what is eretz yisrael / historical palestine?

'eretz yisrael' and 'historical palestine' are traditional jewish and arab terms, respectively, for an area along the eastern coast of the mediterranean sea.

region

eretz yisrael / historical palestine is bound by the mediterranean sea to the west, the jordan river to the east, and the galilee to the north. to the south, it extends deep into the negev beyond be'er sheva.

boundaries

eretz yisrael / historical palestine is a region that was first defined in jewish thought. this is where hebrew originated, and many place names originate from hebrew to this day.

eretz yisrael

initially, the region of palestine referred to a small area of southern eretz yisrael centered around gaza. however, the roman empire used the term palestine to refer to all of eretz yisrael.

palestine

since the roman empire, the bounds of historical palestine expanded to be synonymous with eretz yisrael.

historical palestine

similar to christian supersessionism, islam re-identifies many jewish figures such as abraham and jacob as pious muslims. in the physical world, jewish heritage sites have traditionally been converted into mosques.

islamic supersessionism

while respecting the traditional boundary lines of eretz yisrael, the islamic world came to view eretz yisrael / historical palestine not as a 'jewish homeland' but as a land that has been inherited into arab and islamic nationhood.

two terms, one set of boundaries

today, the state of palestine uses the term 'historical palestine' to refer to this region. phrases like 'from the river to the sea' have been lifted from jewish texts, and transferred to arab and islamic nationalism.

state of palestine

the state of israel uses the traditional religious term 'eretz yisrael' to refer to this region. however, the golan heights and eilat are areas of israeli territory that are not part of eretz yisrael.

state of israel

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