Today is Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 and it is now 148AM here in San Franz, Mindanao, Philippines.
This is the second, of 3 parts relating to"Myth #II," in a series, "Myths About Israel," in response to the many PMs I get from people concerned with both Israel and Jews in general. This "myth" of course, is "Israel/Jews Ethnically Cleansed Palestine to Create Israel," in not so many words...
So, the Arabs FIRST came to the lands in question under Khalifa 'Umar, known to Westerners as the Caliph Omar. Omar was the 3rd Caliph, a "Caliph" meaning "Supreme Leader" in the religio-political sense since he both led his empire and the nascent faith of Islam.
Omar arrived in Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish State, Judea, then occupied by the so called "Byzantines," who were the inheritors of the Roman Empire. The Romans, having finally negated Jewish sovereignity in the middle of the 4th Century CE/AD, remained and administered the lands as part of a far flung empire.
Coincidentaly, since this entirely segues into the greater point, this is how the word "Palestine," and "Palestinian" first entered the common lexicon. The words are Koine Greek and simply mean,"Land of the Phillistines" and "Phillistine."
If one recalls from the previous entry in this series, the first part of "Myth II," the "Phillistines" were the Proto-Greek People from the Aegean Sea, the island of Crete and its dependencies. They were not even Semitic, much les Arab!
The words first entered known usage under Herodotus, often (incorrectly) labeled the "Father of Histiography," or the "First Historian." While Herodotus is valuable on several levels, primarily for its enlightenment (to the modern reader) about Classical Greek views, beliefs and culturisms, as well as the Egypt of his era, the bulk of his additional views and notes are not considered worthy of anything other than consideration as an ancient curiosity.
Critics correctly point out that while Herodotus DID mention the Phillistines ("Palestinians"), and di NOT mention one iota about Jews, Judaisim of Jewish Culture and did so while having at least visited Egypt, they omit the fact that he also insisted Armenia was inhabited by humans whose arms grew straight out of their skull, grew gold on trees and had a single eye. The point? Other than those things conclusively proven to have been witnessed by Herodotus, hiw "word" is worthless.
He uses the ancient Greek form, and so the word entered Greek, and by relation, Classical Roman society. When finally applied in the occicial sense, as "Syria-Paelestina" [sic], they used the contemprary form, which happened to be Koine Greek.
When the Emperor Hadrian, of Britain's "Hadrian Wall" fame finally conquered Judea after more than 400 years of tug of war with Jewish nationalists he destroed their political and religious capital, Jerusalem, and after rebuilding it in Classical Roman form, renamed it Aelia Capitolina. He forbade any Jew from entering it, a ban that last almost 3 generations. Most importantly, he renamed all of Judea, enter "Palestine" stage left.
Ironically, at this point not a single Arab lived in the land and would not come near it for another 300 years!
Regressing to the "Myth," at the point when Arabs first enter the picture, in the 7th Century CE/AD, the lands as I previously noted, were under Byzantine occupation. In some places, like Gaza, the population was entirely Jewish except for the Byzantine garrison in what is now Gaza City,. When the Arabs came, and made war, Gazan Jews stood side to side with Byzantine soldiers and attempted to fight off this horde of violent invaders.
Winning by sheer numbers, they captured all of Judea and Samaria, which today are collectively called the "West Bank," Gaza, Israel and suprisingly to many Westerners, the land of Jordan and parts of what are now Syria and Lebanon.
Islam was a new religion and still very much Arab-centric, a trait that would not change until the Ummayad Caliphate ensconced itself in what is now Modern Syria. This resulted in precious little intermarriage or even conversion of the now indigenous Jewish inhabitants of the region.
Islam allows for fairer treatment of fellow monotheists than of so called "Infidels," in the literal sense of that word (it does not mean "non-Muslim" but rather "non-monotheist"). This allowance is known, in English, as "Dhimmitude."
Basically, Dhimmitude allows monotheists, so called "People of the Book" (Ahl al Khitab) to practice their own faith and administer their own affairs with certain limits. They get this "right" by virtue of an immesely expensive "Tax," in what amounted to annual extortion. Lest one think it a relatively fair deal, they were not allowed to ride a horse or camel if any Muslim was walking, not allowed to carry weapons in societies that equate the practice with manhood, inter-marry, serve in the military, testify in court, bring suit or criminal complaint against any Muslim, build any edifice taller than the lowest Muslim owned dwelling, etc.,etc., so on and so forth).
Besides illustrating Arab-centricty, and later Islam-centricity, it also illustrates the fallacy now propagated by a fair number of "Palestinians" and their supporters that "Palestinians" are simply indigenous Jews who converted to Islam and/or Christianity.
Undeniably some did, genomic legwork shows us that 7% of all "Palestinians" are directly descended from Jews. 93% are not. They represent a tiny number in terms of demographics.
Then, as the Umayyads eroded the huge cultural barriers separating Jews and Arabs, the European Crusaders stumbled onto the scene, establishing several city/states, most notably for this discussion, the "Kingdom of Jerusalem."
Sovereignity oscillated between European Christians and Arab Muslims, neither leaving a lasting imprint upon the idgenous People, i.e. the Jews. Indeed, when the Crusader Era finally DID end it did so under a Kurd (Salah al Din, known to Westerners as "Saladdin"), albeit a Muslim.
It was not until yet another war mongering invader conquered the lands under discussion that the character of the region began to change; The Osmani, or as Westerners are prone to labeling them, the "Ottoman Turks" were a Central Asian Steppe People, a nomadic "horse" culture. Capitalising upon the gains of the Seljuki (Seljuk Turks) who had made great inroads into the Levant as mercanaries for the newly powerful Arabs, the Ottomans set their sights on the heart of the Byzantine Empire.
Abosrbing most Byzantine holdings, these included the lands in question. The fact that they brought relative stability to lands they conquered (relative to past empires) Arabs began slowly moving across what would lader become national borders. Thus began the Arabisation of "Palestine."
How Arabs were NOT "Etnically Cleased" will be dealt with in the 3rd portion of this 2nd "Myth."
This is the second, of 3 parts relating to"Myth #II," in a series, "Myths About Israel," in response to the many PMs I get from people concerned with both Israel and Jews in general. This "myth" of course, is "Israel/Jews Ethnically Cleansed Palestine to Create Israel," in not so many words...
So, the Arabs FIRST came to the lands in question under Khalifa 'Umar, known to Westerners as the Caliph Omar. Omar was the 3rd Caliph, a "Caliph" meaning "Supreme Leader" in the religio-political sense since he both led his empire and the nascent faith of Islam.
Omar arrived in Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish State, Judea, then occupied by the so called "Byzantines," who were the inheritors of the Roman Empire. The Romans, having finally negated Jewish sovereignity in the middle of the 4th Century CE/AD, remained and administered the lands as part of a far flung empire.
Coincidentaly, since this entirely segues into the greater point, this is how the word "Palestine," and "Palestinian" first entered the common lexicon. The words are Koine Greek and simply mean,"Land of the Phillistines" and "Phillistine."
If one recalls from the previous entry in this series, the first part of "Myth II," the "Phillistines" were the Proto-Greek People from the Aegean Sea, the island of Crete and its dependencies. They were not even Semitic, much les Arab!
The words first entered known usage under Herodotus, often (incorrectly) labeled the "Father of Histiography," or the "First Historian." While Herodotus is valuable on several levels, primarily for its enlightenment (to the modern reader) about Classical Greek views, beliefs and culturisms, as well as the Egypt of his era, the bulk of his additional views and notes are not considered worthy of anything other than consideration as an ancient curiosity.
Critics correctly point out that while Herodotus DID mention the Phillistines ("Palestinians"), and di NOT mention one iota about Jews, Judaisim of Jewish Culture and did so while having at least visited Egypt, they omit the fact that he also insisted Armenia was inhabited by humans whose arms grew straight out of their skull, grew gold on trees and had a single eye. The point? Other than those things conclusively proven to have been witnessed by Herodotus, hiw "word" is worthless.
He uses the ancient Greek form, and so the word entered Greek, and by relation, Classical Roman society. When finally applied in the occicial sense, as "Syria-Paelestina" [sic], they used the contemprary form, which happened to be Koine Greek.
When the Emperor Hadrian, of Britain's "Hadrian Wall" fame finally conquered Judea after more than 400 years of tug of war with Jewish nationalists he destroed their political and religious capital, Jerusalem, and after rebuilding it in Classical Roman form, renamed it Aelia Capitolina. He forbade any Jew from entering it, a ban that last almost 3 generations. Most importantly, he renamed all of Judea, enter "Palestine" stage left.
Ironically, at this point not a single Arab lived in the land and would not come near it for another 300 years!
Regressing to the "Myth," at the point when Arabs first enter the picture, in the 7th Century CE/AD, the lands as I previously noted, were under Byzantine occupation. In some places, like Gaza, the population was entirely Jewish except for the Byzantine garrison in what is now Gaza City,. When the Arabs came, and made war, Gazan Jews stood side to side with Byzantine soldiers and attempted to fight off this horde of violent invaders.
Winning by sheer numbers, they captured all of Judea and Samaria, which today are collectively called the "West Bank," Gaza, Israel and suprisingly to many Westerners, the land of Jordan and parts of what are now Syria and Lebanon.
Islam was a new religion and still very much Arab-centric, a trait that would not change until the Ummayad Caliphate ensconced itself in what is now Modern Syria. This resulted in precious little intermarriage or even conversion of the now indigenous Jewish inhabitants of the region.
Islam allows for fairer treatment of fellow monotheists than of so called "Infidels," in the literal sense of that word (it does not mean "non-Muslim" but rather "non-monotheist"). This allowance is known, in English, as "Dhimmitude."
Basically, Dhimmitude allows monotheists, so called "People of the Book" (Ahl al Khitab) to practice their own faith and administer their own affairs with certain limits. They get this "right" by virtue of an immesely expensive "Tax," in what amounted to annual extortion. Lest one think it a relatively fair deal, they were not allowed to ride a horse or camel if any Muslim was walking, not allowed to carry weapons in societies that equate the practice with manhood, inter-marry, serve in the military, testify in court, bring suit or criminal complaint against any Muslim, build any edifice taller than the lowest Muslim owned dwelling, etc.,etc., so on and so forth).
Besides illustrating Arab-centricty, and later Islam-centricity, it also illustrates the fallacy now propagated by a fair number of "Palestinians" and their supporters that "Palestinians" are simply indigenous Jews who converted to Islam and/or Christianity.
Undeniably some did, genomic legwork shows us that 7% of all "Palestinians" are directly descended from Jews. 93% are not. They represent a tiny number in terms of demographics.
Then, as the Umayyads eroded the huge cultural barriers separating Jews and Arabs, the European Crusaders stumbled onto the scene, establishing several city/states, most notably for this discussion, the "Kingdom of Jerusalem."
Sovereignity oscillated between European Christians and Arab Muslims, neither leaving a lasting imprint upon the idgenous People, i.e. the Jews. Indeed, when the Crusader Era finally DID end it did so under a Kurd (Salah al Din, known to Westerners as "Saladdin"), albeit a Muslim.
It was not until yet another war mongering invader conquered the lands under discussion that the character of the region began to change; The Osmani, or as Westerners are prone to labeling them, the "Ottoman Turks" were a Central Asian Steppe People, a nomadic "horse" culture. Capitalising upon the gains of the Seljuki (Seljuk Turks) who had made great inroads into the Levant as mercanaries for the newly powerful Arabs, the Ottomans set their sights on the heart of the Byzantine Empire.
Abosrbing most Byzantine holdings, these included the lands in question. The fact that they brought relative stability to lands they conquered (relative to past empires) Arabs began slowly moving across what would lader become national borders. Thus began the Arabisation of "Palestine."
How Arabs were NOT "Etnically Cleased" will be dealt with in the 3rd portion of this 2nd "Myth."