From: HMAVERIK@aol.com

Subject: MY JEWISH PATRIMONY LAND OF MY FOREFATHERS

To: mona@israelmail.com

Many terms for the Land exist in other languages. The English call it "Palestine", and the Germans "Palastina", having adopted the name through the course of generations from the Greek and Roman inhabitants of the Mediterranean coast. As seagoing peoples, the Greeks and Romans first discovered the Land of Israel through direct contact with its Philistine inhabitants who according to the Old Testament (see Amos 9:7; Jeremiah 47:4; Deuteronomy 2:23), came from Caphtor, which may probably be identified with Crete. A Pelasgian origin was also suggested, but modern scholars believe that the Philistines, undoubtedly immigrants, came from Crete.

During the period of Roman rule the land was divided into districts: "Palestina Prima" in the South, "Palestina Secunda" in the central portion, and "Palestina Tertia" in the southern part of Transjordan. The English also called the country "the Holy Land", and the French "Terre Sainte", from the Latin "Terra Sancta". The State of Israel issued a special medallion bearing the words "Terra Sancta" for non-Jewish pilgrims. The English "Land of Israel" and the French "Pays d'Israel" appear in Christian literature, and writers have called their books on the Land by these names. Another name common among non-Jews is "the promised land", found in Latin literature and maps of the country. The English and Germans also use the names "land of the Bible" and "land of the Holy Scriptures". "Das Gelobte Land" (the praiseworthy land) appears in German literature praiseworthy for the great events which occurred during the time ancient Israel dwelt in the homeland of the Holy Scriptures and cradle of Christianity.

In Arabic literature, the Land of Israel appears once in the Koran, as "Ard al Makdasa" (the Holy Land) in the Islamic version of Moses' words to the people of Israel: "Enter, my people, the Holy Land which Allah has assigned for you" (Koran, 5, "The Table", 24).

Today the Arabs call the land "Falestin", the Arabic version of "Palestina", appearing in ancient Jewish literature. This name is found also in medieval Arabic literature, where it designates only a part of the Land of Israel, the southern district and its capital Ramla, corresponding to the ancient Roman "Palestina Prima".

Between medieval and modern times, the Arabs also called the Land of Israel, together with neighboring Syria, "A-Sham".

During the modern period, after the end of World War I, nationalist Arabs called the Land, including Transjordan, "Suria a-Jenubiyeh" (southern Syria). This was also the name of an Arabic newspaper published in Jerusalem. These nationalists hoped to annex the Land of Israel, then under British rule, to Syria, where an Arabic kingdom had been established. When the French, who had been promised the mandate over all of Syria and Lebanon, put an end to this kingdom, the term "southern Syria" disappeared.

Bibliography Zev Vilnay