new approach to the origins of the Philistines, the evidence has always been there, but in their haste to match archaeological evidence to the Biblical narrative many historians and archaeologists overlooked certain inconsistencies and contradictory evidence. You will find that much of the history of Palestine falls into this same trap, and many of the myths regarding Palestine today emanate from trying to force a Biblical narrative onto history with little -if any- corroborating evidence.
Regardless of their origins, their name came to be associated with the area, not only in ancient Egyptian inscriptions, but also in ancient Assyrian inscriptions. For example, various Assyrian inscriptions from the 8th and 7th century BC refer to the area as “Palashtu”. This is the result of the Philistines’ influence and their intermingling and integration with the various peoples inhabiting the Levant. Prior to this, the area was more commonly known as Djahi, Retenu or Canaan, but beginning from the late Bronze age onwards, and as a result of said Philistine influence, the term Palashtu or Palestine came to replace them.
According to Nur Masalha, their influence can still be felt today:
“..almost all the toponyms of the cities of Philistia: Gaza (Ghazzah), Askelon (‘Asqalan), Ashdod (Isdud), Tantur (Tantura), Gath (Jat), Ekron (‘Aqir) survived into the modern era and were preserved in the modern Palestinian Arabic names and were mostly depopulated by Israel in 1948.“
It was during Classical Antiquity and the Hellenistic period (~500-135 BC) that the name “Palestine” as we know it today took form. The use of the terms Palaistine or Phalastin were widespread in the literature of the period. Philosophers and scientists such as Ptolemy and Aristotle spoke of Palaistine, and Herodotus’ Histories commonly used the name Palestine.
In these writings, the use of the name Palaistine did not refer solely to the areas ruled by the Philistines at one point or another, but to wider swaths of the region, in some cases even stretching as far as what we would today call Jordan.
There are many more examples of the usage of the term or its cognates, and it is not the intention of this article to delve too deeply into the history of these uses. However, if you find the history of the name interesting then the further reading section has some recommendations that you might find to your liking. Regardless, it is quite clear that this name originated well before the Romans or their conquest of Palestine.
As with all propaganda, conveying historical or factual accuracy is not the intended goal. These claims serve mainly to demonize Palestinians and frame them as usurpers to the land, and attempt to tie them to the Roman persecution of the Jewish people. This is purely ideologically motivated with no basis in reality or history, and its widespread use speaks to the prevalence of blind regurgitation of talking points in Zionist circles without any kind of evidence or historical knowledge.
But think about this for a moment: If such a basic falsity which could be debunked with a 10 second search is so widespread and internalized among defenders of Israel, can you imagine all the other, more complicated falsities that form the basis of their talking points?
Sadly, this animates much of the mainstream debate on Palestine, and Palestinians must constantly and consistently re-litigate false claims they had debunked decades ago to no avail. It is my hope that one day we will not have to fight these battles anymore, and the region can recover its hijacked history.
- Masalha, Nur. Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History. Zed Books Ltd., 2018.
- El-Haj, Nadia Abu. Facts on the ground: Archaeological practice and territorial self-fashioning in Israeli society. University of Chicago Press, 2008.
- Hjelm, Ingrid, et al., eds. A New Critical Approach to the History of Palestine: Palestine History and Heritage Project 1. Routledge, 2019.
- Ben‐Dor Evian, Shirly. “Ramesses III and the ‘Sea‐peoples’: Towards a New Philistine Paradigm.” Oxford Journal of Archaeology 36.3, 2017: 267-285.
- Bowersock, Glen W. “Palestine: ancient history and modern politics.” Journal of Palestine Studies 14.4, 1985: 49-57.