Re: >"the term 'Palestinians' was not used at that time [1947] to describe the Arabs who opposed the newly-founded Jewish State."
I think Anne is correct in this, and that Bernard Katz' long post did not refute her. Mr. Katz answers that the term "Palestine" had been used for centuries, and that Arabs living there were occasionally called Palestinians. Anne did not dispute that. I read her as saying that "Palestinian" did not refer to a *national* identity or national consciousness. It meant the people (Jews, also, as evidenced by Jewish institutions of the time using the word "Palestinian" in their name, as in the Palestine Symphony Orchestra) who lived in Palestine. Palestine, in other words, referred to a geographic area, similar to the word "Negev" or "Magreb" or "Mediterranean." Re: understanding the "significant reasons for what the Palestinian leadership did," we would have to teach children of the Muslim notion that territory once part of the Dar al Islam -- the area where Islamic law prevails -- is forever the land of Islam. To quote Bernard Lewis: "No piece of land once added to the Realm of Islam can ever be finally renounced." This is why no amount of Israeli concessions has led to a peace agreement; as someone said, if Israel were reduced to one felafel stand on Dizingoff Street, it would still be an offense to Islamic ideology. Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
