Answers to The State of Palestine Quiz

THE GREAT ZIONIST MYTH: The Palestinians never existed before modern Israel was established. They came from other Arab lands to try to take what the Israelis had rightful claims to. “Palestinians” pretend to the world and to themselves that they have always been there, but they are delusional and do it all merely because they hate Jews.

The following series of questions has been circulating on the internet for awhile. It is a piece of trashy Zionist propaganda, meant to make the Palestinians look as though they never existed – a favorite Zionist fairytale. Note the snarky “humour” and the confused cartoon faces. I became sick of seeing these questions posted everywhere without answers, so I wrote the answers.

From drybones.com

From drybones.com

1. When was the country of Palestine founded and by whom?

The Land of Palestine was given its name by the Roman Empire. The Arabs were already there, and the Empire named it Paleshtin (Palestine) after the Biblical Pelishtim (Philistines). Paleshtin = Pelishtim

The Pelishtim descended from their patriarch Pelish; they were a sea-going people who inhabited the Mediterranean coast long before the Israelites straggled in, and were not likely Arabs (though it’s not impossible). Nonetheless, the Arabs living there in the later time of Jesus came to be called Palestinians by the Romans, and they accepted the name. Recall that both Abraham and Isaac made permanent friendship treaties with Pelishti (Philistine) kings (Genesis 21:21-34 & 26:23-31) – centuries later the Israelites continually tried to steal their land and warred against them.

2. What were Palestine’s borders?

That’s a galling question considering Israel has never declared its border, and in arrogance has changed it constantly since the very first proposal was offered by the Occupying British Empire.

The Roman borders of newly-named Palestine were political borders, set up and tended by the Roman rulers of course, just as the borders of Judea were. And every other occupying power has decided Palestine’s borders too. Learn a bit of history. Palestine has always been occupied by larger empires: Hittite, Egyptian, Philistine, Babylonian, Assyrian, Greek (all pre-Roman) in ancient times; and the pattern continues to this day. The reason? Because it’s always been one of the most important series of ports and trading routes for the world – the gateway between East and West. It’s a major intersection. And it has always been occupied by super-powers who wanted to control the trade and collect all taxes. Just like today.

Note that modern Zionists do not recognize the ancient place defined by the Roman Empire, but expect us to recognize a new place defined a few decades ago by the British ex-Empire, who the new Israelis immediately drove out after they got their country. British troops were stationed there to quell violence – but the Israelis wanted violence, so they went to war with the British, blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem where the British troops stayed, and hung two British officers, which apparently convinced the British to leave. From there, Israel went on to expel 700,000 Arabs from their homes, and they bulldozed entire villages into dust (which they continue to do). This is documented in Dayan’s autobiography and in many quotes by various leaders of modern Israel.

People still living today, who resided in Palestine pre-1948, say the Arabs and Jews lived in harmony until the Zionist Ashkenazis arrived. Since then, there has been non-stop war.

For Israelis to pretend that Palestine never existed, and that Palestinians invented themselves merely to stop the Jews and take back something from the Jews is an incredible double standard coming from white-skinned, blond-haired, blue-eyed Europeans who suddenly decided that this land of a brown-skinned indigenous people is theirs, and who came to take it with guns.

Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist, not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahlal arose in the place of Mahlul; Kibbutz Gvat in the place of Jibta; Kibbutz Sarid in the place of Huneifis; and Kefar Yehushu’a in the place of Tal al-Shuman. There is not one single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population.

— Moshe Dayan addressing the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) in Haifa – Ha’aretz, April 4 1969

3. What was Palestine’s capital?
4. What were Palestine’s major cities?

Incredibly foolish questions. Palestine’s cities are so old they are listed in the Bible, and they were already there when the Israelites invaded. Those cities still bear those names today. Ashdod, Ekron, Beer-sheba, Shechem, Ashkelon, Rehoboth, Beth-El (House of El, god of the Canaanites), and lots more.

How about: Kiryat-Arba — changed to Hebron by ancient Israelites, while a neighboring town now preserves the older name. Some modern Jews know Hebron is the true ancient Kiryat-Arba and insist it is theirs

“And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, unto Hebron; and they fought against it. And they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon; but destroyed it utterly, and all the souls that were therein.” (Joshua 10:36-37)

“And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave … the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron.” (Joshua 15:13)

According to Genesis 14:18, Jerusalem was originally called Salem and seemed to be quite important long before Israelites even existed. The original Israelites had no interest in it. Moses never mentioned the city once; it was not holy to him. When Joshua invaded, he didn’t take Jerusalem. Centuries later “King” David took it for strategic reasons. Today it is holy to Jews and Christians only because the Old Testament priests desperately wanted that town as their religious center, and they made such a fuss over it in their writings. “God’s city.” People everywhere have fallen for the writings of these priests.

If Palestine ever had a “capital,” it was one declared by a current occupier. Usually occupiers don’t let you have one, or if they do, you run it the way they tell you – just like today (Abbas and the “Palestinian Authority”).

5. Name at least one Palestinian “leader” before Arafat.

Just because modern Zionists pretend a people never existed and refuse to acknowledge them, doesn’t mean it’s the case. In the Arab world there are local kings, sheikhs. Many local leaders have lived, ruled, died. The ancient Israelites noted the sheikhs of many Arab peoples (Genesis 36 etc).

Who are the Jewish leaders during the diaspora? Where’s the list? Who of world Jewry speaks for all the Jews? No one ever. Can you think of any time in the last 2,000 years when all the Jews of the world followed a single leader? Lots of Jewish leaders claim to speak for all Jews, but no one ever has. Therefore, by the questioner’s reasoning, there has never really been a Jewish people, because they never had a single leader over all of them. Even today, the leader of Jerusalem has no influence on the average Jew around the world. And leading rabbis only speak for the Jews who agree with their particular reading of the Torah.

Jews in North America choose their own agendas — some include Israel some don’t. Jews never got organized until the 20th Century, and they have yet to follow one single leader. Schneerson? Rahm Emanuel? Goldman-Sachs? Name at least one leader of all the Jews ever. King David? Nope. Not even him. Read the Bible stories. David ignored the Northern tribes and paid all attention to the tribes of Judah and Levi. This caused unrest which his son was able to use when he challenged his father for the throne. Even David didn’t care about, or represent, all the Israelites.

Israel doesn’t recognize any Palestinian leaders because it pretends they don’t exist. Flying overhead in a helicopter to bomb a religious leader in a wheelchair (Sheikh Ahmed Yassin) would seem to indicate that Israel saw the man as a very real threat — a Palestinian leader who could influence vast numbers of people. Why else would Israel so desperately need to get rid of him?

Israel regularly kills and kidnaps Palestinian leaders and holds them in prisons indefinitely without charges. Just because they make Palestinian leaders disappear doesn’t mean there aren’t any.

(google Israel + Palestine + “arrest raid” – there have been countless of them)
Israel is running a smoke and mirrors show, and this questionnaire only contributes to the destruction of history.

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

Another galling question, considering the “Jews” have lost or forgotten their language (and their Torah) so many times. The ancient Hebrew language that the Old Testament was written in, hasn’t existed since the time of its writing. In fact, that particular Hebrew language exists mainly in the Bible and nowhere else.

According to the Bible itself, the entire Torah was lost and forgotten for hundreds of years before a priest called Hilkiah rediscovered it in the Temple Treasury (c640 BCE, just three and a half centuries after David and Solomon). King Josiah was astonished, apologized to the Lord, and immediately changed the laws of the land to adhere to the Torah. What had they been doing in the meantime? They don’t say. They forgot. They lost the “Ark of the Covenant” too. Forgot where they left it!

Modern Jews don’t follow the laws of the Bible. Their New Year is supposed to be celebrated in Spring (see Exodus Chapter 12), but they celebrate it in the fall. They don’t remember when they changed it or why. They forgot the ancient names of the months of their year and renamed them all. They don’t remember when they did that or why.

Only four original months are listed in the Old Testament:

   “Abib (1st month)” — Ex 13:4 & 23:15
   “Zif” (2nd month) — 1Kings 6:1
   “Ethanim” (7th month) — 1Kings 8:2
   “Adar (12th month)” — Ezra 6:15 / Esther 3:7,13 & 6:15 & 8:12 and more.

These names and the other eight (whatever they were) have all gone down a collective memory hole.

The “Masoretic Text” was a new writing of the Old Testament circa the 9th Century CE. The ancient original scrolls were written in Consonantal Hebrew (no vowels) and the meaning of each sentence was determined by the reader, since words with no vowels can be interpreted to say many different things. The original meanings had been lost; no one remembered what certain passages meant anymore, so the Masoretes wrote a new version, which included vowels in all the words. It was a modern Hebrew, and it froze the meanings of all the sentences, into what the Masoretes thought they meant or should mean. It remains one of the “authoritative” versions of the Bible. Modern Hebrew had to be created, because Ancient Hebrew had been lost … somewhere.

Had there ever been a steady succession of Jewish priests, like we’re supposed to believe, none of these screw-ups would have happened.

Arabs all over the Middle East have always spoken various Arab dialects. In fact, Hebrew derives from ancient Arabic. Yiddish is merely a watered-down, simple-man’s version of Hebrew (from ancient Arabic) mixed with European languages. Therefore, by the logic of the Palestine Quiz’s author, the Jews don’t exist. They don’t have a single language, and the languages they call their own come from older non-Israelite sources. Claiming that Hebrew is the Jewish language is silly. Jews don’t speak or teach ancient Hebrew except in Torah class. The “Hebrew” spoken today is a new version. Even the word “Hebrew” is an Arabic word (means: to cross over, or the one who crossed over — and refers to the travels of Abraham as he crossed the desert and the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, in his move to Canaan to start his colony). Today many Jews speak the dialects of the countries where they live and don’t speak any other language. They may learn a bit of Hebrew at sabbath school, but they forget it and don’t speak it among themselves. Collectively, all who call themselves Jews (regardless of what that means to them) have lost their own “past” and lost their language so many times that there’s little reason to believe they ever had any actual connection to it.

7. What was the prevalent religion of the “ancient country of Palestine”?

At what time? Again, in ancient times, the Bible already tells. The Great God: EL. His son: BA’AL. The Great Godess: ASHERAH. Some of the Canaanites worshiped Molech – still worshiped today by a bizarre cult of rich white people who frequent an American resort called Bohemian Grove.

Since Christian and Islamic times, meaning for the last 2,000 years or so, some Palestinians have worshiped Jesus, some Allah, some Yahweh.

Let’s note that there are several Talmuds. Judaism, the Jewish religion based on The Old Testament, was NOT followed by the ancient Israelites, nor was it even mentioned in the Old Testament. Today there are hundreds if not thousands of interpretations of the Bible. Judaism spans from Kabbalist to spiritual lite to harshly primitive – every version exists today as its own Jewish cult. No two cults agree. Neturei Karta are arch-enemies of the Kahanists. There are “Orthodox” Jews promoting Israel, the theft of Palestinian land, and the killing of Arabs. There are other “Orthodox” Jews railing against this. There are Jews who say other Jews aren’t Jews. There are Jews who beat and imprison other Jews if they protest Israel’s behaviour in Palestine — they do the same to Zionist Jews if Israel decides to kick them off their settlements and they refuse to leave! There are Jews who think ALL Jews are sweet and victimized. There are Jews who hate Zionists and think they’re the scum of the earth. There has never been One Jew, one Jewishness, one Jewish behaviour.

Although Jews refer to their time in Spain as the Golden Age of Jewry, they always neglect to mention that they were happiest under Muslim rule. Not only have they NOT been historically persecuted by Muslims, the opposite is actually true. Jews have always flourished in Islamic countries, and have never been deprived by them of their religion. Christians, however, have not been so lenient with them.

Do you know why the Iranian Jewish population shrunk from 88,000 in 1975 to 26,000 by 1980? Many Jews feared they would be oppressed, even killed by the Ayatollah’s new Islamic government (1979), and so 62,000 of them fled! They ran! Some people like to imagine that the Jews were driven out, but that’s not the case. 26,000 stayed and never regretted it. They are happy there and have absolutely no desire to leave. They practice their religion openly and with pride, are respected by Iranians as members of a very ancient sect, and are guaranteed representation in the Iranian government.

But can you tell me: what was the religion of the ancient Israelites? According to the Books of Samuel and Kings, it changed constantly from the time of the Israelite takeover (under Joshua) right up until the story ends with Ezra 600 years later. The Levites in Jerusalem regularly tried to force their Yahweh religion on the rest of the tribes, with the tribe of Judah supplying their might. Their success rate was terrible. They never made a dent in the ten Northern tribes. In fact, they were persona non-grata. Their prophets Elijah and Elisha were rejected and driven out. The Southern religion of the Levites was totally rejected by the ten Northern tribes, and even the Southern tribes of Judah and Simeon at various times ignored these priests. A couple of kings, like Hezekiah and Solomon, gave the Levites important positions in their government, but still allowed the people to set up private shrines around the country, to whomever they wanted. Shrines to all kinds of gods were built, even by Solomon himself. During those times, the Levites found themselves powerless, and they squealed and brayed about how God was furious about it. Only David and Josiah were totally pro-Levite. They tore down all shrines and made worship of Yahweh under the Levites at the temple, the only legal religion in the land. At those times, the Levites ruled the rest of the Israelites, who had to follow their god and bring them animals and cash. This always had to be enforced by the kings. But only those two kings (David & Josiah) ever allowed the Levites all the power they wanted, which God said they should have. All over “Israel”, Israelites of every tribe ignored these guys.

As soon as any Levite-supported kings died, the people reverted away from the Levites and set up their private shrines again. The ancient “Jewish” people had no consistent religion. The Levite control, and worship of Yahweh, ordered by God himself, was only in place for a very few years, in a very small area, out of five centuries of Israelite occupation of the ancient Middle East. After Ezra (c500 BCE), Rabbinical Judaism was invented — no rabbinical writings exist earlier than him — and then the tribe of Judah had their own invention — thousands upon thousands of interpretations of what the Old Testament actually means, applied to every word, sentence, paragraph — creating millions of ideas that are not written anywhere in the Bible … all invented by the tribe of Judah, to interpret a bunch of old Levite writings and take control of the Israelite flocks. So what was the ancient religion of the Jews? The fact that the Levites wrote a book about how their religion is the one sanctioned by god, didn’t seem to have much effect on the ancient Israelites, nor does it influence modern Judaism. Only one ancient tribe followed them, Judah, and only sometimes; and modern Jews have their own religion which ignores the Levite agenda completely.

Doesn’t the Bible say that when the Southern tribes (Jerusalem) went bad — strayed away from the Levite priests — they were even worse than the Northern tribes? Didn’t the tribe of Judah sacrifice their children in the valley of Gehenna? The religion of Judaism can be so many things, depending on which set of interpretations your rabbi favours. Kahanist? Reform? Both Judaism. Two opposite sets of beliefs, among thousands. What was ever the religion of all the Jews? (( “For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your sight, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the *bridegroom, and the voice of the *bride.”
And it shall come to pass, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, Why has Yahweh sent all this great evil against us? or, What is our iniquity? or, What is our sin that we have committed against Yahweh our God?
Then say unto them, “Because your fathers have forsaken me, says Yahweh, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; and you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me. Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that you know not, neither you nor your fathers; and there shall you serve other gods day and night; where I will not show you favour.”
(Jeremiah 16:9-13)

* According to many of the prophets, the bride is Israel, and her god is the bridegroom. This is the marriage contract between the Israelites and Yahweh. “And in that day, says the Lord, you will call me “My husband”… and I will betroth you to me forever.” (Hosea 2:16)

However, according to Jeremiah, God wants a divorce.

“For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, says Yahweh: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it. And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury [the dead of Jerusalem] in Tophet, till there be no place [no room left – it will be full]; and the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away. Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, for the land shall be desolate.”
(Jeremiah 7:30-34)

Please note, the priests had Jeremiah killed for speaking against them.))

8. What was the name of Palestine’s currency?

Palestine’s currency under the Ottoman Empire before 1844 was the Turkish “kurus.” From 1844 to 1918 it was the Turkish lira. The Turkish lira continued to be used. From 1918 to 1927 it coexisted alongside the Egyptian pound. Then the Palestinian pound was used with the Turkish lira until 1952.

At that point Israel started mucking everything up. Today, using guns, tanks, bombs, checkpoints, helicopters, gunboats etc, Israel prevents Palestine from having any money at all. Nothing is allowed to go in or out. All financial aid is stopped and confiscated by Israel; no trade is permitted.

And what have been the currencies of the Jews as they’ve moved through the doors of so many countries? Obviously, they used the currencies of their host countries, right? Does this mean the Jews never really existed because they never had their own currency? The “shekel of the Temple” of 3,000 years ago hardly counts. Even the Israelite priests screwed their own people out of belongings and cash by claiming only priests could evaluate property and set taxes (which were paid to the priests). The value of the shekel itself was ever-changing. When you offered a gift to the temple but the Temple didn’t need it, the priests would evaluate it and you’d have to pay them what they asked in cash instead. If they bought something from you, they would tell you what it was worth. If you bought something from them, they not only decided what it was worth, they could inflate or depress the value of the shekel itself. It was all up to them.

So, can you give details about ancient Jewish currencies that prove some kind of independence and solidarity throughout the ages? Can you show me a single Jewish currency that has been used by Jews everywhere, at any time since the diaspora began 2,000 years ago?

9. Choose any date in history and tell what was the approximate exchange rate of the “Palestinian” monetary unit against the US dollar, German mark, GB Pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese yuan on that date.

You say “any date in history” but you talk about the US dollar. I previously answered about the Palestinian currencies in recent times. I’m sure you can find the exchange rates yourself. Do you suppose no one ever imported goods into Palestine before European Jews arrived in the 20th Century and taught Arabs how to do it? The Bible says in 1900 BCE, four thousand years ago, Joseph was sold to an Arab merchant caravan traveling through Palestine to Egypt. Do you really believe Arabs were taught how to buy, sell and trade things by modern European Jews? And that they never heard of, or thought of money before? How did they — and the rest of the world — manage to survive all these millennia without the life-saving help of modern Zionists?

So tell us, at any point in history prior to 1948, what was the exchange rate of the “Jewish” monetary unit against the dollar. If you can’t provide one, then, by your logic, Jews never existed until 1948.

10. Since there is no such country as “Palestine” today, what caused its demise and when did it occur?

Since there has been a country by the name of Palestine since the time of the Roman Empire, we can easily see that its demise began in the 20th Century with the arrival of European Ashkenazi Jews and their firepower. Said demise hasn’t been completed; they haven’t yet killed all the non-Israelites, as the Bible instructs them to.

“When Yahweh your God brings you into the land which you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you … and when Yahweh your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them; then you must utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, and show no mercy to them. You shall not make marriages with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons. For they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods; then the anger of Yahweh would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.” (Deuteronomy 7:1-4)

By the way, according to the Bible and archaeology, the Canaanites, Amorites, Jebusites, Hittites, Horites, Philistines, and many more, were in Canaan long before the ancient Israelites who appear (archaeologically) c1150 BCE. Arabs and Canaanites are from the same tree. European Jews are not. Ancient Israel was invaded and taken by violence. Modern Israel was invaded and taken by violence.

In fact, it is arguable that the modern “State of Israel” has never existed. The “government” has no written Constitution and makes whatever laws it wants to. Having no Constitution, it has never had a Social Contract with its people. The demand to the UN for recognition of Israel’s Independence was served by twenty-six men who had no written agreement with their people; no set of laws — no written notice that these men spoke for all people within the borders and could negotiate as they fancied. They had nothing that could ever or has ever been ratified — voted into existence by the people of this new country. Their “declaration of independence” was a flowery bit of prose about Israel’s plans to be a great democracy concerned for the rights of all humans! But there is no “We the people” present. Unratified, this “independence” doesn’t even belong to the Israelis, since they’ve never signed it! It is the property of the men who negotiated the deal — curiously, a deal that the UN has not made with anyone else.

Did you know that the word Is-ra-el is cobbled from the names of ancient non-Jewish gods: Egyptian: Isis and Ra = IS RA; and Canaanite: EL.

IS-RA-EL.

So what is Israel, or its god, or its religion, really? All derived from other older things, while pretending to be original. Built on stolen towns.

11. Why did the Palestinians never try to become independent until after the devastating defeat of invading Arab states in the 1967 Six-Day War?

See the answer #2. Followed by this:

The PLO started in 1964, not after the Israeli invasion of 1967. Palestinians have been forced by an illegal occupation to fight for their land. Their way of life has been shattered, walled in, and by attrition Israel hopes to eventually make them all disappear. The astounding statement, heard constantly from Zionists, is that “Arabs want to push Israel into the sea” — but a glance at the map of Israel and its border expansion since 1948, you can see that in fact it is Palestine that is gradually disappearing — being pushed into the sea. In the face of this, Palestinians have been forced to go into world-politics in order to get back what has been stolen from them. They are forced to go “independent” and be recognized on the world political stage as a “country” because otherwise Israel will disappear them. They wouldn’t have bothered otherwise, and why should they? They live in a giant intersection where trade has flowed for millennia. No one settles there and says, “This is all mine. I control it all now” unless they are an Empire. Ancient Israel tried to take Gaza from the Philistines. They couldn’t get close. Moshe Dayan was ordered to get modern Gaza from the Palestinians. Gaza still won’t give it up. And no way should they!

12 Bonus Question: How Ridiculous Is This?

Let’s have a look at the original contract signed by Abraham and his god, which ensured that all the Middle East would belong to his family.

Note in this Bible excerpt that Abe’s birthplace is referred to as “Ur of the Chaldeans.” Ur was the ancient (3500 BCE) main city of the Land of Sumeria. But the “Chaldeans” (sometimes Chaldees) were the Chaldean priests of Babylon c600 BCE when the Jews were in exile. The Israelite priests hated all other religions, their gods, and their practices. We see a priest writing here, referring not to the land of Sumeria (which would be the correct reference to go with the city of Ur); neither to the land of Babylon (the proper name of the place the priest was currently in exile); but instead to the priests of that land, the “Chaldees” at the time of his exile, exposing that this vignette was written by a Levite around 600 BCE. This story of Abraham’s contract, however, takes place around 2000 BCE.

“And He said unto him, “I am the Lord that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.” And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I shall inherit it?” And He said unto him, “Take me a heifer of three years old, and a female goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst [cut them each in half], and laid each piece one against another: but the birds he didn’t divide. And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.

And He said unto Abram, “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”

And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates…” (Genesis Ch 15:7-18)

Four thousand years ago, Abraham killed some animals and cut them in half. He laid the halves beside each other on the ground and chased away vultures. Then he passed out. Abraham had the horrors while he slept, and God spoke to him and promised him he could own this land of Canaan. Then a burning lamp hovered in the dark above the split animal parts laying on the ground near him.

Because of this, white European followers of Judaism profess that they have ownership rights to the Middle East.

Tony Malone is a musician, author, and rabble rouser. He wrote The Bible For People Who Hate The Bible (I & II). Read other articles by Tony, or visit Tony's website.

22 comments on this article so far ...

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  1. Ismail Zayid said on December 10th, 2009 at 11:53am #

    Today’s Palestinians are the descendents of the Canaanites, the Jebusites, the Philistines and other tribes that lived in this land since history began. The Hebrew tribes came to the Land of Canaan [Palestine] as invaders and were driven out by other invaders, the Romans. Palestine has been invaded, throughout history, by a variety of alien invaders, including the Hebrew tribes, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Turks and the British, amongst others. Invaders have no legitimate claims to invaded and occupied land, as affirmed by international law and reputed authorities, and I will quote some:

    ” The Arab population of Palestine was native in all the senses of the word, and their roots in Palestine can be traced back at least 40 centuries.”
    {Professor Maxime Rodinson, Professor of law at the Sorbonne University in Paris, and who is Jewish. Israel and the Arabs, 1968.}.

    As to the claims, based on promises made by God, I, for one, do not believe that God was or is a real-estate agent that can promise land to those He favours, be they Jews or Arabs. As to the statements that such promises are recorded in the Bible, I, for one, do not believe that the Bible is a Registry of Deeds.

  2. Michael Kenny said on December 10th, 2009 at 2:59pm #

    Question 12 says it all: how ridiculous is this? Mr Malone claims that the questions are “posted everywhere without answers”. If that is so, how does he know that it is “a piece of trashy Zionist propaganda, meant to make the Palestinians look as though they never existed”. To know that, surely you would need to know the official answers? At a guess, I’d say this is probably some sort of false flag Israel Lobby propaganda.

  3. David said on December 10th, 2009 at 3:29pm #

    I am not at all impressed with this questionnaire:
    To be brief, I note just two errors: In fact, the region between the Jordan River and the Med. Sea was first referred to as “Palestine” in the 5th BCE by the Greek historian Herodotus, the “father of history.”

    The author writes “11. Why did the Palestinians never try to become independent until after the devastating defeat of invading Arab states in the 1967 Six-Day War?” In fact, Israel launched the 1967 war when it attacked Egypt (and thereby, Syria and Jordan who shared mutual defense pacts with Egypt) on June 5th, just hours before Egypt’s VP was to fly to Washington for a June 7th meeting with Pres. Johnson et al. aimed at ending the dispute between Israel and Egypt as per an agreement reached between Nasser and Anderson, Johnson’s rep. in Egypt. When Israel attacked Egypt it was a betrayal of a commitment cabled to Johnson by PM Eshkol on May 30th that Israel would not initiate hostilities until June 11th in order to give Johnson sufficent time to achieve a peaceful solution through diplomacy.

  4. Rehmat said on December 11th, 2009 at 8:33am #

    There are dozens of myths created by European Judeo-Christian Zionists to legitimize their colonial outpost in the heart of Muslim world. It’s impossible to address all of them in a short article, except the following, which are propagated the most – about which I wrote on January 4, 2009

    http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/israel-occupation-based-on-myths/

  5. Excellent article but _THE QUESTIONS THEMSELVES ARE IRRELEVANT...!_ said on December 13th, 2009 at 6:00am #

    Even with the true answers to the THE ZIONIST PROPAGANDA QUIZ — and racist colonizers _always_ try to not only physically, but also culturally, separate the indigenous people from the land and even try to deny the indigenous their very peopleness — the questions themselves are IRRELEVANT because:

    NO PEOPLE have a moral right to go thousands of miles, across seas or oceans, to even another continent, where other people are _already_ living, force them out or aside, and take their land — not even by alleging that, “after 2,000 years” (and often intermixing for said time somewhere else), the former people are “returning” to “reclaim” “their land” — in a claim so _RIDICULOUS_ that NO government, state or people on earth would respect such a claim (least of all the United States!) — in a claim that could only be imposed by calculated mass aggression and violent force — and NO AMOUNT OF ANY HISTORICAL SUFFERING by the former people would morally entitle them to that claim and violent aggression — in fact that claim is gross (and in the Zionist case _VULGAR_) HYPÖCRISY — so why should we expect the Palestinians to accept that?

    Furthermore, European Zionist Jews didn’t proceed to invade and supposedly “reclaim” Palestine nonviolently; thus, the Palestinian people have no obligation to resist nonviolently. In fact, the Palestinian people have the same and _EVERY MORAL RIGHT_ — and even _A MORAL DUTY_ in collectively protecting the lives of their families and communities — to ARMED RESISTANCE and self-defense that any other people, who (especially as a people) had not first attacked wherever their invaders themselves came from, but who have been violently invaded and systematically oppressed or massacred, do.

    Zionism, as Gandhi said, is “a crime against humanity.”

  6. Sham-from-Palestine said on December 17th, 2009 at 5:25pm #

    Thanks alot, Tony Malone, for researching and writing down this article. It is really informative and simply answers for the stupid lies of the Zion worshippers and their patrons.

    But I have to concur with the last poster here that whatever happened in the past, though still roots for our Palestinian cause and justice, is irrelevant. Even if we suppose for a second that the Jews have some who-cares historical or biblical right to Palestine, it doesn’t justify them coming over to our land, steal it, kick us, massacre us, and then lie about it and about us to victimize themselves.

    Once people open their eyes to the minimum, they’ll see how easy it is to embrace the truth.

    Thanks again.
    God bless you, brother.

    Peace out.

  7. jon s said on December 17th, 2009 at 10:05pm #

    The oft-repeated contention that Zionism is akin to 19th-century European colonialism is simply wrong. There are some superficial similarities, but the differences outweigh the similarities.
    Zionism indeed arose in Europe, and originally endeavored to bring a largely European ethnic group to settle in the East, while taking advantage of the weakness of the local authorities (the Ottoman empire, at the time).
    But:
    Colonialism was designed and directed by the “mother country” (Britain, France, etc.),for the benefit of the mother-country. Zionism had no mother-country which sent and supported the immigrants. In colonialism profits were extracted from the colony and repatriated to Europe. In Zionism investment in Israel and any profits, stayed in Israel and were largely re-invested, for further development.

    Moreover, Zionism was based on the perception that the Jews were returning to their ancestral homeland. No British settler in India, or French settler in Algeria, had the idea that they were re-connecting with their historical roots. The Jews did not come as foreign conquerors, and were not accompanied by an army and a navy. While colonialists could simply take land by force and drive out the existing population – the Zionists purchased land at the going price, from Arab landowners, at least until 1948.

  8. Dr. Yedidya Itzhaki said on December 20th, 2009 at 8:16am #

    Palestine is mentioned only in a certain translation of Herodotos’ History, in the original Greek it is called Phoinicia, and the Phoinicians were Hebrews. They invented the alphabeth, which was the Hebrew alphabeth. From the ancient Hebrew characters developed all western alphabeths, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Kirilic.

  9. bozh said on December 20th, 2009 at 8:42am #

    Nabateans and arameans came to canaanitic region from arabia ca 4.4 k yrs ago.
    A millennium before that canaanites also, a shemitic people, began migrating to greener pastures of mesopotamia and eventually managed to shemitize sumerians, akkadians, and assyrians.
    Hebrews were also shemitic and spoke very much like arabs and canaanites.
    Hebrews, were hated even then. Not because they were shemitic but because of their cult.

    Modern ‘jews’ from europe have no connection to any shemites, save their cult. Which, to many people is just too mean and demeaning.
    White ‘jews’ are just using shemites of mosheic cult now living in a shemitic land. Most of the white ‘jews’ do well in white world. All appear safe. But those living in a wretch of a place called “yisrael” appear in great peril!
    And killing and being killed so that rich ‘jews’ can feel good!
    tnx

  10. Dr. Yedidya Itzhaki said on December 21st, 2009 at 12:10am #

    The earliest record of Nabatean presence in southern Canaan (up to the Dead Sea) is from the 6th century BC. Their language was an Aramaic dialect, from which the Northern Arabic developed.

    There are no “pure” Semites, no Jews, of course, and even the Palestinians are a mixture of ancient Hebrews, Assyrians, Greeks, Arabs, European Crusaders, Mongols – Mameluks, Turks etc.

  11. Tony Malone said on December 24th, 2009 at 5:44pm #

    I’d like to reply to a few posters. Sorry to take so long.

    To Michael Kenny: Well said, sir! I agree. It plays a part in the Zionist/Anti-Zionist picture and could be designed to make us hate Israel and want to destroy it – which according to the Bible must happen before Israel achieves total world domination.

    To David: I hope you understand that I didn’t write the questions. I only answered them. I would like to see your reference from Herodotus, but it doesn’t make me wrong. Is it proof that the Greek nations referred to a territory as “Palestine”? The point of my answer was to show that the modern Palestinians didn’t recently invent their name or their history, and that the land itself had the name 2,000 years ago.
    I did not agree with the questionaire’s author when he claimed the Arabs attacked Israel in 1967. I only pointed out that the PLO was started several years before that.

    To Excellent Article But…: Yes. We are in full agreement. I appreciate your passion.

    To Sham-from-Palestine: Thanks for your note. I hope no one thinks that because I quote the Bible, I think it justifies the Zionist plan! I merely point out that they are following this plan. In a series of essays on my website, I explain the prize that these Zionists apparently think they will win. http://saintoxenbooks.com/zionistmanifesto.html

    To jonS: Your point about colonialism is a very good one. Zionists aren’t a colony of anything; they are a band of internationalist pirates.
    It is one thing to purchase some land; another thing to fill it with more families than it can hold, who then have many children, requiring the borders to be pushed out bit by bit; and yet another thing to arm the invading population and surround them with protective armies (Irgun & UK & then US), as they swarm across the land and devour it one village at a time. As the bursting little “bought” villages grow they eventually join up into one non-Arab mass.
    It can be made to look so innocent, but the plan is deliberate and quite devious.

  12. Tony Malone said on December 24th, 2009 at 6:24pm #

    To Dr. Itzhaki:
    I am only the author of this article. I don’t moderate postings to this newspaper’s website. I note that your long post, which you’ve put up twice, has been removed twice. I have prepared an answer to you, but it won’t make sense without your original post here, so please repost, and if the site’s moderators will leave it up, I will reply to it. Honestly, I think you are steeped in Jewish myths, brainwashed by Talmudic rewriting of history, and I find some of your statements so ridiculous that I really would like to engage you.

  13. jon s said on December 25th, 2009 at 3:25am #

    Tony,
    Thanks for your reply, but I can’t agree.
    Pirates were busy stealing. The zionists , as I pointed out, purchased land, and didn’t steal it from anyone, so the can hardly be characterized as “international pirates.
    Of course the Jews had kids and the population grew. It’s sort of a natural tendency. Moreover the Palestinians were also having kids , also quite naturally, and their numbers also increased. The Jews armed themselves, sure, but it’s not as if the Palestians were unarmed pacifists, singing “We Shall Overcome”…

  14. Dr.Yedidya Itzhaki said on December 27th, 2009 at 5:33am #

    I Post this article again to the request of Mr. Malone.

    1. The name Palestine was given to the province of Judea by the Roman Emperor Adrain, after the 132-135 AD revolt of the Judeans, lead by Bar Kokhva. Thousands of Judeans were killed in the fighting, but many Roman soldiers as well. Jerusalem too was re-named, it was called Aelya Capitolina, in honor of Jupiter. Jewish life continued afterwards, mainly in the Galilee, where the Mishna and the Jerusalem Talmud were compiled. The Arab domination in the country started after the Arabic conquest in the 7th century, and, as in many other countries, the local inhabitants, Jews and “Greek” Christians, accepted Islam and Arabic culture.
    The ancient Philistines occupied the southern part on the Mediterranean coast, they were most probably from Danae origin. They were in constant conflict with the Judeans, but they were defeated by King David, and assimilated into the tribe of Juda.

    In the Bible the country is called constantly “ERETZ CNAAN”. The northern kingdom of Israel is called sometimes “ERETZ ISRAEL”, while the southern kingdom is called “ERETZ YEHIDA”. The later was accepted by the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans, and changed, as mentioned, only on the 2nd century.
    2. In all Muslim empires there was no province called “Palestine”. It was generally referred to as “Southern Syria”. BTW, Syria is an Arabic distortion of Ashur. In the Ottoman Empire, the land was divided between the province of Acre, and the province of Damascus. The name Palestine was given to the country by the British Mandate authorities, and it included the eastern bank of the river Jordan (Trans Jordan).
    “For Israelis to pretend that Palestine never existed, and that Palestinians invented themselves merely to stop the Jews and take back something from the Jews is an incredible double standard coming from white-skinned, blond-haired, blue-eyed Europeans who suddenly decided that this land of a brown-skinned indigenous people is theirs, and who came to take it with guns.”
    This is a shameful racist description. More than half of the Israelis have dark skin and brown eyes. Some of them are even black.
    The land was not taken with guns, it was bought with good money. In 1948, as an act of self defence, the Jews captured certain Arab hostile villages.
    Most Arab towns and villages in this country have distorted Hebrew names. The only town built by Arabs (outside Arabia) was Ramle.
    3. 4. Since there was no “Palestine” in the Muslim empires, there was no capital of this country. in the Ottoman Empire, Acre was the capital of its province, and Damascus of the other.
    Jerusalem is considered to be holy by the Jews, because they believe that Abraham sacrificed Isaac on the Mountain of Moriya, which is believed to be mountain on which King Solomon built the first temple, and later the second temple was built there. The Christians believe that Jerusalem is holy because the holy sepulchre of Jesus is there. Jerusalem became holy to the Muslims because the Omayad Khalifs did not want their people to go to Mecca, which was under the rule of their enemies. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koraan, a late tradition claims that the “Last Mosque” (El Aksa) mentioned in the Koraan is on the Temple mountain.
    5. 6.
    The ancient Cnaanites and Phoinicians spoke various dialects of Hebrew, so did the Moabites (the statue of Meisha king of Moav is written in ancient Hebrew), the Amonites, the Edomites, and most probable also the Philistines. The Ugarit texts were written 4000 years ago in a proto-Hebrew tongue, and most of the Bible was written in Hebrew. Around the 5th century BC Aramaic became the lingua franca of this region, and after the 4th century BC it was Greek. Yet we find Hebrew scriptures from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, and the Mishna was written in Hebrew. Many coins that were found in Palestine through the last two centuries have Hebrew scriptures, in Cnaanite alphabet, many other coins have Greek or Latin scriptures, on one of them the Latin scripture reads “Judea Capta”. No Arabic scripture earlier than the 7th century was ever found in these countries.
    7. Islam and the worship of Alla began in the 7th cenyury.
    8. What was the name of Palestine’s currency?
    My grandmother used to speak of “Bishliks” and “Mejidas”.
    Two thousand years ago, Abraham killed some animals and cut them in half. He laid the halves beside each other on the ground and chased away vultures. Then he passed out. Abraham had the horrors while he slept, and God spoke to him and promised him he could own this land of Canaan. Then a burning lamp hovered in the dark above the split animal parts laying on the ground near him.
    According to the Hebrew mythology (recited in the Koraan) Abraham lived in the second millenium BC, which is about three and a half thousand years.

    Criticizing the Bible was a leading trend in Jewish Enlightenment, and Jewish secularity, since the 18th century, or if you may think of Spinoza, much earlier. But if you “Hate the Bible”‘ I am sorry for you bad taste.

  15. Tony Malone said on December 27th, 2009 at 8:16pm #

    Hi jonS
    You say “Of course the Jews had kids and the population grew” and you say “The Jews armed themselves, sure…”.
    Well, in the democracy where I live (Canada), if a Jewish household becomes too full of kids, they aren’t allowed to take their neighbour’s house. There’s no heavily armed, aggressive IDF here to help them do it, and Jews don’t have special rights to own guns while those around them can’t. We don’t have an open public court system for Jews and a closed no-appeals military tribunal for everybody else. There are no “settlements” here (meaning: little Jewish-only cities stuck in various areas where the previous home-owners have been driven out and their houses crushed by bulldozers), and their are no Jewish-only IDF-patrolled streets connecting the settlements and imprisoning thousands or millions of Canadians by keeping them within the borders of the Jewish-controlled streets. We have no 20-foot cement wall being built around an area that the Jews have decided they want exclusive rights to. And our women don’t die in childbirth at the side of a road because some teenage Jewish soldier decided it would be fun to not let her through a checkpoint. We do have the shame of native “refugees”, abused and driven off their lands into the northern parts of Canada, but rather than deny it, our government attempts to appease by not charging them taxes and not interfering (too much) in their government and justice system. We don’t hold “arrest raids” on them; we don’t kidnap their political leaders and hide them in secret military cells; we don’t have 10,000 natives sitting in prisons without charges; we don’t lie to the world that they are terrorists.
    How did 700,000 Palestinians suddenly decide to leave their homes in 1948 – and how were their homes reduced to rubble? In fact the Palestinians WERE unarmed pacifists, with an incompetent army. Why are there now 4,000,000 Palestinian refugees living in Jordan and Lebanon in camps? Some of them can actually see their homes, with Jewish families living in them! Who put them there? Nazis? The Israeli towns we are supposed to be so concerned about, those on the borders under constant “attack”, were all stolen – Haifa, Sderot, and many others (as evidenced by the quote from Moshe Dayan in my article) were Arab towns until Israel exploded into being. Why does Israel have anything at all to say about Palestinian electricity, sewage plants, medical and food supplies, government, law, police, education, and where Palestinians are allowed to live? How is that democracy? My country can’t do that to OUR neighbour – or ANYONE. Who is Israel to decide anything? Who is Israel to order the world to hate their enemies and help destroy them? Jon it seems you want to believe the standard Zionist picture of innocent Jews and mean nasty Arabs, but that picture leaves big holes and unanswered questions. Have a closer look and find out how much you’ve been lied to, and who did the lying. See and read how Israel grew:
    http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/maps.html#partition

  16. Tony Malone said on December 27th, 2009 at 9:46pm #

    To Dr. Itzhaki: I do hope you’re a real doctor and not just some big fake. Here is my reply to your letter:

    1 You say the Philistines were of “Danae origin”. What is that? Danae was a Greek goddess. I’m not aware of a people called Danae – is it a pretension? I assume you mean they were of the Greek nations – which is a generally accepted belief.

    In the Bible the land is not “constantly called Eretz Cnaan”. It is referred to by that name in the early writings (Genesis to Judges and early Joshua) but starting with Samuel and the Kings, the north land becomes Israel and the south Judah.
    There is no indication the Persians called the land Judah, but they did show great kindness to the Israelites and have always since. (Today the Jewish population in Iran proudly traces its roots back 2500 years.) The Greeks didn’t like the Jews at all and didn’t likely credit ownership of the land to them. The Romans did like the Jews but saw them as rowdy, in need of strong control. They did grant the Jews some self-ruling powers and referred to their religious ghetto as Judea. But it was in a land called Paleshtin!

    Outrageous! The Philistines were never defeated by King David, nor assimilated into the Israelite race! This is Talmudic propaganda and utter silliness. Maybe that’s why your letter was removed from this site.

    2 Please immediately provide proof that Muslims and Arabs have never recognized a place called Palestine or a people called Palestinians.

    “A shameful racist description”? I’m white, buddy, so I don’t get what you’re saying. Maybe you didn’t get what I said. Do you actually believe the white blue-eyed Jews from Europe and East Russia have Palestinian roots?? People around the coast of the Mediterranean have never looked like white Europeans. How did these European Jews’ skin colour and facial features change so much? They moved to a new place and their faces and hair and eyes all began to change colour? Are you kidding me?

    “The land was not taken with guns, it was bought with good money.” You have lost your senses. Read my last reply to jonS and follow the link I provided.

    “In 1948, as an act of self defence, the Jews captured certain Arab hostile villages.”
    “Self-defence” “Captured certain…hostile villages”.
    Zionist doubletalk. Tell us the names of each village and exactly what they did that made them hostile, and show proof other than a report written by Israelis.

    “Most Arab towns and villages in this country have distorted Hebrew names. The only town built by Arabs (outside Arabia) was Ramle.”
    This sounds like Talmudic myth – meaning you learned ALL of it in Torah school and it has nothing in common with the picture created by real historians. The Bible orders that all natives of Canaan are to be destroyed and forgotten. You are doing your part, pretending that the Israelites were there first, they did everything, and the Arabs are fakes.

    3.4. Again, please prove that there were no Palestinians recognized among the Arab empires.

    5.6. You enjoy referring to the ancient Arab languages as “Hebrew”, which helps perpetuate the myth of Israel being first and foremost. But you must know that there was no language called that, except the one in the Bible, which was itself based on the Arab languages of the land – and there has been no steady Levite priesthood to protect even that original tongue, hence its loss and the need for the Masoretic texts. There are no Arab peoples who ever referred to their language as Hebrew. You are inventing history, Talmud-style.
    Mesha, king of Moab, wrote his tale in Moabite. Biblical Hebrew is similar, based as it was on local Arab dialects. The ancient Moabite kingdom did not learn its language from a tiny band of nomads who visited them briefly around 1200 BCE.

    “No Arabic scripture earlier than the 7th century was ever found in these countries.” You have already referred to the Canaanite alphabet and its inclusion in Israelite writings. Archaeology shows Canaanite presence going back to caveman times – Israelites appear c1150 BCE. And no Biblical scrolls exist earlier than 2nd-3rd centuries BCE – nothing of “original” Hebrew exists at all. Words purported to be written around 700BCE are only represented by scrolls from 6 centuries later. Hence there is no proof that Biblical Hebrew was used by anyone before that. How dare you pretend it is the proto-tongue of the Middle East?

    7 Perhaps Islam began as a reaction to the aggressive Jewish cult which was bent on ruling all Arab lands.

    8 This was a typographical error (my fault). It should have read “Four thousand years ago, Abraham, etc”. When I realized the mistake, the editor corrected it for me, but many readers had already seen the errant version and reprinted it with the mistake (to my embarrassment).

    I didn’t say I hated the Bible. And whether someone has “bad taste” is surely a subjective, personal opinion with little value. If you read the Bible you would know that David never defeated the Philistines and never pretended to. You are telling fairytales you heard in Torah class. You even try to reduce me further by claiming, as a desperate last measure, that Jews invented criticism of the Bible! When you let go of your need to be first and foremost in everything, you will finally hear some truths. Until then, your words seem to be a mix of real history and Jewish myths. I imagine you can really dazzle someone who has no education in these subjects. I mean, heck – you’ve totally convinced yourself, haven’t you? So a layman would be easy.

  17. Dr.Yedidya Itzhaki said on December 28th, 2009 at 7:26am #

    1. “Danai – Properly the name of the inhabitants of Argos, from their old king Danaos. Afterwards applied to Greeks in general, especially the besiegers of Troy (A dictionary of classical antiquities, by Oskar Seiffert). You must have heard the proverb, “Beware of Danai carrying gifts”.

    Indeed, “the Land of Can’an” is very rare in the books of the Prophets, but it is mentioned in Ezecciel, Zephanias, Psalmi and Chronicorum.

    You have to produce (immediately!) a positive proof that the name “Paleshtin” is mentioned anywhere before the 2nd century AD.

    The myth that King David did defeat the Philistines is in 2 Samuel, 21. After the death of David the Philistines are not mentioned, not in the Bible and not in any archeological site. Can you prove otherwise?

    2. I have an original map of Syria in the 18th century, published by James Wyld, 5 Charring Cross, London. Syria is divided in it to four regions, called “Pachalic of Damascus, of Acre, of Alleppo, and of Tripoly. In red characters are given the ancient names of the country, Palestine, Phoenicia, Syria. You do not think that Lebanon was called in the Ottoman Empire “Phoinicia”, don’t you? I know that my map is not a real proof, but, it is you that must produce a positive proof that the name Palestine was used anyway in the Ottoman Empire .

    Indeed, there is no Jewish race, and the Jews do not make a nation, their nationhood is mythological bound. But, as a matter of fact, all nations are imaginary communities, including the Palestinians. Did you read Prof. Israel Sand’s “The invention f the Jewish Nation”?

    Let us leave the 1948 war to another session, and stick now to the ancient history.
    I do not know if you ever visited Palestine, if you did, I am sure that you were impressed by the beautiful ruins of several synagogues in the Galilee, dating the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. In that era the Mishna was compiled in this region, and its historical parts are considered to be authentic by most historian scholars. The history of the Jewish wars with the Romans, by Josephus Plavius, is also considered as a reliable source for historical events in the 1st century BC. BTW, it was written in Greek, and kept by the Christians, not the Jews.
    3-4. Ibid.
    5-6. You enjoy referring to the Hebrew languages as “Arabic”. Sah’tain (Arabic for “be well”, in case that you do not know). Did you ever see with your own eyes the statue of Meisha, King of Moab? It is in the Louvre, Paris. Can you read it? I do. It is written in Cna’anite characters, in the same language that the Bible tells the same story. Or did you ever see the scripture from the Hezakia’s water tunnel in Jerusalem, it is written in Biblical Hebrew, in the same Can’anite characters. Can you read it?
    Philologists show the origins of the Semite languages in the ancient Accadian, and its developments to the Aramaic, spoken mainly in the east, in Syria (Ashur) and Mesopotamia, and to the Ugaritic, that is considered to be a proto-Hebrew tongue, spoken in the west, along the Mediterranean eastern coasts. Around the 5th century BC Aramaic became the lingua franca of the region, and on that time Arabic developed from the southern Aramaic, and the Arabic writing was adapted in the 2nd and 1st centuries. Amaharic was developed, most probable, from southern Arabic, although the Ethiopians have a tradition that they are the descendants of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. This is what linguistic scholars say, tracing the development of the languages in scientific methods, not in political outlook. But if you want to say that everything in the Eastern Lands (Kedem, in Hebrew) is Arabic – I say, SAH’TAIN.
    I believe that the real story behind the mythologies, is that the Hebrew speaking peoples, Phoenicians and other tribes – NOT the Israelites and the Judeans – lived in this region for the last 5 or 6 thousand years. They invented the alphabet, which is now used in its original form only in Hebrew. The Israeli tribes infiltrated to their country in the late 2nd millennium BC, from different origins. The tribe Asher, for instance, came from Ashur, the tribe Dan came from the Greek (Danaen) islands, Levy and Shimon came from North Africa, and the dominant tribes of Juda and Joseph (Ephraiim) came from Egypt. They adapted the Cna’anite language (Hebrew) and culture, worshiped their deities, Baal, Ashera, Ashtoret and others, but they added to the Can’anite pantheon (mifheret elim, in Ugarit) their original deity, Yahaveh. When they became the dominant factor in the country, (they absorbed other people, see – Uriyah the Hittite, Ruth the Moabite, Delila the Philistine etc.), and made up the myth of Exodus, and that they were the Chosen Peple, and the land was promised to them by their Lord.
    What do you think of it?

    All the best,
    DR YEDIDYA ITZHAKI

  18. Tony Malone said on December 29th, 2009 at 7:39am #

    To Dr. Itzhaki
    Thank you for your dedication to the task at hand – I appreciate your time and words. However, you are still wrong about King David and the Philistines, and 2Samuel 21 doesn’t fix the problem. Many things are never mentioned again in the Bible, after being very important through a number of stories and events. This doesn’t guarantee any conclusion, but only points to possible theories. The idea that David and his band of scoundrels and malcontents were able, at the end of their lives and at their feeblest – to suddenly topple a small empire which until that time was impervious to them, is creative at least. But it’s about as believable as Abraham’s wife Sarah, at the age of 65, being so beautiful that two kings wanted her for their harems! You convince yourself that the Philistines vanished forever because the Bible stopped talking about them, but even that’s not the case. The Philistines are mentioned by some of the prophets:
    Isaiah 9:12 / Jeremiah 47:1 / refer to the Philistines as a current threat
    Ezekiel 25:16 / Amos 6:2 / Zephaniah 2:5 / Zechariah 9:16 / tell of God’s awful plan for the Philistines
    Obadiah 1:19 mentions them
    Chronicles (17:11 & 21:16) refers to Philistine contact with Jehoshaphat and Jehoram (kings of Jerusalem).
    All this shows Philistine presence many generations after David’s death.

    The ten northern tribes didn’t war with the Philistines – they just hated them for not letting the Israelites have whatever land they wanted. But it was a personal matter for Samson. Later the priest Samuel was determined to win land and kill Philistines, and his proteges Saul and David took up the sword for him. Their biggest battle was in 1Samuel 4-5. The Israelites were right inside Philistine territory (at Ebnezer) for battle but pretend they were innocent victims beings attacked! After the death of David, and a few generations later, the southern tribes became more caught up in their own squabbles, and made no more attempts to steal Philistine territory. They were too small (5,000 people spread through the Judean hills, according to archaeology) to fight with anyone. The Philistine “threat” is mentioned no more because the Israelites stayed in a small area around Jerusalem and stopped trying to settle on the Mediterranean coast. They didn’t pretend to control Gaza or any Philistine towns. They just don’t talk about them. If they had subjected the Philistines to tribute, they would have bragged endlessly about it. In the chronology of Israelite adventures, the only writings that come after The Kings are Nehemiah and Ezra. It all ends in 500 BCE. For the last few centuries of the story, the Philistines are no longer a threat and are hardly mentioned, but this doesn’t indicate that David and his 500 street-brawlers destroyed a race!

    “You have to produce (immediately!) a positive proof that the name “Paleshtin” is mentioned anywhere before the 2nd century AD.”
    In YHWH’s name, why? My claim was that the land received its name under Roman rule – which was still in effect during the 2nd (and 3rd and 4th) centuries CE. You yourself confirmed that “The name Palestine was given to the province of Judea by the Roman Emperor Adrain, after the 132-135 AD revolt of the Judeans…”. So what are you insisting I prove? My point was always this: Paleshtin has had its name for two thousand years, and it was named such by the Roman empire. The name wasn’t invented by modern Palestinians. Simple enough, yes? You still haven’t proven that Arabs and Muslims have never recognized a place or a people called Palestine!

    2. Here you make an important point. No I wouldn’t necessarily assume that the Ottoman Empire used the name Palestine. I didn’t claim this in my article so there’s no reason for you to demand that I prove it. But this raises a great question: Just because an empire controls a territory, does it have the right to change its name, even if the people cling to their old one? And which name should we recognize when looking back? Does it matter that the Romans called the place Palestine? Does it matter that the Ottomans didn’t? Does it matter that there was never a place called Israel (except in the minds of the Levite priests)? Does it matter that the British named Palestine Israel? Does it matter that a bunch of white Europeans fantasize that Palestine is their “homeland”??? In a sense, there is no reason to discuss any of it. All of these Empires were renaming territories that they stole, and Zionists have renamed a territory that THEY stole. I answered the questions put out by this Zionist cartoonist, because they were rhetorical and meant to reduce the current Palestinian situation to a cheap laugh, and I was offended by the hypocrisy in its stance, so I set out to turn it back on itself. Do I care about the Roman Empire? No. Do I care about the British Empire? No. But I would like the Zionist Israelis to come out of their sick mythical reality and be punished for their abhorrent crimes, and I don’t want to hear them say anymore that “there’s no such thing as Palestinians”. Yeah those 500 Gazan kids who were slaughtered last Christmas didn’t exist.

    We agree on whether or not a Jewish “race” exists. Perhaps we are not so far from each other. Why were you so upset by my essay?
    You acknowledge the Akkadian root in the Semitic languages. Why not refer to all of it as Akkadian? Or Semitic? Why Hebrew? Sah-tain to you too – it is only semantics here – again we aren’t in serious disagreement.

    What do I think of it? I think your last paragraphs are an excellent interpretation. Dan from Danae? Interesting idea. The only thing I would disagree with is the idea that the Israelites ever became the “dominant people” of the land. I believe those are myths, built by the Levite priests who were creating a religion for the Israelites (and eventually the world) to follow. David conquered nothing. Solomon accomplished even less. It’s just a bunch of families making up stories about how important they once were. And today we have people all over the world believing GOD wrote this book! Lord save us.
    Thanks Dr Itzhaki for the challenge
    Tony Malone

  19. Dr.Yedidya Itzhaki said on January 1st, 2010 at 6:39am #

    I am pleased to find that our discussion takes a more civilized and less arrogant form, I like it.
    The summary of your outlook on the history of the land called “Palestine” is, I may say, that it was settled by Arabs from the beginning of history, and that the Bible is a fake, and there is no true Hebrew language or ethnic existence. The Jews were short-time intruders, who wanted to steal the lands of the Arabs
    Believe me, my mother tongue is Hebrew, and I have full command on this language in all its historical layers. I know quite well also Arabic and Aramaic, and I am very familiar with the Ugarit texts, (in their original tongue), as well as in the Mesopotamian mythology . As you must know, ethnography uses the language spoken by people to tell what their ethnical or racial origins are, so I can assure you that the Hebrew languages of the Bible were used in the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean through the 2nd and 1st millennium BC, mainly by the peoples called “Can’anites”, or “Phoenicians” in Greek.
    You wrote that the word “Hebrew” has an Arabic origin. Well, if ancient Hebrew was Arabic to you, then you are right, but the truth is, that the Hebrew word “EVER”, which mean “across, the other side of – (the river)”, which is the root of “Ivrim” (Hebrews, people) and “Ivrit” (Hebrew, the language), is in Arabic “waraa”. “Waraa el Urdun” means “Trans Jordan”, but in Hebrew, ancient and modern alike, it is “Ever Ha-Yarden”).
    Arabic is a most important language, it is one of the richest languages, not far behind English, it has great culture – philosophy, science, poetry, of supreme importance, and it was, beside Greek and Latin, the language of general culture. Jewish scholars and writers were deeply influenced by the Arabic culture and language, but all this did not happen before the middle ages, between the 8th and 14th centuries. In the ancient times, the Arabs who lived in southern Palestine, mainly the Nabateans, spoke Aramaic, from which the Northern Arabic developed.
    I am a secular person, and I do not believe in the sanctity of the Bible, but both of us have to admit that about two billions peoples believe that it is the true words of God (Muslims believe that it was distorted by the Jews and by the Christians, by they do not deny its divine origin, and some Biblical stories are re-told in the Koraan). So, again, we must admit that the imaginary, mythological person called Moses has committed THE greatest revolutions in history, the monotheistic revolution. As for myself, I read the Pentateuch (“the five books of Moses”) as a mythological story, but, as you know, it contains also the Law, that according to the myth, was given to Moses by God, but in fact it is an improvement of the Hamurabi Codex. BTW, personally I believe that Monotheism is the cause of intolerance. Of course, the Jews are to be blamed.
    As for the historical parts of the Bible, some of them are mythological as well, but, as you know, mythologies are in many cases based on historical facts (see Homer’s Illiyad). There are many archeological findings, in Palestine, Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia that agree with the Biblical story. I have mentioned before the statue of Meisha King of Moab. It is written in the same language used in the Bible, and tells the same story, recorded in 2Kings, 3. Yehoo the son of Omri, King of Israel, is mentioned there too. I also mentioned the scripture found in the water tunnel of Hezikiyah, King of Judea, which supports the story told in 2Kings, 20, 20. Both were written in Biblical Hebrew, in the Can’anite alphabet. The name “Israel” is mentioned also in some ancient Egyptian scriptures, and also in Assyrian monuments. There are many more archeological sites, coin and articles that support many parts of the Biblical story, if you would visit Israel I’ll be able to show you some of them, in the meantime, look in any encyclopedia for “Palestine Antiquities”.
    According to the Biblical myth, only twelve Israelite families immigrated to Egypt, but according to Palestinian archeology, they did control most of the country during the last decades of the period called “the first Temple era” (the first half of the 1st millennium BC). The “second Temple era” (532BC – 70AD) also started by the settlement of some Judeans around Jerusalem, in a region called by the Persians “Judea”, but in a few generations their region expanded, and in the period of King Yanay-Alexander, it covered the whole country, from the northern Galilee to the northern parts of Negev, including Trans Jordan. Hundred of archeological sites and historical sited all over the country prove it. It is confirmed also by the histories of Josephus Plavius (adapted son of the Roman Emperor Vespasianus Plavius), and also by Roman registrations. Think for yourself, if Judea was just a small religious “ghetto” around Jerusalem, why did the Romans have to send their best legions to defeat the Jewish rebels? It happened twice, in 66-70AD, and in 132-135AD. Why did it take three years of most bloody fighting to defeat the Jews, if they were nothing but a small colony of priests?
    After the rebels Jews continued to live in the Galilee, under the Romans, and later under the Byzantine Empire, many ruined synagogues tell us about it, and also the mythology of Jesus, as told in the New Testaments. On that time the country, for the first time, was called Palestine, in order to break the backbones of the Jewish communities (Adrian prohibited the Shabat rituals, the study of Tora, and circumcision). As I mentioned before, the Arab (i.e. People originated from the Arabic Peninsula) domination of Palestine started only after the conquest of the region by the Arabs (the Halif Omar) in the 7th century, they called the region “Southern Syria”. Even the Crusaders, in the 11th and 12th centuries called the country “The Holy Land”, and when they conquered it they called their kingdom “The Kingdom of Jerusalem”. The name “Palestine” had had to wait till the 20th century, when it was revived by the British. BTW, the name Israel was not given to this country by the British, nor by the UN, it was adapted by the Jewish national assembly, in the declaration of the new Jewish state on May 15, 1948.

    All the best,
    DR. YEDIDYA YITZHAKI

  20. Maryb said on January 1st, 2010 at 6:59am #

    Could we have less chewing the fat over the past and having an arcane discussion of the history of the region and let’s down to brass tacks. I have just been listening to Noam Chomsky. He wisely says that Gaza and the West Bank are ONE entity now inhabiting just 22% of the mandated land. He describes the sadistic crimes against the Palestinian people not just as Israeli but as US-Israeli. Gaza is called a maximum security prison akin to a Guantanamo with the screws being ever tightened – viz the 25m underground steel wall being put in by the Qusiling Egyptians at Rafah and manufactured in the US.

    These crimes of the C20 are continuing into the C21. It is a vile and cruel Occupation. Full stop.

    http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2009/12/24/noam_chomsky_gaza_one_year_later

  21. Don Hawkins said on January 1st, 2010 at 7:21am #

    I am pleased to find that our discussion takes a more civilized and less arrogant form, I like it.

    Well in 2010 will Iran become a failed State or will Israel go in? It appears and appears is the word because to find the truth is still the hardest part Iran might have a few missiles pointed at Sadie Arabia and if used civilized and less arrogant probably not. Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler comes to mind and so far just more complex and the easy way out. Tuff day’s ahead as here in the States we keep hearing call call now at least for a little while longer. The change over to a new way of thinking or maybe an old way of thinking is on the way it isn’t well it sure seems it is. Again remember when this little economic downturn happening the last one well who got the help first. Some have said we need to look at this with total focus a Herculean effort a new way of thinking. What we saw the last year or so was a Herculean effort total focus to only a few and the old way of thinking. Then what or now what? Listen to your leaders and watch your parking meters very sure on the listen to your leaders the parking meter part more like those noise generators that we saw in Pittsburgh for the G-20. Can’t happen it already did as strangeness spreads through out the land. When will Tiger Woods make a comeback or did you see that dress last night in New York whatever you thinks best. Foolishness on a grand scale.

  22. Tony Malone said on January 4th, 2010 at 9:36am #

    Maryb
    No, we can’t have less “chewing the fat” over these “arcane” topics. We are discussing the above article. I’m glad you’re learning about Israel and Palestine – but Chomsky’s been writing about it for years. The fact that you are now aware is not an accident. The same media which has been silent for six decades hasn’t changed. Their job is now to TELL you how awful Israel is, and you will follow along, thinking you have now become aware, yelling that something MUST be done about this. But it is now too late. Israel will be allowed to finish her agenda, thanks to all the sheep of the world who remained asleep until now. There will be a gradual world-mass-outrage at Israel, orchestrated by the same international media that has kept Zionism’s ugly truths hidden for a century; and then Israel will go down. The Bible predicts it. The people of our planet need think about what these Zionists have planned for the rest of us AFTER Israel goes down … in the aftermath. Now THAT’S something you’ll want to prepare for. 500 nuclear warheads hidden away in Israel’s secret nuclear program, is one thing to think about …

    If you peruse this website’s archives, you’ll find that the Palestine/Israel situation has been covered here for years (in more discriminating detail than Mr. Chomsky tends), and likely most of its readers are up on the subject. We are discussing here a Zionist cartoon which “proves” that there has never been a Palestinian people – a fervent belief of Zionists, who use it as an excuse to exterminate Arabs. The publisher, my readers, and I think this is worth talking about. It doesn’t mean we aren’t affected by Gaza.