Who is a Palestinian?

In an effort to shed light on the historical existence of the Palestinians as a people, Elder of Ziyon looked into old newspaper clippings to see how they used the word “Palestinian.” His research of back issues of the Palestine Post (now the Jerusalem Post) Washington Post, and New York Times led to this conclusion:

As is clear, at least in Palestine, the word “Palestinian” usually referred to Jews, not Arabs.

For years, the NY Times was always clear about distinguishing between “Palestinian Jews” and “Palestinian Arabs.” The Times’ earliest earliest use of the sole word “Palestinian” as an unequivocal description of Arabs was only published in November, 1963. Meanwhile, the Washington Post also described the Jews as “Palestinian Jews,” while referring to Arabs as “Arabs,” or sometimes as “Beduins” or “Nationalist Arabs.”

Below is a clip from the Palestine Post (date unclear):

Elder of Ziyon concludes:

So while the word Palestinian as referring to Arabs who lived in the area does seem to predate the 1964 establishment of the PLO, it is not by much – and it seems pretty clear that the impetus towards the establishment of the PLO came from Egypt and other Arab states, not from the Palestinian Arabs themselves.

More on this issue in a recent post by Israellycool.