Palestine: Decolonizing the Lexicon

By Susana Khalil  –  May 5, 2026

As a confession, and as a testimony… from the Palestinian diaspora. Since my childhood I did not understand why people did not comprehend the cause of national liberation of my native Palestinian people against colonialism. I, a mere snotty child, knew that people did not know and I did not know how to make them aware. Childhood gave me the sublime gift of tears, I cried… and although I know that today people are aware of the pain of the native Palestinian people, I still, at my 58 years, have not been able to make people aware of the cause of national liberation of the native Palestinian people against the Eurocentric colonial anachronism fraudulently called “Israel.”

It would be unforgivable today not to speak in terms of the end of the Eurocentric colonial anachronism fraudulently called “Israel.” It is the historical opportunity, it is the historical leap. This is why we need to decolonize our vocabulary.

Part I
As long as we remain trapped, drugged, and alienated in the comfortable and fascinating colonial Euro-Zionist esthetic, the great multitude, despite their pain and solidarity with the native Semitic Palestinian people, will not be able to understand the root and reason for the cause of national liberation of the native Semitic Palestinian people against the anachronistic Eurocentric colonialism fraudulently called “Israel.”

Let us take over the oral and written space. Let us position the lexicon. We must shed our ballast, free ourselves, decolonize the vocabulary.

Let us start from two points:

1. The “Jewish People” does not exist. The Muslim people does not exist, the Christian people does not exist, the atheist people does not exist…

2. The “Israel” that was imposed in Palestine in 1948 has no connection to the Israel of the Bible, nor is it Semitic.

I do not intend to create a new term, but rather to position the term of the facts, which leads to clarification, illustration, definition, education, orientation, guidance. To bring the Palestinian Cause out of the abstract. To flee from the esthetic packaging. Abstractionist esthetics make us submissive and do not clarify.

The idea is to take the universe of the specific word as a fertile and fruitful field of knowledge, understanding, and comprehension.

The precise and concrete term to illustrate the great multitude. The great multitude has a weight in the liberation of Palestine.

Let us present and illustrate our own lexicon and terminology
In the struggle for the liberation of the native Semitic Palestinian people from the Eurocentric colonial anachronism fraudulently called “Israel,” I am trying to present a compendium or glossary of terms, words, and straightforward, frank, clear phrases that will allow the global citizenry to understand, know, and learn what the cause of the native Palestinian people is.

For this, it is necessary to dismantle and rid ourselves of many terms and phrases that are embedded, injected like virus into our being.

The abstract subject is a sophisticated method of censorship, of attractive and effective necessity that benefits ignorance, which in turn strengthens colonialism. And the most scoundrelly thing is that this abstraction, being demagogic, artificial, inept, clumsy, and foolish, grants academic poses and an intellectual elegance.

In order to finalize, I present a glossary of terms.

Part II
Glossary of terms
1- “Israel” and Israel
The term “Israel” unconsciously or consciously carries an emotional, attractive, striking, seductive, sublime, celestial, charming, poetic, fascinating, intriguing, sacred, epic, and loving connotation. Not only at the level of Western evangelical and Catholic religion but also in non-religious, secular, progressive, leftist, and even atheist spheres. Likewise in Hollywood and all its derivatives, as well as in the intellectual arena and, very unfortunately, in the very academia that is supposed to be the scientific realm. All these areas have been led, manipulated to believe that the “Israel” of 1948 is the Israel of biblical esthetics.

Note:

Clarification: The “Israel” that was imposed in Palestine in 1948, from Europe and by Europeans, has no connection to the Israel of the Bible.

Clarification: The “Israel” that was imposed in Palestine in 1948, from Europe and by Europeans, is not Semitic.

In the same vein, it is necessary to dismantle that camouflage.

Proposals:

Never say “Israel” alone, it must be accompanied by a prefix. Examples:

– The colonial anachronism of “Israel.” There, the conflict is already being explained and illustrated. And we take it out of the abstract.

– The Eurocentric colonial regime of “Israel.” There it implicitly carries what the Palestinian Cause is. And it is taken out of the abstract.

– The Eurocentric colonial anachronism of “Israel.” There, the Palestinian Cause is being explained in summary and illustrated. It is taken out or rescued from the confusing, abstract, religious conflict, millennia-old conflict. All the blah-blah that has been and is very powerful.

– In this ABC, two elements are clarified that implicitly explain what the Palestinian Cause is, and at the same time, the Palestinian cause is taken out from the abstract.

Note: Two elements:

– It is about moving away from the abstract and, at the same time, delinking, separating, and discerning the charm and sentiment of biblical Israel from the current “Israel” of anachronism, Eurocentrism, and colonialism.

– To be concrete, specific, and precise; to be conductive, directional, and guiding. Using prefixes like anachronism, Eurocentrism, and colonialism are descriptive concepts that illustrate, explain, and create understanding.

Note: This word must be repetitive and recurrent, so that it implies or entails a difficulty in syntax and in oral expression. It is necessary to take on a challenge and break free from esthetic submission in order to convey the message.

Alternative concepts to “Israel”
2- “State of Israel”
It is not a state, it is a colonial entity.

Alternative term:

The Zionist entity or entity. It is a correct phrase but it is limited to a small number of people, it is not a phrase that reaches the great multitude. It is a phrase that remains within the circle of those who know the conflict more deeply. Our challenge and victory would be to reach the great multitude. So that the same great multitude multiplies and reproduces a clear and precise lexicon. The idea is that this great multitude will be the one to explain, illustrate, and spread the cause of the native Semitic Palestinian people against Eurocentric colonialism.

Note: It is necessary to call it, without fear, colonial regime. However, this is seen as imprudent.

3- The Israeli is not an Israelite
The Israelite, whether history, historiography, fable, legend, or myth, belongs to the Levantine Semitic foundation. It is part of the ancestry of what is today the native Semitic Arab-Palestinian people.

4- “Terrorist” “State” of “Israel”
While it is true that it is a terrorist entity, it must be remembered, without fear, that it is not a State.

It can be replaced by:

– The terrorist colonial entity of “Israel”
– The colonial-terrorism of “Israel”.

Note: Yes, it is complicated at the level of syntax and at the oral level. It is a challenge to undertake.

5- Genocidal “State” of “Israel”
Yes, it is a genocidal entity. But it is not a State. Genocide is implicit in its foundational nature and colonial progression. But it is not a State. It explains, specifies, and pinpoints a genocidal reality. The ideal is to illustrate not only the form but also the colonial background of the genocidal entity. Its genocidal character is conditioned by its colonial nature against the native Palestinian.

6- Apartheid “State”
It is not a State. Yes, it is an Apartheid regime. Now it must be understood that the practice of the crime of Apartheid is an inherent instrument of all colonization. It is implicit in the nature of every colonial entity to carry Apartheid. The Apartheid regime is not the end, it is one of the means of the colonial and extermination process.

Note: It is not the end of Apartheid, it is the end of colonialism.

The term “Israel of 1948” must be linked, related, and illustrated to what colonialism is.

The term colonial is the most precise, concrete, and specific word in the oral and written space and universe.

7-  Infanticidal “State”
It is not a State, it is a colonial anachronism. Yes, it is an infanticidal regime, and this infanticide is part not only of the colonial nature but also due to the particularity that comes from a colonialism that does not emerge from a people but from a movement that disguises itself as a people and feels obligated to be a colonialism that must exterminate the native population. If the native people achieve independence, the colonizer has no point of return, as it is a colonizer that does not come from a people (a native soil), as in classical colonialism, and to avoid this, the extermination of the native people is mandatory.

Note: The term State must be eliminated from our vocabulary. Although that colonialism is recognized by the United Nations (UN) Resolution 181 of 1947. It is an illegal, illegitimate, and immoral resolution, a mockery and humiliation; it is despotic, as the UN is not authorized to divide the territory of any people in the world; rather the UN’s function is quite the opposite, it is to safeguard, protect, and guarantee the sovereignty, territory, and human rights of peoples.

8- “Jewish people”
There is no “Jewish People,” there is the Jewish religion.

It is a very attractive term but quite erratic and deceptive. It is a scam that hides the colonial background and beautifies that colonial expansionist anachronism.

It is epistemicide, that is, imposing one’s “imaginary” on the other.

Simple. The Jewish people do not exist, the Muslim people do not exist, the Christian people do not exist, the atheist people do not exist, the anarchist people do not exist, etc.

Note: At the same time, it is essential to see the absurd, ridiculous, and retrograde nature of the belief that today, in the 21st century, in addition to secular values, we are made to believe that there is a people who do not stem from an ethnic root but from a religion, and that it manipulates this belief into thinking it is a people.

The “Israel” that imposed itself in Palestine in 1948 is a falsification of history.

10- “Hebrew” Army or “Hebrew” Press
It is an attractive term, but erratic and deceptive. Hebrew is Semitic. The present occupation army is not Hebrew, it is colonial. If we reproduce the phrase “Hebrew army,” we are acknowledging that these colonizers are the ancient Hebrew people, we are reproducing the falsification of history.

Let us remember that we are facing a colonialism that does not emerge from a people as in classical colonialism, but rather arises from a European movement, and since it is not a people, it takes the history and/or mythology of the native people.

11- Of Jewish origin
Attractive, erratic, and impostor term. No one is of Jewish origin, no one is of Muslim origin, no one is of Christian origin, no one is of atheist origin, no one is of communist origin, no one is of capitalist origin.

Saying “he is of Jewish origin” gives it the connotation of a nationality, a people, a nation, an ethnicity, when in reality it is a religious faith.

Moreover, it is necessary to highlight, raise awareness, and show the absurd, retrograde nature that this term implies.

It is also necessary to dismantle the colonial nature of that phrase, as it contributes to the falsification of history.

12- Jewish Nationalism and/or National Zionism
This phrase is erratic in addition to being ahistorical; however, it is very attractive and very operational. If we talk about Jewish nationalism, it is then to accept that a religious community is a nation. This is an attractive, pseudo-scientific manipulation.

13- Modern Israel
This phrase is attractive, erratic, and deceptive, in addition to being scientifically lacking. It is a complete mockery, yet it is very striking, which makes it very effective. The current Israel (1948) is Indo-European colonial. Ancient Israel was Semitic.

14- Jewish Diaspora/the “Wandering People”
This phrase is romantic, which makes it operational. It is erratic and deceitful. There is no Muslim diaspora, there is no Christian diaspora, there is no atheist diaspora, there is no Marxist diaspora, there is no workers’ diaspora. The problem is not just the absurdity, but that this ridiculousness, apart from being attractive, is deeply embedded and is a criminal tool.

15- We want peace. Peace.
After the Oslo Accords, some Palestinians stopped talking about the liberation of Palestine and began to speak in terms like: I want peace, I want to live with the Jews.

The word peace is very powerful and at the same time deceptive. It is a word associated with good, and for this reason, it will be very prostituted and fetishized.

Abstract peace is paralyzing, because it neutralizes. While peace is a worthy human value, it is the most prostituted one by the colonial Zionist esthetic.

Dissecting an ‘Antisemitism’ Psyop

16 – Two States
It is a Eurocentric proposal. It is a colonial modality.

It is a trap since the Eurocentric colonial anachronism of “Israel” does not want two states; rather, we know well that its project is expansionist, the “Greater Israel,” to take all of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, part of the Arabian Peninsula, part of Iran, and part of Egypt.

We cannot be irresponsible by believing in beautiful phrases that ultimately contribute to the extermination of the native Palestinian people and put the existence of the Arab-Persian world at risk.

The false Eurocentric colonial Two-State proposal is the anesthesia for amputating the legs… It is a card to buy time that the colonizer needs, as extermination takes time.

Which country in the world would agree to cede 54% of its territory only to end up having more than 80% usurped under the argument that it is the land God promised someone or the “return after two thousand years to the land of their ancestors”?

17- Ethno-religious. Ethnosexual, ethnosoccer
The term “ethno-religious” is erratic and deceptive, lacking scientific concept. Yes, it is attractive. It serves to justify, beautify the Eurocentric colonial anachronism fraudulently called “Israel.”

Talking about ethnoreligion is equivalent to talking about ethnosexuality or ethnosoccer.

18. May 14, 1948. “Independence of Israel”
Saying that May 14, 1948, is the date of the “Independence of Israel” is an outrage to history, it is the most skillful falsification of history.

May 14, 1948, is the date of the colonization of the native Semitic Palestinian people by the Eurocentric colonial Zionist movement fraudulently called “Israel.”

This colonial enterprise materializes in perfect coordination with the British Empire and Zionism, among Europeans… already in previous studies since 1907 (Bannerman Report) and subsequently in 1917 (Balfour Agreements).

May 14, 1948, is the date of Al-Nakba, the Catastrophe, the expulsion of the ancient native Arab-Semitic, Palestinian people by the European, fascist colonial, Zionist movement.

19- Millennia conflict
Attractive, erratic, and deceptive phrase. No, this is not a millennia old conflict, it is a contemporary conflict. It was born in Europe and it materialized after the Second European War (wrongly called World War), as a consequence of the Mea Culpa, the European Jewish Holocaust. It also follows the European colonial logic of establishing a colonial entity in the Levant as a “military base” in support of Western interests.

20- Religious conflict
The cause of national liberation of the native Semitic Palestinian people against the fraudulently named “Israel” colonialism is not a religious cause. It is a political and colonial cause.

Note: There is a wildcard in the “analysis” of reducing the Arab-Persian world to religious matters. This is not innocent; it serves to hide the character of the anachronism and Eurocentric colonial savagery in our 21st century.

In the analysis, the Arab-Persian world is reduced to a religious commodity; it is simplism, ineptitude, and demagoguery. This practice has become comfortable.

It is tormenting, a hellish shroud, clumsy and absurd. This absurdity is the vehicle to achieve the extermination of the native Semitic Palestinian people. We are lacking human thought, the fortune of thinking. Hannah Arendt comes to mind, the banality of evil.

Since I was very young, I cried because I did not understand why people were so wrong about the Palestinian Cause. The renunciation of thinking by many pretentious academics, intellectuals, analysts, politicians makes them Adolf Eichmann.

 

(Al-Mayadeen)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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