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Did You Know? The Real History of Palestine — What “Free Palestine” Gets Wrong · Voices Of Life

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  Welcome to the Did You Know series of the Voices
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  of Life podcast, a ministry of the Church for
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  Life. A place where faith speaks, where history
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  breathes, and where hope finds its voice again.
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  Each episode is crafted to inspire, to strengthen,
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  and to guide you on your walk with God. And now,
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  to lead us through today's journey, here is your
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  host. Pastor David. This is Voices of Life, a
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  ministry of the Church for Life, where history,
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  faith, and truth meet. I'm Pastor David, and
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  today we're taking a clear, factual look at the
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  history of Palestine. Not the slogans, not the
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  politics, but the real story. And by the end,
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  you'll understand why modern cries to free Palestine
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  don't match the historical record. So did you
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  know that the word Palestine is ancient? But
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  there never was an independent sovereign nation
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  called Palestine before the modern era. There
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  was no Palestinian nation that was comparable
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  to a modern Israel, Jordan, Egypt, or even Syria
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  before modern Palestinian national movement.
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  For centuries, Palestine was a geographic region,
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  not a country. It was ruled by a long succession
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  of empires, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians,
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  Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Islamic Caliphates,
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  Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans, and finally the
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  British. So when people say Palestine was stolen,
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  they're imagining a sovereign nation that never
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  existed. From 1516 to 1917, the Ottoman Empire
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  controlled the region. But even then, there was
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  no province called the independent state of palestine
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  the territory was administered through various
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  ottoman districts modern palestine nationalism
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  had not yet developed people identified by religion
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  village clan region or ottoman identity not by
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  a national palestine state so there was the british
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  mandate that created palestine as an administrative
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  entity So after World War I, Britain took control
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  and the League of Nations formally created the
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  British Mandate for Palestine in 1922. This is
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  the first time Palestine became a recognized
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  administrative territory, but still not a sovereign
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  country. Palestine absolutely existed as a recognized
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  territorial administrative entity. It was not
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  an independent country. That is very far cry
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  from being a state or a country. For the most
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  part, it was the name of a region, but there
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  was no land attached to it. There was no government
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  attached to it. That's not what it was. The mandate
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  included both sides of the Jordan River until
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  Britain separated the eastern portion into the
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  Transjordan, which became the modern Jordan today.
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  This matters greatly for today's slogans. Many
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  activists today show maps of historic Palestine.
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  that included all land from the Mediterranean
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  to the Jordan River and beyond. So if someone
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  uses the pre -1922 geographic boundaries, modern
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  Jordan occupies a huge portion of that historical
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  territory. So if historic Palestine is the basis
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  of a claim, then Jordan, not Israel, occupies
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  most of it. Now the question is, would Jordan
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  give that land up? Very doubtful. They've had
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  decades to consider it, and each time it's been
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  rejected. So this is why the slogan Free Palestine
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  is historically incoherent. There is no sovereign
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  Palestinian land waiting to be freed. In 1947,
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  the UN proposed two states, a Jewish state and
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  an Arab -Palestine state. But, unfortunately,
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  the proposed Arab -Palestine state did not materialize.
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  materialize. Why? Well, instead, Jordan took
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  the West Bank, Egypt took Gaza, and Israel became
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  its own sovereign state. There's still no Palestine
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  country. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza,
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  and East Jerusalem in 1967. These territories
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  became the center of the modern conflict. But
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  even then, Palestinians did not have a sovereign
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  state. They had no claim on those lands. They
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  lived under Jordanian, Egyptian, or Israeli administration.
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  Palestinians are located in already occupied
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  countries, and they have been trying to annex
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  areas that belong to other governments. So let's
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  go back to the PLO and the modern state of Palestine.
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  The PLO, Palestinian Liberation Organization,
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  declared the state of Palestine in 1988. but
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  it did not gain full sovereignty or control of
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  any kind of land or territory. It was just a
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  statement. The state of Palestine exists as a
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  partially recognized state, but it does not exercise
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  any control over contiguous territory. Again,
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  it is something that was just declared a name
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  only, and honestly, the UN did some partial recognition
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  just to basically appease them. But there is
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  still no territory, no land. So today, Palestinians
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  live in Jordan, they live in Israel, they live
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  in Gaza, they live in West Bank, they live in
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  Lebanon, Syria, and other states. But there is
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  no sovereign Palestinian land to free. There
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  are territories administered by existing governments
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  where Palestinian political movements seek sovereignty,
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  often through annexation claims. But these governments
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  have rejected that, and they're not giving up
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  any portions of their land. So let's talk about
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  the modern slogan versus historic reality. The
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  slogan Free Palestine suggests a sovereign country
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  once existed, its land is currently occupied,
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  and it must be liberated. But the historical
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  record, including everything we've talked about,
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  Palestine was historically a geographic and administrative
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  name, not a continuous existing sovereign Palestine
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  nation, state, or country. Therefore, There is
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  no historic Palestine country to restore. There
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  is no sovereign Palestine land to free. Palestinians
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  today live within territories governed by Jordan,
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  Egypt, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority.
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  Modern political movements seek to annex land
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  administrated by other governments, not reclaim
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  a former nation because there is nothing to reclaim.
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  So this is why the slogan is emotionally powerful,
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  but historically inaccurate totally. And it is
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  amazing how many people believe it because they
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  hear it. They never look back into the history.
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  And that's why we're doing this Voices of Life
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  Did You Know? Because we want people to know
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  the truth about Palestine. Now, could people
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  that believe in having a Palestine ever negotiate
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  with one of these governments some land? You
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  never know what the future brings. But right
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  now, there is no Palestine. There are people
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  that are calling themselves Palestinian, but
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  again, it has no historical basis. There is nothing
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  to attach it to, no hidden land, no historic
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  land, not even going back to any ancient Islamic
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  readings. This is all just somebody's vivid imagination
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  that has kind of gone wild. It's kind of like
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  when you tell somebody something and they tell
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  somebody something and before you know it, it...
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  People think it's the truth. But we want you
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  to know the truth for the right reasons. So if
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  you do have a belief in Palestine, you need to
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  go about this the right way and understand there's
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  nothing you can do except petition governments
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  and ask them. And these are all mostly Jordan.
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  Jordan has the majority of that land. So that
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  would be the government I'd be putting all my
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  focus on. Not Israel. Certainly not here in the
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  U .S. And not these others. Maybe some of Egypt.
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  That is the truth about Palestine we wanted you
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  to know. We wanted you to know because history
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  matters, words matter, and truth matters. Palestine
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  was a region, not a sovereign nation, and today's
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  political slogans often ignore the real historical
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  record. Here at Voices of Life, we believe clarity
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  brings peace, and truth brings understanding.
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  I'm Pastor David. Thank you for joining me today.
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  Thank you for joining us today on the Voices
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  of Life podcast, a ministry of the Church for
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  Life. As we close, may the stories we share strengthen
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  your faith, steady your heart, and remind you
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  that God is present in every chapter of your
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  journey. If this episode encouraged you, share
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  it with someone who needs hope. And until we
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  meet again. Walk in truth, stand in courage,
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  and keep listening for the voice that leads you
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  forward. This has been Voices of Life. Peace
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  be with you.