Semantics

Submitted by Peter Herz (United States), Aug 6, 2009 at 12:47

Well, some would argue that there is no country called Taiwan. Yet I've known people from there who love to see themselves as the vanguard of a future, united, post-Communist China who say "I'm from Taiwan." And, having lived, worked, and enjoyed myself on that island, I wish it to gain international recognition regardless of whether it calls itself the rump of Sun Yat-sen's Chinese Republic founded in 1911, Taiwan, Great Liuqiu, or even Bob.

The piece of land between the Jordan and the Med was called Palestine while the Brits ruled it; the same name had currency among Western travellers who visited the place while the Ottomans ruled it; Jews from that piece of land were called "Palestinian" before WWII; the Greeks and Romans came up with the name because the Philistines were the first inhabitants of the land they encountered when approaching by sea from the west...

Hence, while I personally prefer the Biblical connotations of 'Eretz Yisroel and firmly recognize that a predominantly Jewish nation called Israel (after all, there are Muslim and Christian Arabs, Circassians, and Armenians there, too), I can live with people speaking of "Palestine".

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