While I appreciate David's lesson in political geography and Jewish
pride, the encyclopedia is neither a geo-political work nor one that
strives for re-asserting ancient titles. It simply uses a term that
was in common use throughout many centuries right up to the early
20th century pre-mandate to describe the area under Turkish rule also
commonly known as the "Holy Land". David said that "Henrietta Szold
and her contemporaries used the term Palestine since that was how
most of the general public called the region for convenience only."
Well, I strongly suggest that it was more than just mere convenience.
There are a *great* many books written using the term "Palestine"
during the 19th and early 20th centuries, for example, that
demonstrate this. Included among them are such guide books as
Baedeker's "Palestine and Syria...Handbook for Travelers" (I have 3rd
ed., 1898, and 5th ed., 1911); Josiah Conder's "The Modern Traveller;
A Popular Description, Geographical, Historical and Topographical, of
the Various Countries of the Globe - Palestine, or the Holy Land" (I
have the 1824 ed.); Cook's "Tourist Handbook for Palestine and Syria"
(I have the "New" ed., 1911). Then there are books about archeology,
such as those issued by the Palestine Exploration Fund - for eg. "Our
Work In Palestine; Being an Account of the Different Expeditions Sent
Out to the Holy Land by the Committee of the Palestine Exploration
Fund, Since the Establishment of the Fund in 1865" (mine is the
Toronto ed. of 1873), or Claude R. Conder's famous "Tent Work In
Palestine; A Record of Discovery and Adventure" (2 vols., mine ed. is
from 1878). And there are literally *scores* of straightforward
accounts of travel, such as J.H. Alexander's "The Mountains of
Palestine" (1871), Maltbie Davenport Babcock's "Letters From Egypt
and Palestine" (1902), James Finn's "Byways In Palestine" (1868), or
John W.Dulles' "The Ride Trough Palestine" (1881). By the way, Finn
was at one time the British "Consul for Jerusalem and Palestine" -
and this aspect of diplomatic life there included consuls from most
of the European powers, as well as the USA, who were all similarly named.
Please note that my examples are pre-British mandate. So the use of
Palestine to describe that part of the world, while not accurate from
a geo-political pov and while it was not a separate country, etc., as
David has correctly demonstrated, was nonetheless *called*
"Palestine". This is also true for many of the inhabitants. In
Turkish times there were national Arab-Palestinian movements and
newspapers - for example the Palestinian newspaper "Filastin" was
being published in Jaffa around the turn of the century (EJ, 1st ed.,
V.9, col. 333).
Madeleine Cohen Oakley's suggestion to use "Palestine (pre-State
Israel)" can be read to imply that *all* of what was commonly called
Palestine pre-1948 should now be considered "pre-State Israel".
That's quite a leap! As David will confirm, there were Jews living in
areas of Palestine pre-1948 and even pre-1914 that are not part of
Israel 'proper' (ie. inside the "Green Line"), such as Hebron. This
way of thinking leads to dark problems...
Be well,
Bernard.
Bernard Katz
Former head, Archival and Special Collections
University of Guelph
Founding treasurer, AJL-Ontario Chapter
Treasurer, Association for Canadian Jewish Studies
Founding member, Canadian Jewish Book Awards
Prose editor, Parchment; Contemporary Canadian Jewish Writing
Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author
and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL)
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