From the river to the sea

"From the river to the sea" (Arabic: من النهر إلى البحر min al-nahr ila al-bahr) is, and forms part of, a popular Palestinian political slogan. It has been used by many Palestinian nationalists to assert varying territorial claims as to the boundaries of an independent Palestinian state as encompassing all of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the combined area of Israel and the Palestinian territories.

History

"Palestine from the river to the sea" was officially endorsed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) after it was founded in 1964. [1] The PLO claim was originally set on areas, controlled by the State of Israel following the 1949 Armistice Agreements, meaning the combined Coastal Plain, Galilee, Yizrael Valley, Arava Valley, and Negev Desert, but excluding West Bank (then controlled by Jordan) and Gaza Strip (occupied between 1959 and 1967 by Egypt).[2]

The PLO demand was rescinded in 1993, when the Israel–PLO Letters of Mutual Recognition were exchanged between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat as part of the Oslo I Accord. [3]

In a slightly different fashion, "Palestine from the river to the sea" is still claimed by Hamas,[4][5] referring to all areas of former Mandatory Palestine.

Usage

The slogan has frequently been used in statements by various Arab leaders.[6][7] It is also chanted at pro-Palestinian demonstrations,[8] often followed or preceded by the phrase "Palestine will be free".[9][10]

The slogan has found numerous variations in usage depending upon the group. Islamic supporters have utilized a version stating "Palestine is Islamic from the river to the sea".[11]

Pro-Palestinian rally in Columbus, Ohio, 12 October 2023

Interpretations differ amongst supporters of the slogan. Civic figures have argued that it calls for a single state in all of historic Palestine where people of all religions have equal citizenship, while certain Islamic scholars have declared the Mahdi - a redemptive apocalyptic figure central to Islamic eschatology - will declare "Jerusalem is Arab Muslim, and Palestine — all of it, from the river to the sea — is Arab Muslim."[12] [13]

Criticism

Critics of the slogan argue that it is calling for the land to be placed entirely under Arab rule at the cost of the State of Israel.[14]

Controversy

On International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People in 2018, American academic Marc Lamont Hill made a speech at the United Nations ending with the words: "...we have an opportunity, to not just offer solidarity in words, but to commit to political action, grassroots action, local action, and international action that will give us what justice requires. And that is a free Palestine, from the river to the sea."[15] The Anti-Defamation League accused Hill of using the phrase "from the river to the sea" as code for the destruction of Israel.[16] Hill was then fired from his position as a political commentator for CNN.[17]

During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, when Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas invaded Israel from the Gaza Strip, the British home secretary Suella Braverman proposed criminalising the slogan in certain contexts.[18] On 11 October 2023, Vienna police banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration, citing the inclusion of the phrase "from the river to the sea" in invitations, claiming it portrays a violation of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.[19]

References
  1. The PNC Program of 1974 Archived 2017-11-15 at the Wayback Machine, June 8, 1974. On the site of MidEastWeb for Coexistence R.A. - Middle East Resources. Page includes commentary. Retrieved 5 December 2006.
  2. Shemeh, Moshe. "The Founding of the PLO 1964". Middle Eastern Studies. Retrieved 18 October 2023. " 'The PLO will not assert any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank, nor over the Gaza Strip…"
  3. "United Nations Maintenance Page". unispal.un.org. Archived from the original on May 4, 2015.
  4. "The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)". MidEast Web. August 18, 1988. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  5. Nassar, Maha (December 3, 2018). "'From The River To The Sea' Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means". The Forward. Archived from the original on December 20, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  6. Ron Rosenbaum (18 December 2007). Those Who Forget the Past: The Question of Anti-Semitism. Random House Publishing Group. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-307-43281-0. Only two years ago he [Saddam Hussein] declared on Iraqi television: 'Palestine is Arab and must be liberated from the river to the sea and all the Zionists who emigrated to the land of Palestine must leave.'
  7. Alan Dowty (2008). Israel/Palestine. Polity. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-7456-4243-7. One exception was Faysal al- Husayni, who stated in his 2001 Beirut speech: 'We may lose or win [tactically] but our eyes will continue to aspire to the strategic goal, namely, to Palestine from the river to the sea.'
  8. Barry Rubin (25 May 2010). The Muslim Brotherhood: The Organization and Policies of a Global Islamist Movement. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-230-10687-1. Thus, the MAB slogan 'Palestine must be free, from the river to the sea' is now ubiquitous in anti-Israeli demonstrations in the UK ...
  9. "From the river to the sea, Jews and Arabs must forge a shared future". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2022-10-31. Retrieved 2023-09-22.
  10. "The Real Meaning of "From the River to the Sea"". The Jewish Journal.
  11. Anne Marie Oliver Research Scholar in Global and International Studies UC Santa Barbara; Paul F. Steinberg Research Scholar in Global and International Studies UC Santa Barbara (1 February 2005). The Road to Martyrs' Square : A Journey into the World of the Suicide Bomber: A Journey into the World of the Suicide Bomber. Oxford University Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-19-802756-0. ... a message reminiscent of the popular intifada slogan 'Palestine is ours from the river to the sea,' which in the hands of the Islamists became 'Palestine is Islamic from the river to the sea.'
  12. Bandler, Aaron (1 November 2021). "Dem NH Lawmaker Apologizes for 'From the River to the Sea' Tweet". The Jewish Journal. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  13. Cook, David (1 August 2008). Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature. Syracuse University Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-8156-3195-8. Jerusalem is Arab Muslim, and Palestine — all of it, from the river to the sea — is Arab Muslim, and there is no place in it for any who depart from peace or from Islam, other than those who submit to those standing under the rule of Islam.
  14. David Patterson (18 October 2010). A Genealogy of Evil: Anti-Semitism from Nazism to Islamic Jihad. Cambridge University Press. p. 249. ISBN 978-1-139-49243-0. ... except the boundary indicated in their slogan 'From the river to the sea', which stipulated the obliteration of the Jewish state.
  15. Hill 2018.
  16. AP 2018.
  17. Kelley 2019, p. 77.
  18. Syal, Rajeev; Allegretti, Aubrey (10 October 2023). "Waving Palestinian flag may be a criminal offence, Braverman tells police". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2023. I would encourage police to consider whether chants such as: 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free' should be understood as an expression of a violent desire to see Israel erased from the world, and whether its use in certain contexts may amount to a racially aggravated section 5 public order offence.
  19. "'From the river to the sea' prompts Vienna to ban pro-Palestinian protest". Yahoo News. 2023-10-11. Retrieved 2023-10-11.

Bibliography
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