From the river to the sea

Map showing Israel and the Palestinian Territories as outlined by the Oslo Accords. The Jordan River is on the right, and the Mediterranean Sea is on the left.

"From the river to the sea" (Arabic: من النهر إلى البحر, romanized: min an-nahr 'ilā l-baḥr; Palestinian Arabic: من المياه للمياه, romanized: min al-mayeh lil-mayeh, lit. 'from the water to the water') is a political slogan that refers geographically to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which currently includes the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories: the West Bank, which includes East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

Robin Kelley writes that the phrase began as a Zionist slogan demarcating the boundaries of Eretz Israel. The concept appears in the 1977 election manifesto of the right-wing Israeli Likud party, which states "Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty." Similar wording has also been used more recently by other Israeli politicians.

Elliott Colla traces the first evidence of use of the phrase in Palestinian protest culture to the First Intifada (1987-1993), with documentation in graffiti from the period. Later, Islamist militant factions, such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, used it to call for the destruction of Israel and for the establishment of an Islamic state within the same borders. Some Palestinian activists use it to call for a united democracy over the whole territory, while others say "it's a call for peace and equality after … decades-long, open-ended Israeli military rule over millions of Palestinians."

The slogan's usage by Palestinian militant groups has led critics to argue that the slogan implicitly advocates for the dismantling of Israel, the denial of Jewish self-determination, and a call for the ethnic cleansing or genocide of the Jewish population in Israel and Palestine. Nadia Abu El Haj notes that these critics do not make such claims when it is used by Israelis.

It has come under scrutiny in the United States and Europe, where some countries have considered criminalizing its use, and its use was prohibited on X as stated in a tweet by CEO Elon Musk.

History

According to American historian Robin D. G. Kelley, the "odious" phrase "began as a Zionist slogan signifying the boundaries of Eretz Israel."

The phrase was popularized in the 1960s as part of a wider call for Palestinian liberation, creating a democratic state and, according to Arizona professor Maha Nassar, freeing Palestinians from oppression from Israeli as well as from other Arab regimes such as Jordan and Egypt.

Kelley writes that the phrase was adopted by the Palestine Liberation Organization in the mid-1960s; the 1964 charter of the PLO's Palestinian National Council called for "the recovery of the usurped homeland in its entirety," though it explicitly stated "Jews who are of Palestinian origin shall be considered Palestinians if they are willing to live peacefully and loyally in Palestine."

It was seen as a call for a return to the pre-1948 borders of Palestine, when it was under British control. This call was modified by the 1988 Algiers Declaration and subsequent Oslo Accords, which sought to establish a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders (in accordance with UN Resolution 242).

For Elliott Colla, "it is unclear when and where the slogan "from the river to the sea," first emerged within Palestinian protest culture." In November 2023, Colla wrote that he had not encountered the phrase "min al-nahr ila al-bahr" or "min al-mayyeh li-mayyeh" in Palestinian revolutionary media of the 1960s and 1970s and noted that "the phrase appears nowhere in the Palestinian National Charters of 1964 or 1968, nor in the Hamas Charter of 1988."

Colla notes that activists of the First Intifada (1987-1993) "remember hearing variations of the phrase in Arabic from the late 1980s onwards" and that the phrases have been documented in graffiti from the period in works such as Saleh Abd al-Jawad's "Faṣā'il al-ḥaraka al-waṭaniyya al-Filasṭīniyya fi-l-arāḍī al-muḥtalla wa-shu'ārāt al-judrān" (1991) and Julie Peteet's "The Writing on the Walls: The Graffiti of the Intifada" (1996).

Context

According to Elliott Colla, the relevant historical context for understanding the 'from the river to the sea' slogan is the history of partition and fragmentation in Palestine. He cites the 1947 UN Partition plan for Palestine, which proposed to divide the land between the river and the sea; the 1948 Nakba, in which that plan materialized; the 1967 War, after which Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza; the Oslo Accords, which fragmented the Palestinian territory in the West Bank into Palestinian enclaves or "an archipelago of Bantustans surrounded by Israeli settlements, bases, and checkpoints;" and the Israeli separation wall first erected after the Second Intifada.

Usage

Use by militant groups

"From the river to the sea" has been adopted by several jihadist militant groups, Islamic fundamentalist groups, and terrorist organizations in the Near East and Middle East. Hamas, as part of its revised 2017 charter, rejected "any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea", referring to all areas of former Mandatory Palestine and by extension, the end of Jewish sovereignty in the region. Islamic Jihad declared that "from the river to the sea — [Palestine] is an Arab Islamic land that [it] is legally forbidden from abandoning any inch of, and the Israeli presence in Palestine is a null existence, which is forbidden by law to recognize. Islamic supporters have utilized a version stating "Palestine is Islamic from the river to the sea", with certain Islamic scholars declaring that the Mahdi — a redemptive apocalyptic figure central to Islamic eschatology — will declare "Jerusalem is Arab Muslim, and Palestine — all of it, from the river to the sea — is Arab Muslim."

The phrase has been linked to Hamas since their founding in 1988 with their founding charter seeking "to confront the Zionist invasion and defeat it", however the phrase did not feature in Hamas's official positions until 2017. The first usage of the phrase was as part of its 2017 revised platform where they state "Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea [...] along the lines of the 4th of June 1967".

Use internationally

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, in 2023, has used the phrase in saying "The only solution is a Palestinian state from the river to the sea", referring that the only solution to solve the conflict would be a Palestinian state encompassing all of what was Mandatory Palestine and now includes both Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Use by the Israeli right

The phrase was also used by the Israeli ruling Likud party as part of their 1977 election manifesto which stated "Judea and Samaria will not be handed to any foreign administration; between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty." This slogan was repeated by Menachem Begin. Similar wording has also been used more recently by other Israeli politicians, like Gideon Sa'ar and also Uri Ariel of The Jewish Home. In 2014 Ariel said, "Between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea there will be only one state, which is Israel."

Use on social media

The phrase has been used across social media, including on Tik Tok.

On November 15, 2023, Jewish influencers and celebrities confronted of Tik Tok executives in a private call, to press them to moderate use of the phrase on the platform. Adam Presser, head of operations for Tik Tok, stated that only content "where it is clear exactly what they mean...that content is violative and we take it down," adding that if "someone is just using it casually, then that has been considered acceptable speech." In a statement, Tik Tok said that content using the phrase "in a way that threatens violence and spreads hate" is not allowed on the platform. On November 17, 2023, Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, announced a policy change, stating that users who use terms like "decolonization" and "from the river to the sea," or similar expressions would be suspended. He claimed these terms were used as euphemisms for extreme violence or genocide, . Musk's announcement came after he was criticized for "endorsing an antisemitic post" on the platform two days before, and companies such as IBM, Comcast, Apple, Paramount Global, Disney, and Lionsgate announced a pause of ads on the platform.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League applauded Musk's action on November 17, calling it "an important and welcome move" and praising his "leadership in fighting hate." Rolling Stone stated that it was "doubtful" that Twitter users will be suspended "from the site for repeating either phrase." Noah Lanard of Mother Jones wrote that the new policy will "presumably apply only to those who use the phrase [from the river to the sea] in support of Palestinians" and argued that Musk is "trying to cover up for his own bigotry." Pro-Palestinian users criticized Musk's new policy, arguing he was conflating legitimate political speech with "calls for violence" and was "limiting free speech."

Civic usage

Pro-Palestinian rally in London, 9 October 2023

Pro-Palestinian rally in Columbus, Ohio, 12 October 2023

The slogan has been used widely in pro-Palestinian protest movements. It has often been chanted at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, usually followed or preceded by the phrase "Palestine will be free" (the phrase rhymes in English, not Arabic). Interpretations differ amongst supporters of the slogan. In a survey conducted by the Arab World for Research and development on November 14, 74.7% Palestinians agreed that they support a single Palestinian state "from the river to the sea." whilst only 5.4% of respondents supported a "one-state for two peoples" solution.

Civic figures, activists, and progressive publications have said that it calls for a one-state solution: a single, secular state in all of Historic Palestine where people of all religions have equal citizenship. This stands in contrast to the two-state solution, which envisions a Palestinian state existing alongside a Jewish state. This usage has been described as speaking out for the right of Palestinians "to live freely in the land from the river to the sea", with Palestinian writer Yousef Munayyer describing the phrase as "a rejoinder to the fragmentation of Palestinian land and people by Israeli occupation and discrimination." Others have said it stands for "the equal freedom and dignity of the Palestinian people."

On November 8, 2023, Amazon told Newsweek that they would not be removing pro-Palestinian merchandise, including garments bearing the slogan, stating that the items do not "contravene our policies," which prohibit sale of products which "promote, incite, or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance."

Criticism

Some politicians and advocacy groups like the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee consider the phrase to be antisemitic, hate speech and incitement to genocide, suggesting that it denies the right of Jews for self-determination in their "ancestral homeland", or advocates for their removal or extermination. Such critics of the slogan claim that it has been explicitly used to call for the land to be placed entirely under Arab rule at the cost of the State of Israel and its Jewish citizens. Palestinian-American writers such as Yousef Munayyer and University of Arizona professor Maha Nassar have suggested that such a persuasive definition relies on racist and Islamophobic assumptions.

On International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People in 2018, American academic Marc Lamont Hill made a speech at the United Nations ending with the words: "...we have an opportunity, to not just offer solidarity in words, but to commit to political action, grassroots action, local action, and international action that will give us what justice requires. And that is a free Palestine, from the river to the sea." The ADL accused Hill of using the phrase "from the river to the sea" as code for the destruction of Israel. Hill was then fired from his position as a political commentator for CNN. Hill apologized but later later tweeted ""You say "River to the Sea" is "universally" understood to mean the destruction of the Jewish State? On what basis do you make this claim? Did it signify destruction when it was the slogan of the Likud Party? Or when currently used by the Israeli Right?"

On 30 October 2023, British Member of Parliament Andy McDonald was suspended from the Labour Party after stating in a pro-Palestine rally speech: "We won't rest until we have justice, until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea can live in peaceful liberty". The party described McDonald's comment as "deeply offensive". McDonald said at the time "These words should not be construed in any other way than they were intended, namely as a heart felt plea for an end to killings in Israel, Gaza, and the occupied West Bank, and for all peoples in the region to live in freedom without the threat of violence."

As of 1 November 2023, the UK Football Association barred the use of the slogan by its players, stating they made clear to teams "that this phrase is considered offensive to many" and that the league will seek police guidance on how [they] should treat it and respond" if players are found to have used it.

On 7 November 2023, United States Representative Rashida Tlaib was censured by the House of Representatives in part for using the slogan, which Tlaib defended as "an aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction or hate". Before the vote, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized the phrase as something which is "widely understood as calling for the complete destruction of Israel". On 8 November 2023, the White House condemned Tlaib for using the phrase. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that "when it comes to the phrase that was used, 'from the river to the sea,' it is divisive, it is hurtful, many find it hurtful and many find it antisemitic," and added that the White House "categorically reject[s] applying the term to the (2023 Israel–Hamas) conflict."

On 9 November 2023, Harvard University president, Claudine Gay, condemned the phrase.

In describing the criticism of the phrase, scholar of political slogans in the Arab world Elliott Colla writes:

It is the first phrase of the slogan—"from the river to the sea"—that has caused so much fury. Dominant Jewish communal institutions, most prominently the ADL and AJC, have insisted that this phrase is antisemitic. Throughout recent years, they have composed new definitions of antisemitism that render many common expressions of Palestine solidarity as ipso facto instances of anti-Jewish hate speech. Despite widespread criticism from scholars and experts, the new definitions have been adopted across a range of institutions, from the State Department to DEI offices at many schools, colleges, and universities. In this literature, the slogan "from the river to the sea" figures prominently in their accusations of antisemitic doublespeak.

Legal status

In August 2023, the Dutch court of appeal ruled that the phrase was protected on free speech grounds, being "subject to various interpretations", including those that "relate to the state of Israel and possibly to people with Israeli citizenship, but do not relate to Jews because of their race or religion".

Following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the British home secretary at the time, Suella Braverman, proposed criminalizing the slogan in certain contexts. On 11 October 2023, Vienna police banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration, citing the inclusion of the phrase "from the river to the sea" in invitations, as a justification.

A majority of the Dutch parliament declared the phrase to be a call for violence. However the judiciary refused to prosecute on these grounds stating the phrase relates "to the state of Israel and possibly to people with Israeli citizenship, but does not relate to Jews because of their race or religion". The decision was later upheld by the Dutch Supreme Court.

Politicians in Austria have also considered declaring use of the phrase to be a criminal offense, with Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer saying that the phrase would be interpreted as a call for murder.

On November 5, 2023, in Tallinn (Estonia), the police opened criminal proceedings against five rally participants who used the slogan "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".

On November 11, 2023, the slogan was banned in Bavaria (Germany), and "the prosecutor's office and the Bavarian police warned that henceforth the use of this slogan, regardless of language, will be considered as the use of symbols of terrorist organizations. This may result in punishment of up to three years in prison or a fine."

On November 16, 2023, it became known that the use of the slogan now faces criminal prosecution in the Czech Republic.

On November 17, 2023, it was reported that the case of a man charged by the police in Calgary, Canada for using the phrase, had been stayed.

See also

• Anti-Zionism
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
• Zionism
• Greater Israel
• Greater Palestine

Bibliography

• Kelley, Robin (Summer 2019). "From the River to the Sea to Every Mountain Top: Solidarity as Worldmaking". Journal of Palestine Studies. 48 (4). Taylor & Francis, Ltd.: 69–91. doi:10.1525/jps.2019.48.4.69. JSTOR 26873236. S2CID 204447333.
• Hill, Marc Lamont (30 November 2018). Speech on the 70th Anniversary of the Nakba (Speech). Special Meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. New York City. Retrieved 11 October 2023.