Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Daniel Pipes examines the importance of the nomenclature in the battle for identification and world opinion:
Daniel Pipes: Arab Victories in the Language War
Excuse me, but prime minister, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, means the "head of the executive branch of government in states with a parliamentary system." Despite tens of thousands of references to Abbas as prime minister, he in not a single way fits this description.
Oh, and there is also the small matter of there being no country called Palestine. Arab maps routinely show it in place of Israel. The United Nations recognizes its existence. So too do such telephone companies as France's Bouygues Telecom and Bell Canada. Nonetheless, no such place exists.
One can dismiss use of these terms as symptoms of the same unrealism that has undermined Palestinian war efforts since 1948. But they also promote the Palestinian cause (a polite way of saying, "the destruction of Israel") in a vital way...
Language is important. Current Solomonia.com Editorial Policy calls for the people commonly referred to as "Palestinians" to be referred to always as "Palestinian Arabs." Accepting the common parlance in this case abets the idea that there ever was an independent political entity known as Palestine and asigns only the current Arab population ownership of it. In fact, there have been all manner of ethnicities resident in "Palestine" for thousands of years - including Jews, and Arabs who would surely choose to have nothing to do with the thugs currently in charge of the "Palestinian National Movement." Ariel Sharon, for instance, is a "Palestinian."
Right on. I am a Gentile, and I always use the term "Palestinian Arabs."