From the river to the sea

Map showing Israel and the Palestinian Territories as outlined by the Oslo Accords. The Jordan River is on the right, and the Mediterranean Sea is on the left.

"From the river to the sea" (Arabic: من النهر إلى البحر, romanized: min an-nahr ʾilā l-baḥr; Palestinian Arabic: من المية للمية, romanized: min il-ṃayye la-l-ṃayye, lit. 'from the water to the water')[1][2] is a political phrase that refers geographically to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an area historically called Palestine,[3] which today includes Israel and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza.[4][5] The phrase and similar phrases have been used both by Palestinian and Israeli politicians to mean that the area should consist of one state.

In the 1960s, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) used it to call for a decolonized state encompassing the entirety of Mandatory Palestine.[6] By 1969, after several revisions, the PLO used the phrase to call for a single democratic state for Arabs and Jews, that would replace Israel.[6]

Many pro-Palestinian activists consider it "a call for peace and equality" after decades of Israeli military rule over Palestinians, while for many pro-Israeli activists it is seen as a call for the "destruction" of Israel.[7] Islamist militant faction Hamas used the phrase in its 2017 charter. Usage of the phrase by such Palestinian militant groups has led critics to say that it advocates for the dismantling of Israel, and the removal or extermination of its Jewish population.[8][7]

An early Zionist slogan envisaged statehood extending over the two banks of the Jordan river, and when that vision proved impractical, it was substituted by the idea of a Greater Israel, an entity conceived as extending from the Jordan to the sea.[9][10] The Palestinian phrase has also been used by Israeli politicians. The 1977 election manifesto of the right-wing Israeli Likud party said: "Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty."[11][12][13] Similar wording, such as referring to the area "west of the Jordan river", has also been used more recently by other Israeli politicians,[3] including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 18 January 2024.[14] Some countries have considered criminalizing Palestinian but not Israeli use of the phrase.[15][16]

  1. ^ سلامة غمري, هبة (3 November 2023). ""فلسطين من النهر إلى البحر".. ماذا يعني الشعار ومن أين جاء؟". Icona - Al-Masry Al-Youm.
  2. ^ عرب ٤٨ (2 November 2017). "الاحتلال يقمع وقفة منددة بوعد بلفور بالقدس". موقع عرب 48. Retrieved 13 November 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Sales, Ben (8 November 2023). "'From the river to the sea': The slogan that led to Rashida Tlaib's censure, explained". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  4. ^ "The culture war over the Gaza war". The Economist. 28 October 2023. Archived from the original on 30 October 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  5. ^ Stripling, Jack (31 December 2023). "Colleges braced for antisemitism and violence. It's happening". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  6. ^ a b Kelley, Robin (Summer 2019). "From the River to the Sea to Every Mountain Top: Solidarity as Worldmaking". Journal of Palestine Studies. 48 (4). Washington, D.C.: Taylor & Francis: 69–91. doi:10.1525/jps.2019.48.4.69. JSTOR 26873236. S2CID 204447333. The Likud Party's founding charter reinforces this vision in its statement that "between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty."... During the mid-1960s, the PLO embraced the slogan, but it meant something altogether different from the Zionist vision of Jewish colonization. Instead, the 1964 and 1968 charters of the Palestine National Council (PNC) demanded "the recovery of the usurped homeland in its entirety" and the restoration of land and rights-including the right of self-determination-to the indigenous population. In other words, the PNC was calling for decolonization, but this did not mean the elimination or exclusion of all Jews from a Palestinian nation-only the settlers or colonists. According to the 1964 Charter, "Jews who are of Palestinian origin shall be considered Palestinians if they are willing to live peacefully and loyally in Palestine.' Following the 1967 war, the Arab National Movement, led by Dr. George Habash, merged with Youth for Revenge and the Palestine Liberation Front to form the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP embraced a Palestinian identity rooted in radical, Third World-oriented nationalism, officially identifying as Marxist-Leninist two years later. It envisioned a single, democratic, potentially socialist Palestinian state in which all peoples would enjoy citizenship. Likewise, Fatah leaders shifted from promoting the expulsion of settlers to embracing all Jews as citizens in a secular, democratic state. As one Fatah leader explained in early 1969, "If we are fighting a Jewish state of a racial kind, which had driven the Arabs out of their lands, it is not so as to replace it with an Arab state which would in turn drive out the Jews... We are ready to look at anything with all our negotiating partners once our right to live in our homeland is recognized." Thus by 1969, "Free Palestine from the river to the sea" came to mean one democratic secular state that would supersede the ethno-religious state of Israel. Moreover, the Palestinian national movement had come to see itself as part of a global anti-imperialist movement in solidarity with other nonaligned or socialist nations, or revolutionary movements like the Black Panthers.
  7. ^ a b "'From the river to the sea': Why a 6-word phrase sparks fury and passion over the Israel-Hamas war". Associated Press News. 10 November 2023.
  8. ^ "'From the river to the sea': Why a chant for the freedom of an occupied people became so provocative". Dawn.com. 28 October 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  9. ^ According to David Kimche, cited by Ethan Bronner, 'Why 'Greater Israel' Never Came to Be,' New York Times 14 August 2005.
  10. ^ Eizenstat, Stuart E. (2018). President Carter: The White House Years. St. Martin's Publishing Group. p. 439. ISBN 978-1-250-10457-1. Prior to the establishment of Israel, both Ze'ev Jabotinsky and Menachem Begin subscribed to the idea that the goal of Zionism was one of 'fulfilling what they believed was God's biblical promise of a Jewish homeland from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, and even beyond'.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Laquer2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference JVLLikud was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gdnwhatmean was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference AJ111 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ "'From the river to the sea'-leus is geweldsoproep, vindt Kamermeerderheid" ['From the river to the sea' slogan is a call for violence, according to the majority in the House of Representatives]. nos.nl (in Dutch). 25 October 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  16. ^ Eichner, Itamar (25 October 2023). "Austria's Nehammer says pro-Hamas chants will become criminal offense". Ynetnews. Retrieved 26 October 2023.