Third Aliyah in the context of "Palestinians"

Palestinians (Arabic: الفلسطينيون, romanized: al-Filasṭīniyyūn) are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. They represent a highly homogeneous community who share a cultural and ethnic identity, speak Palestinian Arabic and share close religious, linguistic, and cultural ties with other Levantine Arabs.

In 1919, Palestinian Muslims and Christians constituted 90 percent of the population of Palestine, just before the third wave of Jewish immigration and the setting up of British Mandatory Palestine after World War I. Opposition to Jewish immigration spurred the consolidation of a unified national identity, though Palestinian society was still fragmented by regional, class, religious, and family differences. The history of the Palestinian national identity is a disputed issue amongst scholars. For some, the term "Palestinian" is used to refer to the nationalist concept of a Palestinian people by Palestinian Arabs from the late 19th century and in the pre-World War I period, while others assert the Palestinian identity encompasses the heritage of all eras from biblical times up to the Ottoman period. After the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the 1948 Palestinian expulsion, and more so after the 1967 Palestinian exodus, the term "Palestinian" evolved into a sense of a shared future in the form of aspirations for a Palestinian state. Though the concept of Palestinian citizenship for the purpose of international law has been revived, the in fieri realization of self-determination is still insufficient, thus Palestinians remain over the threshold of eligibility to receive international protection as refugees and stateless persons.

Ruslan (in archaic Russian spelling: Русланъ; in today's accepted spelling: Руслан) which bore the name of the Russian hero Ruslan from Pushkin's poem Ruslan and Ludmila was the first officially organized ship that sailed from the former Russian Empire to Palestine in 1919, after the end of the First World War. On board were 671 passengers, many of whom would become pioneers in Israeli culture, which is why the Ruslan is nicknamed the "Mayflower" of Israel.

Ruslan is considered the first ship to open the Third Aliya period, referring to the third migration of European Jews to Palestine. Despite this, it was one of the last ships to arrive at the shores of Jaffa that year.