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Irwin N. Graulich is a well known motivational speaker on ethics, religion and Judaism. A child of Holocaust survivors, he has been successful in showing religious and secular people the need for God-based ethics. Irwin considers himself a multi-denominational, serious Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jew.
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By Irwin N. Graulich
February 17, 2003
Who owns the "Palestinian" brand name? The answer may resolve the crisis more efficiently than war and better than a forced American peace treaty.
Before 1948, Palestine was a singular idea. It represented the hopes and dreams of the Jewish people for their own state. Palestine was the word used by secular Jews like Theodore Herzl and David Ben-Gurion, because "Israel" was simply "too Jewish." Even somewhat religious Jews like Jabotinsky, used the word "Israel" while also referring to "Palestine." These early founders did not want to confuse "Israel," a biblical term for the Jewish people with the name for a future Jewish state.
Tracing the history of the term merely proves that it existed well before Islam or any Arab nation. This has absolutely no relevance with the term's modern use which defined a Jewish state in the Middle East. "Palestine" as an idea over the past 500 years belonged to the Jews. Indeed, that is what a brand is all about? a singular idea or concept created in the minds of people, and owned by a company, a group or a community/nation. Ketchup, Vaseline, Kleenex, Cadillac, Las Vegas are all great brands, whose owners watch and protect them.
The Jews built the Palestinian brand until 1964, when a brilliant marketing/advertising/terrorist called Yasser Arafat arrived on the scene. People have admired Jews as brilliant businesspeople. Yet Mr. Arafat showed a true streak of genius by literally stealing one of the most valuable brands in history, without as much as a lawsuit. Imagine anyone adopting the Coca-Cola name sans permission, or heaven forbid misusing the Nike swoosh.
Branding is considered the most important ingredient for the success of a product, service or idea. Pepsi has spent 50 years creating a look, a taste and a lifestyle that represents the beverage. For 225 years, America has built values and institutions that represent its brand. Pioneering Jews over the last 150 years have taken a wasteland of desert and sand called Palestine, transforming it into the "Miami Beach of the Middle East." Certainly there were Arabs, Christians, Armenians and other groups living there. But "Palestine" the word, the idea, the effort, the brand and the land, all truly belonged to the Jews.
From the first Zionist Congress meeting in 1897 with Herzl repeating his dream of "Palestine" hundreds of times, to the days of Israel's Proclamation of Independence which terminated the British mandate for Palestine, the two words - Israel and Palestine - were used interchangeably. Of course, there were Palestinian Jews and Palestinian Arabs, just like there are Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs today.
Arafat did not begin with terrorism. He began with a major corporate theft, even bigger than Enron. The Palestinian Liberation Organization was born in the early 1960s. And the fools in Israel never protested or fought back in the public relations arena. Israelis were simply not sophisticated enough to understand the ramifications of a major word loss. In biblical Hebrew a word meant an actual thing, an object (dvarim), something physically significant. So Arafat, and later on Erekat and Ashrawi all understood that this was indeed where they could win the battle. The public relations/marketing atomic bomb was more important than any missiles or weapons. Sheer genius!
In 1948, Palestine meant a homeland for Jews. In 2003, Palestine means an oppressed, occupied, homeless Arab subgroup being subjugated by those same Jews. What a brilliant marketing turnaround. American advertising executives have proven that branding is the singular most efficient way to sell an idea. Couple the brand with powerful words like occupation, Nazi-like, persecute, abuse, mistreat, conquer, torment, and it becomes even more potent.
When the term PLO became synonymous with murder and terrorism, Chairman (and CEO) Arafat simply dropped the name in favor of a kinder, gentler "Palestinian Authority" and repositioned its image through an Intifada. Strategist Arafat managed to get free television infomercials of "Palestinian" teenagers with stones against a powerfully strong Israeli army with tanks, missiles and Apache helicopters. A daily dose of David vs. Goliath imagery. The Godfather of the West Bank had now skillfully surpassed Madison Avenue.
Unless Israel addresses the situation utilizing the same guerilla marketing tactics, it will win the (physical) battle, and ultimately lose the war. Israel, the original Palestinian people, must recapture the brand and exploit its credentials. A brand is a personality and Israel must strive to connect the present state back to the pioneering-spirit, kibbutz builders of Palestine pre-1960. A brand is a culture and a way of life. Hard work, freedom, democracy, equality for men and women, jobs, Jewish singing and dancing, new technology, family, Shabbos; that is what Palestine brings to mind.
Let Arafat and his cronies think of a new name, one that has no affiliation with Jews. Because truthfully, Am Yisrael Chai means that the Jews of Palestine live on forever!
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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