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WHO are the PALESTINIANS?WHAT & WHERE is PALESTINE?
Masada 2000 ^

Posted on 01/07/2002 1:02:18 PM PST by PotPan

WHO are the PALESTINIANS? WHAT & WHERE is PALESTINE?

These and other questions will be addressed more fully as you go through this website. However, there is a preliminary historical fact that must be established now. There has never been a civilization or a nation referred to as "Palestine" and the very notion of a "Palestinian Arab nation" having ancient attachments to the Holy Land going back to time immemorial is one of the biggest hoaxes ever perpetrated upon the world! There is not, nor has there ever been, a distinct "Palestinian" culture or language. Further, there has never been a Palestinian state governed BY Arab Palestinians in history, nor was there ever a Palestinian national movement until after the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel regained control over Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank"). It was then, and only then, that a Palestinian national movement was born with one primary goal: the creation of an Arab Palestinian state with which to replace Israel. It's really that simple!

Israel became a nation in 1312B.C.E., two thousand years before the rise of Islam! Seven hundred and twenty-six years later in 586 B.C. these first ancient Jews in the Land of Israel were overrun and its First Jewish Temple (on Jerusalem's Old City Temple Mount) was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of ancient Babylon. Many of the Jews were killed or expelled; however many were allowed to remain. These Jews along with their progeny and other Jews who would resettle over the next 500 years, rebuilt the Nation of Israel and also a Second Temple upon the Temple Mount. Thus the claim that Jews suddenly appeared fifty years ago right after the Holocaust and drove out the Arabs is preposterous!

Then in 70 A.D. (nearly 2000 years ago), it was the Roman Empire's turn to march through ancient Israel and destroy the SECOND Jewish Temple, slaughtering or driving out much of its Jewish population. Many Jews left on their own because conditions for life were made unbearable in many respects... yet thousands upon thousands stayed and rebelled on for centuries in order to once again rebuilt a Jewish Nation in this Holy Land.

Over the next 2,000 years various Peoples, Religions and Empires marched through Jerusalem, Israel's ancient capital. None bothered, nor were they in the least bit inclined, to build a Nation of their own. The region was successively ruled by the Greeks, Maccabeans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Egyptians, Crusaders, Mamelukes and finally the Ottoman Turks who indifferently governed the backward, neglected territory from the 16th century until the British drove them out during World War I (1914-18). It must be noted that in 636 A.D., when the Arabs marauders came to the land and uprooted even more of its Jews, they did not form any Arab nation there... and certainly not a "Palestinian" nation. They were simply "Arabs" who, as did others before them, moved into a geo-political area called "Palestine!" And remember this one fact... it was not the Jews who "usurped" (a favorite word from the Arab propagandists) the land from the Arabs. If anything, it was the Arabs in 636A.D. who overran and stole it from the Jews!

In Conclusion: No nation, other than the ancient nation of Israel and later again in 1948 with the rebirth of the Nation of Israel, has ever ruled as a sovereign national entity on this land. A mighty Jewish empire extended over this entire area before the Arabs and their Islam were even born! The Jewish People have one of the most legitimate Birth Certificates of any nations in the world. And if you want to talk religion, fine. G-d GAVE the Land of Israel to the Jewish People. And G-d does nothing by accident!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "PALESTINE?"

The term "Palestine" came from the name that the conquering Roman Empire gave the ancient Land of Israel in an attempt to obliterate and de-legitimize the Jewish presence in the Holy Land. The Roman Procurator in charge of the Judean-Israel territories was so angry at the Jews for revolting that he called for his historians and asked them who were the worst enemies of the Jews in their past history. The scribes said, ‘the Philistines." So, the Procurator declared that Land of Israel would from then on be called "Philistia" [further bastardized into "Palaistina"] to dishonor the Jews and obliterate their history. Hence the name "Palestine." One more thing. Very often one hears the revisionists and propagandists finding ancient historical links between the "Philistines" and the Arab "Palestinians." There is no truth to this claim! The Philistines were one of a number of Sea Peoples who reached the eastern Mediterranean region approximately 1250-1100B.C. They were actually an amalgamation of various ethnic groups, primarily of Aegean and south-east European origin [Greece, Crete and Western Turkey] ... but surely not of Arabian origin! These Philistines were not Arab... and neither was Goliath! The Arabs of "Palestine" are just that... Arabs! And these Arabs of "Palestine" have about as much historical roots to the ancient Philistines as Yasser Arafat has to the Eskimos!

If anything, the name "Palestine" was associated with Jews. In the years leading up to the rebirth of Israel in 1948, those who spoke of "Palestinians" were nearly always referring to the region's Jewish residents. In fact, Arab leaders rejected the notion of a unique "Palestinian Arab" identity, insisting that Palestine was merely a part of "Greater Syria."

THE RETURN TO ZION

The Land of Israel was never devoid of Jews, although at times, only in the tens of thousands. This was because the land was virtually uninhabitable when the Jews once again began their God-given right AND duty to return en masse to the land of their forefathers (the Zionist Movement) in the 1880s. The silly rhetoric about a massive Arab presence being overrun by "invading Jews" is quickly dispelled by Mark Twain, who visited the area in 1867. From his book, "The Innocents Abroad"... "A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds... a silent mournful expanse.... a desolation.... we never saw a human being on the whole route.... hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country."

1880's Palestine's early Jewish Zionists were idealistic pioneers who arrived in pre-state Israel with every intention of living in peace alongside their Arab neighbors and upgrading the quality of life for all of the land's inhabitants. The vast majority of Arabs came to the area after these early Zionists pioneers began to drain the malaria-infested swamps and rebuild the land! In doing so, these Jews created the economic opportunities and medical availabilities which attracted Arabs from both surrounding territories and far-away lands! In fact, over 90% of the Arabs migrated there within the last one hundred years. So much for their unfounded claims that they have been there since "time immemorial!"

Yet while the returning Jews were highly motivated to restore the land, the Arabs seethed with envy and hatred because they lacked both the leadership to inspire or motivate them for they were in fact historical strangers to this land! Unlike the Jews, these Arabs who immigrated there had no ancient attachments or historical memories to this homeland ... this ancient Land of the Jews!

In Conclusion: There was NO "Arab Palestinian" history before the Arabs created one somewhat after 1948 but especially after the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War! Archeological sites to this very day continue to yield artifacts with Hebrew writing, not some fictitious "Palestinian" or Arabic text! The so-called "Palestinian" Arabs were simply then, as they are now, Arabs no different culturally, historically or ethnically from other Arabs living in any other of the 24 Arab countries from which they emigrated and came into "Palestine!" Had the Chinese come to the area, they too would be called "Palestinians!" And had not the Arabs continued to brainwash generation upon generation into believing this HISTORICAL HOGWASH about some ancient "Arab Palestinian" ties to the Holy Land, most could have gotten themselves a real life by now with much less bloodshed and suffering for everyone concerned! For more on the myth of a "Palestinian People" click HERE GREED, PRIDE, ENVY! The Arabs of today controls 24 nations... 99½ percent of the ENTIRE Middle East land mass while Israel occupies only a 1/2 of 1 percent speck on this same map. But that's still too much land for the Arabs to spare. They want it all. As they shout out, "We will fight to our last drop of blood for for every last grain of sand!" And that is ultimately what all the fighting is about today. And no matter how many land concessions the Israelis might make for "peace," it will never be enough! Any peace treaty between Israel and the Arab world are ultimately meaningless. Even the Israeli-Egyptian and Israeli-Jordanian peace treaties are holding on by a single thread and if you were to read their government-controlled newspapers you'd think they were still at war with Israel! PEACE IS IMPOSSIBLE! -The Death of Compromise- There's No More "Middle" in the Middle East From the moment the Jewish People re-established sovereignty in their ancient homeland, they sought genuine peace with all of their neighbors. Unfortunately, their neighbors did not wish to share a peaceful existence with the Jews. They, like Bin Ladin, felt that they had a religious obligation to destroy the non-Muslim/Arab Jewish State... and all non-Moslem governments in the world. The Arab campaign against Israel is rooted not in any negotiable grievances but in a basic opposition to the very existence of Jewish sovereignty in THEIR Middle East! The ultimate intent of the Arabs is to separate out Judaism from Israel... and then to separate Israel from the face of the Earth.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Question of Jerusalem And the Temple Mount

For over 3,300 years of history, Jerusalem (founded by King David) has been a capitol city for only the Jewish People. Jews have always lived in Jerusalem, except when they were massacred or driven out. There has, however, been a nearly unbroken Jewish presence in Jerusalem for the past 1,600 years. And since the early 1800's, the population of Jerusalem has been predominantly Jewish. Even when the Jordanians captured and occupied Jerusalem from 1948-67, they (the Jordanians) never sought to change it to their capital (replacing Amman) nor make it the capital of any "Arab Palestinian" people. In fact, Arab leaders from other Arab countries hardly ever bothered to visit Jerusalem! Only to the Jews has Jerusalem ever held special meaning! Another myth deals with the issue of Jerusalem and its Temple Mount. The myth is that Jerusalem is really an Arab city and that it is a central focus of Islam. The truth is that the Arabs expressed very limited interest in the Temple Mount before 1967. Besides, Mecca and Medina (both in Saudi Arabia) are Islam's holiest cities! One more thing about Jerusalem in general and its Temple Mount in particular. Jerusalem appears in the Jewish Bible 669 times and Zion (which usually means Jerusalem, sometimes the Land of Israel) 154 times, or 823 times in all. The Christian Bible mentions Jerusalem 154 times and Zion 7 times. Islam's Holy(?) Koran mentions Mecca hundreds of times. It mentions Medina countless times. It never mentions Jerusalem and with good reason. There is no historical evidence to suggest Mohammad ever visited Jerusalem! And if he did visit Jerusalem, it could not have been until 6 years after his death. Therefore, the notion that Mohammed ascended to Heaven from a rock in Jerusalem (today's Dome of the Rock) is even more ridiculous! From 1948 to 1967, when East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount were under Jordanian rule, they were ignored by the Arab world. No Arab leader ever paid a visit, not even to pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock (both located on the JEWISH Temple Mount). Even the Arabs of "Palestine" placed so low a priority on Jerusalem that the PLO's founding charter, the Palestinian National Covenant of 1964, made no reference whatsoever to it. Only when the Jews recaptured it after the 1967 "Six Day War" (initiated by the Arabs) did the Arab world SUDDENLY grow very passionate about Jerusalem! In truth, the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosques are just but two of hundreds of thousands of Muslim mosques around the world. Except for these two minor mosques, Jerusalem itself has no major Islamic significance. In fact, far more Christian shrines are in Jerusalem than Muslim ones!

When a Jew prays from anywhere in the world, he faces the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. When a Moslem prays, even while IN Jerusalem, he faces Mecca (in Saudi Arabia). So in many cases, even when a Moslem is in Jerusalem, his "hind quarters" are facing these two Jerusalem mosques! What does THIS tell you! And when Islamic suicide bombers try to take apart Jerusalem piece by piece, what does THAT tell you!


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: michaeldobbs
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To: ODDITHER
Can you run that by me again.

So that explains how the Israelis whooped the Lebanons a** in the six-day war.

21 posted on 01/07/2002 2:53:50 PM PST by dennybabyboy-fitzy
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To: dennybabyboy-fitzy
Jerusalem and the Holy land fell to the Muslims in Ad 638. Not 636. At that time, the overwhelming majority of the population in the land was Christian, and there were no Muslims living there at all.

A majority, say 60%, of the residents were Jews/Hebrews by ethnic background, but could not have qualified legally as Jews then or now because of their Christian religion.

BTW there was no army, just a peaceful civil society under the Christian patriarch, no wars, no fighting, till Muslims came in.

22 posted on 01/07/2002 2:59:57 PM PST by crystalk
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To: Bonaparte
wouldn't pay to much attention to the bible on that case there old chap.

Recent research, into the Human Genome, shows that more than 80% of Jewish(living in israel) and Palestinian type people have the same DNA code make up, which, incidentally, means that this 80% have descended from the same peoples. So, in effect, the jews may well be descendants of the ancient palestinian peoples or vice versa. Who knows?

23 posted on 01/07/2002 3:05:32 PM PST by dennybabyboy-fitzy
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To: crystalk
I didn't say anything about 636AD, just about the Israelis recent conflict in Lebanon, and by recent, I meant in the last 30 yrs. And they did have an army at that time, and it was by no means a peaceable army.
24 posted on 01/07/2002 3:10:00 PM PST by dennybabyboy-fitzy
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To: ODDITHER
Well if that's the rules then Iraq gets Kuwait.

Although I think the Israeli government in the past and present was horribly brutal, many of the Israelis alive and living their today are innocent of these crimes and I don't advocate removeing them from their homes.

Just as their fathers shouldn't have removed my father from his home. To argue that Israel was justified in genocidal acts because of a biblical deed to land is absurd.

25 posted on 01/07/2002 3:18:25 PM PST by NC_Libertarian
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To: dennybabyboy-fitzy
Perhaps those peoples bloodlines have become so polluted by each other, that theres really no such thing as a true jew or palestinian. I'm afraid this just goes to show the nonsensical views that prevail in the middle east, don't try and make sense of it, because it makes no sense.

If we want to try and put it in perspective, and support peoples/nations rising up to overthrow its oppressors and retake land that is rightfully theres, its time we got behind the nations of the native American Indians, and fully support them to retake what is rightfully theres.

My point here people is that no one owns the earth, it should be the right of everyone to roam this planet where and when they please. And I believe that is what G-d really wants of us, not petty squabbling over who owns what piece of land.

I THANK Y'ALL

26 posted on 01/07/2002 3:24:16 PM PST by dennybabyboy-fitzy
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To: NC_Libertarian
I don't expect that you will ever question the propaganda that you have been taught....but maybe some night in bed when you can't sleep, you'll ponder.

The Nazis were out to get the Jews. Every single Jew was in danger. Every one.

If what you say is true, how is it that there are so many Arabs in Israel? In Jaffa? Full citizens. How was it that the Christian Arab village of Abu Gosh, who choose not to attack the Jews or to run, is a successful pretty town on the outskirts of Jerusalem with it's residents full Israeli citizens?

27 posted on 01/07/2002 3:30:53 PM PST by Sabramerican
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To: dennybabyboy-fitzy
"Who knows?"

Certainly you don't know.

Nobody on earth disputes that the Jews are the modern day descendants of the ancient Hebrews.

It is equally true that nobody has established Canaanite ancestry for the "Palestinians," although that doubtful conjecture has sometimes been embraced by muslim propagandists.

28 posted on 01/07/2002 3:45:20 PM PST by Bonaparte
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To: Malcolm
Yea, and the old testament tells us "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth", but, the new testament tells us to "turn the other cheek". Time to progress from the old testament, i think. Thats what Jesus wanted us to do, was it not?.

When will you people learn to stop generalising and face facts. Take a Palestinian off the street on the west bank, and my betting is that his bloodline would not be pure Palestinian, there would be many twists and turns to his ancestry. I'm British, but my only British family are my siblings and my Father. My Mother is Irish, My Fathers Grandfather was an American from Philadelphia, whos own Father(whos wife - my great greatGrandmother - was Spanish) emigrated from Ireland, so, my bloodline would suggest that i'm a bit of a mongrel. My point- There is no way that you can put your hand on your heart and say that these Palestinian people are the descendants of a race of people 3-4000yrs ago, the old testament doesn't cater for what has happened since it was written I'm afraid.

29 posted on 01/07/2002 3:48:46 PM PST by dennybabyboy-fitzy
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To: dennybabyboy-fitzy
"...it should be the right of everyone to roam this planet where and when they please."

When a roving band of Gypsies sets up household on your front lawn, I'll remind you that you said that.

30 posted on 01/07/2002 3:50:01 PM PST by Bonaparte
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To: Bonaparte
Your right, I certainly don't know, but what I do know is facts. I don't dispute that the jews are the descendants of the Hebrews. What I am merely trying to say is that there is no getting away from the fact that DNA does not lie to us, and DNA evidence tells us that Jews and Palestinians - in general - have the same DNA coding. Whether this interbreeding goes back to the Hebrews or is more recent is only open to speculation. Perhaps some Professor in a university somewhere would know a lot more than you or I, unless, that is, you are a professor and YOU know what the answer is.
31 posted on 01/07/2002 3:59:43 PM PST by dennybabyboy-fitzy
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To: Sabramerican
All I know is my fathers story. Otherwise I have heard contradictory arguments on both sides. I don't like the Israeli government, but, of course, I have nothing against innocent Israeli citizens.

I don't beleive in something for the sake of beleiving in it. I am not "pro-palestine", not anymore at least, because of the disgusting acts of Palestenians and their apparent condoning of them by the greater population.

The Nazi's certainly did horrible things to the Jews. But none of that changes the fact that Israeli government has engaged in evil acts - to some the ends, that is Israel, justifies the means.

There was a hole blown into my father's family's home, and they left in fear for their lives from fighting brought to them by Israeli forces.

But I have no love for the theocratic arab countries either, in fact, in light of recent events I strongly beleive that modern muslim culture is degenerate and they should not be allowed to become a world power.

At any rate I have figured out the solution to the Israeli-Palestenian problem. Do what my father did. Get an education and come to America and live free and prosper. That strip of rock and sand isn't worth it.

32 posted on 01/07/2002 4:01:02 PM PST by NC_Libertarian
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To: dennybabyboy-fitzy
Sorry, I should have explained that I was talking about pre-Israel. However it does not apply to Jewish people living in other countries.
33 posted on 01/07/2002 4:08:33 PM PST by ODDITHER
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To: dennybabyboy-fitzy
"turn the other cheek"

Are you telling us that you do not practice personal self-defense when assaulted?

34 posted on 01/07/2002 4:09:42 PM PST by Bonaparte
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Comment #35 Removed by Moderator

To: dennybabyboy-fitzy
wouldn't pay to much attention to the bible on that case there old chap

Care to drop the condescension, new one?

Try educating yourself:

The Big Lie

"The Arabs Are Responsible"

The Myth Of The Palestinian People

-Ariel Sharon> Israel > The myths of Sabra and Shatilla and the war in Lebanon --

-Online book debunking the "Sharon Terror story--

-Israel Arabs Palestinians THE BATTLE FOR TRUTH--

-Crash Course in Middle East History--

-Setting the Historical Record Straight--

Why Europe Hates Israel

A History of Terror in Israel

36 posted on 01/07/2002 4:10:20 PM PST by backhoe
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To: Bonaparte
Like I said, the earth belongs to nobody.

Wouldn't bother me really, considering my mothers family are Irish tinkers, sorry, Gypsies to you.

37 posted on 01/07/2002 4:10:27 PM PST by dennybabyboy-fitzy
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To: Bonaparte
Ironic really, but check the profile.
38 posted on 01/07/2002 4:15:49 PM PST by dennybabyboy-fitzy
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To: ODDITHER
yep, point taken.
39 posted on 01/07/2002 4:17:02 PM PST by dennybabyboy-fitzy
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To: Bonaparte
But no, I was preaching the bible.
40 posted on 01/07/2002 4:18:28 PM PST by dennybabyboy-fitzy
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