JERUSALEM — One of the many things that divides Israelis and Palestinians is the letter P.

The consonant that prefaces prejudice and partisanship became an object of mirth on Thursday after Anat Berko, a conservative lawmaker from the governing Likud Party, said in Parliament that there could be no such place as Palestine because there is no P in Arabic.

The name “Palestine” is a borrowed term, Ms. Berko said, presumably referring to the ancient Greek “Palaistine” and the Syria-Palaestina of the Roman era.

“I want to return to history,” she said during a parliamentary debate late Wednesday called by the center-left Zionist Union on the two-state solution. “What exactly is our place here regarding Jerusalem, regarding Palestine? As we have said, there isn’t even a P in Arabic so this borrowed term is also worth scrutinizing.”

As opposition lawmakers heckled Ms. Berko, she retorted, “There is no ‘Pa,’ ” sputtering, “Pa, pa, pa,” for emphasis.