Philistines are NOT ancestors of Palestinians. The Philistines were neither Arabs nor Semites (which the current Palestinians certainly claim to be; however, they are most likely a mix of historical Greeks and Arabs now), and the name Palestine was assigned to the region by the Emperor Hadrian, after the Romans put down the Bar Kochba rebellion around A.D. 135. Archaeologic and genetic data support that Palestinians came from the ancient Canaanites, who extensively mixed with Egyptians, Mesopotamian, and Anatolian peoples in ancient times. Goliath was not a Palestinian but a Philistine warrior from Greece who lived in the City of Gath, which coincidentally is now part of Gaza. There was no Palestine in the time of Goliath as Palestine was created/named by the Romans (Hadrian) when they conquered the area.
Hadrian renamed Judea, Palistina because he heard it from someone or read about them in the Bible and that they were the biggest enemies of the Jews. He wanted to stab the Jews and make it more painful because there was an uprising against him. The Palestinians became Palestinians much later. Jews came to the British Mandate of Palestine. It is the name the Brits decided to use for the territory (not nation) to not look like their specifically supporting the Jews.
The Philistines were not Arabian but Greek. The “Sea Peoples” originated as an immigrant group from the Aegean that settled in Canaan (Gaza) circa 1175 BC, during the Late Bronze Age collapse. Over time, they gradually assimilated elements of the indigenous Semitic Levantine societies while preserving their own unique culture. In 604 BC, the Philistine polity, after having already been subjugated for centuries by the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC), was finally destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. After becoming part of his empire and its successor, the Persian Empire, the Philistines lost their distinct ethnic identity and disappeared as a people from the historical and archaeological record by the late 5th century BC. The Greek “Sea Peoples” (Philistines) had origins in the greater Southern European and West Asian area, including western Asia Minor, the Aegean, and the islands of the East Mediterranean. Also, Ramesses III allegedly relocated a number of the “pwr s tj” to southern Canaan, as recorded in an inscription from his funerary temple in Medinet Habu, and the Great Harris Papyrus. The Philistine name comes from the Egyptian and Hebrew consonant string plst, which referred to the Sea People group that settled on the southern coast of modern Israel.
The “Palestine” moniker continued to be used long after the Roman Empire fell. When Muslim armies conquered the region in 629 CE, they Arabized the name to “Filastin.” This term cannot be found in the Quran, while the name “Israel” is mentioned several times.
The regional name “Palestine” endured. During the Middle Ages, it became common in early modern English and was employed by the Crusaders. But for nearly 2,000 years, it never referred to a country or a group of people. To understand what connection they may or may not have with the Palestinians of our time, we need to understand what happened to the Ancient Philistines. Throughout most of Biblical history, they were enemies of the Israelites. For this reason, the prophet Ezekiel declared that they would be destroyed. In the years surrounding 600 BCE, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon waged war against the Levant. Part of this campaign involved an attack against Philistia. During this attack, he devastated the Philistine nation. Some of their most important cities were utterly destroyed. Over the following decades, the Philistines limped on as a nation. However, by the fifth century BC, it appears that all historical and archaeological trace of them had disappeared. They may have survived as a group for some time thereafter, but Alexander the Great’s conquests in the following century certainly eliminated whatever trace of that nation was left.
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