A recent thread of correspondence regarding the use of the term “Palestinian” began on February 15, 2012 in the Christchurch Press. Here is the full thread followed by our response.
On February 11, Lois Griffith wrote:
Of course, Jesus’ religion when growing up was Judaism (8 Feb). This was after all before the founding of Islam or Christianity. The point Rabbi Boteach should (and will not) make is that Jesus was a native of historic Palestine, i.e. a Palestinian. Palestinians make the point that Jesus was an early Palestinian martyr, martyred by the occupying power of the time, ie, the Romans.
On February 13, David Zwartz wrote:
Lois Griffith’s assertion in her letter of February 11 that Jesus was an early Palestinian martyr shows that she lives in a make believe world that aims to rewrite history.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea (Matthew 2).
Judaea was part of the historic land of Israel (Eretz Israel in Hebrew), the land of theJews from the 8th Century BC.
It was renamed Syria Palaestina by the Romans in 135 AD — about a hundred years after Jesus’ death — following the unsuccessful Jewish Bar-Kochba revolt.
In no way could Jesus be a native of historic Palestine when it didn’t even exist in his day.
On February 15, Lois Griffith wrote:
I didn’t quite get what Mister Zwartz is getting at in his attack on me, although I am aware that Zionists nearly choke on the word Palestinian (February 13).
The Palestinians are indigenous of the holy land, whose ancestors worked the land for generations while conquerors and rulers came and went.
Before the Zionist takeover, religion was not a source of division and exclusion.
If Jesus or his followers have descendants alive today in that part of the world, they would be Palestinians whether they practised any religion or none.
Palestinian Christians, speaking on behalf of all Palestinians, do not understand why many American evangelical Christian Zionists not only ignore their suffering but encourage and even help finance their oppressors.
Our response (submitted Feb 15 but not published):
Lois Griffith (Feb 15) is mystified because Jews object to the idea of a “Palestinian”. The reason is that it has been used to alienate them from their historic connection to the region.
It is symptomatic of a larger problem: The rewriting of history to undermine Israel’s legitimacy.
Thus Arabs become “the Palestinians”, implying that they are the only indigenous people in that region. It wasn’t until 1967 that Arafat and the PLO re-invented the “Palestinians” as a distinct Arabic people. Gazan and West Bank children are taught about Palestine as if such a state had existed forever. Israel “occupies” a country that never previously existed.
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