This week House Republicans and a solid bloc of Democrats joined together to censure Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, for her comments about the Israel-Gaza war, specifically targeting her embrace and defense of a pro-Palestinian slogan they described as unacceptable: “from the river to the sea.”
The official congressional rebuke of Ms. Tlaib stated that the phrase was “widely recognized as a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel.” The top White House spokeswoman also disavowed it from the West Wing, stating that it was “divisive” and that many found it hurtful and antisemitic.
It’s not just in Washington that the phrase has become a point of contention; it has also sparked debate in college campuses and cities across the country in recent weeks as pro-Palestinian activists protest Israel’s war against Hamas. The slogan has prompted charges of antisemitism and fueled an increasingly fierce debate over the conflict, its root causes, and the United States’ position on the matter.
The phrase, which Ms. Tlaib claims is “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction or hate,” has a complex history and has led to radically different interpretations by Israelis, Palestinians, and their American supporters.
“The reason why this term is so hotly disputed is because it means different things to different people,” said Dov Waxman, a professor of Israel studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, adding that “the conflicting interpretations have kind of grown over time.”
The phrase “from the river to the sea” — or in Arabic, “min al-nahr ila al-bahr” — dates to the early 1960s, long before Hamas came into existence. It gained popularity within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as a call for returning to the borders under British control of Palestine before the creation of Israel as a Jewish state in 1948.
Many Palestinians now see the phrase as symbolizing their desire for a right of return to the towns and villages from which their families were expelled in 1948, as well as their hope for an independent Palestinian state, which includes the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
But the phrase has also been embraced by Hamas, which calls for the annihilation of Israel, taking on a more menacing connotation that has influenced its reception.
Many Palestinians have been troubled by the outrage over the slogan, which they regard as the result of an orchestrated effort by groups like the Anti-Defamation League to undermine their cause of statehood and silence them.
It’s clear that the phrase “from the river to the sea” holds different meanings and interpretations for different groups. Its history and significance have contributed to ongoing debate and controversy.
Translated by Microsoft Translation