The name Palestine refers to a region of the eastern Mediterranean coast from the sea to the Jordan valley and from the southern Negev desert to the Galilee lake region in the north. The word itself derives from "Plesheth", a name that appears frequently in the Bible and has come into English as "Philistine". Plesheth, (root palash) was a general term meaning rolling or migratory. This referred to the Philistine's invasion and conquest of the coast from the sea. The Philistines were not Arabs nor even Semites, they were most closely related to the Greeks originating from Asia Minor and Greek localities. They did not speak Arabic. They had no connection, ethnic, linguistic or historical with Arabia or Arabs.
The Philistines reached the southern coast of Israel in several waves. One group arrived in the pre-patriarchal period and settled south of Beersheba in Gerar where they came into conflict with Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. Another group, coming from Crete after being repulsed from an attempted invasion of Egypt by Rameses III in 1194 BCE, seized the southern coastal area, where they founded five settlements (Gaza, Ascalon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gat). In the Persian and Greek periods, foreign settlers - chiefly from the Mediterranean islands - overran the Philistine districts.
From the fifth century BC, following the historian Herodotus, Greeks called the eastern coast of the Mediterranean "the Philistine Syria" using the Greek language form of the name. In AD 135, after putting down the Bar Kochba revolt, the second major Jewish revolt against Rome, the Emperor Hadrian wanted to blot out the name of the Roman "Provincia Judaea" and so renamed it "Provincia Syria Palaestina", the Latin version of the Greek name and the first use of the name as an administrative unit. The name "Provincia Syria Palaestina" was later shortened to Palaestina, from which the modern, anglicized "Palestine" is derived.
This remained the situation until the end of the fourth century, when in the wake of a general imperial reorganization Palestine became three Palestines: First, Second, and Third. This configuration is believed to have persisted into the seventh century, the time of the Persian and Muslim conquests.
The Christian Crusaders employed the word Palestine to refer to the general region of the "three Palestines." After the fall of the crusader kingdom, Palestine was no longer an official designation. The name, however, continued to be used informally for the lands on both sides of the Jordan River. The Ottoman Turks, who were non-Arabs but religious Muslims, ruled the area for 400 years (1517-1917). Under Ottoman rule, the Palestine region was attached administratively to the province of Damascus and ruled from Istanbul. The name Palestine was revived after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and applied to the territory in this region that was placed under the British Mandate for Palestine.
The name "Falastin" that Arabs today use for "Palestine" is not an Arabic name. It is the Arab pronunciation of the Roman "Palaestina".
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The "palestinans" say they are descendants of the philistines.
Historically, the philistines only lived in the gaza area and up a few more miles along the shoreline. The Jews have had a presence in Israel from about 1200 BC by the Merneptah Stele, which refers to the victory the egyptians had over the people of Israel (the Israelites). The United Monarchy (also known as the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah) was when all the Tribes of Israel unified under one country. The capital of the United Monarchy was Jerusalem, this occurred around 1050 BC. The United Monarchy was then split into 2 sister states, the Kingdom of Israel (including Samaria as its capital) and the Kingdom of Judah (including Jerusalem as its capital) around 930 BC.
During the time of the Kingdoms, many wars were brought upon them. Subsequently, too many wars caused the Kingdoms to collapse and the Kingdoms fell to the babylonians, persians, macedonians, assyrians, etc., but still maintained a Jewish presence. During the roman empire, the land that the Kingdoms were in was then named the Iudaea Province around 63 BC, which included Judah and Samaria. The "west bank" as it is called, is actually Judah and Samaria. The Jews revolted 3 times because of discrimination, religious persecution, desecration and other reasons. On the final revolt, the Bar Kokhba revolt, happening around 132 AD. The romans suppressed the revolt. The roman empire got annoyed with the revolts, so to punish the Jews, the roman empire renamed the Iudaea province to "syria-palaestina" to insult the Jews and disconnect them from their homeland. They renamed the Iudaea province to "syria-palaestina" because the long time enemies of the Jews are the assyrians and the philistines. They then separated "syria-palaestina" into 2 provinces to "palaestina I" and "palaestina II". After the roman empire fell the lands name stayed and
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