The question of whether a distinct Palestinian Arab national identity existed before the mid-20th century is not merely academic. It lies at the heart of today’s political conflict and informs the narratives used to delegitimise Jewish historical connection to the Land of Israel. Critics often assert that “Palestinians have always been there,” implying an ancient, continuous, unified nation indigenous to the territory. Yet the historical record shows something very different: the emergence of a modern Palestinian identity was a 20th-century political development, rooted not in ancient ethnogenesis but in Arab nationalism, anti-Zionism, and later Cold War dynamics.
At the same time, acknowledging the modern emergence of Palestinian identity does not deny that Arab communities lived in the land, nor that the Palestinian identity today is real and meaningful. What it does require, however, is clearing away the anachronisms and ideological distortions that obscure the historical record.
1. “Palestinian” Historically Referred to Jews — Not Arabs
Before 1948, Western media, British officials, Jewish institutions, and Zionist organisations routinely used “Palestinian” to describe the Jews of the Mandate — not its Arab inhabitants. Arab residents generally rejected the term and instead identified as Arabs, Southern Syrians, or members of local clans.
Examples are abundant:
- The Palestine Post was a Jewish newspaper, later renamed The Jerusalem Post (1948).¹
- The Palestinian Orchestra (founded 1936) was the precursor to today’s Israel Philharmonic — entirely Jewish.²
- The 1934 Palestinian football team represented Mandatory Palestine and was predominantly Jewish, bearing Hebrew team insignia.³
- In the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Palestinian” was used simply to denote the region, not a people.⁴
- Leading Arab figures such as Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi told the 1937 Peel Commission: “There is no such country as Palestine. ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented.”⁵
In short: before 1948, Jews were the Palestinians; Arabs were Arabs.
2. Arab Migration Into the Land Increased Because of Zionist Development
While Arab communities certainly lived in the land for centuries, modern demographic records show significant in-migration from surrounding Arab regions during the late 19th and early 20th centuries — driven primarily by economic opportunities created by Jewish development.
Key data points:
- The Ottoman census (1878) reports approximately 462,465 inhabitants in the wider region, including today’s Israel / Judea & Samaria (West Bank) / Gaza — a sparsely populated, largely undeveloped territory.⁶
- British Mandatory authorities documented large inflows of Arab workers seeking employment created by Zionist agriculture, infrastructure, healthcare, and industry.⁷
- Historian Justin McCarthy’s reconstructions show population surges aligning with Jewish economic growth — especially around Haifa, Jaffa, the Jezreel Valley, and coastal plains.⁸
- The 1937 Peel Commission noted that Jewish development “has attracted large numbers of Arab labourers,” often illegal migrants from Syria, Transjordan, and Egypt.⁹
As Mark Twain famously observed in 1867, the land was “desolate,” “unpeopled,” and suffering from “neglect.”¹⁰ The dramatic demographic expansion of Arab communities occurred after Zionist revival turned malarial swamps and barren fields into productive centres.
This does not negate Arab presence; it does clarify the timeline.
3. Geography and Administration Undercut Claims of an Ancient “Palestinian People”
Under the Ottoman Empire (1517–1917), there was no administrative unit called “Palestine.” Instead, the territory was divided among:
- the Vilayet of Beirut,
- the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, and
- portions of the Vilayet of Damascus.
This mattered, because nations typically form around stable political units. No such unit existed.
Arab leaders reaffirmed this themselves. During World War I and the postwar period:
- Arab nationalist organisations proposed a unified “Greater Syria” including modern Israel.¹¹
- The 1919 Faisal–Weizmann Agreement spoke of Jewish aspirations in Palestine and Arab aspirations in Syria — treating them as distinct territories with no claim of a Palestinian Arab nation.¹²
The idea of a separate “Palestinian people” simply did not exist in political discourse.
4. The Modern Palestinian Identity Emerges—Primarily Against Zionism
A recognisable Palestinian nationalism only coheres during the 1920s–1960s, driven by opposition to Jewish immigration and statehood.
Scholars across the political spectrum agree:
- Rashid Khalidi (a pro-Palestinian historian) describes Palestinian nationalism as “relatively late,” forming in the Mandate period, stimulated by anti-Zionism.¹³
- Bernard Lewis notes that “Palestine” as an identity gains political meaning only after 1920.¹⁴
- Historian James Gelvin writes: “Palestinian nationalism was not inevitable. It was a response to Zionism.”¹⁵
The 1960s introduce a decisive shift:
- The PLO was founded in 1964 — three years before Israel entered the West Bank and Gaza — making no claim to those territories in its original charter.¹⁶
- Soviet disinformation campaigns in the 1960s–70s heavily promoted Palestinian nationalism as part of anti-Western, anti-Zionist propaganda.¹⁷
Thus, Palestinian identity, though genuine today, is modern, political, and reactive, not ancient.
5. Shared Ancestry Does Not Mean Shared National Identity
It is true that many Palestinians descend from older Levantine populations, just as Jews do. Genetic continuity in the region is shared, not exclusive.
But genetics does not create nations.
Nations emerge through:
- shared political consciousness,
- shared language,
- shared institutions,
- shared historical narratives.
Those elements did not converge into a distinct Palestinian national identity until the 20th century — and mainly after 1964.
This does not delegitimise Palestinian identity today. It simply situates it historically.
6. Why This Matters
The recurring claim that Palestinians are a primordial, unified nation with deep, exclusive indigeneity — and that Jews are recent European interlopers — is not supported by history.
The record demonstrates:
- Jews are the only people with a continuous, documented national identity tied to the Land of Israel for over 3,000 years.
- Arab residents developed a modern national consciousness in response to the rise of Jewish national revival and regional geopolitical shifts.
- Both peoples live there now — but their historical trajectories are not symmetrical.
Recognising this history is essential for honest discourse and for countering narratives that erase Jewish identity, nationhood, and historical presence.
References
- The Palestine Post, founded 1932; renamed The Jerusalem Post in 1950. LINK
- Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, “History,” IPO Archives. LINK
- Haggai Harif, Yair Galily, “Sport and Politics in Palestine, 1918-48: Football as a Mirror Reflecting the Relations between Jews and Britons,” Soccer and Society 4, no. 1 (2006). LINK
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed. (1911), s.v. “Palestine.”
- Palestine Royal Commission (Peel Commission), Report (London: HMSO, 1937), 289.
- Kemal H. Karpat, Ottoman Population, 1830–1914: Demographic and Social Characteristics (University of Wisconsin Press, 1984).
- Hugh Forsythe, British Mandate labour reports (1930–1936).
- Justin McCarthy, The Population of Palestine: Population History and Statistics of the Late Ottoman Period and the Mandate (Columbia University Press, 1990).
- Peel Commission, Report, 1937.
- Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad (1869).
- Adeeb Khalid, The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Jihadism in Central Asia (University of California Press, 1999).
- Faisal–Weizmann Agreement, January 3, 1919; League of Nations Archives. LINK
- Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (Columbia University Press, 1997).
- Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East (Oxford University Press, 2004).
- James L. Gelvin, The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War (Third Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2014).
- PLO Charter (1964), Articles 2–3.
- Ion Mihai Pacepa and Prof Ronald J Rychlak, Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism (WND Books, 2013).
