Why do we refer to Israel as “the Jewish state,” but not Palestine as “the Muslim state?” Why do we conflate religion with nationality?
@AlliFlowers Well, only one is an actual state.
@blueemu @AlliFlowers Palestine wasn't ever a religious state, right?
@tadbithuman @AlliFlowers I don't think it could properly be considered a state at all. Ottoman Empire -> Mandatory Palestine -> Israel declared -> occupation
@blueemu @AlliFlowers what about before the Ottoman Empire?
@tadbithuman @AlliFlowers Ruled by various Islamic caliphates after the Byzantine Empire. No independent state of Palestine has ever existed.
@blueemu @tadbithuman @AlliFlowers as part of the British Empire they were no less independent than Australia, New Zealand or Canada. They had British passports endorsed as Palestinian.
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/15/55/c7/1555c7e9180b6c79a539963d08a2e58d.jpg
@peterbrown @tadbithuman @AlliFlowers Which would be...no independence. Hence the word "Empire."
Was India a sovereign nation before 1947? Please. A passport isn't the same as self government.
@blueemu @tadbithuman @AlliFlowers I think there are only three countries on the planet, which have not compromised their sovereignty in some way, and therefore could be said to be fully independent. They are North Korea, south Sudan and Afghanistan. Every other country has compromised its sovereignty through treaties, agreements, and unions. 
Independence is not a cut and dried concept; it is relative.
@peterbrown @tadbithuman @AlliFlowers We're not talking about "uncompromised sovereignty" we're talking about the base requirements for being a "state" in the modern sense. To imply that Arabs in Mandatory Palestine had anything resembling self governance is not a serious argument at all.
@blueemu @peterbrown @AlliFlowers modern day concept of nation states, and the idea of sovereignty are not from the same time period.
Sovereign states with moving boundaries have existed much longer than nation states.
Was India a sovereign nation before 1947? No, because India as a nation state unit didn't exist before then. Were there historical sovereign states that overlapped the same geography? Yes, many.
@tadbithuman @peterbrown @AlliFlowers The original question was why is Israel called a Jewish state but Palestine is not called an Islamic state. My point is that Palestine is not a state in the sense of the word implied by that question.
Israel? Jewish state
Iran? Islamic state
Pakistan? Islamic state
Palestine? Not a state at all, never has been.
@blueemu @peterbrown @AlliFlowers the question is whether Palestine should be referred to as a Muslim state. The answer is no, it is a state that isn't defined as such.
@tadbithuman And it does not need to be, because as this thread has shown, there are many Muslim states. There is only one Jewish state (sorry, New York), and Hamas wants it destroyed so that not even Palistianans (fellow Muslims) can live there. @blueemu @peterbrown
@AlliFlowers @blueemu @peterbrown
Dr Flowers, Hamas type ideology should be crushed. Settler ideology should be crushed. Harm to innocent people must be less than the benefits accrued to others *in this pursuit*.
You asked the question, why is Palestine not called a Muslim state while Israel is noted as the Jewish state. The answer is that Israel self identifies as such.
In my opinion without any authority, state and religion should be kept apart.
Viva paz!
@tadbithuman Yes! Religion should be kept out of everything! @blueemu @peterbrown
