Who Are the Palestinians?

Arutz Sheva ^ | 11-24-02

[SJackson]

A rebuttal:

If you are so sure that “Palestine, the country, goes back through most of recorded history”, I expect you to be able to answer a few basic questions about that country of "Palestine":

1. When was it founded and by whom?

2. What were its borders?

3. What was its capital?

4. What were its major cities?

5. What constituted the basis of its economy?

6. What was its form of government?

7. Can you name at least one Palestinian leader before Arafat?

8. Was Palestine ever recognized by a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for interpretation?

9. What was the language of the country of Palestine?

10. What was the prevalent religion of the country of Palestine?

11. What was the name of its currency? Choose any date in history and try and find the approximate exchange rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the US dollar, German mark, British pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese yuan on that date.

12. Have the Palestinians left any artifacts behind?

13. Do you know of a library where one could find a work of Palestinian literature produced before 1967?

14. And, finally, since there is no such country today, what caused its demise and when did it occur?

If you are lamenting the “low sinking” of “once proud” nation, then please tell me, when exactly was that “nation” proud and what was it so proud of?

And here is the least sarcastic question of all: If the people you mistakenly call “Palestinians” are anything but generic Arabs collected from all over - or thrown out of - the Arab world, if they really have a genuine ethnic identity that gives them right for self-determination, why did they never try to become independent until Arabs suffered their devastating defeat by Israel in the 1967Six Day War?

I hope you avoid the temptation to trace the modern day “Palestinians” to the Biblical Philistines: substituting etymology for history won´t work here.

The truth should be obvious to everyone who wants to know it. Arab countries have never abandoned the dream of destroying Israel; they still cherish it today. Having time and again failed to achieve their evil goal through military means, they decided to fight Israel by proxy. For that purpose, they created a terrorist organization, cynically called it “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people” and installed it in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. How else can you explain the refusal by Jordan and Egypt to unconditionally accept back the “West Bank” and Gaza, respectively, in the aftermath of the 1967 war?

The fact is, Arabs populating Gaza, Judea, and Samaria have much less of a claim to nationhood than the American Indian tribe that successfully emerged in Connecticut with the purpose of starting a tax-exempt casino: at least that tribe had a constructive goal that motivated them. The so-called “Palestinians” have only one motivation: the destruction of Israel, and in my book that is not sufficient to consider them a “nation” -- or anything else. Their leadership is nothing but a terrorist organization that will one day be dismantled.

In fact, there is only one way to achieve piece in the Middle East. Arab countries must acknowledge and accept their defeat in their war against Israel and, as the losing side, should pay Israel reparations for the more than 50 years of devastation they have visited upon it. The most appropriate form of such reparations would be the removal of the terrorist organizations from the land of Israel and acceptance of Israel´s ancient sovereignty over Gaza, Judea, and Samaria.

That will mark the end of the Palestinian people. What are you saying again was its beginning?

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Yashiko Sagamori is a New York-based Information Technology consultant.

[Brofholdonow]

What most people don't know is that the Grand Mufti was Arafat's uncle. He fueled the demon rat's vitriol and like Arafat, was an Arab from Egypt.

[Marguerite]

And you should learn to use a spell checker, and a bit more English grammar study.
It helps, when you want to write, you know.

[SJackson]

And you should learn to use a spell checker, and a bit more English grammar study. It helps, when you want to write, you know.

I believe that was posted about 6:15 in Gaza. I didn't know the internet cafes opened that early. At least she bumped the thread.

[Marguerite]

Even an illiterate can help the cause.
LOL

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

Bumped three years later by "request" in post 38

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Phillistines...

[Marguerite]

They are not even Philistine, but Arabs

[Marguerite]

"PALESTINE" - Never an Arab Country

One of the myths of our time is that Israel, before it was settled by the “alien” Jews and “stolen” from the Arabs as a result of “imperialist machinations,” was an independent state called “Palestine” whose majority residents were Moslem “Palestinians”. Unfortunately for those who would propagate such misinformation, the truth can be easily and historically seen.
The historical fact is that until the defeat of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire in World War I, there was no geopolitical entity called “Palestine,” no Arab nation ever set historical roots on this soil and no national claim was ever made to the territory by any national group other than the Jews.

Between the time of the expulsion of the Jews by the Romans in the year 70 to 132 AD and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, Israel (“Palestine”) was occupied by fourteen conquerors over thirteen centuries, until in 1948 the Jews once again declared their independence. The following table shows the historical periods of the various rulers of “Palestine”:


1. Israel Rule (Biblical period) 1350 BC to 586 BC
2. Babylonian Conquest 587 BC to 538 BC
3. Israel Autonomy (under Persian & Greco-Assyrian sovereignty) 538 BC to 168 BC
4. Revolt of the Maccabees 168 BC to 143 BC
5. Rule of the Hashmoneans & their successors 143 BC to 70 AD
6. Jewish Autonomy (under Roman & Byzantine sovereignty) 70 AD to 637 AD
7. Rule of Moslem Caliphs
Mecca 637 AD to 661 AD
Umayyides 661 AD to 750 AD
Abbaaside 750 AD to 870 AD
Fatimides 969 AD to 1071 AD 637 AD to 1072 AD
8. Seljukes Rule 1072 AD to 1096 AD
9. Crusaders
Ayyubids (in parts only) 1175 AD to 1291 AD 1099 AD to 1291 AD
10. Mamelukes Rule 1291 AD to 1516 AD
11. Ottomans (Turks) 1516 AD to 1918 AD
12. British Mandate 1918 AD to 1948 AD
13. Israel rule under democracy 1948 AD --- .

http://christianactionforisrael.org/never_arab.html

[veronica]

Preserved for the ages, along with your profile:

38 posted on 05/12/2005 8:12:59 PM PDT by proud palistinian (sunnyde88@yahoo.com)

FYI - Eight two times (88) signifies "HH" shorthand for the Nazi greeting, "Heil Hitler."

[SJackson]

She'll be back as proudpalestinian14

[veronica]

Italian Muslim cleric defends Israel - Blames Arafat, Arab leaders for continued Mideast violence

"Palazzi, a Muslim cleric, told WND that one of the most common misconceptions in the current Arab-Israeli conflict is that in reality, "there is no such thing as a 'Palestinian.'

"There never was. It is a PR fiction, a Madison Avenue fantasy," he said."

[ValenB4]

Like everyone surrounding the Mediterranean, they are an amalgamation of every group that has been through the area. It doesn't matter what they call themselves or what anyone else calls them, whether Palestinians or Arabs or Martians, they exist. Playing word games like this is pointless. There was no such thing as "Italians" before the unification.

"Italy is only a geographical expression." - Prince Klemens Von Metternich

[Marguerite]

Fiddlesticks, it's you who play semantics.
They are not palestinians, because there never was, in history a country named "Palestine".

[ValenB4]

It doesn't matter, Marguerite. If a group of a million people move into an area and decide to call themselves the nation of Santa Claus, then that is what they are despite the fact that it never existed before. Nations are born when people decide to form them. By that logic, during the Revolutionary War, the British could argue that there was no such thing as an "American" people, who had not previously existed as their own group since they were derivative English. Yet anyone making that argument today would be considered crazy.

[Alouette]

Who's Astonished Now????

Astonished	J Harris	Lematha	sawgrass
Passin Pilgrim	LeeAnn6	tynker	Kudzu Flat
Samaritan	Patria One	beecharmer	Miss Pixie
necho6	glassheart3	Friend_Or_Foe	Kirkland Junction
nohorse	faintpraise	FlaLawyer	Sumayya
alberuni	irishhijabblue	proud palistinian	TBD

[familyop]

"generic Arabs" Heh, heh.

The answer:

Why, it was first founded by the nice Romans for the "Philistinians," 'cause the descendents of the Romans in all of western Europe now say so.

[Little irony and sarcasm there. And now for some sincerety.]

There have been Hebrews in Israel for thousands of years, despite nothing but invading pagan regimes having tried so hard to drive them all out.

[familyop]

1669 - Deborah Wilson, the Quaker wife of Robert Wilson, had at one time walked naked through the streets of Salem as a spiritual testimony. For this she had been "sentenced to be tied at a cart's tail with her body naked downward to her waist, and whipped". She was brought before the court in 1669 for "frequently absenting herself from the public ordinances", but the case "was dismissed, court being informed that she is distempered in her head."

Hmmm...if generic Arabs should call Israel whatever they want to call it, I wonder what we should call Pennsylvania then?