It's customary in English to print the name of a recognized national, ethnic or religious group with an initial capital letter. That usage connotes a recognition that there is some bond of race, belief, origin or allegiance that ties those people together. In that spirit, we even apply it to street gangs, social lodges and political parties. Categories and sub-categories that are merely descriptive and collective, however, don't get the capital letter. E.g., criminals, fanatics, smokers, farmers, philanthropists, cave-dwellers.
To date, nothing has convinced me that the group of criminals, terrorists and thugs and their unqualified supporters who refer to themselves as "palestinians" have yet achieved a status warranting a capital letter. They've never had a unique language, religion or culture and they've never been a sovereign entity of any sort. Yes, they have chosen a piece of land that they claim is "theirs," but in the entire history of the human race it has never been controlled or ruled by them or by any group of people in any way associated with them, and its boundaries, such as they are, have been set entirely by the very Western imperialist nations that they so distain. Finally, they have collectively behaved in a consistently reprehensible manner inconsistent with a sincere desire to join the community of peoples and nations.
And then there's also this. They put a lot of stock in names and titles, and use their own convolutions and distortions of same to denigrate their chosen "enemies," and my people, the Jews, in particular, and our sovereign nation, Israel, in most particular. This, for example, is a choice snippet from an item at the "Palestine Media Center" yesterday:"We and President Arafat reject all Israeli conditions," Palestinian chief negotiator Sa'eb Erekat told AFP after briefing the Palestinian leader about his earlier meeting with officers from the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) at Israel's Beit Eil illegal settlement and military base just outside the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
See, we can do this, too. So here's my version:"We and President Arafat reject all Israeli conditions," so-called "palestinian" chief propagandist and veteran liar Sa'eb Erekat told AFP after briefing the so-called "palestinian" terrorist leader about his earlier meeting with officers from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) at Israel's Beit El community and military base just outside the terrorist stronghold of Ramallah in Judea.
Two can play.
Finally, well yes, you can infer any other connotations of that small "p" to which your mind may wander.
