No One Would Call Anyone "Palestinian" Today Without Balfour

We know that historically, there has never been a sovereign, Palestinian state.

But if there has never been a state, a country, called Palestine -- then what did the Arabs call themselves when that territory was under Muslim rule?

In his book, From Babel to Dragomans, Bernard Lewis includes a talk he gave in 2001, under the title "The British Mandate for Palestine in Historical Perspective." In just a few understated paragraphs, Lewis hints at the importance of The British Mandate for the Palestinian Arabs:

The 90th Anniversary Of The Palestine Mandate And The Rights It Grants To Jews In The Land

On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Palestine Mandate, Eli E. Hertz, President of MythsAndFacts.org writes that the Mandate for Palestine Still Matters 90 Years Later.

As opposed to the Balfour Declaration, where British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour expressed Great Britain’s view with favor for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people," The Mandate for Palestine is a legally binding agreement granting Jews the right to settle anywhere in that land--from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. It is a agreement that is binding in accordance with international law.

Even today.