Hamas War

Thursday, March 17, 2016

The Power of Words: There Never was a Palestine, sic

book review
A couple of years ago, when I hear Sha'i Ben-Tekoa speak at a seminar for university students organized by David Bedein, he asked the audience/participants if they had studied a course called "The History of Palestine." Of course nobody raised their hand, because as he explained, there is no history, because there has never been such a country or people.

You may have noticed that I never refer to the Arabs here, terrorists or not, as "Palestinians," sic or the Land I live in as Palestine, sic. And yes, the "sics" and the italics and the quotation marks usually accompany the word/s when I do use them.

It really bothers me, professionally as writer and pundit, when people do use the word.   And when those who use the word are otherwise excellent writers and thinkers on the "Right," like Evelyn Gordon, I really get upset.
Are Palestinian Stabbings Ending? - by Evelyn Gordon
She should know better than that.

By calling those evil psychopathic Arab terrorists by the name/adjective "Palestinian," sic she is perpetuating the dangerous myth/lie that there is a people, place and history called "Palestine," sic.

There is no excuse for this at all!

We Jews are not in a "conflict" over a Land we and the Arab terrorists both "own" or have ties to. We are struggling against squatters and nomads who have no national history here. The only nation native to the Land with a history of rulers is the Jewish People. All other rulers were invaders.

37 comments:

YMedad said...

There was a region called Palestine, by Jews and everyone else. Its borders changed in fluctuation as did its administrative statuses. There was a Palestinian nationality as per the Palestine Mandate. Jews carried a Palestinian passport.

What needs to be stressed is that the so-called "native" Arab population was neither native, for the most part, never considered themselves exclusively "Palestinian" and well into the late 1920s demanded that the Palestine Mandate be united with that of Suria as they viewed themselves as "Southern Syrians" (as can be found at my blog in numerous posts). As an ethnic group, they developed no unique Palestinian nationality, except in a need to confront Zionism.

I call that Palestinianism in reaction to Zionism. If not for Zionism, there would be no such thing as a Palestinian Arab since it was only the Mandate to reconstitute the historic Jewish national home that a country called Palestine was created and its purpose was to be the Jewish State.

Batya said...

An artificially imposed label is not a national identity.

Marcel Cousineau said...

Good point. We are programmed by the Orwellian speak of our day to fit into their world view.

One of their scams that bothers me even more is what I read today in the world media on the Islamic inspired stabbing at Ariel, Israel today.

Their use the words 'occupied territory' to describe this JEWISH/ISRAEL location infuriates me.
Even Israeli media call it West Bank which leads to the false term 'occupied'.

Occupied by it's rightful owners, that's what bothers the wicked nations and their media's. They hate God as much as they hate Isrsael.

I wish Israel had annexed the whole of Judea and Samaria when they were handed the land on a silver platter by God.

Well someday it's going to happen, and the twisted, rebel nations will learn to call it ISRAEL.

Anonymous said...

Get Real. You have as much claim to that land as much as England does to Brazil.
Taking over regions by violent force and saying it's our land because your rabbi
and state tells you so is shortsighted and indulgent.

You need a reality check, but you only want to listen to nations and politicians
that tell you what you want to hear. Grow up, and accept responsibility - your
writing style oozes entitlement...

-Chuck

Garnel Ironheart said...

On the other hand one recalls Golda Meir's quote about how maybe there didn't used to be so-called Palestinians but there are now, like it or not. The main issue is finding enough money to bribe them all to move to Jordan.
But yes, your basic point is sound: use the "P" word and you've lost the argument before it even begins

Batya said...

Jordan gevalt! Another invented country. GB was playing god with maps and men.

Mr. Cohen said...

That the so-called “Palestinians” are a fictional nationality has been known for many years. This fact was revealed in the book: From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine, by Joan Peters, year 1984 CE, JKAP Publications.

Some quick quotes from that book:

“In other cases the more or less universally used description of eligibility [for refugee status] included people who were forced to leave permanent or habitual homes. In the case of the Arab refugees, however, the definition had been broadened to include as refugees any persons who had been in Palestine for only two years before Israel’s statehood in 1948.”

SOURCE: From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine, (chapter 1, page 4) by Joan Peters, 1984, JKAP Publications

“According to a research report by the Arab-sponsored Institute for Palestine Studies in Beirut, however, the majority of the Arab refugees in 1948 were not expelled, and 68% left without seeing an Israeli soldier.”

SOURCE: From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine, (chapter 2, page 13) by Joan Peters, 1984, JKAP Publications

“…what the Arabs envisioned was something that could achieve Israel shrinking to indefensible size…”

SOURCE: From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine, (chapter 2, page 14) by Joan Peters, 1984, JKAP Publications

Khaled Al Azm, who was the Prime Minister of Syria after the 1948 war, deplored the Arab tactics and subsequent exploitation of the [Palestinian] refugees, in his 1972 memoirs:

<< Since 1948 it was we who demanded the return of the refugees...
while it was we [Arabs] who made them [Palestinians] leave [Israel]...
We brought disaster upon..Arab refugees, by inviting them and bringing pressure to bear upon them to leave ...Then we exploited them in executing crimes of murder, arson, and throwing bombs upon...men, women and children, all this in the service of political purposes ... >>

SOURCE: From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine, (chapter 2, page 16) by Joan Peters, 1984, JKAP Publications

In 1958, former director of UNRWA Ralph Galloway declared angrily while in Jordan:
“The Arab states do not want to solve the [Palestinian] refugee problem.
They want to keep it as an open sore, as an affront to the United Nations, and as a weapon against Israel. Arab leaders do not give a damn whether Arab refugees live or die.”

SOURCE: From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine, (chapter 2, page 23) by Joan Peters, 1984, JKAP Publications

“One crucial truth, among the many which have been obscured or deprecated, is that there have been as many Jewish refugees who fled or were expelled from the Arab countries [in year 1948] as there were Arab refugees from Israel, and that the Jews left of necessity and in flight from danger.”

SOURCE: From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine, (chapter 2, page 25) by Joan Peters, 1984, JKAP Publications

Hitler’s crimes against the Jews have been frequently justified in Arab writings and pronouncements. In the 1950s, Minister Anwar Sadat published an open letter to Hitler, hoping he was still alive and sympathizing with his cause. Important Arab writers and political figures have said Hitler was “wronged and slandered…”
Or that Hitler wanted to “save … the world from this malignant evil…”

SOURCE: From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine, (chapter 3, page 37) by Joan Peters, 1984, JKAP Publications

Garnel Ironheart said...

> Another invented country

Yes, an invented country for an invented people.

Anonymous said...

Yisrael Medad,
Not quite. Palestine was not called that by Jews and "everyone else." The Muslims never did. They had no concept of a separate country called that. All of Eretz Israel was for them just an indistinguishable part of what they called "Bilad a-Sham"(Damascus country). In my book, a pre-WWI Turkish map shows no such country, only the lines between sanjaks and vilayets. In January 1919, the Paris Peace Conference opened for peace destined to create a Palestine that never existed under Muslim rule (save for the short-lived, tiny, military district called Jund Falastin in the Ummayad Period.) And because Mandatory Palestine was explicitly slated to become a "Jewish homeland," in October of that year Haj Amin began publishing a newspaper called "Al-Suria al-Janubia"(Southern Syria) to combat the very idea of a country called "Palestine" but it is doubtful that "they viewed themselves as Southern Syrians" and any Arab ever told anyone, "I am a Southern Syrian." There is no evidence Haj Amin ever used the term to rally the troops, for it had no meaning to them. On the contrary, his vocabulary was exclusively Islamic. And to this day, when an Arab tries to murder a Jew, he does not shout "Long Live Palestine!" but "Allahu Akbar!" because our fight for survival has always been a religious war. The idea of creating a "Palestinian entity" (kiyan falastini) was first proposed in March 1959 at an Arab League meeting by Nasser, inspired by the five-year-old war at that time in Algeria where the Muslims there called themselves Muslims but for external consumption only used the term "Algerians." The "Palestinian" entity was no less an invention of the Israeli Left, e.g. Beilin, Livni, etc. who have said "If we call this a religious war, there is no hope. So let's call it a political conflict for which there can be compromise." The Israeli Left no less than the Muslims have pushed the smokescreen of a "Palestinian" nation so that the "two equal nations" can share their mutually cherished, ancient homeland viz. the "two states for two peoples" fantasy. Read all about it in "Phantom Nation" available on Amazon (with a different cover than the one shown here.)
Sha'i Ben-Tekoa

Mr. Cohen said...

By the way, ISIS [also known as The Islamic State] has no intention of granting the so-called “Palestinians” their own state.

Their goal is for the entire Middle East to be ruled by ISIS, with no “Palestine.”

Notice that ISIS is never criticized for this by Arabs, Muslims, Liberals, or by anyone.

Maybe this is because Arabs, Muslims, and Liberals are too busy with constantly criticizing Israel all the time.

Anonymous said...

I also never use that word. They are Arabs! They know it and all people who are somewhat educated, read and know some history should know it. Shows you the power of the media (all kinds). If you keep on repeating something over and over again, it becomes the truth. This is what media worldwide has been doing for decades (started with Goebbels,yimach shmo, I guess) knowing the effect it would have on the public. The leftists in Israel are notorious and would love nothing better than to bring down the house of Israel and give it to our mortal enemies. They are the minority, but have the power of media, money and world powers behind them.

It's time for everyone to wake up and speak real truth.

Anonymous said...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_Palestine#/media/File:Palestine_For_The_Arabs_Propaganda_Label_1m.jpg
During the Mandate period, Palestinian groups issued four distinct propaganda labels (or series): a promotional label for the Jerusalem Arab Fair (April 1934), a series of five labels issued by the Financial Department of the Arab Higher Committee (Beit al-Mal al-'Arabi, 1936), a series of three labels issued by the Arab Community Fund (Sandouk al-Umma al-'Arabi, no date known), and a series of five labels (1, 2, and 5 Mils; 1 and 2 US-Cents) inscribed Palestine For The Arabs and depicting the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in front of a map of Palestine (Jaffa, 1938).
1938 propaganda label "Palestine for the Arabs", 1 Millième

Mr. Cohen said...

Winston Churchill said this in 1937 CE:

“[Winston] Churchill did not accept that the Jews
were a foreign race [to the Holy Land]. He said it was
the Arabs who had been the outsiders, the conquerors.”

SOURCE: Churchill and the Jews (chapter 10,
page 115) by Martin Gilbert, year 2007 CE

CHRONOLOGY:
Winston Churchill was British Prime Minister
from 1940 to 1945 CE and from 1951 to 1955 CE.

Batya said...

Mr. Cohen, thanks.
a 18/3/16 01:59 this was all planned and coordinated by GB.
Shai and a 18/3/16 01:22, thanks.

Unknown said...

Palestine comes from the Hebrew word PLISHTIM(invaders in this case Greek invaders).What kind of an Idiot calls him self > INVADER ??. 40% of this arabs are from Saudi Arabia-40% from Egypt the rest came from lybia/liban0on/syria/irak/jordan like Knesset members Achmed Tibi syria/Hanin zoabi Irak etcetera..Palestine exist only in harts and minds of left progressive westerners.One can find Palestine in Every big city of the EU.:(.30% of the Israaeli arabs holds an Jordenian pasport and is Jordanian ... Our Idiot Knesset members and Media calls them Palestinians with out thinking what does it mean...

Anonymous said...

You all need to take a lesson of History honestly. Palestine is the name of Israel approved by Jews since the time of Herzl, also in 1917 Balfour Declaration. It has no a pejorative meaning for them. In 1938 Arabs also identified themselves as Palestinians of Palestine.

Anonymous said...

Batya Medad,
Whether it was of Great Britain or not, in 1938 Arab inhabitants do not mind of being called Palestinians in Palestine.

Anonymous said...

Haim ben haim,
Is Herzl idiot for hoping to have a nation called Palestine?
Are Jews in 1917 idiots for hoping to have Palestine? who is more idiotic than persons who demonise the exact word used by prominent Jews to identify themselves?
In the alternative universe, Jews should get a vast state called "Palestine" that has a border from Mediterranean sea to Jordan river, not today's a smaller shrinking state called "Israel".

Anonymous said...

Haim ben haim,
80% Jews in Israel came from Europe, are they to be invalid citisen of Israel for you?
For centuries Turks ruled Jerusalem but their descendants are so few in Palestine. Majority of Palestinians today traced their ancestry to Jews in pre-Islamic empire. Nevertheless, the presence of Arabs in Palestine is natural consequences of people's migration from Saudi, Kurd region, and Egypt that happened naturally simply because Jews have migrated and lived in Europe.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Cohen,
W. Churchill was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945. Under his terms British Mandate still reprinted postage stamp featured Palestine's mosques.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PALESTINE-1927-45-COMPLETE-SET-SG-90-103-MINT-/191626491831?hash=item2c9dd437b7:g:2XUAAOSw3ydVnlNK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Palestine_stamp.jpg
Actually, the stamp was first issued in 1927, and this copy seems to have been used in 1941.) For a fine history of this stamp, see Zywietz [1]. Though this design was first issued in 1927, the 3 mils version was first printed in 1928 and reprinted until perhaps 1942.

goyisherebbe said...

I have a problem with calling the minority here Palestinians, but I also see a problem calling them Arabs. Simply because they speak a form of the Arabic language does not make them ethnically Arab. Arabic-speaking Lebanese and Israeli Christians deny that they are Arabs. Arabs are residents of the Arabian Peninsula or their descendents who have migrated elsewhere. Many local residents are descendents of former immigrants from elsewhere in the Middle East, and some of their family names indicate that, such as Masri (from Egypt), Halabi (from Aleppo, Syria), or Iraki. The late Joan Peters in her book _From Time Immemorial_ about the foreign origin of local "Arabs" is instructive. But many researchers in both the historical and genetic origins of our neighbors, one of the most recent being Tsvi Misinai, point out that many local "Arabs" have genetic markers identifying some of their origins as Israelite/Jewish and some have converted from Judaism to Islam in recent historical time. Only a number of decades ago houses in some Islamic villages had gouged out doorpost spaces indicating that there used to be mezuzot there. And let us not forget the long history of Jewish women taken by force or by guile in marriage to Muslims. Their children are Jewish according to halacha even though they often hate us deeply. We have had unfortunately a hands-off policy in the education of "Arabs" in the "territories" since '67, and we are paying dearly for it. Every Israeli should learn Arabic, but they don't. I think we are scared.

Batya said...

Goyish, good points but thrre isn't s term better than thr generic arab.

Anonymous said...

goyisherebbe,
the substantial genetic markers of Jewish origin is more important than artificial dispute over state and land. Jews should make Palestinians know that they are actually Jewish descendants, and that Jews respect their choice to be Muslims. I think by such a new approach the peace can be at hand. It may reduce conflicts. At least, it reduces the racial tension.

Anonymous said...

What is with all this nonsense? Palestine is the name given to us by the ancient Romans so that Judea/Israel would be eradicated, c'v. At the rebirth of Israel, we took back our name (just for some reason called it a state). The Jewish people have returned home to Eretz Yisrael and it does not matter what the rest of the world wants to call it. They would all love to see it, c'v, eliminated. It is, was and will always be the home of the Jewish nation which is called 'Israel'. The problem was and is that the 'leaders' from the start of this new reborn 'state' didn't want to bother changing or demanding that the 'state' be a truly Jewish state and did not do as was commanded by the G-D of Creation, the G-D of Israel, that it is the home of ONLY the Jewish people!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 20/3/16 04:30,
Palestinians, Jews, Haredim all come from same Jewish ancestry. The fact is they have returned. Whether they rebirth 1 or 2 states as in the past of Judah and Israel, or one unifying Israel, it doesn't matter. The concept of artificial "state" can't be above the most valuable life of Jewish descendants who now inhabit the land.
If you want to have Haredim take in charge, give them a chance. Elect them, or trust them to have the autonomy with greater authority to see how they work out and cope with modern problems.
You have the hating Palestinians and hating Jews because they all don't know or realise that they are just unknown brethren in the same ancestry of Jews.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 7:16 - What the heck are you talking about. Where in my comment did you get the gibberish you are spouting here? Who mentioned chareidim and where do you get 'palestinians' from in my comment. All I stated is that Israel is the natural home of the Jewish people (and only the Jewish people) as it was given by the Creator to His children, Israel. The arabs have no connection and nothing to do with the Land of Israel. Please get some history lessons.

Anonymous said...

Jews can't rob the only land owned by the Creator. God will fight them if Jews want to rob Him. Jews lie if they say God gives His only land where He is. If He gave it to them, He would have lost forever the claim of being the only Owner of Jerusalem. Jerusalem belongs God, not to Jews who are the guests on the land.
Palestinians want Jews to be eliminated simply because the "Only Jews" try to eliminate them as well. Since the "Only Jews" are eliminator, it is natural if they get rival eliminators. Not just men, the ants shall bite if you trample it.
Jerusalem belongs to the Creator. If He lost it to Jews, He lost His only footstool on the earth. Nobody can rob Jerusalem from God, not even Jews.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 20/3/16 22:37,
You can't be the owner of Jerusalem because you are not the Creator. Why do you want to strip the ownership of Jerusalem from God?
Jerusalem is the only precious thing that connects God to the earth, and you want to steal it from God?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 20/3/16 22:37,
If you claim that Jews are owners of Jerusalem, where will the footstool of God upon the earth be standing? You can't ask God to forfeit His ownership of Jerusalem. You can't force God to disavow His claim on Jerusalem.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 20/3/16 22:37,
God never says He gives Jerusalem to Jews so that they can claim to be its owner. Jews are just its guests, God lends it to them. God doesb't say He gives His right of ownership of the holy land to anybody, not even to Jews or someone else.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 20/3/16 22:37,
I will be so glad to wait and read your replies on my all comments above. I know it will be tough for you or maybe it has shaken your pride. Sorry about that.

Batya said...

a, who doesn't have the guts even to identify him/her/itself, must be joking. Nothing you write is of any value. It's not true and makes no sense.

Anonymous said...

Just got to reading the last few anon comments. Obviously, these are written by a non-Jew(s). The one writing it has no knowledge whatsoever of Torah. The G-D of Israel, the Children of Israel, Torah and the Land of Israel are considered as one by our holy Torah! That's it. You can have your opinions but we have our Torah, G-D's words!

Anonymous said...

By the way, forgot that it was King David who literally bought the land where our Holy Beit Hamikdash stood and will once again stand, this time for eternity. Just as our enemies would love to rob the properties that were bought for silver and still they have the chutzpah of saying it is not the property of the Jews. Abraham, our father, bought the Mearat Hamachpelah for 400 talents of silver for his wife, our mother, Sarah's burial, because he knew he could not trust it being a gift. Still, even to this day, our enemies cannot stand it belonging to the Jews and have spilled much Jewish blood to get their way.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, 21/3/16 23:29,
Pride makes people blaspheme God. Jews seriously misunderstand the level of significance of Jerusalem for God.
400 talents of silver can't never buy God's property. Silver can't purchase God's land where He dwells. Property of Jews? What a chutzpah.

Silver can't force God to disown his beloved property.
Araunah is not the owner of God's footstool. God never gives it to Araunah. God doesn't sell it. Since when has Araunah purchased it from God?

Neither does Abraham buy the land of burial from God. Man to man trade is nothing. David doesn't buy it from God.
Can't Jews read the passage "For the land is Mine" of Leviticus 25:23?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 21/3/16 23:22,
Torah is entrusted to Jews not for decoration behind but to be the Guide in the front.You can't rob Jerusalem from God. If you try to steal it from God He shall fight you hard and drive you out. That's it.
Torah was entrusted to Jews because other nations reject it. When Jews lost Jerusalem twice it is Torah with them that finds them in every land.
Don't let your pride make you thieves of God's property. It is Jews who should teach Palestinians and other Arabs that nobody - not even Jews - can steal the beloved property of God where He is.

Anonymous said...

Batya Medad,
My humble purpose is God, not other artificial pride, e.g. states or clans.
I know my comments could shake your pride, Sorry for that.