The Arabs in the Holy
Land - Natives or Aliens?
Before the beginning of the
20th century, there were practically no Arabs in the Holy Land . In 1695 there was not a single Muslim Arab in Gaza , Nazareth ,
and Um-El-Phachem. All Arabs there were Christians. Historically, a
"Palestinian" people never existed. The English name
"Palestinian", to describe the local Arab population, was invented
AFTER the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. These Arabs do not even
have a native name to describe themselves in their own Arabic language. The
Arabs who now claim to be natives of the Holy Land have migrated to Palestine
and invaded the land after 1917, from neighboring Arab countries. There is only
one possible solution to the "Palestinians" desire for a homeland -
let them return to where they came from - to where they lived earlier for
hundreds or thousands of years - to their real homeland in their original Arab
countries.
Unknown to most of the
world population, the origin of the "Palestinian" Arabs' claim to the
Holy
Land spans a period of a meager 30 years - a drop in the bucket
compared to the thousands of years of the region's rich history.
Before the beginning of the 20th century, there were practically no Muslim Arabs in theHoly Land . In 1695 there was not a single Muslim
Arab in Gaza , Nazareth , and Um-El-Phachem.
All Arabs there were Christians. By contrast, the Jews, despite 2000 years of
persecution and forced conversions by various conquerors, have throughout most
of history been the majority population in the Holy Land . In Jerusalem Jews
were always the largest demographic group [1][2], except for periods
when conquerors specifically threw them out and prevented them from returning.
When General Allenby, the commander of the British military forces, conqueredPalestine in 1917/1918, only a
few thousand Muslim Arabs resided in the Holy Land . Most of the Arabs
were Christians, and most of the Muslims in the area either came from Turkey under the Ottoman Empire , or were the
descendants of Jews and Christians who were forcefully converted to Islam by
the Muslim conquerors. These Muslims were not of Arab origin. Most references
to Arabs in Palestine before 1917 refer to
the Christian Arabs, not to the Muslims.
It is important to note that estimates and censuses conducted by the Muslim conquerors were biased. Therefore, the only reliable data is provided by non-Muslim sources. Tourists and politicians, Arabs and non-Arabs alike, have documented their observations of the population in theHoly Land beginning more that a
thousand years ago. Let's start at the early days and continue into the Ottoman
period:
Before the beginning of the 20th century, there were practically no Muslim Arabs in the
When General Allenby, the commander of the British military forces, conquered
It is important to note that estimates and censuses conducted by the Muslim conquerors were biased. Therefore, the only reliable data is provided by non-Muslim sources. Tourists and politicians, Arabs and non-Arabs alike, have documented their observations of the population in the
·
The historian James Parkes wrote: "During the first
century after the Arab conquest [670-740 CE], the caliph and governors of Syria and the Holy Land ruled entirely over
Christian and Jewish subjects. Apart from the Bedouin in the earliest days, the
only Arabs west of the Jordan were the
garrisons."[3]
·
In year 985 the Arab writer Muqaddasi complained: "the
mosque is empty of worshipers... The Jews constitute the majority of Jerusalem ’s population"
(The entire city of Jerusalem had only one
mosque?). [4]
·
In 1377, Ibn Khaldun, one of the most creditable Arab
historians, wrote: "Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel extended over 1400 years...
It was the Jews who implanted the culture and customs of the permanent
settlement".[5]
·
In 1695-1696, the Dutch scholar and cartographer, Adriaan
Reland (Hadriani Relandi) , wrote reports about visits to the Holy Land . (There are those who
claim that he did not personally visit the Holy land but collected reports
from other visitors.) He was fluent in Hebrew and Arabic. He documented visits
to many locations. He writes: The names of settlements were mostly
Hebrew, some Greek, and some Latin-Roman. No settlement had an original
Muslim-Arab name with a historical root in its location. Most of the land was
empty, desolate, and the inhabitants few in number and mostly concentrated in Jerusalem , Acco, Tzfat, Jaffa , Tiberius and Gaza . Most of the
inhabitants were Jews and the rest Christians. There were few Muslims, mostly
nomad Bedouins. The Arabs were predominantly Christians with a tiny minority of
Muslims. In Jerusalem there were
approximately 5000 people, mostly Jews and some Christians. In Nazareth there were
approximately 700 people - all Christians. In Gaza there were
approximately 550 people - half of them Jews and half Christians. Um-El-Phachem
was a village of 10 families - all Christians. The only exception was Nablus with 120 Muslims from
the Natsha family and approximately 70 Shomronites.[6]
·
In 1835 Alphonse de Lamartine wrote: "Outside the city
of Jerusalem , we saw no living
object, heard no living sound. . .a complete eternal silence reigns in the
town, in the highways, in the country."[7]
·
In 1844, William Thackeray writes about the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem : "Now the
district is quite deserted, and you ride among what seem to be so many
petrified waterfalls. We saw no animals moving among the stony brakes; scarcely
even a dozen little birds in the whole course of the ride."[8]
·
In 1857, the British consul in Palestine , James Finn,
reported: "The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants
and therefore its greatest need is that of a body of population."[9]
·
In 1866, W.M. Thomson writes: "How melancholy is this
utter desolation. Not a house, not a trace of inhabitants, not even shepherds,
to relieve the dull monotony ... Much of the country through which we
have been rambling for a week appears never to have been inhabited, or even
cultivated; and there are other parts, you say, still more barren."[10]
·
In 1867, Mark Twain - Samuel Clemens, the famous author of
"Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer", toured the Holy Land . This is how he
described the land: "There is not a solitary village throughout its whole
extent - not for thirty miles in either direction ... One may ride ten miles
hereabouts and not see ten human beings ... These unpeopled deserts, these
rusty mounds of barrenness... ... Nazareth is forlorn... Jericho lies a mouldering
ruin... Bethlehem and Bethany , in their poverty and
humiliation... untenanted by any living creature... A desolate country
whose soil is rich enough but is given over wholly to weeds. A silent, mournful
expanse... A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with
the pomp of life and action. We reached Tabor safely. We never saw a human
being on the whole route ... There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even
the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost
deserted the country."[11]
·
In 1874, Reverend Samuel Manning wrote: "But where were
the inhabitants? This fertile plain, which might support an immense population,
is almost a solitude.... Day by day we were to learn afresh the lesson now
forced upon us, that the denunciations of ancient prophecy have been fulfilled
to the very letter -- "the land is left void and desolate and without
inhabitants." (Jeremiah, ch.44 v.22)[12]
·
In 1881, the British cartographer Arthur Penrhyn Stanley
wrote: "In Judea it is hardly an exaggeration to say that for
miles and miles there was no appearance of life or habitation."
·
In 1892, B. W. Johnson writes: "In the portion of the
plain between Mount Carmel and Jaffa one sees but rarely a
village or other sights of human life... A ride of half an hour more brought us
to the ruins of the ancient city of Cæsarea , once a city of two
hundred thousand inhabitants, and the Roman capital of Palestine , but now entirely
deserted... I laid upon my couch at night, to listen to the moaning of the
waves and to think of the desolation around us."[13]
·
In 1913, a British report, by the Palestinian Royal
Commission, quotes an account of the conditions on the coastal plain along the Mediterranean Sea : "The road
leading from Gaza to the north was only
a summer track, suitable for transport by camels or carts. No orange groves,
orchards or vineyards were to be seen until one reached the [Jewish] Yabna
village. Houses were mud. Schools did not exist. The western part toward the
sea was almost a desert. The villages in this area were few and thinly
populated. Many villages were deserted by their inhabitants."
As we can see, throughout history, as documented by Arab historians and by foreign observers before 1917, the land was desolate; there were practically no Muslim Arabs in the cities outside of Jerusalem (except 120 Muslims in Nablus); and the number of Muslim Arabs (other than Ottoman Muslims or Christian Arabs) was minuscule, most of them nomadic Bedouins. In 1695 there was not a single Muslim Arab in
Neville Chamberlain, in a speech given at the
When the
·
In 1930/31, Lewis French, the British Director of Development
wrote about the Arabs in Palestine : "We found it
inhabited by fellahin (Arab farmers) who lived in mud hovels and suffered
severely from the prevalent malaria... Large areas were uncultivated... The
fellahin, if not themselves cattle thieves, were always ready to harbor these
and other criminals. The individual plots changed hands annually. There was
little public security, and the fellahin's lot was an alternation of pillage
and blackmail by their neighbors, the bedouin (Arab nomads)."
·
The British Hope-Simpson Commission recommended, in 1930,
"Prevention of illicit immigration" to stop the illegal Arab
immigration from neighboring Arab countries.[15]
·
The British Governor of the Sinai (1922-36) reported in the
Palestine Royal Commission Report: "This illegal immigration was not only
going on from the Sinai, but also from Transjordan and Syria ."
·
The governor of the Syrian district of Hauran, Tewfik Bey El
Hurani, admitted in 1934 that in a single period of only a few months over
30,000 Syrians from Houran had moved to Palestine .
·
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill noted the Arab
influx. Churchill, a veteran of the early years of the British mandate in the Holy Land , noted in 1939 that
“far from being persecuted, the
Arabs have crowded into the country and multiplied till their population has
increased more than even all world Jewry could lift up the Jewish population.”
The Arab population in the
While the
The Quran explicitly encourages lying and deception if it helps Muslims achieve a desired goal [16][17][18][19]. To deny the massive invasion of the
·
The grandparents of the author's wife were born in the Holy Land in the 19th century.
They saw with their own eyes how empty the land was at the time. They also
lived through and experienced first-hand the British conquest and the Arab's
massive invasion of the land that started in 1918. This invasion lasted for
only 30 years, and ended in 1948 with the evacuation of the British from the
land and the declaration of the state of Israel .
·
The family names of many Arabs who now occupy the Holy Land reveal their country
of origin: Masri (from Egypt ), Iraqi (from Iraq ), Tarabulsi (from
Tarabulus-Tripoli in Lebanon ), Hourani (from
Houran in Syria ), Husseini (from Jordan ), and Saudi (from Saudi Arabia ).
·
Following the publication of an earlier version of this
article, the author received an email message from a reader who used to work
with Arabs in Gaza and in various
villages in the West Bank in the 1970's. In his email the reader
describes friendly discussions about family history with his Arab co-workers.
Most of the co-workers had grandfathers who immigrated to the Holy Land from neighboring
countries.
When Churchill said
that “the Arabs have crowded
into the country and multiplied till their population has increased more than
even all world Jewry could lift up the Jewish population.” was he lying? Churchill was not a
Muslim...
The name "Palestina" is a Latin-Roman name based on the Hebrew Biblical name of the ancient "Philistines" -- "Plishtim" in Hebrew. The translation of this name to English is: "invaders". The Philistines arrived from the Mediterranean islands nearGreece and invaded the land
about 4000 years ago . The Philistines are extinct since approximately 2000
years ago, and have no ancestral or historical relationship to Arabs. Before
1917, during the 400-years rule of the Ottoman empire , the Ottomans did not
call the Holy Land "Palestina". The British
decided to renew this ancient name and called the land "Palestine ". The local
Arabs never called themselves "Palestinians", not even during the
British mandate. Both Arab and British leaders referred to them only as
"Arabs". For example: The Hope-Simpson report[15] published by the British in 1930,
contains the phrase "the number of Palestinian unemployed, whether Arab,
Jew or other...". "Palestinian" was used only as an adjective in
reference to the location and also included Jews. The Arab inhabitants
were always referred to as "Arabs". The word "palestinians"
does not appear anywhere in this report. "Palestinian Arabs",
"Palestinian Jews", and "Palestinian Christians" were
common terms. But, "Palestinians", as a noun, before 1948, was not
yet invented.
After 30 years of invasion, following the end of the British mandate and the declaration of the state ofIsrael in 1948, the Arabs
recognized the fact that they invaded foreign land and invented for themselves
a name in English -- "Palestinians". If the British were to call the
land "New England ", and the local Arabs were to call
themselves "English" would they automatically become English? It is
important to emphasize that the concept of a "Palestinian" to
describe the local Arab residents was invented by the Arabs AFTER the
declaration of the state of Israel . This group of Arabs,
who started calling themselves "the Palestinian nation" after 1948,
does not have an original name in their native Arabic language.
Is there any nation in the world which does not have a name in its original native language? The Arabs who invaded theHoly Land do not have a name in
their native Arabic language because they are not, and have never been, a
unified group or a nation. Most
of those Arabs cannot even pronounce the word "Palestinian". They
pronounce it "Falestinian".
Historically, a "Falestinian" people never existed. The fact is that the Arabs, who now try to call themselves by the English name "Palestinians" and mis-pronounce it "Falestinians", don't even know what their name is in Arabic. Even Arab leaders and historians have admitted that a "Palestinian" people never existed. For example:
The name "Palestina" is a Latin-Roman name based on the Hebrew Biblical name of the ancient "Philistines" -- "Plishtim" in Hebrew. The translation of this name to English is: "invaders". The Philistines arrived from the Mediterranean islands near
After 30 years of invasion, following the end of the British mandate and the declaration of the state of
Is there any nation in the world which does not have a name in its original native language? The Arabs who invaded the
Historically, a "Falestinian" people never existed. The fact is that the Arabs, who now try to call themselves by the English name "Palestinians" and mis-pronounce it "Falestinians", don't even know what their name is in Arabic. Even Arab leaders and historians have admitted that a "Palestinian" people never existed. For example:
·
In 1937, the Arab leader Auni Bey Abdul Hadi told the Peel
Commission: "There is no such country as Palestine . Palestine is a term the
Zionists invented. Palestine is alien to us."
·
In 1946, Princeton 's Arab professor of Middle East history, Philip
Hitti, told the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry: "It's common
knowledge, there is no such thing
as Palestine in history."
·
In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, an executive member of the
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), said in an interview to the Dutch
newspaper Trouw: "The 'Palestinian people' does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is
only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel ."
·
Joseph Farah, an Arab-American journalist, writes: "The
truth is that Palestine is no more real than Never-Never Land . Palestine has never existed as
an autonomous entity."
·
Walid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist acknowledged the lie he
was fighting for: “Why is it that on June
4th 1967 I was a Jordanian and overnight I became a Palestinian? ...
we considered ourselves Jordanian until the Jews returned to Jerusalem . Then all of the sudden
we were Palestinians. They removed the star from the Jordanian flag and all at
once we had a Palestinian flag.”
·
The Syrian dictator Hafez Assad said: "There is no
such thing as a Palestinian people, there is no Palestinian entity".
·
Dr. Azmi Bishara, a notable leader of the Arabs in Israel , who fought against
the Israeli "occupation", said in a TV interview[20]: "There is
no Palestinian nation. It's a colonial invention. When were there any
Palestinians?" To see a clip of the interview click here.
The Arabs who now
claim to be natives of the Holy Land have migrated to Palestine and invaded the
land after 1917, from neighboring Arab countries, predominantly from areas now
known as Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. None of
these countries existed as nations prior to 1913. They were nothing but a
disorganized collection of tribes, constantly terrorizing each other, trying to
seize land from their neighbors. Unfortunately, those Arab invaders, imported
into the Holy Land their age-old "culture" of
terrorizing neighbors to seize land. Many of them were social outcasts and
criminals who could not find jobs in their own countries so they searched for
their luck elsewhere. Some of them were accepted by the British regime as a
source of cheap labor and were allowed to settle on unoccupied Jewish land.
Even Yassir Arafat, the leader of the PLO, is not a native of the Holy Land . He called himself a
"Palestinian refugee" but spoke Arabic with an Egyptian dialect. He
was born in 1929 in Cairo , Egypt . He served in the
Egyptian army, studied in the University of Cairo , and lived in Cairo until 1956. He then
moved to Saudi-Arabia and founded the Al-Fatah terror organization, the
precursor to the PLO, in Kuwait in 1958, together
with his Saudi-Arabian friends. How exactly does that constitute a
"Palestinian refugee"? Being born in 1929 in Cairo , he cannot even be
considered a son of Palestinian refugees (there were no refugees in 1929).
Arafat must have been a good student of Muhammad, the founder of the Muslim
religion, who said in the Quran: "War is deception".[16]
In their propaganda, the Arabs who now call themselves "Palestinians" consistently demand thatIsrael and the world
recognize their "pre-1948" rights. That's about 60 years ago.
Mysteriously, they are never willing to add another 60 years to their
"historical" claims on the Holy Land . They know very well
that doing so will send them back to where they came from - Jordan , Syria , Egypt , Lebanon , Kuwait , Saudi Arabia , and Iraq . Years ago, during
negotiations with the, so-called, "Palestinians", a Israeli
negotiator proposed to revise a mention of their claim of "pre-1948"
rights and replace it with "pre-1917". The "Palestinians"
vehemently opposed. Now we know why.
If there is anyone who still believes that a "Palestinian" nation ever existed before the end of the British mandate and the founding of the state of Israel, would they please be kind enough to answer when was it founded and by whom? What was its name in Arabic (not in Latin-English)? What was its form of government? What were its borders? Name one top "Palestinian" leader before Arafat? Which country ever recognized its existence and when? In which library or museum can we find any of its literature, coins, or historical artifacts? The answer to all these questions is "nil". As stated by Zahir Muhsein: "The 'Palestinian' people does not exist."
Some Arabs consider themselves the descendants of Abraham, the forefather of the Jewish nation. Ironically, if not for Muhammad's study of the Bible, the Arabs would not have known of the existence of Abraham. Muhammad invented the Muslim religion in the 7th century AD, inSaudi Arabia . He studied the Bible
in order to be better equipped in his attempts to persuade the Jews to follow
his newly invented religion. When the Jews refused, he dictated the stories of
the Quran (the Muslim bible) to his students, and filled it with his own
imaginary accounts of Biblical events. (Muhammad himself did not know how to
read or write.) He even took the liberty to change the God-given day of rest,
Saturday - the Sabbath. Since Sunday was already taken by the Christians, he
picked Friday as the next-best Muslim day of rest.
Muhammad never visitedJerusalem and the Holy Land , and did not consider
them important enough to mention their name in the Quran even once. By
comparison, Mecca and Medina , the only two Muslim
holy cities, are mentioned in the Quran hundreds of times. Even though the name
of the Holy Land is not mentioned in the Quran, the Quran refers to the Holy Land many times as the
land of the children of Israel .[21] [22] [23][24].
The Jewish Holy Temple stood onTemple Mount long before the
Muslim religion, or any other current world religion was conceived. Even when
the founders of the Christian religion walked around in the streets of ancient Jerusalem there were no mosques
nor churches there - only the Jewish Holy Temple and nothing else. The land of
the Jewish Holy Temple in Jerusalem was purchased by King
David, for the Jewish people, approximately 850 years BCE. The deed, the name
of the previous owner, and the purchase price were recorded in the Bible (See
Samuel-B Ch. 24 and Chronicles-A Ch. 21-22).
Today the Muslim "Palestinians" claim to ownTemple Mount , the site of the
Jewish Holy Temple in Jerusalem . They claim it is
"their" holy site. Does anyone in the rest of the world know which
way the Muslims in Jerusalem face when they pray?
When the Muslims in Jerusalem pray in their
mosques, even in the "Al Aktza" mosque built on the edge of Temple Mount , they actually stand
with their back turned to Temple Mount . And, when they bow
down in their prayers they show their behind to the site of the Holy Temple . How consistent is
that with considering it a Muslim holy site?
In their propaganda, the Arabs who now call themselves "Palestinians" consistently demand that
If there is anyone who still believes that a "Palestinian" nation ever existed before the end of the British mandate and the founding of the state of Israel, would they please be kind enough to answer when was it founded and by whom? What was its name in Arabic (not in Latin-English)? What was its form of government? What were its borders? Name one top "Palestinian" leader before Arafat? Which country ever recognized its existence and when? In which library or museum can we find any of its literature, coins, or historical artifacts? The answer to all these questions is "nil". As stated by Zahir Muhsein: "The 'Palestinian' people does not exist."
Some Arabs consider themselves the descendants of Abraham, the forefather of the Jewish nation. Ironically, if not for Muhammad's study of the Bible, the Arabs would not have known of the existence of Abraham. Muhammad invented the Muslim religion in the 7th century AD, in
Muhammad never visited
The Jewish Holy Temple stood on
Today the Muslim "Palestinians" claim to own
Muslims
praying on
(Photos courtesy imageshack.us and corbis) |
The Muslims have long ago recognized that the
Can any Muslim in the world produce any credible evidence for their connection to this holy site, other than in Muhammad's dream? Believe it or not, the one and only source for the Muslims' claim to Jerusalem and the site of the Holy Temple, is a mention in the Quran of a dream that Muhammad had about an unknown "far distant place of worship (mosque)"[25]. This "far distant place of worship" could not have been in
The best reference for understanding the Muslim-Arab mentality and politically-motivated falsification of history is Muhammad's own advice to his followers: "War is deception"[16][17][18][19].
The real problem facing those Arabs today is not the lack of a homeland. The historical root-cause of their problem and frustration is the fact that the countries they came from have not agreed to accept them back in. This is why so many of them live, up until today, in refugee camps, in neighboring Arab countries, lacking fundamental civil rights. In their frustration they feel that the only hope and choice they have is to try and steal a country. Many of the vehicles and the agricultural equipment in the Palestinian Authority have been stolen from their Israeli neighbors. For a while,
There is only one possible solution to the "Palestinians" desire for a homeland. It is the only solution that will satisfy their claim of the right to return to their homeland. Since helping them return to where they lived for less than 30 years is their own definition of justice, then helping them return to where they lived earlier for hundreds or thousands of years is, by the same definition, a better justice. Let's all help them get the better justice they deserve. Let's help them return to where they came from -
Recent proposals have suggested a two-state solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict - one for the Jews and one for the Arabs. The map below shows that a much more generous solution already exists - 21 states - one for the Jews and twenty for the Arabs.
The Quran contains more than 100 verses commanding Muslims to fight a war against non-Muslims[26]. Some verses command Muslims to chop off heads and fingers and terrorize and kill non-Muslims[27]. Other verses command Muslims to take land away from non-Muslims[14]. Muslims are also prohibited from living in peace with non-Muslims on non-Muslim land[28]. Anyone who avoids fighting against non-Muslims is punished. Because of such religious commandments, there is no chance and no hope that Muslims will ever live peacefully together with non-Muslims who live on non-Muslim land. Temporary periods of calm are nothing but a waiting period - waiting in ambush - waiting for an opportunity to strike[29].
During the rise of Islam, Muhammad tried to convert the Jews of Medina to Islam. When they refused, he murdered them. The Muslims who conquered northern
History proves that a population exchange is the only possible solution, other than war, to conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims. For example, in 1923, the war between
More than 800,000 Jews have relocated out of the Arab countries; about 600,000 moved to
On the way
up.....
Be deliberate in judgment
(Ethics of fathers).
|
Situations could
sometimes get rough making you feel anxious and very frustrated. But we should
understand that we have many hidden potential and strengths. Keep your eyes
open for those gifts within yourselves and others. Do not despair when you are
tested. The challenging experiences of life help define and refine you.
|
|
Adjustments are
difficult at the beginning. Believe in Hashem and his judgments. Trust that he
is always there for you and be patient.
There is an incredible,
but true story of the Chinese bamboo tree. The details were looked up in the
World Book and a rabbi made a trip to Indonesia to see for himself these fast growing trees. The
guide he had in Indonesia said you can almost see some of the species of the
bamboo tree growing with the naked eyes, they grow so rapidly.
|
The process goes like
this: You take a little seed, plant it, water it, and fertilize it for a whole
year, and nothing happens. The second year you water and fertilize it and
nothing happens. The third year you water it and fertilize it and nothing
happens. How discouraging this becomes! The fifth year you continue to water
and fertilize the seed and then – take note. Sometime during the fifth year,
the Chinese bamboo tree sprouts and grows NINETY FEET IN SIX WEEKS!
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