...with 140+ pages of bibliography, from mostly muslim sources, Peters makes the clear case against the palestine myth.
Posted on 09/15/2009 5:10:57 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Throughout the Arab, and most of the Muslim world, the territory between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea is called Palestine while the name, Israel, is blotted out.
The so-called moderate wing of the Palestinian Authority displays a wall map behind the desk of its Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, showing the State of Israel in its entirety but named Palestine.
Indeed, the PA too often refuses to use the name, Israel, preferring to call it "the Zionist entity." In doing so, it should remove from the minds of objective observers any faith in the Arabs' interest in making a true peace. If the Arabs cannot even bring themselves to name their partner, then the entire peace process is a farce: a disaster waiting to happen.
But the general use of the term, Palestine, in a geographical and historical biblical context is often used just as insidiously as that employed routinely by the Palestinian Authority.
Christian and even Jewish writers, many eminent and admirable, often use the word Palestine along with or even instead of Israel, Judea and Judah when referring to the biblical period. This, consciously or unwittingly, helps to belittle the inextricable links of the Jewish people to their biblical and ancestral homeland.
It is time to restore historical correctness and dispose, once and for all, of the literary and present day propagandistic use of the term Palestine when referring to the biblical period.
Nowhere in the Jewish Bible is the word Palestine used. Nor is it ever used in the Christian Bible. Read the New Testament texts and look for the word, Palestine. It does not exist. But Israel is used. For instance in Matt. 2:20-21:
And he arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the Land of Israel.
The Bible, both Jewish and Christian, never employs the name Palestine in reference to biblical times. Any Bible commentary that refers to the biblical period as 'in Palestine' is either committing an historical error or is making a determined and sinister effort to deny the Jewish biblical names of Judah, Israel, Judea, Samaria and Galilee - especially that of Israel. It is, therefore, necessary to review some brief history to understand the monumental error being committed.
During the First Jewish uprising against the Romans, the Roman general, Titus, destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. Subsequently Rome issued coins with the phrase, Judea Capta, meaning that the Jewish province of Judea had been captured. However, they did not use the term, Palestine, for it was as yet unknown and certainly never employed in Roman coinage of that time.
The second Jewish Revolt against Roman occupation of Judea broke out under the banner of Bar-Kochba in 132 AD. It was eventually crushed in 136 AD after years of heroic resistance against the legions of Rome's emperor, Hadrian Publius Aelius.
Incidentally, a discovery of 120 coins minted by followers of Bar Kochba, who was known as the Son of a Star, have just been found by Israeli archaeologists near the Dead Sea where the Jewish defenders made their final stand against Rome. The coins all had the words, ‘Freedom for Jerusalem' imprinted on them.
It is intriguing to consider that if the British tribes, at the other end of the empire, had risen in revolt at the same time, both peoples may have prevailed and history would be very different from what it became.
Hadrian destroyed Jewish Jerusalem, plowing the city under and filling the furrows with salt. He renamed it Aelia Capitolina, in part after his own name, and built a shrine to the Roman god Jupiter on the site where the Holy Jewish Temple had once stood.
But he also chose to rename Judea with that of the hated ancient enemy of Israel; the now long extinct Philistines. This was done as a lasting insult to the Jewish people. Hadrian thus renamed the land Philistia, later Latinized into Palestina and, in time, becoming Palestine.
We should note that the Philistines were known as the "Sea Peoples" whom, it is believed, originated from Crete. They settled along much of the south eastern Mediterranean coastline and certainly had nothing to do with the ancestry of any Arabs -- despite the deluded imaginings of the late arch terrorist, Yasser Arafat.
The usage of the Hadrianic term, Palestine, was subsequently absorbed into the lexicon of the Church, which has continued to use the historically incorrect term, Palestine, when referring to biblical history in maps and literature: often replacing the word, Israel.
Interestingly, when the Crusader King Frederick II obtained a lease of much of the Holy Land from the Egyptian Sultan, Al-Kamil, including Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem, he called it the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
When Great Britain was awarded the Mandate for the territory in 1920 by the League of Nations, it immediately employed the term, Palestine, on both sides of the River Jordan.
The British term became the geo-political usage for several decades and the Jewish community was obliged to use terms such as the Palestine Post for today's Jerusalem Post and the Palestine Symphony Orchestra for today's Israel Symphony Orchestra. The historically correct name, Israel, was finally revived after the reconstituted State of Israel proclaimed its independence in 1948.
No such place as Palestine existed in Christ's time or at the time of the biblical Jewish Judges or Kings. The Jewish patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, never lived in a place called Palestine, nor did any of the biblical prophets. Canaan would be accurate for patriarchal times but the Canaanites, the Philistines, and a host of other pagan tribes had already long disappeared by later biblical times. Indeed, as we know, no independent state called Palestine has ever existed in recorded history, certainly not an Arab one. Palestine - like, for instance, Patagonia or Siberia - has always been merely a geographical area.
Those still believing in historical correctness, not the dubious and transitory concept known as political correctness, might wish to urge publishers and writers to restore historical correctness to the nomenclature in their works.
It is sad to witness glaring historical errors in such titles as: Palestine in Biblical Times; Palestine under the Time of the Judges; Palestine in the Times of the Kings or Jesus' Palestine, when a geographical territory called Palestine did not even exist during those times.
After all, we do not write of Alexander the Great's journey through Bactria as Alexander in Afghanistan. Nor do we describe the invasion into Carthage of Scipio Africanus as Scipio in Tunisia. So why use the term, Palestine, to describe a historical period and location when that word had not yet been invented?
Surely the use by authors and bible commentators of a name that never existed until at least 135 AD can finally begin to be corrected.
After all, historical correctness must always trump political correctness.
-- Victor Sharpe is the author of Politicide: The attempted murder of the Jewish state.
Not necessarily accurate. If all ancestry could be traced accurately, which it can't, there is a very good chance that Philistine blood flows in the veins of both the Jews and Arabs of the region. While the Philistines disappeared as a people, it is unlikely that every single one was killed.
For instance, the Moabites have also disappeared. Yet we know from the Bible that both King David and Jesus Christ are descended from a Moabite woman, Ruth.
The Arabs, as a people, came from much farther south and east. However, they've always been enthusiastic miscegenators.
Clear and succinct ... thank you ... good post
Skip to comments.Demons of the Wilderness
JewishIndy ^ | August 10, 2005 | Beth Goodtree
Posted on 08/12/2005 4:45:06 AM PDT by Sir Francis Dashwood
As anyone who truly studies religion knows, The Bible is not the be-all and end-all of Hebraic thought; it is merely the primer. Judaism is much, much more than The Bible, some of it written down for thousands of years, some of it preserved in ‘the oral tradition’ until written down some time later. But all of it is part of Judaism. It is from all these sources that we get our knowledge of demons and a wilderness.
Demons are often described as belonging to the wilderness and we even have prayers and rituals surrounding them. The term “scapegoat” comes from a very ancient and holy Jewish ritual. During Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, the sins of the people are symbolically placed upon the goat’s head, after which the goat is sent into the wilderness.
The wilderness itself is a designation that is surrounded by ancient Jewish teachings. And this whole concept of wilderness, as well as demons, may be an undercurrent of what we see happening today.
For various reasons, some being political, not all Jewish teachings and writings were included in the portion of The Bible that comes after the Torah (the first five books, also known as the Pentateuch). And yet, it is from some of these teachings and writings that we get our deeper knowledge of Judaism. The Book of Enoch is one such work and some of its teachings are echoed in The Midrashim and other places. (1, 2)
The Book of Enoch, parts of which were found with the Dead Sea scrolls, goes into much greater detail regarding the story surrounding the fallen angels, who are mentioned in Genesis. According to the book of Enoch, there were two main fallen angels: Shemhazai (aka Semjaza aka Samiaza aka Shamhazi) and Azazel (aka Aziel aka Aza’el, aka Azael aka Asa'el). Shemhazai was the leader of the fallen angels and Azazel taught humans how to make war and weapons. (1, 2, 3)
Curiously, both have been referred to by the nickname “Aza” at various times and places. (3) Perhaps even more curiously, what we English-speakers designate as the area known as “Gaza” is called “Aza” by the Israelis and people who live in the Middle East.
Back in ancient times, there were thriving cities, usually with wildernesses between them. There were no paved roads or urban/suburban sprawl. This scenario held true for that area we know as Gaza/Aza, although the original specific site for it is still uncertain, it is known to have been in the general area. (4)
In the Book of Enoch, we are told that as punishment for his sins, the fallen angel of war, Azazel, was thrown into a pit in the ‘Wilderness of Dudael,’ and left there to await Final Judgment. Although no one knows to where the name ‘Dudael’ refers, ‘Dudael’ also means ‘Great Desert’ and ‘Fiery Caldron.’ Furthermore, there is one place in Israel that fits that description: the Negev, which has one of its borders on…Gaza/Aza.
So how do places come by their names? Oftentimes, they are given names either relating to important people, events, history and the like. Is it mere coincidence that Gaza/Aza has the same name as one of the leaders of the fallen angels?
But there is more.
Sometimes these ‘demons of the wilderness,’ to whom the scapegoat is sent, are referred to as earth-bound evil spirits, having the warlike attributes of their progenitors -- the abominations created by the fallen angels, while also taking human form. (5) Either way, original demons or earth-bound spirits, these embodiments of evil have certain characteristics, bizarrely echoed by the inhabitants of Gaza/Aza today.
The current occupiers of most of Gaza/Aza today are the Arabs/Muslims. But they are not the descendants of the original inhabitants. Gaza/Aza is mentioned 18 times in The Bible as part of the Jewish homeland. The Israelites had been in Gaza before the time of Samson (Judges, 16:1) and were still in possession of it in the time of Solomon (Kings I:4:1). (6) However, just as what happened in Judea and Samaria, Gaza/Aza had its Jews expelled, and has been occupied by numerous invaders and foreign civilizations.
Gaza/Aza was part of the Jewish homeland long before Islam sprang into being. Archeologists have documented remains of a Roman-period synagogue in Gaza which includes Judaic inscriptions on a column located today in the major mosque of Gaza/Aza. This writing is a Hebrew-Greek inscription complete with Jewish motifs that mention Hananiah, the son of Jacob. It has been dated to the second or third centuries -- long before Mohammed lived. And as late as 1839 the Ottoman census of Jerusalem demonstrated that Jews were still living in Gaza/Aza. (6)
Therefore, it is obvious by the historic and archaeological evidence, that the Arabs/Muslims are invaders who took the land by conquest and war. And war is one of the characteristics of that fallen angel Azazel and his demons or evil spirit followers.
Then come some of the other characteristics of demons. They are known to be the embodiment of evil, perpetrating lies, manipulating mankind and causing pain, strife, terror and destruction. With this in mind, let us look at the behaviors of the current Arab/Muslim occupiers of Gaza/Aza.
Do they lie about who they are? Yes. There has never been a country known as Palestine, nor an Arab/Muslim people known as ‘Palestinians’ until Yasser Arafat and his supporters stole that designation from the Jews in the early 1960’s. One of their own leaders bragged about this in an interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw. Zahir Muhsein, Executive Committee Member of the PLO, stated the following:
“The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity.
In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese.
Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem.
However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan." (7)
Then, as true to demonic characteristics, there are the unrelenting lies meant to foment hatred and genocide. The official government of these Arab/Muslim occupiers promotes The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as factual, claims that Jews poison their (Arab/Muslim) food, water and candy, and puts bombs in their children’s toys.
Next are the traits attributed to Azazel: those of war, violence and terror. The Arabs/Muslims occupying Jewish Gaza/Aza have perfected the homicide/genocide bombing, specifically targeting women, children and the elderly to spread horror, fear and death, and to destroy future generations of Jews.
Coupled with these warlike traits of Azazel are the demonic traits of the utter disregard for life, even of their own offspring. They have camps for young children to brainwash them into aspiring homicide/genocide bombers. (8) And like ravening beasts, they will literally tear apart, from limb to limb, any Jew who ventures into their area, passing around the body parts as in some Satanic ritual of cannibalism. (9)
The incidents of unrelenting violence and war, often including the bizarre and perverse, are much too numerous to detail except to say that they number in the 10’s of thousands in the past five years alone.
Regarding the wilderness aspect of these current Arab/Muslim occupiers of historical Jewish Gaza/Aza, here too is truth. They have been the recipients of billions upon billions of aid dollars and yet choose to remain in a wilderness of their own making. They use their world record-setting welfare dollars for anything except improving their lives and living conditions. Whatever is given to them they systematically destroy, including ancient and historical buildings and sites. Recently, they even drove out the free medical services provided to them by the Red Cross.
So when The Bible and other teachings tell of ‘demons of the wilderness,’ it has become obvious that they aren't speaking in parables, but truths for today and warnings for the future of Israel and all humankind.
Endnotes
(1.) http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/scrolls/scr3.html
(2.) http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jcreeves/bereshit_rabbati_29-31.htm
(3.) http://www.torahaura.com/Bible/Learn_Torah_With/LTW_5761/LTW_5761_Noah/ltw_5761_noah.html
(5) http://www.deliriumsrealm.com/delirium/mythology/watchers.asp
http://www.isfsp.org/gaza.html
(7) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28222
(9) http://goldwater.mideastreality.com/2004/may/12_02.html
[12] And first, for the tormentors, we have their nature and properties exactly and properly delivered by the names of the Enemy (or Satan), the Accuser (or Diabolus), the Destroyer (or Abaddon). Which significant names (Satan, Devil, Abaddon) set not forth to us any individual person, as proper names do, but only an office or quality, and are therefore appellatives, which ought not to have been left untranslated (as they are in the Latin and modern Bibles), because thereby they seem to be the proper names of demons, and men are the more easily seduced to believe the doctrine of devils, which at that time was the religion of the Gentiles, and contrary to that of Moses, and of Christ.
[13] And because by the Enemy, the Accuser, and Destroyer, is meant the enemy of them that shall be in the kingdom of God, therefore if the kingdom of God after the resurrection be upon the earth (as in the former Chapter I have shewn by Scripture it seems to be), the Enemy and his kingdom must be on earth also. For so also was it in the time before the Jews had deposed God. For God's kingdom was in Palestine (Israel), and the nations round about were the kingdoms of the Enemy; and consequently, by Satan is meant any earthly enemy of the Church.
Part IV. Of the Kingdom of Darkness
Chap. xlvii. Of the Benefit that proceedeth from such Darkness
[1] Besides these sovereign powers, divine and human, of which I have hitherto discoursed, there is mention in Scripture of another power, namely, that of "the rulers of the darkness of this world," [Ephesians, 6. 12] "the kingdom of Satan," [Matthew, 12. 26] and "the principality of Beelzebub over demons," [Ibid., 9. 34] that is to say, over phantasms that appear in the air: for which cause Satan is also called "the prince of the power of the air"; [Ephesians, 2. 2] and, because he ruleth in the darkness of this world, "the prince of this world":[John, 16. 11] and in consequence hereunto, they who are under his dominion, in opposition to the faithful, who are the "children of the light," are called the "children of darkness." For seeing Beelzebub is prince of phantasms, inhabitants of his dominion of air and darkness, the children of darkness, and these demons, phantasms, or spirits of illusion, signify allegorically the same thing. This considered, the kingdom of darkness, as it is set forth in these and other places of the Scripture, is nothing else but a confederacy of deceivers that, to obtain dominion over men in this present world, endeavour, by dark and erroneous doctrines, to extinguish in them the light, both of nature and of the gospel; and so to disprepare them for the kingdom of God to come.
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/hobbes/leviathan-contents.html
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While the author's heart is in the right place, he just isn't correct about this. Herodotus referred to the region using the word Palestine in The Histories in 425 BC or so. It is even arguable that the word is used in the Torah. (in Exodus at least in the Song of the Sea, maybe other places too. I'm too lazy to look.) Hebrew didn't use vowels when the Torah was first written (or even now) so the word is rendered as PLST. (All of the equivalent Hebrew letters except the L do have an alternate sound associated with them. Today this word is vocalized as P'LahSHeT.)
ML/NJ
...with 140+ pages of bibliography, from mostly muslim sources, Peters makes the clear case against the palestine myth.
The author really should have gone to the library and checked out a Bible before he made that claim:
Joel 3:4 (KJV)
Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;
This is what I love about FR - I learn even inconvenient truths. Until today I believed this as well.
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Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.