How old is Palestin?

Answer 1

The question that should be asked is "how old is the namePalestine", otherwise it is devoid of meaning. Indeed, what is the question about? How old is the land itself, from a geological point of view? The land that came to be renamed Palestine is millions of years old, like most land mass on earth. Or is it about how old the people of the land is? What people, the jews, the christians, the muslims or the druze (in chronological order)? In fact if the question uses the term Palestine it should refer to how old the concept of Palestine is.

The name is derived from Philistines. They were a "people of the sea" that came from the Aegean Islands - probably Crete - in high antiquity to colonise the Land of Canaan, as it was named before it came to be known as the Land of Israel. The story of David fighting Goliath is reminiscent of the fight between the Hebrews (in fact Canaanites) and the Philistines. In fact, Philistines is not the name of a people, but a Hebrew word ("plishtim") meaning "invaders". As to Hebrews and Canaanites, they are not two different peoples as The Bible suggests in order to differentiate between monotheists and pagans. They are rather one and the same people, the terms having been used one after another at different periods.

When the Romans won the war over the indigenous people of Canaan - that is, the Hebrew-Canaanites of various religious affiliations - Jews, Samaritans, Baal-worshippers - they changed the name of the land from Israel/Judea/Canaan to Palestina, in order to refer to the former ennemies of its indigenous people and to humiliate them. The name later almost disappeared from European languages, until it surfaced again in the 19th century when European scholars endeavoured to use Latin words and names for the many areas of research that were blossoming at the time. Meanwhile, Arab-Muslim tradition refered to the land and its wider surroundings not as Palestine but as Ard Sham, or more specifically as Ard Bani Isra'il, closely matching the Hebrew term Eretz (Benei) Israel.

Beginning 20th century, the British coloniser started popularizing the term Palestine to designate the land formerly known to the Ottoman Empire under different names for the different "Milets", administrative regions covering what was also known than as "Southern Syria", esp. by Arabs. The Jewish nationalists used alternately the ancient Hebrew name "Eretz Israel" and Palestine. The British used the word "Palestinians" to refer to the Jewish inhabitants of the land, whereas they called "Arabs" most non-Jews. Only after the Independence war of Israel in 1948 did the term "Palestinian" start refering to the non-Jewish inhabitants, mostly muslims but also Christians.

Answer 2

The concept of Palestine dates back thousands of years, with its modern identity being shaped in the early 20th century. The geographic region of Palestine has a rich history with cultural, political, and religious significance.

Answer 3

The hotly contested country of Palestine used to be part of Israel. The country was originally declared independent in 1988. As of 2014, the country is 26 years old.