IS,
Biblical or historical events which happened or are believed to have happened thousands of years ago can not be a legal basis for establishing property rights. Anyone who believes this should have their head examined.
Attempts to portray Palestinian usurpers or squatters is not even good propaganda. Palestinian birth, marriage and death records prove most Palestinians can trace their ancestry in this region for hundreds of years. Some can even prove their ancestors were living in this rgion for over a thousand years. DNA from both Jews and Palestinians support the view that most Jews and Palestinians share common ancestors. Many Jews who recently immigrated to Israel (allegedly their ancestral homeland) can't even trace their ancestry back to this region. When Jews came to Spain, Russia, Ethiopia and many other places, often local people would convert or marry Jews. Judaism is a religion, not a race. Claiming adherents to this "religion" have an ancestral homeland in Palestine and a right to cleanse Palestine of Palestinians makes about as much sense as claiming that every Roman Catholic has an ancestral homeland in Italy and Roman Catholics from the Philippines have a right to cleanse Italy of Italians.
The DNA evidence indicates that not all Jews left this area. Some left and others stayed behind. Most of the descendents of those that stayed converted to Islam or married into Islam at some point. Most whose ancestors used to be Jews and are now Muslims, Christians and are today known as Palestinians. While its true that some Palestinians are immigrants, the overwhelming majority can trace their ancestry back for hundreds if not thousands of years. but most can trace their ancestry back to this region for at least as long as
If Palestinians are invented peoples, I wonder what the Native Americans think of Americans :lol:
This is all grossly misleading and seems to be propaganda horse****. The writer demonizes Arabs while making Jews seem holier than thou. I won't address it further than that.
Good quote from someone that makes a good counter to Gingrich's comment
this reminds me of a question i posed here a while ago which never really got much attention: At what point does indigenity begin? for instance, everyone knows that the aboriginal peoples of the americas are commonly known collectively as Native Americans, but couldnt those of european, african, or asian descent who have lived on those continents for several generations also be called "native Americans"?
just because the palestinians were not originally native to israel/palestine doesnt means that they arent (one of) its native peoples NOW. the fact that the name is pretty much invented doesnt invalidate their status as a people. after all, "America" is an invented name; "Britain" is an invented name; the peoples of eastern North Africa are called the Berbers, which is just an archaic form of "barbarian"; as another example, most of the people of Italy likely arent even "real" Italians--they would Genovese, Venetians, Napoletani, Sicilians, and so on (the original Italy just happened to be in power when the states in the region were unified)
We are all Africans and our homeland is a region near Ethiopia. Outside of this region where we all originate we are all immigrants.
10 Dec. '08: Hebron: Willful abandonment by security forces
On 4 December, immediately after the settlement in Hebron's a-Ras neighborhood (“the House in Dispute”) was evicted, B'Tselem issued a public call to security forces to protect the Palestinian residents of the city, and Palestinians throughout the West Bank, from expected acts of revenge by settlers.
In the weeks that preceded the eviction, settlers attacked Palestinians and damaged Palestinian property daily in Hebron. Although these attacks were extensive and prolonged, Israel's security forces failed to prevent them. In one of the incidents that B'Tselem documented, on 30 November, about 50 settlers entered a Palestinian neighborhood at 2:00 A.M., accompanied by an army jeep. The settlers threw stones that shattered windowpanes of houses and of some 25 cars, and punctured the tires of the cars. They then threw stones at houses in the neighborhood and shattered windowpanes.
Despite B'Tselem's warning, and despite the high probability that attacks of this kind would occur, the security forces failed to properly protect the city's Palestinian residents also after the eviction, when settlers invaded Palestinian neighborhoods in the city, torched houses and cars, threw stones, shattered windowpanes, and damaged solar-heated water tanks, satellite dishes, and water containers.
A particularly severe attack occurred in Hebron's Wadi al-Hussein neighborhood, by the house of the al-Matariyeh and Abu Sa'ifan families. Jamal Abu-Sa'ifan, a participant in B'Tselem's camera distribution project, filmed the event. A settler fired at three members of the al-Matariyeh family from close range, wounding them. A second settler fired into the air and towards the photographer, trying also to grab the camera from him. A third settler fired into the air and towards the house. B'Tselem handed over the video to the police the same day. Two of the suspects surrendered themselves to the police two days later and have since been released.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g9mBjxEiHI
The footage of the attack. Filmed by Jamal Abu Sa'ifan, 4 December 2008
Following the shooting, dozens of settlers attacked the houses of the two families and their neighbors. They threw stones at the houses, climbed onto the roofs and damaged solar-heated water tanks and satellite dishes, and set fires near the houses and on farmland.
Hebron: Willful abandonment by security forces - YouTube
Settlers attack the families' house after the shooting. Filmed by B'Tselem, 4 December 2008.
B'Tselem field worker 'Issa 'Amro filmed fires started by settlers in Wadi al-Hussein, the same neighborhood where the shooting incident occurred.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D3zrrp6Q-Q
At the same time, settlers also attacked Palestinians elsewhere in the West Bank. These attacks included stone throwing at houses and cars, destroying property, setting fires, and spraying graffiti on the walls of mosques.
Graffiti reading “Death to Arabs” and “Hebron” sprayed by settlers on a Palestinian ambulance in Dir Astiyeh, Salfit District, the central West Bank. Photo: Ra'aed Moqdi, B'Tselem, 4 December 2008.
http://www.btselem.org/settler_violence/20081210_hebron_riots