The slogan "Free Palestine" contains a historical irony that few people seem to notice.
The land called Palestine was never historically a sovereign Palestinian state that was later conquered and needs to be "freed." The name itself became prominent under imperial rule.
The Romans renamed Judea as "Syria Palaestina" after crushing the Jewish revolt in the second century CE. For centuries afterward, the land remained under the control of one foreign empire after another: Romans, Byzantines, Arab caliphates, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans, and the British.
The Romans renamed Judea as "Syria Palaestina" after crushing the Jewish revolt in the second century CE. For centuries afterward, the land remained under the control of one foreign empire after another: Romans, Byzantines, Arab caliphates, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans, and the British.
In other words, "Palestine" was primarily the name of a territory administered by empires, not the name of a free and independent nation.
The great historical exception came when the Jewish people returned to sovereignty in their ancestral homeland and revived the ancient name - Israel.
After nearly two thousand years of foreign rule, the land once again bore the name by which it had been known in its own indigenous tradition.
After nearly two thousand years of foreign rule, the land once again bore the name by which it had been known in its own indigenous tradition.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with modern Israeli policies, history matters. And historically speaking, "Palestine" was rarely associated with freedom, independence, or self-rule. Quite the opposite.
That's what makes the slogan "Free Palestine" such an ironic and dumb phrase.
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