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Short answer
This is the true origin of the name “Palestine”:
The ancient Romans pinned the name on the Land of Israel. The term “Palestine” has been used historically to refer to a geographical region, but it has never been a politically independent entity. It has been under various empires and mandates throughout history, including the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the British Mandate.
Leading up to Israel’s independence in 1948, it was common for the international press to label Jews, not Arabs, living in the mandate as Palestinians.
Long answer
This is the true origin of the name “Palestine”.
The ancient Romans pinned the name on the Land of Israel. In 135 CE, after stamping out the province of Judea’s second insurrection, the Romans renamed the province Syria Palaestina—that is, “Palestinian Syria.” They did so resentfully, as a punishment, to obliterate the link between the Jews (in Hebrew, Y’hudim and in Latin Judaei) and the province (the Hebrew name of which was Y’hudah). “Palaestina” referred to the Philistines, whose home base had been on the Mediterranean coast.
For millennia, the term “Palestine” has floated through history, a word without fixed borders. It wasn’t a precise term like a country, more like a vague region. During the Ottoman Empire, the term was used as a general description for the land south of Syria. In fact, for centuries, “Palestine” didn’t have any real political power behind it.
To Christians, “Palestine” was synonymous with the Holy Land, a sacred place. For Jews, it was known as “Eretz Yisrael,” the Land of Israel.
The words “Palestine” or “Filastin” do not appear in the Koran. “Palestine” is also not mentioned in the Old or New Testament. It does occur at least eight times in eight verses of the Hebrew concordance of the King James Bible.
Leading up to Israel’s independence in 1948, it was common for the international press to label Jews, not Arabs, living in the mandate as Palestinians.
Since 1948, the Israeli citizens began to identify as Israelis. They referred to Muslims (and the smaller number of Christians) who became citizens as Israeli Arabs. Over the decades, some Arabs increasingly came to identify themselves as Israelis and learned Hebrew. Still, most remained committed to the Palestinian nationalist cause, though few expressed any desire to leave Israel for a Palestinian state.
