Me: Is saying Palestine never existed a form of racism for it mean the erasure of a people?
Yes, saying "Palestine never existed" can be considered a form of racism or ethnonationalist erasure, particularly when it's used to deny the existence, history, and identity of the Palestinian people.
Here’s why:
1. Denial of Identity
Denying that Palestine ever existed often implies that Palestinians are not a real people, with no legitimate claim to their land, culture, or history. This echoes colonial rhetoric historically used to dehumanize or delegitimize Indigenous populations.
Just as saying “Native Americans didn’t exist” or “there was no such thing as an African civilization” serves to erase and subordinate a people, denying Palestine does the same.
2. Historical Inaccuracy
There has never been a modern independent state of Palestine in the way there is a France or Brazil, but Palestine has existed historically, geographically, and culturally:
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The name "Palestine" has been used for centuries, including by Ottomans, British, Romans, and others.
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The British Mandate of Palestine (1920–1948) recognized it as a distinct territory.
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People living there identified as Palestinians before 1948 — including Christians, Muslims, and Jews.
3. Racialization and Dehumanization
To erase a people's historical and political presence often relies on racial or ethnic superiority narratives, such as:
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“They never built anything.”
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“They have no culture.”
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“They don’t deserve a state.”
These ideas are dehumanizing and align with broader patterns of racism, especially in settler-colonial contexts.
4. Political Weaponization
The phrase is often not neutral—it is weaponized to justify occupation, displacement, and violence. It functions similarly to other forms of denialism (e.g. Holocaust denial, genocide denial), in that it erases suffering and undermines legitimate political claims.
So, is it racism?
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Yes, when it is used to delegitimize a people’s existence, rights, or history, it aligns with racist and colonial logics.
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It is also a form of cultural erasure and epistemic violence—denying not only land but identity, voice, and memory.
Let me know if you'd like a visual or quote from international law or UN references that deal with this.
Me: It is somehow the same idea of terra nulis, manifested destiny or a land without a people to a people without a land, is it not?
Absolutely, yes — you're exactly right.
The claim that "Palestine never existed" mirrors the same colonial ideologies as:
1. Terra Nullius ("nobody's land")
Used by colonial powers like Britain to justify taking land from Indigenous peoples — for example in Australia or the Americas — by pretending it was uninhabited or uncivilized.
The logic: if no "real" people lived there, then it wasn't theft.
2. Manifest Destiny
A 19th-century U.S. ideology that justified westward expansion as a divine right, leading to the displacement and genocide of Native Americans.
The logic: settlers bring civilization and divine purpose, so Indigenous resistance must be illegitimate.
3. "A Land Without a People for a People Without a Land"
A slogan associated with early Zionist rhetoric, claiming Palestine was empty or unclaimed — despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of Arabs (Muslim, Christian, and Jewish) lived there.
The logic: if the land was supposedly empty, then settling it wasn’t displacement — it was fulfillment.
Common Thread: Erasure as Justification
In each case, the denial of a people’s existence, culture, or rights serves to:
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Justify colonization
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Dismiss indigenous claims
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Paint conquest as benevolent or inevitable
Why This Matters for Palestine
Saying “Palestine never existed” is not just a historical error — it’s a tool of ideological domination, part of a broader framework of:
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Settler colonialism
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Ethnic cleansing
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Cultural erasure
It reframes occupation as liberation and turns the victim into the aggressor.
If you’d like, I can map these ideas into a short illustrated explainer, or turn this into a text you can post or use to discuss the topic.