Thread by @Aizenberg55

🧵Is Jordan part of “Historic Palestine”? This has been going around X recently. Answer is yes; historically & geographically both sides of the Jordan River have always been considered part of Palestine, a fact often obscured today. Detailed history thread worth your time: 1/16

Palestine as an entity first emerged as a Roman province following crushing of Jewish revolt ~135CE. Romans renamed Judea to Provincia Syria Palaestina in part to erase Jewish culture in the region. The original “Palestine” included both sides of the Jordan River, see map: 2/

Later in Roman/Byzantine era, area was split into Palaestina Prima, Secunda & Tertia (I, II & III) covering both sides of Jordan River. In fact capital of Palaestina III was in Petra, Jordan. So again, "Historic Palestine" included Jordan (centuries before Islam was born.) 3/

In the early 7th century Islam emerged in Arabia and Muslim armies conquered large portions of the Middle East, including the three Byzantine “Palaestinas” circa 636CE. The Muslim conquerors roughly maintained the Roman-Byzantine divisions of the region as provinces. 4/

Palaestina I became mostly “Jund Filastin” (Jund=military district) with capital in Ramla NOT Jerusalem, which is telling; Palaestina II became “Jund Al-Urdunn” and Palaestina III became part of Jund Dimashq. Once again, Jund Filastin included both sides of the Jordan River. 5/

Jund districts that were part of Muslim Caliphates remained in place until Crusader conquest in 1099CE when the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was formed, which also included both sides of the Jordan River. Borders shifted with ongoing wars over the years, see representative map: 6/

The Christians were fully expelled from the region in the 13th century and area came under Muslim Mamluk control; they did not name any province or region “Palestine”; no entity would be called Palestine for the next 800 years, until the British revived the name post WWI. 7/

Circa 1516 the Ottoman Turks displaced the Mamluks and much of Middle East came under Muslim Turk rule until 1917. Turks divided their empire into provinces called Eyalets then Vilayets; none were ever called Palestine, a centuries old name associated with Rome. See 1903 map: 8/

After WWI, British & French split the Middle East. British were granted "Mandate for Palestine" at San Remo in April 1920. This territory included all of today's Israel, Jordan, WB & Gaza. So the revived “Palestine” matched ancient Palestine on both sides of the Jordan River. 9/

However in April 1921, for reasons beyond scope of this thread, British divided Palestine Mandate, taking 78% to form “Transjordan” as a British protectorate. In 1946 “Jordan” gained independence. Since then many pretend that Jordan was never an integral part of “Palestine.” 10/

The artificial British creation of Jordan in 1921 does not change the fact that for 1,800 years prior, "Palestine," in every manifestation, included territory on both sides of the Jordan River. Ethnically and geographically, both sides of the river were the same. 11/

Many point to maps of “Palestine” printed in European & American atlases in 19th-early 20th century (see example) as “proof” that Palestine existed as a political entity at the time, but this is false, revealing a misunderstanding of what these maps actually represented. 12/

Atlases at the time included “Palestine” due to its connection to Land of Jesus. It was thus required to depict this Roman era Palestine in a modern Atlas. It had no connection to actual political borders as no entity known as Palestine existed in 400 years of Ottoman rule. 13/

Importantly to our question, all depictions of “Palestine” by Western atlases inluded both sides of the Jordan River. The British “Palestine Exploration Fund,” founded in 1865, surveyed both Western and Eastern Palestine (see map below) – Eastern meaning today’s Jordan. 14/

So is Jordan part of “Historic Palestine”? Yes. As a Roman & Muslim province from ~136CE-1099CE Palestine included both sides of Jordan River. As did the original British Palestine Mandate & maps of Palestine in atlases. Jordan has always been part of “Historic Palestine.” 15/

This fact does debunks the notion that a future state in WB & Gaza would mean Arabs only get 22% of “Historic Palestine” as often claimed. In fact, the same Arabs received 77% of “Historic Palestine” as Jordan. In fact Israel today comprises only 18% of “Historic Palestine.” END