Hadn’t heard of this gentleman before, bears closer examination, thanks @rippon.
This is one argument being used to counter Israel’s futile war against Palestine. No matter how many Palestinians are exterminated, and probably correlating quite strongly with that ghastly toll, the idea of Palestine survives. And killing off an idea isn’t possible. In this case the identity, or condition, is framed positively.
See Edward Said on The West And The Rest.
… and Gramsci on appropriating older ideas and reframing them.
Compare this with how in some parts of Britain the old pagan ideas were absorbed rather than attacked: the Christians built a churchyard around the holy yew trees or the ancient menhir. This created a continuity that helped cement the newer system of ideas. I won’t mention Yuri Bezmenov