An uninformed observer scrolling through X (formerly known as Twitter) could be forgiven for assuming that there is an entity called Palestine that is under occupation and is clamoring to be released.
On a daily basis, Palestinians and their supporters flood social media, and a lot of public thoroughfares too, with demands, declarations, and disinformation, repeating ad nauseam their insistence to “free Palestine” as though it is the central issue on the international agenda.
This mantra has been harped on for so long, and so often, that many people believe it to be urgent and even true; some out of ignorance, others out of willful disregard for history or reality.
And that is why it often comes as such a surprise to some to learn that they have been hoodwinked.
After all, Palestine is the equivalent of political science fiction, an entity invented with the sole aim of delegitimizing Israel and undermining its existence.
The number of times the word “Palestine” appears in the Hebrew Bible, the Christian New Testament, and the Muslim Quran is precisely zero.
Six centuries before the advent of Islam, when Jews rose up in the first revolt against the Romans in the years 66 CE to 70 CE, they minted coins that read “Judea,” not “Palestine.”
The latter term came into use only after Rome quelled the Bar Kochba revolt in 135 CE and sought to negate the Jewish connection with the Land of Israel.
And while it may have been adopted as a geographical term by Israel’s adversaries, Palestine was never an independent state.
Hence, calling for a “free Palestine” is logically absurd, if only because there is no such thing as an occupied state of Palestine in the first place.
It is akin to demanding liberty for the Loch Ness monster or autonomy for the Abominable Snowman.
And just because many people believe it, in no way lends it credence.
Indeed, prior to the 1947 UN partition plan, even Palestinian Arab leaders denied that Palestine existed.
Take, for example, Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, who testified in 1937 before the Peel Commission, which the British government established to investigate the outbreak of Arab violence in the British-ruled Land of Israel.
Abdul-Hadi told the commission that “there is no such country as Palestine! ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria.”
A decade later, in May 1947, the representative of the Arab Higher Committee told the UN General Assembly much the same.
When did Palestinian nationalism come about?
WHAT CAME to be known as Palestinian nationalism was born in subsequent decades, as the Arab states found it to be a useful tool in their attempt to destroy Israel.
This led them to promote the creation of a Palestinian identity in order to forge a narrative of Arab victimhood and Israeli aggression, which suited their agenda.
With the help of the media and Israel’s foes, the Palestinians’ claims to the Land of Israel became amplified and even accepted by a large number of people around the world – many, if not most, of whom do not know the first thing about the Middle East.
Sadly, many Jews are also no longer familiar with the historical record and have come to accept Palestinian assertions as true, even though there has never been a free Palestine.
And yet, not that long ago, this was a widely recognized and accepted fact.
Consider remarks made by prime minister Golda Meir. In an interview with The Sunday Times on June 15, 1969, Meir said, “There was no such thing as Palestinians. When was there an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian state?”
Furthermore, she noted, “It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people, and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist.”
Such assertions may sound unsettling because they run counter to what is now considered to be conventional wisdom. But that is merely because we have succumbed to decades of pro-Palestinian propaganda and indoctrination that have virtually drowned out dissenting voices.
Now especially, as Israel battles Hamas in Gaza, it is even more crucial to remind people of the truth: Palestine is a myth.
It will be an uphill battle because the idea that there is a Palestine has become so ingrained in the consciousness of so many.
But failure to rebut the claim only serves to reinforce the fantasy in the imagination of the masses and their leaders.
With the attention of the world focused on Israel, this is when it takes on added importance to underline a key and salient fact: There has never been a Palestinian state in all of history, there isn’t one now – and, in my opinion, there never will be.
Palestine may exist in the minds of those who seek to do Israel harm. But in the real world, it is nothing more than a mirage. And a malevolent one at that.
The writer served as deputy communications director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the premier’s first term of office.
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