Not a unique race, but a unique people. The author is trying to push the idea that there are no such things as real Palestinians and thus have no real claim to Palestine.
"Indegeneity" (or is it indigenousness?) doesn't exist. The only human being who came directly out of the soil was 'Adam HaRi'shon (but you believe in evolution, right?). There are only people who were already there because they invaded it earlier.
Besides, the only thing that matters is to whom G-d gave the land. No other claim matters.
Tracing back to the ancient world is close enough. In any case, the Palestinians are not the result of recent immigration as it is ofter portrayed.
Besides, the only thing that matters is to whom G-d gave the land. No other claim matters.
Possession of the land was contingent and based on adherence to the Covenant, not mere ethnic identity. Today there is only one covenant, that of Jesus Christ. Nor can the Jews reject the New Covenant and claim adherence to the Old. With the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of its sacrifices, it is impossible to adhere to the Old Covenant.
And just as the First Temple was destroyed by God through the agency of the Babylonians, so it must be admitted that the Second Temple was destroyed by God through the agency of the Romans. Otherwise you would have to say that God Himself was not able to maintain the Old Covenant against the forces of the world. So no, the ethnic Jews today have no divine claim on the land.