I will put it here in it's full entity, mostly, i agree with the
last paragraph:
From: WorldNetDaily Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2000
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_btl/20001011_xcbtl_myths_brmi.shtml
Myths of the Middle East
by Joseph Farah
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
I've been quiet since Israel erupted in fighting spurred by
disputes over the Temple Mount.
Until now, I haven't even bothered to say, "See, I told you so."
But I can't resist any longer. I feel compelled to remind you of
the column I wrote just a couple weeks before the latest uprising.
Yeah, folks, I predicted it. That's OK. Hold your applause.
After all, I wish I had been wrong. More than 80 people have been
killed since the current fighting in and around Jerusalem began.
And for what?
If you believe what you read in most news sources, Palestinians
want a homeland and Muslims want control over sites they consider
holy. Simple, right?
Well, as an Arab-American journalist who has spent some time in the
Middle East dodging more than my share of rocks and mortar shells,
I've got to tell you that these are just phony excuses for the
rioting, trouble-making and land-grabbing. Isn't it interesting
that prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, there was no serious
movement for a Palestinian homeland?
"Well, Farah," you might say, "that was before the Israelis seized
the West Bank and Old Jerusalem." That's true. In the Six-Day War,
Israel captured Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem. But they didn't
capture these territories from Yasser Arafat. They captured them
from Jordan's King Hussein. I can't help but wonder why all these
Palestinians suddenly discovered their national identity after
Israel won the war.
The truth is that Palestine is no more real than Never-Never Land.
The first time the name was used was in 70 A.D. when the Romans
committed genocide against the Jews, smashed the Temple and
declared the land of Israel would be no more. From then on, the
Romans promised, it would be known as Palestine. The name was
derived from the Philistines, a Goliathian people conquered by the
Jews centuries earlier. It was a way for the Romans to add insult
to injury. They also tried to change the name of Jerusalem to Aelia
Capitolina, but that had even less staying power.
Palestine has never existed -- before or since -- as an autonomous
entity. It was ruled alternately by Rome, by Islamic and Christian
crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and, briefly, by the British after
World War I. The British agreed to restore at least part of the
land to the Jewish people as their homeland.
There is no language known as Palestinian. There is no distinct
Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Palestine
governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable
from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese,
Iraqis, etc. Keep in mind that the Arabs control 99.9 percent of
the Middle East lands. Israel represents one-tenth of 1 percent of
the landmass.
But that's too much for the Arabs. They want it all. And that is
ultimately what the fighting in Israel is about today. Greed.
Pride. Envy. Covetousness. No matter how many land concessions the
Israelis make, it will never be enough. What about Islam's holy
sites? There are none in Jerusalem.
Shocked? You should be. I don't expect you will ever hear this
brutal truth from anyone else in the international media. It's just
not politically correct.
I know what you're going to say: "Farah, the Al Aqsa Mosque and the
Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem represent Islam's third most holy
sites."
Not true. In fact, the Koran says nothing about Jerusalem. It
mentions Mecca hundreds of times. It mentions Medina countless
times. It never mentions Jerusalem. With good reason. There is no
historical evidence to suggest Mohammed ever visited Jerusalem.
So how did Jerusalem become the third holiest site of Islam?
Muslims today cite a vague passage in the Koran, the seventeenth
Sura, entitled "The Night Journey." It relates that in a dream or a
vision Mohammed was carried by night "from the sacred temple to the
temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we
might show him our signs. ..." In the seventh century, some Muslims
identified the two temples mentioned in this verse as being in
Mecca and Jerusalem. And that's as close as Islam's connection with
Jerusalem gets -- myth, fantasy, wishful thinking. Meanwhile, Jews
can trace their roots in Jerusalem back to the days of Abraham.
The latest round of violence in Israel erupted when Likud Party
leader Ariel Sharon tried to visit the Temple Mount, the foundation
of the Temple built by Solomon. It is the holiest site for Jews.
Sharon and his entourage were met with stones and threats. I know
what it's like. I've been there. Can you imagine what it is like
for Jews to be threatened, stoned and physically kept out of the
holiest site in Judaism?
So what's the solution to the Middle East mayhem? Well, frankly, I
don't think there is a man-made solution to the violence. But, if
there is one, it needs to begin with truth. Pretending will only
lead to more chaos. Treating a 5,000-year-old birthright backed by
overwhelming historical and archaeological evidence equally with
illegitimate claims, wishes and wants gives diplomacy and
peacekeeping a bad name.
The term “Palestine” is believed to be derived from the
Philistines, an Aegean people who, in the 12th Century B.C.,
settled along the Mediterranean coastal plain of what is now Israel
and the Gaza Strip. In the second century A.D., the Romans crushed
the revolt of Shimon Bar Kokhba (132 CE), during which Jerusalem
and Judea were regained. Three years later, in conformity with
Roman custom, Jerusalem was “plowed up with a yoke of
oxen” and renamed Aelia Capitolina. Judea (the southern
portion of what is now called the West Bank) was renamed Palaestina
in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of
Israel. The Arabic word “Filastin” is derived from this
Latin name.
Palestine belongs to the Palestinians or have you now re-written
history to suit you as well?
and I am neither Jew nor Arab.
I am neither Jew nor Arab either.
It seems that if you look the first part of the 20th century,
Palestine was home to one group of people. If you look at the
middle ages, Palestine was home to another group of people. If you
look at other times in history, Palestine was controlled by one
outside power or another. However, if you look at the entire
history of the region and the number of years that a specific
people has owned it, the only conclusion you can draw is that
Palestine belongs to the Jews. They controlled that area for many
hundreds of years, not counting the few times they were forcibly
uprooted and removed by outside nations before returning again to
possess it. Palestine has been their homeland for much longer than
any one group can claim for themselves. They're back again as the
result of monumental changes to the world that occured in WWII. I
know this is an oversimplistic question, but why not let them have
it in peace?
If the "Palestinian" people can't live in peace among them, then
why don't their neighboring Arab nations welcome them into their
countries? There never was a nation known as 'Palestine' which was
controlled by indiginous "Palestinian" people. Why such a bloody
conflict over having one now?
