“The greatest victories are won not when armies conquer territory, but when words conquer memory.”

— Ivan Bassov (א״ב), Writing from the Alef-Bet (א״ב) of Meaning

How Language and Narrative Turned the Meaning of “Palestine” and “Palestinian” Upside Down

Most people think history is shaped by battles and treaties.

Those certainly matter. But before political reality changes, something less visible often changes first: the language people use to describe that reality.

Ideas once dismissed as absurd gradually become acceptable. New terminology appears. Old meanings fade. Eventually, people forget that the words they use ever meant anything else.

Political scientist Joseph Overton described this phenomenon through what later became known as the Overton window—the range of ideas considered socially acceptable to discuss at a given time. Although Overton formulated the concept in the 1990s, the process itself is much older. Throughout history, societies have repeatedly shifted the boundaries of what seemed obvious, reasonable, or unquestionable.

The history of the words Palestine and Palestinian provides an illuminating example of how such shifts can transform public understanding.

The Overton window does not determine what is true.

It describes the range of ideas that society considers acceptable to discuss, endorse, or implement at a given moment.

Ideas outside that window are often dismissed as unthinkable or extremist. Ideas inside it are regarded as reasonable, mainstream, or even self-evident.

As public attitudes evolve, the window itself shifts. An idea once considered beyond the pale may gradually enter mainstream discourse. This evolution is often illustrated as a progression:

Unthinkable → Radical → Acceptable → Sensible → Popular → Policy

The labels vary among different authors, but the underlying principle remains the same: ideas can migrate from the fringe to the mainstream.

As familiarity grows, resistance declines. Once an idea is embraced by journalists, academics, educators, politicians, and international institutions, it eventually becomes part of conventional wisdom—and may ultimately be reflected in public policy.

People often assume that public opinion changes because new facts emerge.

More often than facts themselves, it is the interpretation of facts through language and narrative that reshapes public opinion.

Political conflicts are fought not only over territory but also over vocabulary.

Changing a word changes the assumptions attached to it.

When a familiar word acquires a new meaning, the transition often goes unnoticed because the word itself remains unchanged.

The map looks the same.

The dictionary entry looks familiar.

Yet the underlying concept has been replaced.

This process may be called semantic capture: preserving a word while replacing its historical referent.

Once semantic capture succeeds, later generations often assume the new meaning always existed.

Palestine Before the Shift

For centuries, Palestine referred........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)