From the river to the sea

From the river to the sea
"From the river to the sea" is a political slogan associated with Palestinian nationalism. The slogan refers geographically to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which includes the State of Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip.
The slogan has been used by political groups since the 1960s to advocate for Palestinian liberation. Its meaning is a subject of controversy. Some interpret the slogan, which references the geographical area that includes Israel, as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state, replacing it with a Palestinian state. This interpretation has been adopted by militant groups including Hamas, which explicitly vowed to destroy Israel after its formation in the late 1980s. Another interpretation suggests that the slogan calls for a one-state solution — a single state encompassing what is today Israel and the Palestinian territories, where people of all religions have equal citizenship.
The slogan is regarded by the ADL as anti-Semitic, it has also come under scrutiny in Germany, Austria and the UK, where it has been proposed to classify it as a criminal offense.
Usage
Originally a political slogan, it has been in use by Palestinian political groups since the 1960s as a call for Palestinian liberation. By 1969, according to Professor Robin Kelley of the University of California, Los Angeles, the phrase "Free Palestine from the river to the sea" came to represent its desire for "one democratic secular state that would supersede the ethno-religious state of Israel." According to Associate Professor Ron J. Smith of Bucknell University, since Palestinian nationalism envisages a land-based state, whilst Israeli nationalism envisages an ethnically-based state, the use of this phrase is understood differently by Israelis and Palestinians. According to Ron Smith, for Palestinians it refers to the entirety of Mandatory Palestine.
The slogan has been used widely in pro-Palestinian protest movements. It has often been chanted at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, usually followed or preceded by the phrase "Palestine will be free". Interpretations differ amongst supporters of the slogan. Civic figures, activists, and progressive publications have said that it calls for a One-state solution, a single, secular state in all of historic Palestine where people of all religions have equal citizenship. This stands in contrast to the Two-state solution, which envisions a Palestinian state existing alongside a Jewish state. This usage has been described as speaking out for the right of Palestinians “to live freely in the land from the river to the sea”, with Palestinian writer Yousef Munayyer describing the phrase as “a rejoinder to the fragmentation of Palestinian land and people by Israeli occupation and discrimination.” Others have simply said it stands for "the equal freedom and dignity of the Palestinian people."
Some Islamic militant groups (including Hamas and Islamic Jihad), and Arab leaders (such as Saddam Hussein) came to utilize the slogan when calling for the supplementation of Israel with a unified Palestinian state, sometimes also proposing the removal of all or most of its Jewish population. Hamas, as part of its revised 2017 charter, rejected “any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea", referring to all areas of former Mandatory Palestine and by extent, the elimination of Jewish sovereignty in the region. Islamic Jihad declared that “from the river to the sea - [Palestine] is an Arab Islamic land that [it] is legally forbidden from abandoning any inch of, and the Israeli presence in Palestine is a null existence, which is forbidden by law to recognize. Islamic supporters have utilized a version stating "Palestine is Islamic from the river to the sea", with certain Islamic scholars have declared the Mahdi - a redemptive apocalyptic figure central to Islamic eschatology - will declare "Jerusalem is Arab Muslim, and Palestine — all of it, from the river to the sea — is Arab Muslim."
A similar slogan was used in the 1977 charter of the Israeli political party Likud, which stated that "between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty". Some commentators have referred to Israeli occupation as a policy of Israeli control and oppression of Palestinians "from the river to the sea."
Antisemitism allegations
The phrase has been claimed by some politicians and advocacy groups, such as the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee, to be antisemitic, hate speech, or even incitement to genocide, suggesting that it denies the right of Jews for self-determination in their ancestral homeland, or advocates for their removal or extermination. Such critics of the slogan claim that it has been explicitly used to call for the land to be placed entirely under Arab rule at the cost of the State of Israel and its Jewish citizens. The usage of this phrase has had the effect of making some members of the Jewish community or people affiliated with Israel feel ostracized and unsafe.
Palestinian-American writers such as Yousef Munayyer and University of Arizona professor Maha Nassar have suggested that such a persuasive definition relies on racist and Islamophobic assumptions.
On International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People in 2018, American academic Marc Lamont Hill made a speech at the United Nations ending with the words: "...we have an opportunity, to not just offer solidarity in words, but to commit to political action, grassroots action, local action, and international action that will give us what justice requires. And that is a free Palestine, from the river to the sea." The ADL accused Hill of using the phrase "from the river to the sea" as code for the destruction of Israel. Hill was then fired from his position as a political commentator for CNN.
Following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the British home secretary Suella Braverman proposed criminalizing the slogan in certain contexts. On 11 October 2023, Vienna police banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration, citing the inclusion of the phrase "from the river to the sea" in invitations, claiming it portrays a violation of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. On 30th Ocotober 2023, British Labour MP Andy McDonald was accused of anti-Semitism and suspended from the Labour Party after using the phrase in a pro-Palestine rally speech. As of November 1st 2023, the UK Football Association barred the use of the slogan by its players, stating they made clear to teams “that this phrase is considered offensive to many” and will ‘seek police guidance on how [they] should treat it and respond” if players are found to have used it.
Politicians in Austria and Germany also considered classifying use of the phrase a criminal offense, with Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer suggesting that the phrase could be interpreted as a call for murder.
References
Bibliography
Palestinian nationalism
Political catchphrases
Phrases
Anti-Zionism