Photos: Campus protests continue, police make arrests and clear encampments

The concept of a “Palestinian Nation” is tied to the emergence of Palestinian nationalism, which is a nationalistic ideology that asserts that the Palestinians are a nation and promotes the development of a Palestinian national identity Historically, the region known as Palestine has been controlled by many kingdoms and powers, including Ancient Egypt, Ancient Israel and Judah, the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great and his successors, the Hasmoneans, the Roman Empire, several Muslim caliphates, and the crusaders1. In modern times, the area was ruled by the Ottoman Empire, then the British Empire. Since 1948 it has been divided into Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip1.

However, it’s important to note that there was never an independent country named Palestine. There was for a time a Roman province named Palestine, when the Romans bestowed that name in the second century A.D. on an area that was previously called Judea, and which had been sovereign for a time3. The term “Palestinian” referred to Jews, Bedouin or Arabs living in the geographical region of Palestine.