Innocents on Trial

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”[Haile Selassie]

When Sharon “disengaged” from Gaza, he did not envisage that Israel would find itself in the present day situation. Despite the contemporary situation, almost every Arab leader still expects Israel to engage in the so-called “two-state solution.” If so, what form of assurance would prevent a repeat experience? They seem to believe that no alternative is possible.

Back in July –August 2004, “Think-Israel “published, “A Win-Win Solution to the Arab-Israeli Conflict” by Rachel Neuwirth. It commences with demonstrating the falsity and futility of some of the main arguments intrinsic to the Oslo Accords.

Demonstrably False Argument 1 –Israel should trade “land for peace” to create yet another Arab country.

There are 22 Arab countries and only 1 Jewish country. The land-rich Arabs occupy over 5 million square miles and land-poor Israel, including all of its territories comprises only about 10,000 square miles.

Demonstrably False Argument 2- The “Palestinians” is a separate people who deserve their own country.

There are no authentic “Palestinian” people and there never was. Even the name of Palestine is a historic fraud perpetrated by the Romans to permanently erase the original name of Judea, following the Jewish revolt against Rome of 2 thousand years ago. As recently as the 1940’s the name “Palestinian” clearly meant a Jew in the Land of Israel and Arabs were simply called Arabs.

Demonstrably False Argument 3 – We can have a viable “Palestinian” state in the so-called West Bank and Gaza next to a viable Israel.

Any genuine plan must include a comprehensive environmental impact study covering population growth, water resources, agriculture resources, economic development, social and political considerations, etc., with projections extending through at least to the next century. Proponents offer no development plan whatsoever.

Demonstrably False argument 4 – Arab possession of their 22 countries and 5 million square miles is legitimate and not to be challenged.

Just how did the Arabs come to control such vast territories? They got it the old fashioned way – by conquest. Before Mohammed, 1,400 years ago the Arabs lived in the Arabian Peninsula. Mohammed founded Islam and with it the zeal for Jihad to conquer and convert, often by force.

The Arabs often claim that they were the original inhabitants in the Land of Israel. Actually Arab invaders did not enter the Land of Israel until about the year 638, while Jews had established their 1st commonwealth under King David, with Jerusalem as their capital over 1,600 years earlier.

In summary, advocates of these senseless schemes, seriously propose to invent a people that never was; seize land from Jews having virtually no land, transfer that Jewish land to those with too much land and unrelenting murderous hatred, and then let them all grow in numbers and suffocate together inside of a coffin-size territory, all in the name of peace and justice!

The Win-Win solution.

Palestinians could begin using their legitimate “right of return” to exit the territories, and the refugee camps and migrate back to their ancestral home in Arabia and thereby also be closer to Mecca and Medina. Those who still have minds and morals intact presently have an obligation to think clearly and with sanity, should support this approach to finally resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Rabbi Doron Perez, has provided many interesting cotemporary historical topics in his 2023 book, “The Jewish State”. Perhaps his discussion on “Are the Palestinians descendants of the ancient Philistines?” would occupy the 1st position. They are of ocular interest and are regarded as among the famous nations associated with ancient Israel in the Bible.

From Chapter 1, Page 8 of Perez’s book, we read,” David was to battle the Philistine threat constantly during the entire time of establishing his kingdom. Incredibly, this is exactly the form that the modern-day opposition to Jewish statehood has taken. It uses the same name, “Palestinian–based, on the Latin translation of the Philistines, although the modern-day Palestinians have no religious, historical, or cultural connection to the ancient Philistines whatsoever! Nevertheless, we cannot overlook the significance of their name echoing that of an ancient enemy of the Jews.

In so many ways, as we shall examine, the modern-day Palestinians and the anti-Zionist delegitimization campaign are fighting the exact battle as the ancient Philistines. While not biological descendants at all, they are the spiritual heirs of the ancient biblical role so sharply defined by the Gaon of Vilna. Simply put, it is a hatred of a Jewish state – vehement opposition to any claim of ownership of the land and desire for any sovereign presence therein.

Since the 2 nations share a similar name, numerous people wonder, are the Palestinians the modern-day descendants of the ancient Philistines? Who were they? They were a nation that lived on the Mediterranean coast of the land of Canaan. Their territory essentially started from Egypt’s border and stretched partway to the border of Phoenicia. Inland from them were the Israelites.

The Philistines appear to have emerged from 2 waves of migration. From around 2000 BCE, there is evidence of extensive Aegean expansion towards the Levant. The Minoans from Crete appear to have established colonies in this area. They could possibly have started off as trading colonies and became known as Philistines by the biblical patriarchs.

Centuries later, during the time of the Sea Peoples’ invasion of Egypt, another wave of migration came from the Aegean. This occurred in the 12th century BCE. These new arrivals may well be the Cherethites mentioned in the Bible as a Philistine tribe.

The Diverse Origin of the Palestinians.
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The majority of Palestinians are Arabs. In fact, most of them are Muslim Arabs, but Christian Arabs in Palestine identify as Palestinians

Because the term “Palestinians “emerged in modern times simply as a designation for those who lived in Palestine, it originally included a variety of ethnicities. However, most people living in Palestine when this distinct nationality began to emerge were Arabs. Therefore, the majority of Palestinians are Arabs. In fact, most of them are Muslim Arabs, but Christian Arabs in Palestine identify as Palestinians.

The Ancient Philistines become the Palestinians?

The Vilna Goon explains that the biblical Philistines had a single-minded dedication to denying the Jewish people any form of governance or sovereign presence in the Land of Israel. Remarkably throughout biblical history, the Philistines ’main spiritual function as presented in the Tanah [Hebrew Bible] is to oppose the Jewish People’s claim to any form of sovereign presence in the land.

They felt that for Jews to live as disparate tribes without a central government was acceptable. So was living as temporary nomads in the land, but not as permanent settlers. Throughout over 1,000 years of biblical history, the Philistines opposed a sovereign Jewish presence in Eretz Yisrael

Traditionally, most Palestinians trace their families back to Arab tribes who settled in the area at the time of the Islamic conquest of the region, or even before. Yet, those Islamic conquerors did not completely wipe out the earlier population. Undoubtedly many of the Jews and Samaritans survived this conquest and had descendants.

“How did this land, which was known until 2,000 years ago as Judea [and prior to that as Judah and Israel for 1,000 years], become known as Palestina, which is simply the Latin translation of Philistia, the land of the Philistines. When did this change transpire? A little history is important to understand the context of this change and its relevance today. [Chapter 4, Page 40/41]

David was to battle the Philistine threat constantly during the entire time of establishing his Kingdom.”The Palestinians of today have no religious, historical, or cultural connection whatsoever to the ancient Philistines—-.This is clear from both biblical literature and external historic sources.” [Chapter 4, Page 37]…
Mandatory Palestine, or the British Mandate of Palestine, was if effect from 1920 until 1948. It appeared alone on both the flag and official seal of the mandate. It thus revived the Roman Palestine, which had been dormant during Muslim rule. [Chapter 4, Page 42].

In conclusion, the modern-day Palestinians did not emerge directly from the Ancient Philistines of Biblical times. Rather, the term ‘Palestinians’ describes the population of modern Palestine. It is a population primarily comprised of Arabs. This population arrived in the area principally during the Islamic conquests of the Levant.

One would think that with this knowledge, Jews would have firmly established their Indigenous claims to the Land of Israel, but Oct 6 has demonstrated otherwise. On June4, 2002, Sharon Nader Sloan authored, “Will a Palestinian State Bring Peace to the Middle East?” To this, he replied “No too long ago they tried taking Jordan away from King Hussein. Remember? He repelled them.”

Further on Sloan asks, “Did you know that there was never any country named Palestine? Did you know that there is no such thing as a Palestinian people?”

During the 19 years that the territories, including Jerusalem and Gaza, were occupied by the Kingdom of Jordan and Egypt, no one talked about a Palestinian state, not the Arab countries, not the United Nations. Nobody asked Jordan or Egypt to abdicate their ownership and give it to the Palestinians. Not even the Palestinians themselves.

Judah Tzoref writing in Think-Israel on “Palestinian Fallacy” confirms that there is no historical record of any population identified as Palestinians. The term “Palestinian people” has been used only for a few decades as a political instrument in the Arab strategy to annihilate Israel. The divine promise of the Land to the Jews is explicitly acknowledged, even by the Koran.

The absolute majority of the so-called Palestinians are descendants of the 20th Century Arab immigrants who searched for a rewarding chunk of the economical boom engendered by the returning Jews. As understood by Tzoref, “The Palestinian nationality is only a political tool to undermine Israel. There’s never been a Palestinian nation. There isn’t any. And there shall never be such a nation. The Palestinian fake identity is like a curse on its assumers, and it is increasingly shaping up to its inevitable Amalekite mentality, manifestation and fate.

In calling the Israel-Palestinian conflict an element of a global clash of civilizations between Islamic fundamentalism and the Western World, Benny Morris says, “There is a deep problem in Islam. It’s a world whose values are different. A world in which human life doesn’t have the same value as it does in the west, in which freedom, democracy, openness and creativity is alien. He also notes that revenge plays a central part in the Arab culture. Therefore the people we are fighting and the society that sends them has no moral inhibitions.”

Amazing! Despite this comprehension, Morris would have an enclave of such people configured into a state alongside of Israel.

On April 15, 2024, Arutz7 posted Robert Harris’s, “Washington believes Israeli victory is not in the best interests of the US”. The author wisely introduces his paper with, “The incompetents who turned over Afghanistan to the Taliban, handed Egypt to the Muslim Brotherhood, and invited Russia to return to Syria, now want to dictate to Israel how to fight their war.”—Opinion.

Useful idiots abound!