Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews.

[Freeman]

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews


"Most of the early Zionist leaders, including David Ben Gurion believed that the Palestinians were the descendants of the area's original Jews. They believed the Jews had later converted to Islam."

Jonathan Cook in an Electronic Intifada article addresses the phenomena of a book 19 weeks on Israel's bestseller list that challenges Israel's biggest taboo. The book: When and How Was the Jewish People Invented? written by Shlomo Sand, an"expert on European history at Tel Aviv University" controversially argues that: the Jews were never exiled from the Holy Land, that most of today's Jews have no historical connection to the land called Israel and that the only political solution to the country's conflict with the Palestinians is to abolish the Jewish state ....

Sand's main argument is that until little more than a century ago, Jews thought of themselves as Jews only because they shared a common religion. At the turn of the 20th century, he said, Zionist Jews challenged this idea and started creating a national history by inventing the idea that Jews existed as a people separate from their religion.

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews. - Indymedia Ireland

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews. - Indymedia Ireland

 

[Marc39]

Eminent Middle East historian Bernard Lewis...

The word Palestine comes from "Philistine" and originally denoted the coastal region north and south of Gaza [not the land now known as Israel] which was occupied and settled by the Philistine invaders from across the sea [who were Aegean, not Arab or Jewish]

After the Ottoman conquest in 1516-17...Palestine was no longer used by Muslims, for whom it had never meant more than an administrative sub-district, and it had been forgotten even in that limited sense. In the final phase of this rule before the British conquest, Palestine was part of Beirut. The Palestine entity, formally established and defined by Britain, was formaly abolished in 1948 with the termination of the Mandate.

Palestine was sometimes extended to include territories further east but was not usually applied to Judaea [Israel, today] , which in Roman times was still officially and commonly known by that name.

Official Roman usage of the name Palestine to designate the area of the former Jewish kingdom seems to date from after the Jewish risings and their suppression. The Emperor Hadrian made a determined attempt to stamp out the embers not only of the revolt but of Jewish nationahood and statehood.

It would seem that the name Judaea was abolished at the same time as Jerusalem and the country renamed Palestina or Syria-Palestina with the same intention to obliterate its historic Jewish identity.

The Roman province of Palestine was usually attached to Syria, of which it was considered a part.

For Arabs, too, the term Palestine was unacceptable, though for other reasons. For Muslims it was alien and irrelevant but not abhorrent in the same way as it was to Jews. The main objection for them was that it seemed to assert a separate entity which politically conscious Arabs in Palestine and elsewhere denied. For them there was no such thing as a country called Palestine. The region which the British called Palestine was merely a separated part of a larger whole. For a long time organized and articulate Arab political opinion was virtually unanimous on this point.

At first, the country of which Palestine was a part was felt to be Syria. In Ottoman times, that is, immediately before the coming of the British, Palestine had indeed been a part of a larger Syrian whole from which it was in no way distinguished whether by language, culture, education, administration, political allegiance, or any other significant respect. The dividing line between British-mandated Palestine and French-mandated Syria-Lebanon was an entirely new one and for the people of the area was wholly artificial. It was therefore natural that the nationalist leadership when it first appeared should think in Syrian terms and describe Palestine as southern Syria.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Middle-East-Bernard-Lewis/dp/0684832801/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1288196585&sr=8-5]Amazon.com: The Middle East (9780684832807): Bernard Lewis: Books: Reviews, Prices & more[/ame]

 

[uscitizen]

You mean the ones who did not go to Egypt for work and abandon Israel?
Or the ones who survived the Jews returning from union bondage in Egypt and killing ALL who did not flee before them?

 

[P F Tinmore]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPRgXAYTQlU&NR=1[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPkLWlylISM[/ame]

 

[Marc39]

Eminent Middle East historian Bernard Lewis...

At first, the country of which Palestine was a part was felt to be Syria.

In Ottoman times, that is, immediately before the coming of the British, Palestine had indeed been a part of a larger Syrian whole from which it was in no way distinguished whether by language, culture, education, administration, political allegiance, or any other significant respect.

The dividing line between British-mandated Palestine and French-mandated Syria-Lebanon was an entirely new one and for the people of the area was wholly artificial. It was therefore natural that the nationalist leadership when it first appeared should think in Syrian terms and describe Palestine as southern Syria.

This phase was, however, of brief duration. With the rise and spread of pan-Arab ideologies it was as Arabs, not as south Syrians, that the Palestinian Arabs began to assert themselves. For the rest of the period of the British Mandate, and for many years after that, their organizations described themselves as Arab and expressed their national identity in Arab rather than in Palestinian or even in Syrian terms.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Middle-East-Bernard-Lewis/dp/0684832801/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1288201381&sr=8-5]Amazon.com: The Middle East (9780684832807): Bernard Lewis: Books: Reviews, Prices & more[/ame]

 

[docmauser1]

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews. - Indymedia Ireland

Too much Bushmills, or Jameson for that matter.

 

[Urbanguerrilla]

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews


"Most of the early Zionist leaders, including David Ben Gurion believed that the Palestinians were the descendants of the area's original Jews. They believed the Jews had later converted to Islam."

Jonathan Cook in an Electronic Intifada article addresses the phenomena of a book 19 weeks on Israel's bestseller list that challenges Israel's biggest taboo. The book: When and How Was the Jewish People Invented? written by Shlomo Sand, an"expert on European history at Tel Aviv University" controversially argues that: the Jews were never exiled from the Holy Land, that most of today's Jews have no historical connection to the land called Israel and that the only political solution to the country's conflict with the Palestinians is to abolish the Jewish state ....

Sand's main argument is that until little more than a century ago, Jews thought of themselves as Jews only because they shared a common religion. At the turn of the 20th century, he said, Zionist Jews challenged this idea and started creating a national history by inventing the idea that Jews existed as a people separate from their religion.

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews. - Indymedia Ireland

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews. - Indymedia Ireland

Its amazing but this could solve the problem for Israel, if the people they want to ethnically cleanse are the original Biblical Jews, surely this is good; Israel could start to be nice to them - everyone wins

 

[Marc39]

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews


"Most of the early Zionist leaders, including David Ben Gurion believed that the Palestinians were the descendants of the area's original Jews. They believed the Jews had later converted to Islam."

Jonathan Cook in an Electronic Intifada article addresses the phenomena of a book 19 weeks on Israel's bestseller list that challenges Israel's biggest taboo. The book: When and How Was the Jewish People Invented? written by Shlomo Sand, an"expert on European history at Tel Aviv University" controversially argues that: the Jews were never exiled from the Holy Land, that most of today's Jews have no historical connection to the land called Israel and that the only political solution to the country's conflict with the Palestinians is to abolish the Jewish state ....

Sand's main argument is that until little more than a century ago, Jews thought of themselves as Jews only because they shared a common religion. At the turn of the 20th century, he said, Zionist Jews challenged this idea and started creating a national history by inventing the idea that Jews existed as a people separate from their religion.

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews. - Indymedia Ireland

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews. - Indymedia Ireland

Its amazing but this could solve the problem for Israel, if the people they want to ethnically cleanse are the original Biblical Jews, surely this is good; Israel could start to be nice to them - everyone wins

Who are the ethnic cleansers, shit-for-brains?

Quran 17:16...

When We decide to destroy a population, We (first) send a definite order to those among them who are given the good things of this life and yet transgress; so that the word is proved true against them: then (it is) We destroy them utterly.

Umar b. Abd al-Aziz reported that the last statement made by the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) was: O Lord, perish the Jews and the Christians. They made churches of the graves of their Prophets. Beware, there should be no two faiths in Arabia.

Muwatta Imam Malik


"Oh, Allah, Kill All Jews And Christians"
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7rls9eRKyo[/ame]


Islam: the religion of genocide

 

[docmauser1]

Its amazing but this could solve the problem for Israel, if the people they want to ethnically cleanse are the original Biblical Jews, surely this is good; Israel could start to be nice to them - everyone wins

Funny drivel.

 

[Urbanguerrilla]

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews. - Indymedia Ireland

Its amazing but this could solve the problem for Israel, if the people they want to ethnically cleanse are the original Biblical Jews, surely this is good; Israel could start to be nice to them - everyone wins

Who are the ethnic cleansers, shit-for-brains?

Quran 17:16...

When We decide to destroy a population, We (first) send a definite order to those among them who are given the good things of this life and yet transgress; so that the word is proved true against them: then (it is) We destroy them utterly.

Umar b. Abd al-Aziz reported that the last statement made by the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) was: O Lord, perish the Jews and the Christians. They made churches of the graves of their Prophets. Beware, there should be no two faiths in Arabia.

Muwatta Imam Malik


"Oh, Allah, Kill All Jews And Christians"
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7rls9eRKyo[/ame]


Islam: the religion of genocide

The whole world knows who the ethnic cleansers are, get real...

 

[Marc39]

Its amazing but this could solve the problem for Israel, if the people they want to ethnically cleanse are the original Biblical Jews, surely this is good; Israel could start to be nice to them - everyone wins

Who are the ethnic cleansers, shit-for-brains?

Quran 17:16...

Umar b. Abd al-Aziz reported that the last statement made by the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) was: O Lord, perish the Jews and the Christians. They made churches of the graves of their Prophets. Beware, there should be no two faiths in Arabia.

Muwatta Imam Malik


"Oh, Allah, Kill All Jews And Christians"
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7rls9eRKyo[/ame]


Islam: the religion of genocide

The whole world knows who the ethnic cleansers are, get real...

Go to mommy, stupid little boy. It's feeding time.

Muslim Conquests And Ethnic Cleansing of the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe
Muslim conquests - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Sheikh Maulana Maududi...

Islam wishes to destroy all states and governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and program of Islam regardless of the country or the nation which rules it. The purpose of Islam is to set up a state on the basis of its own ideology and program … the objective of Islamic jihad is to eliminate the rule of an un-Islamic system and establish instead an Islamic system of state rule. Islam does not intend to confine this revolution to a single state or a few countries; the aim of Islam is to bring about a universal revolution.

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Mawdudi-Making-Islamic-Revivalism-Seyyed/dp/0195096959/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288207563&sr=8-1-spell[/ame]

 

[GHook93]

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews


"Most of the early Zionist leaders, including David Ben Gurion believed that the Palestinians were the descendants of the area's original Jews. They believed the Jews had later converted to Islam."

Jonathan Cook in an Electronic Intifada article addresses the phenomena of a book 19 weeks on Israel's bestseller list that challenges Israel's biggest taboo. The book: When and How Was the Jewish People Invented? written by Shlomo Sand, an"expert on European history at Tel Aviv University" controversially argues that: the Jews were never exiled from the Holy Land, that most of today's Jews have no historical connection to the land called Israel and that the only political solution to the country's conflict with the Palestinians is to abolish the Jewish state ....

Sand's main argument is that until little more than a century ago, Jews thought of themselves as Jews only because they shared a common religion. At the turn of the 20th century, he said, Zionist Jews challenged this idea and started creating a national history by inventing the idea that Jews existed as a people separate from their religion.

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews. - Indymedia Ireland

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews. - Indymedia Ireland

Its amazing but this could solve the problem for Israel, if the people they want to ethnically cleanse are the original Biblical Jews, surely this is good; Israel could start to be nice to them - everyone wins

Yea the electronic intifada wrote this garbage by ignoring all the facts:
(1) The main Jewish excile came in 124 AD at the hands of the Romans during the first Jewish revolt which was well documented. The Jews did regain control of Israel for a few years from the Byzantine Empire with the help of the Persians in the 300s, but where exciled again by the Byzantines.
(2) The First Arabs conquest was in 7th century, but they didn't expel the Jews that were there. Palestinians are ethnically Arabs, so to say the Palestinians where the original Jews even though the Jews had been in the holy land for since at least 2500 BC is laughable.
(3) The Christian Crusaders slaughted the Jews along with the Muslims in when then captured Jerusalem
(4) During the Ottoman Empire, Israel/Palestinian population was very sparsely populated. So much so it was viewed as a waste land by objective observes like Mark Twain. During the 1800s when the Jews started to return, Israel/Palestine was pretty much a desert wasteland, with a few cities like Jerusalem (which had a Jewish Majority)!
(5) The Largest Arab Immigration ever to Israel/Palestine happened during 1914 to 1948 the British White Paper days. Arabs could immigrate without being checked, yet the Jews were forbidden.


Only a troll would accept this joke as truthful!

 

[Marc39]

Palestinians are the descendants of the area's original Jews. - Indymedia Ireland

Its amazing but this could solve the problem for Israel, if the people they want to ethnically cleanse are the original Biblical Jews, surely this is good; Israel could start to be nice to them - everyone wins

Yea the electronic intifada wrote this garbage by ignoring all the facts:
(1) The main Jewish excile came in 124 AD at the hands of the Romans during the first Jewish revolt which was well documented. The Jews did regain control of Israel for a few years from the Byzantine Empire with the help of the Persians in the 300s, but where exciled again by the Byzantines.
(2) The First Arabs conquest was in 7th century, but they didn't expel the Jews that were there. Palestinians are ethnically Arabs, so to say the Palestinians where the original Jews even though the Jews had been in the holy land for since at least 2500 BC is laughable.
(3) The Christian Crusaders slaughted the Jews along with the Muslims in when then captured Jerusalem
(4) During the Ottoman Empire, Israel/Palestinian population was very sparsely populated. So much so it was viewed as a waste land by objective observes like Mark Twain. During the 1800s when the Jews started to return, Israel/Palestine was pretty much a desert wasteland, with a few cities like Jerusalem (which had a Jewish Majority)!
(5) The Largest Arab Immigration ever to Israel/Palestine happened during 1914 to 1948 the British White Paper days. Arabs could immigrate without being checked, yet the Jews were forbidden.


Only a troll would accept this joke as truthful!

LOL, Electronic Intifada, very authoritative source.

Does the Electronic Intifada do electronic suicide bombings?

 

[Marc39]

Eminent Middle East historian Bernard Lewis...

The word Palestine comes from "Philistine" and originally denoted the coastal region north and south of Gaza [not the land now known as Israel] which was occupied and settled by the Philistine invaders from across the sea [who were Aegean, not Arab or Jewish

After the Ottoman conquest in 1516-17...Palestine was no longer used by Muslims, for whom it had never meant more than an administrative sub-district, and it had been forgotten even in that limited sense. In the final phase of this rule before the British conquest, Palestine was part of Beirut. The Palestine entity, formally established and defined by Britain, was formaly abolished in 1948 with the termination of the Mandate.


Palestine was sometimes extended to include territories further east but was not usually applied to Judaea [Israel, today] , which in Roman times was still officially and commonly known by that name.

Official Roman usage of the name Palestine to designate the area of the former Jewish kingdom seems to date from after the Jewish risings and their suppression. The Emperor Hadrian made a determined attempt to stamp out the embers not only of the revolt but of Jewish nationahood and statehood.

It would seem that the name Judaea was abolished at the same time as Jerusalem and the country renamed Palestina or Syria-Palestina with the same intention to obliterate its historic Jewish identity.

The Roman province of Palestine was usually attached to Syria, of which it was considered a part.

For Arabs, too, the term Palestine was unacceptable, though for other reasons. For Muslims it was alien and irrelevant but not abhorrent in the same way as it was to Jews. The main objection for them was that it seemed to assert a separate entity which politically conscious Arabs in Palestine and elsewhere denied. For them there was no such thing as a country called Palestine. The region which the British called Palestine was merely a separated part of a larger whole. For a long time organized and articulate Arab political opinion was virtually unanimous on this point.

At first, the country of which Palestine was a part was felt to be Syria. In Ottoman times, that is, immediately before the coming of the British, Palestine had indeed been a part of a larger Syrian whole from which it was in no way distinguished whether by language, culture, education, administration, political allegiance, or any other significant respect. The dividing line between British-mandated Palestine and French-mandated Syria-Lebanon was an entirely new one and for the people of the area was wholly artificial. It was therefore natural that the nationalist leadership when it first appeared should think in Syrian terms and describe Palestine as southern Syria

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Middle-East-Bernard-Lewis/dp/0684832801/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1288196585&sr=8-5]Amazon.com: The Middle East (9780684832807): Bernard Lewis: Books: Reviews, Prices & more[/ame]

 

[P F Tinmore]

(5) The Largest Arab Immigration ever to Israel/Palestine happened during 1914 to 1948 the British White Paper days. Arabs could immigrate without being checked, yet the Jews were forbidden. ~ GHook93

The percentage of Arabs in Palestine DECLINED from about 93% at the turn of the century to about 65% in 1948.

 

[Marc39]

(5) The Largest Arab Immigration ever to Israel/Palestine happened during 1914 to 1948 the British White Paper days. Arabs could immigrate without being checked, yet the Jews were forbidden. ~ GHook93

The percentage of Arabs in Palestine DECLINED from about 93% at the turn of the century to about 65% in 1948.

Eminent Middle East historian Bernard Lewis...

The word Palestine comes from "Philistine" and originally denoted the coastal region north and south of Gaza [not the land now known as Israel] which was occupied and settled by the Philistine invaders from across the sea [who were Aegean, not Arab or Jewish

After the Ottoman conquest in 1516-17...Palestine was no longer used by Muslims, for whom it had never meant more than an administrative sub-district, and it had been forgotten even in that limited sense. In the final phase of this rule before the British conquest, Palestine was part of Beirut. The Palestine entity, formally established and defined by Britain, was formaly abolished in 1948 with the termination of the Mandate.

For Arabs, the term Palestine was unacceptable, though for other reasons. For Muslims it was alien and irrelevant but not abhorrent in the same way as it was to Jews. The main objection for them was that it seemed to assert a separate entity which politically conscious Arabs in Palestine and elsewhere denied. For them there was no such thing as a country called Palestine. The region which the British called Palestine was merely a separated part of a larger whole. For a long time organized and articulate Arab political opinion was virtually unanimous on this point.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Middle-East-Bernard-Lewis/dp/0684832801/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1288229458&sr=8-3]Amazon.com: The Middle East (9780684832807): Bernard Lewis: Books: Reviews, Prices & more[/ame]

 

[georgephillip]

1948.
Palestine Mandate.
1,220,000 Arab Muslims and Christians.
650,000 Jews
One person: One vote?

No Jewish State of Israel.

 

[Marc39]

1948.
Palestine Mandate.
1,220,000 Arab Muslims and Christians.
650,000 Jews
One person: One vote?

No Jewish State of Israel.

Palestine is the Jewish homeland. Arabia is the Muslim homeland.

The League of Nations agreed...

League of Nations...
Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country

Winston Churchill agreed...

The Jews had Palestine before that indigenous population [the Arabs] came in and inhabited it

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Jews-Friendship-Martin-Gilbert/dp/0805078800]Amazon.com: Churchill and the Jews: A Lifelong Friendship (9780805078800): Martin Gilbert: Books: Reviews, Prices & more[/ame]


Allah agrees...

Quran 5:20-21...

Remember Moses said to his people: 'O my people! Recall in remembrance the favor of Allah unto you, when He produced prophets among you, made you kings, and gave you what He had not given to any other among the peoples. O my people! Enter the holy land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin.

Barack Obama agrees...

Israel is a sovereign state, and the historic homeland of the Jewish people.
It should be clear to all that efforts to chip away at Israel's legitimacy will only be met by the unshakeable opposition of the United States.

Remarks by the President to the United Nations General Assembly | The White House


The US Congress agrees...
The United States Congressional Record
1922 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NATIONAL HOME FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE JUNE 30, 1922
HOUSE RESOLUTION 360 - UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED

Palestine of today, the land we now know as Palestine, was peopled by the Jews from the dawn of history until the Roman era. It is the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. They were driven from it by force by the relentless Roman military machine and for centuries prevented from returning. At different periods various alien people succeeded them but the Jewish race had left an indelible impress upon the land.

Today it is a Jewish country. Every name, every landmark, every monument and every trace of whatever civilization remaining there is still Jewish. And it has ever since remained a hope, a longing, as expressed in their prayers for these nearly 2,000 years. No other people has ever claimed Palestine as their national home. No other people has ever shown an aptitude or indicated a genuine desire to make it their homeland. The land has been ruled by foreigners. Only since the beginning of the modern Zionist effort may it be said that a creative, cultural, and economic force has entered Palestine. The Jewish Nation was forced from its natural home. It did not go because it wanted to.

A perusal of Jewish history, a reading of Josephus, will convince the most skeptical that the grandest fight that was ever put up against an enemy was put up by the Jew. He never thought of leaving Palestine. But he was driven out. But did he, when driven out, give up his hope of getting back? Jewish history and Jewish literature give the answer to the question. The Jew even has a fast day devoted to the day of destruction of the Jewish homeland.

Never throughout history did they give up hope of returning there. I am told that 90 per cent of the Jews today are praying for the return of the Jewish people to its own home. The best minds among them believe in the necessity of reestablishing their Jewish land. To my mind there is something prophetic in the fact that during the ages no other nation has taken over Palestine and held it in the sense of a homeland; and there is something providential in the fact that for 1,800 years it has remained in desolation as if waiting for the return of the people.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0688123635/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0688123627&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0HX00TRZAFXPP1PG6MNR]Amazon.com: Israel: A History (9780688123635): Martin Gilbert: Books[/ame]

 

[P F Tinmore]

1948.
Palestine Mandate.
1,220,000 Arab Muslims and Christians.
650,000 Jews
One person: One vote?

No Jewish State of Israel.

Palestine is the Jewish homeland. Arabia is the Muslim homeland.

The League of Nations agreed...

League of Nations...
Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country

Winston Churchill agreed...

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Jews-Friendship-Martin-Gilbert/dp/0805078800]Amazon.com: Churchill and the Jews: A Lifelong Friendship (9780805078800): Martin Gilbert: Books: Reviews, Prices & more[/ame]


Allah agrees...

Quran 5:20-21...



Barack Obama agrees...

Israel is a sovereign state, and the historic homeland of the Jewish people.
It should be clear to all that efforts to chip away at Israel's legitimacy will only be met by the unshakeable opposition of the United States.

Remarks by the President to the United Nations General Assembly | The White House


The US Congress agrees...
The United States Congressional Record
1922 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NATIONAL HOME FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE JUNE 30, 1922
HOUSE RESOLUTION 360 - UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED

Palestine of today, the land we now know as Palestine, was peopled by the Jews from the dawn of history until the Roman era. It is the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. They were driven from it by force by the relentless Roman military machine and for centuries prevented from returning. At different periods various alien people succeeded them but the Jewish race had left an indelible impress upon the land.

Today it is a Jewish country. Every name, every landmark, every monument and every trace of whatever civilization remaining there is still Jewish. And it has ever since remained a hope, a longing, as expressed in their prayers for these nearly 2,000 years. No other people has ever claimed Palestine as their national home. No other people has ever shown an aptitude or indicated a genuine desire to make it their homeland. The land has been ruled by foreigners. Only since the beginning of the modern Zionist effort may it be said that a creative, cultural, and economic force has entered Palestine. The Jewish Nation was forced from its natural home. It did not go because it wanted to.

A perusal of Jewish history, a reading of Josephus, will convince the most skeptical that the grandest fight that was ever put up against an enemy was put up by the Jew. He never thought of leaving Palestine. But he was driven out. But did he, when driven out, give up his hope of getting back? Jewish history and Jewish literature give the answer to the question. The Jew even has a fast day devoted to the day of destruction of the Jewish homeland.

Never throughout history did they give up hope of returning there. I am told that 90 per cent of the Jews today are praying for the return of the Jewish people to its own home. The best minds among them believe in the necessity of reestablishing their Jewish land. To my mind there is something prophetic in the fact that during the ages no other nation has taken over Palestine and held it in the sense of a homeland; and there is something providential in the fact that for 1,800 years it has remained in desolation as if waiting for the return of the people.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0688123635/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0688123627&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0HX00TRZAFXPP1PG6MNR]Amazon.com: Israel: A History (9780688123635): Martin Gilbert: Books[/ame]

Get out the hip boots.

 

[Freeman]

Eminent Middle East historian Bernard Lewis...

At first, the country of which Palestine was a part was felt to be Syria.

In Ottoman times, that is, immediately before the coming of the British, Palestine had indeed been a part of a larger Syrian whole from which it was in no way distinguished whether by language, culture, education, administration, political allegiance, or any other significant respect.

The dividing line between British-mandated Palestine and French-mandated Syria-Lebanon was an entirely new one and for the people of the area was wholly artificial. It was therefore natural that the nationalist leadership when it first appeared should think in Syrian terms and describe Palestine as southern Syria.

This phase was, however, of brief duration. With the rise and spread of pan-Arab ideologies it was as Arabs, not as south Syrians, that the Palestinian Arabs began to assert themselves. For the rest of the period of the British Mandate, and for many years after that, their organizations described themselves as Arab and expressed their national identity in Arab rather than in Palestinian or even in Syrian terms.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Middle-East-Bernard-Lewis/dp/0684832801/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1288201381&sr=8-5]Amazon.com: The Middle East (9780684832807): Bernard Lewis: Books: Reviews, Prices & more[/ame]

So Ben Gurion who said that Palestinians are the descnedants of jews is a liar