Arab-American Writer: The Myth Of "Palestine" And Other Arab Muslim Myths

JStone

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Joseph Farah...
The truth is that Palestine is no more real than Never-Never Land. The first time the name was used was in 70 A.D. when the Romans committed genocide against the Jews, smashed the Temple and declared the land of Israel would be no more. From then on, the Romans promised, it would be known as Palestine. The name was derived from the Philistines, a Goliathian people conquered by the Jews centuries earlier. It was a way for the Romans to add insult to injury. They also tried to change the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina, but that had even less staying power.

Palestine has never existed — before or since — as an autonomous entity. It was ruled alternately by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and, briefly, by the British after World War I. The British agreed to restore at least part of the land to the Jewish people as their homeland.

There is no language known as Palestinian. There is no distinct Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc. Keep in mind that the Arabs control 99.9 percent of the Middle East lands. Israel represents one-tenth of 1 percent of the landmass.

But that’s too much for the Arabs. They want it all. And that is ultimately what the fighting in Israel is about today. Greed. Pride. Envy. Covetousness. No matter how many land concessions the Israelis make, it will never be enough.

I know what you’re going to say: “Farah, the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem represent Islam’s third most holy sites.”

Not true. In fact, the Quran says nothing about Jerusalem. It mentions Mecca hundreds of times. It mentions Medina countless times. It never mentions Jerusalem. With good reason. There is no historical evidence to suggest Muhammad ever visited Jerusalem.

So how did Jerusalem become the third holiest site of Islam? Muslims today cite a vague passage in the Quran, the 17th Sura, entitled “The Night Journey.” It relates that in a dream or a vision Muhammad was carried by night “from the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him our signs. …” In the seventh century, some Muslims identified the two temples mentioned in this verse as being in Mecca and Jerusalem. And that’s as close as Islam’s connection with Jerusalem gets — myth, fantasy, wishful thinking. Meanwhile, Jews can trace their roots in Jerusalem back to the days of Abraham.

Myths of the Middle East
 
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Biblical Historian and Scholar Dr. Paula Fredriksen, Ph.D, History of Religion, Princeton University, Diploma in Theology, Oxford University
The Judean revolt against Rome was led by [Jewish messiah] Bar Kochba in 132-135 CE. The immediate causes of this rebellion are obscure. Its result was not: [Roman Emperor] Hadrian crushed the revolt and banned Jews from Judea.

The Romans now designated this territory by a political neologism, "Palestine" [a Latin form of "Philistine"], in a deliberate effort to denationalize Jewish/Judean territory. And, finally, Hadrian eradicated Jewish Jerusalem, erecting upon its ruins a new pagan city, Aelia Capitolina.
Random House, Inc. Academic Resources | Augustine and the Jews by Paula Fredriksen

PBS ...
Specializing in the history of early Christianity, Paula Fredriksen is author of two books and over a dozen articles on early Christianity. Among her numerous awards and honors are a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for University Professors and a Lady Davis Visiting Professorship of Ancient Christianity at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Her second book, From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the New Testament Images of Jesus, received the Yale Press Governors' Award for Best Book in 1988. Fredriksen holds a Ph.D. in history of religions, ancient christianity, and Greco-Roman religions from Princeton University and a theology diploma from Oxford University. She served as historical consultant for the BBC production The Lives of Jesus and was a featured speaker and historical consultant for U.S. News and World Report's "The Life and Times of Jesus."
Biographies | From Jesus To Christ - The First Christians | FRONTLINE | PBS
 
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Biblical Historian and Scholar Dr. L. Michael White, Ph.D. and Master of Divinity Degrees from Yale University ....
Responses to the Roman Destruction of Jerusalem

The Roman destruction of Jerusalem sent shock waves through the Jewish population. The loss of life was devastating, but the destruction of Jerusalem and especially the Temple was even more devastating.

Several other effects were discernable in the period of the postwar reconstruction...

Roman coinage of the period carried the legend Judaea Capta [Judaea Captured], a clear statement of the Jewish subjugation

The province of Judaea was reorganized and even renamed Palestina [the Latin form of the old regional name Philistia]. The name change was another slap in the face to Jewish identity

From Jesus to Christianity: How Four Generations of Visionaries & Storytellers Created the New Testament and Christian Faith by L. Michael White

PBS:
One of the nation's foremost religion scholars, L. Michael White has a special interest in the social world of early Christians and Jews in the Greco-Roman period. His forthcoming book, Images of Jesus: The Shape of the Gospels and the Making of Tradition, deals extensively with the development of the gospels in early Christian history. White's distinguished career includes academic appointments at Yale University, Oberlin College, and University of Texas at Austin, where he currently serves as professor of classics and director of the religious studies program. White has published six books and over thirty articles and book reviews on Christianity and has received numerous awards and honors, including two National Endowment for the Humanities research fellowships. He is active as a program leader in the Society of Biblical Literature and is currently series editor for the Archaeology and Biblical Studies Series. He has served on the editorial boards of The Journal of Early Christian Studies and Biblical Archaeologist. White has served on archaeological excavations in Israel and also has done extensive field research in Italy, Greece, and Turkey. He received his Ph.D. and master of divinity degrees from Yale University.
Biographies | From Jesus To Christ - The First Christians | FRONTLINE | PBS
 
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Click Watch On YouTube
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xrnw-yIc9w]The True History of Palestine - YouTube[/ame]
 
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Former PLO Leader Zuheir Mohsen :lol:
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.
Zuheir Mohsen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Italian Muslim Assembly :lol:
I believe that "Palestinian identity" is something completely artificial: it was forged as a propagandistic tool against Israel. The strange fact is that, at least here in Europe, I have never heard an Arab from the Land of Israel ("Palestine") say: "I am Palestinian."

Please remember that the so-called hero of "Palestinian independence," the pro-Nazi Grand Mufti of British Mandate Palestine, Haj Amin al-Husseini, never claimed that "Palestinians" are to be an independent people: all of his official declarations state that "Palestine must be recognized as a integral part of Syria."
ISRAEL SHOULD DECLARE OSLO NULL AND VOID (Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi August, 1998
 
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Guy Milliere, Eminent Professor of History and Political Science, University of Paris :lol:
No one had heard of a Palestinian people before the mid-1960s. They did not exist. Israel under the British Mandate until Israel' s Independence in 1948 was called Palestine. All Jews who were born there until i948 had the word « Palestine » stamped on their passports. The current Palestinians are those Arabs who, for a variety of reasons, decided to leave the land during the 1947 War of Independence, when five countries--Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq--attacked the 600,000 people in the fledgling state of Israel the day after its birth, hoping to kill it in the crib.
The War Against Israel Goes On- by Guy Millière | dreuz.info
 
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Historian Sir Martin Gilbert, Author of 10 Books on Jewish and Middle East History :lol:
On August 18 Yasir Arafat, speaking as head of the Palestinian National Authority in Gaza and Jericho, told Arab youngsters at a summer camp, "Those of you who lit the intifada fire must now act as defenders of this young state, whose capital is Jerusalem. It is Bir Salem [the fountain of Salem]. Salem was one of the Canaanite Kings, one of our forefathers. This city is the capital of our children and our children's children. If not for this belief and conviction of the Palestinian nation, this people would have been erased from the face of the earth, as were so many other nations."

King Salem is a newcomer on the historical scene. No such Canaanite, Jebusite or Philistine king is known to history
 
Granny says the Bible says God says Jerusalem belongs to the Jews...
:clap2:
Fate Of Jerusalem Key to Mideast Peace
March 09, 2012 - The flurry of diplomacy and talk of war in recent weeks by the United States, Iran and Israel has overshadowed what has been a central issue in the Middle East for more than four decades - the search for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
And always central to that endeavor has been a solution to one of the thorniest problems in all of diplomacy - the status of Jerusalem, the ancient city holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Nations and empires of the East and West have fought over the city for more than 2,000 years, but in modern times, these struggles have focused on competing claims to Jerusalem by Israelis and Palestinians. For both sides, the status of Jerusalem is one of the core issues in the search for a lasting overall peace settlement.

Israeli forces captured the western sector of Jerusalem during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Jordan controlled the eastern sector of Jerusalem until the 1967 Six-Day war when Israelis forces captured it as well and united the city. Since then, the international community, including the United States, has considered East Jerusalem to be occupied territory whose fate is to be determined by peace negotiations.

Israel has proclaimed Jerusalem as its eternal, undivided capital city. But Palestinians, in their push to establish an independent Palestinian nation, want East Jerusalem back as its capital. To stress their neutrality on the issue, nations that have diplomatic relations with Israel have all established their embassies in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem.

U.S. Campaign Issue
 
Joseph Farah...
The truth is that Palestine is no more real than Never-Never Land. The first time the name was used was in 70 A.D. when the Romans committed genocide against the Jews, smashed the Temple and declared the land of Israel would be no more. From then on, the Romans promised, it would be known as Palestine. The name was derived from the Philistines, a Goliathian people conquered by the Jews centuries earlier. It was a way for the Romans to add insult to injury. They also tried to change the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina, but that had even less staying power.

Palestine has never existed — before or since — as an autonomous entity. It was ruled alternately by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and, briefly, by the British after World War I. The British agreed to restore at least part of the land to the Jewish people as their homeland.

There is no language known as Palestinian. There is no distinct Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc. Keep in mind that the Arabs control 99.9 percent of the Middle East lands. Israel represents one-tenth of 1 percent of the landmass.

But that’s too much for the Arabs. They want it all. And that is ultimately what the fighting in Israel is about today. Greed. Pride. Envy. Covetousness. No matter how many land concessions the Israelis make, it will never be enough.

I know what you’re going to say: “Farah, the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem represent Islam’s third most holy sites.”

Not true. In fact, the Quran says nothing about Jerusalem. It mentions Mecca hundreds of times. It mentions Medina countless times. It never mentions Jerusalem. With good reason. There is no historical evidence to suggest Muhammad ever visited Jerusalem.

So how did Jerusalem become the third holiest site of Islam? Muslims today cite a vague passage in the Quran, the 17th Sura, entitled “The Night Journey.” It relates that in a dream or a vision Muhammad was carried by night “from the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him our signs. …” In the seventh century, some Muslims identified the two temples mentioned in this verse as being in Mecca and Jerusalem. And that’s as close as Islam’s connection with Jerusalem gets — myth, fantasy, wishful thinking. Meanwhile, Jews can trace their roots in Jerusalem back to the days of Abraham.

Myths of the Middle East

gotta love the truth

:D
 

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