Could it be that the entire argument that Israel is somehow occupying a foreign nation called “palestine” is one big exaggeration? Professor Eugene Kontorovitch enlightens the entire Congress with this clear and concise history of the region in the Middle East that is at the heart of the conflict. There is no question that there is a claim that Arabs have to the area that is now the State of Israel. But what the Professor clearly outlines is that the Israeli claim is far greater on basically every level.
What is Judea & Samaria – and what is its international legal status? My testimony Wednesday in the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee. Thank you @RepBrianMast @RepMikeLawler @BradSherman pic.twitter.com/cA2rk0MLFG
— Eugene Kontorovich (@EVKontorovich) December 12, 2025
The entire notion of a separate entitly called “the palestinian people” as a reference to a distinct Arab nation is an extremely new concept that few Arabs even mentioned as late as the 1960’s. Golda Meir, around the year 1970, when serving as Israel’s Prime Minister, noted that she never heard the idea mentioned in the decades that she served as an Israeli Minister.
Most Arabs living in Israel did not refer to themselves as “palestinians.” They referred to themselves simply as Arabs. The new term was conjured up in order to create a nationalistic vision that would unite the Arabs living in Israel and in the disputed areas of Judea and Samaria to a hope of one day kicking the Jews out of the Land of Israel and creating a new Arab State.
This creeping or emerging nationalism is now accepted as a fact, but it is certainly not a historic right. It is simply a new demand that is no different than Cuban nationals demanding their own State in South Florida.