Palestinism

Noun

Palestinism (uncountable)

1. Support for the establishment of Jewish settlements in Palestine in the early discussions of the Zionist movement.
   • In the north of Europe and America—especially in the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon countries, in all Germanic and in some measure also in Celtic ones—Palestinism has permeated so far that one fancies himself to be among Jews.1949 [1948], “The Words of Heinrich Heine”, in Lewis Browne, editor, The Wisdom of Israel, London: Michael Joseph Ltd, page 513
   • What then? Must we Jews disappear? What an insult to me and those I love and cherish! Were the Jewish nationalists right with their Palestinism, which had its logic and consistency? So, the balance rose and fell, with assimilation on one scale and Palestinism on the other, until an experience in...1972, Hayim Zhitlowsky, “The Jewish Factor in My Socialism”, in Irving Howe, Eliezer Greenberg, editors, Voices from the Yiddish: Essays, Memoirs, Diaries, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan...

   Synonyms:

   Zionism

2. A belief in the unique identity of the Arabic tribes from the Palestinian region and their consequent right to a national identity.
   • The convenience and appropriateness of the constitution of self-government along confessional lines enabled the British administration to sustain the illusion of Palestinism for some time.1975, Noah Lucas, “The Arabs, the Jews and the British (1917–39)”, in The Modern History of Israel, New York, NY: Praeger Publishers, →ISBN, page 115
   • Perhaps doing so would involve too painful an encounter with Zionism’s political counterpart—what we might call “Palestinism”: the belief that the Arab population originating in the area of the Palestine mandate is distinct from other Arab groups, with a right to its own nation-state in that...2003, “Introduction”, in Baruch Kimmerling, Joel S. Migdal, The Palestinian People: A History, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page xxviii