Reference to European Jews as Palestinians prior to 1948
European Jews were commonly considered an "Oriental" people in many of their host countries, usually as reference to their presumed ancestral origins in the Middle East. A prominent example of this was the 18th-century Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant, who referred to European Jews as "Palestinians living among us."[9] Naming of Israel in Arabic
Official documents released in April 2013 by the State Archive of Israel show that days before the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, Jewish officials were still debating about what the new country would be called in Arabic: Palestine (Filastin), Zion (Sahyoun) or Israel (Isra’il). Two assumptions were made: "That an Arab state was about to be established alongside the Jewish one in keeping with the UN's partition resolution the year before, and that the Jewish state would include a large Arab minority whose feelings needed to be taken into account". In the end, the officials rejected the name Palestine because they thought that would be the name of the new Arab state and could cause confusion so they opted for the most straightforward option: Israel.[10]
