The creation of the nation of so-called “Palestinians,” is indeed one of the best marketing hoaxes of the 20th century. Until 1967, when 3 massive Arab armies with superior weaponry amassed on Israel’s borders and blockaded Israel’s waterways, the descriptions of people that were discussed in the Middle East were Jews and Arabs. Yes, some Arabs were from Syria, and some were from Egypt. But Arabs in Jordan did not call themselves Jordanians just like Arabs in Lebanon did not call themselves Lebanese. They called themselves Shiites or Sunnis or Christian Arabs.
The word Palestine was indeed used before 1948 – but almost always to denote Jews who lived in the geographic area that was called Palestine – an area that the Romans labeled Palestina. Why was it called Palestine? Wasn’t it because of Arabs who lived there that were called Palestinians? No. The Jews used the word Palestine extensively. The Arabs did not. The Jerusalem Post was then called The Palestine Post. Arabs considered themselves as Syrians, Egyptians, Sunnis or Shiites. But Arabs in the small Land of Israel never considered themselves an independent entity.
But weren’t Arabs living in the area that is today the State of Israel for millenia? The answer is that groups of a few hundred Arabs lived in a few scattered areas across the Land of Israel and groups of a few hundred Jews lived in a few scattered areas across the Land of Israel. Jerusalem had a clear Jewish majority, but Arabs lived their too. Some other areas like Jaffa and the neighboring new city of Tel-Aviv had mixed Jewish and Arab populations. But in the entire Land of Israel, there were no more than a few thousand Jews and a few thousand Arabs – up until the late 1800’s. The land was largely empty – for nearly 1900 years.
But when Jewish pioneers, often called settlers, or early Zionists, came from Arab countries that they were persecuted from, and from Czarist Russia or Poland, they began to work the Land near the coastal areas of the Eastern Mediterranean. With support from Jews from all over the world, and especially Baron Rothschild, the pioneers brought the Land back to life, and there was some money to be made in the Land of Israel. The word spread to Arabs from surrounding areas that they could improve their standard of living in the Land of Israel. That is what brought the Arabs into the Land of Israel in the early 1900’s.
But today, their is a clear attempt to paint the Arab connection to the Land of Israel as an historical bond that has always existed for millenia. This is a fiction that has no proof. The fake bond was indeed created less than 50 years ago in order to pressure Israel into submission to Arab demands. Israel must adopt the attitude that Golda Meir aptly said, “Israel will not die so the world will speak well of it.” The Arabs and their supporters who claim to support the so-called “Palestinian” cause are simply using a more politically correct way to support the destruction of the State of Israel.
A Crash Course on Palestine
1. Before Israel, there was a British mandate, not a Palestinian state
2. Before the British Mandate, there was the Ottoman Empire, not a Palestinian state.
3. Before the Ottoman Empire, there was the Islamic state of the Mamluks of Egypt, not a Palestinian state.
4. Before the Islamic state of the Mamluks of Egypt, there was the Ayubid Arab-Kurdish Empire, not a Palestinian state.
5. Before the Ayubid Empire, there was the Frankish and Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, not a Palestinian state.
6. Before the Kingdom of Jerusalem, there was the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, not a Palestinian state.
7. Before the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, there was the Byzantine empire, not a Palestinian state.
8. Before the Byzantine Empire, there were the Sassanids, not a Palestinian state.
9. Before the Sassanid Empire, there was the Byzantine Empire, not a Palestinian state.
10. Before the Byzantine Empire, there was the Roman Empire, not a Palestinian state.
11. Before the Roman Empire, there was the Hasmonean state, not a Palestinian state.
12. Before the Hasmonean state, there was the Seleucid, not a Palestinian state.
13. Before the Seleucid empire, there was the empire of Alexander the Great, not a Palestinian state.
14. Before the empire of Alexander the Great, there was the Persian empire, not a Palestinian state.
15. Before the Persian Empire, there was the Babylonian Empire, not a Palestinian state.
16. Before the Babylonian Empire, there were the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, not a Palestinian state.
17. Before the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, there was the Kingdom of Israel, not a Palestinian state.
18. Before the kingdom of Israel, there was the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, not a Palestinian state.
19. Before the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, there was an agglomeration of independent Canaanite city-kingdoms, not a Palestinian state.
20. Actually, in this piece of land there has been everything, EXCEPT A PALESTINIAN STATE.
Feel free to use this for the uneducated