"From the river to the sea" (Arabic: من النهر إلى البحر, romanized: min an-nahr ʾilā l-baḥr; Palestinian Arabic: من المياه للمياه, romanized: min il-ṃayye la-l-ṃayye, lit. 'from the water to the water') is a political slogan that refers to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – an area historically known as Palestine, which was formerly ruled by the British as Mandatory Palestine, and which today encompasses Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The phrase and its variations have been used both by Palestinians and Israelis to mean that the area should consist of one state, rather than two or three. In the 1960s, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) used it to call for what they saw as a "decolonized" state encompassing the entirety of Mandatory Palestine. By 1969, after several revisions, the PLO used the phrase to call for a one-state solution, that would mean "one democratic secular state that would supersede the ethno-religious state of Israel". Many pro-Palestinian activists describe the phrase as a call for peace, equality1 and an end to Israeli military rule over Palestinians, while many Jewish groups and others interpret it as a call for the destruction of Israel. Frequently, at pro-Palestine protests around the world, it has been used as a chant or rallying cry. Hamas used the phrase in its 2017 charter; usage of the phrase by such Palestinian militant groups has led critics to say that it advocates for the dismantling of Israel, and the removal or extermination of its Jewish population. Some countries have considered criminalizing its use as an antisemitic call for violence. In other cases, courts and authorities have found that the phrase can fall within protected freedom of expression, depending on context, intent, and how it is used. An early Zionist slogan envisaged statehood extending over the two banks of the Jordan river, and when that vision proved impractical, it was substituted by the idea of a Greater Israel, an entity conceived as extending from the Jordan to the sea. The phrase has also been used by Israeli politicians. The 1977 election manifesto of the right-wing Israeli Likud party said: "Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty." Similar wording, such as referring to the area "west of the Jordan river", has also been used in the 2020s by other Israeli politicians, including Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 18 January 2024.