Philosophy Discussion Forums

I wonder whether what's happening to the Uyghurs is a fair comparison with what has, and is happening right now in Palestine right now. What China is doing is unconscionable. But the plight of the Uyghurs has had ongoing coverage in the western media for years and pressure has been put on China diplomatically and in the UN to alter its behaviour towards the Uyghurs. However, in the west, we never hear about the Palestinian's plight until something like this happens. No one cares. The western media puts no pressure on Israel at all to give the Palestinians a fair go. And that is because the western media is largely controlled by the US who underwrite Israel, ideologically, economically and militarily. If the Palestinians were an ethnic group being oppressed in China we'd hear plenty about it in the western media, just as we do about the Uyghurs.

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑November 11th, 2023, 10:09 am On the contrary, the Palestinians are the only ones who weren't guided by their leaders. Their land was taken from them, and given to Jews, by the leaders of the world (UN), USA and UK. Since then, the Palestinian people, and their leaders, have tried everything they can, from the diplomatic to the extremes of violence, to throw off the occupation they have suffered under for 75 years. They have explored all avenues open to them.

As for "the occupation", geographically speaking, the occupation of what exactly do you think should be "thrown off"? The Gaza Strip has been unoccupied since 2006 (this might change after 10/7), the Golan Heights have been occupied since 1967 (and were annexed in 1981), and East Jerusalem & The West Bank have been occupied since 1967. Do you consider that region of Palestine which is Israel's core state territory as occupied too? Is the liberation from Israeli occupation you deem justified the "from the river to the sea" sort of liberation, which would require the annihilation of Israel?

The Palestinians have been suffering from many things such as expulsion and occupation by Israel, intimidation and violence by radical Jewish settlers, corrupt political leadership, repeated rejection of peaceful solutions (partition plans) by their leaders, oppression by Islamist organizations such as Hamas, and heartless neglect by their Muslim brothers in other Arab states.

What I primarily demand from the Israeli government is that they stop the expansionist settlement policy in the West Bank. However, the resettlement of all (~450,000) Israelis living in the West Bank (East Jerusalem excluded) is an unrealistic goal, because most of them wouldn't leave their homes voluntarily, such that the attempt by the Israeli government to force them to leave would probably result in a civil war. Moreover, Israel has an existential reason for the permanent presence of Israelis in the West Bank:

"A complete withdrawal from the West Bank would make it impossible for Israel to survive. Not for military but for pragmatic reasons: Israel would not have enough water. Without the underground water resources of the West Bank, the Israeli population would die of thirst. At the same time, however, the Palestinians will not allow themselves to be deprived of their water. This issue too must be solved through cooperation and not a power struggle. Otherwise, blood will be shed for water."

(Wolffsohn, Michael. Whose Holy Land? The Roots of the Conflict Between Jews and Arabs. Cham: Springer, 2021. p. 212)

Lagayscienza wrote: ↑November 11th, 2023, 11:22 am I wonder whether what's happening to the Uyghurs is a fair comparison with what has, and is happening right now in Palestine right now. What China is doing is unconscionable. But the plight of the Uyghurs has had ongoing coverage in the western media for years and pressure has been put on China diplomatically and in the UN to alter its behaviour towards the Uyghurs. However, in the west, we never hear about the Palestinian's plight until something like this happens. No one cares. The western media puts no pressure on Israel at all to give the Palestinians a fair go. And that is because the western media is largely controlled by the US who underwrite Israel, ideologically, economically and militarily. If the Palestinians were an ethnic group being oppressed in China we'd hear plenty about it in the western media, just as we do about the Uyghurs.

Actually, it's the other way around. I have heard about the Palestinians' plight regularly for over half a century. There's very little interest in the Uyghurs by comparison, and this is made clear by the protests. If you Palestinians were in the Uyghurs pposition, you wouldn't hear a peep about them, as is the case with Uyghurs.

The amount of pressure that's been put on Israel over Palestine has been immense - for many years, while almost no pressure has been applied to China over the Uyghurs. While the Arab world rages at the west over Palestine, the Arabs gently suck on China's sweet financial nipple, not saying a word about the issue.

The hypocrisy grows by the day.

This is part and parcel of the decline of the America Empire, which has been a brutal master. Israel and America are one, and going down together.

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑November 11th, 2023, 10:09 am On the contrary, the Palestinians are the only ones who weren't guided by their leaders. Their land was taken from them, and given to Jews, by the leaders of the world (UN), USA and UK. Since then, the Palestinian people, and their leaders, have tried everything they can, from the diplomatic to the extremes of violence, to throw off the occupation they have suffered under for 75 years. They have explored all avenues open to them.

Sy Borg wrote: ↑November 11th, 2023, 10:54 am They have tried everything but accepting their losses and living in peace. Claiming that it's Palestinian land is as dodgy as claiming it's Jewish land. It's disputed land, like many others. Borders were drawn, as they have been done throughout history. Most parties find a pragmatic way to keep life going through disputes. Some refuse to compromise, ever, preferring to self-destruct rather than give even an iota of ground.

As I said yesterday, addressing this very point:

Sy Borg wrote: ↑November 10th, 2023, 7:25 pm I can understand resisting for five, ten or twenty years. If you fail after that time, no one could accuse you of not giving it a red hot go. But to continue for seventy years is simply mechanistic - slavishly following an algorithm, with no capacity for review or steering.

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑November 11th, 2023, 10:09 am Did the Jews accept their loss, and move on, as you and Consul suggest? No, they didn't. We might say that to continue for 2000 years is simply mechanistic - slavishly following an algorithm, with no capacity for review or steering, yes?

I'm not sure where the threshold lies, when a people should just move on, but I think 2000 years exceeds that threshold, don't you? By that logic, Jewish terrorists should never have been appeased in 1948 by giving them someone else's land...

Sy Borg wrote: ↑November 11th, 2023, 10:54 am For some reason, people think Palestinians are ultra-important but they see Uyghurs as worthless, yet the latter has been treated more harshly. Why is that? Maybe it's hard to jump on a bandwagon against the Chinese because they defend themselves, whereas the west is an easy target because it self-flagellates, naive to the blatant and cynical hypocrisy of the nations who judge it.

Justice lacks borders. All who suffer similarly deserve the same support. ... But, across the whole world, there are so many of them, all we can do, in practice, is to follow the headlines, and voice our support for those on whom the media are focussing today. This isn't great, but it's the real world.

China is so much closer to you, in Oz, than it is to Europeans or Americans, so it is reasonable that you would be more aware of the plight of the Uyghur people than we are. But their plight is similar to that of the Palestinians, or the Ukrainians, or any of the others, so justice for one is the same as justice for all.

I'm not sure the West is as easy a target as you suggest, though. "The West" is basically Imperial America and its lackeys, and it is them who aid and support Israel in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. They not only "defend themselves", they support their satellite states as they *attack* those whose land they have stolen and occupied by military force. I see no significant difference between them and China ... or Russia, or...

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 7:38 am

Sy Borg wrote: ↑November 11th, 2023, 10:54 am For some reason, people think Palestinians are ultra-important but they see Uyghurs as worthless, yet the latter has been treated more harshly. Why is that? Maybe it's hard to jump on a bandwagon against the Chinese because they defend themselves, whereas the west is an easy target because it self-flagellates, naive to the blatant and cynical hypocrisy of the nations who judge it.

Justice lacks borders. All who suffer similarly deserve the same support. ... But, across the whole world, there are so many of them, all we can do, in practice, is to follow the headlines, and voice our support for those on whom the media are focussing today. This isn't great, but it's the real world.

China is so much closer to you, in Oz, than it is to Europeans or Americans, so it is reasonable that you would be more aware of the plight of the Uyghur people than we are. But their plight is similar to that of the Palestinians, or the Ukrainians, or any of the others, so justice for one is the same as justice for all.

I'm not sure the West is as easy a target as you suggest, though. "The West" is basically Imperial America and its lackeys, and it is them who aid and support Israel in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. They not only "defend themselves", they support their satellite states as they *attack* those whose land they have stolen and occupied by military force. I see no significant difference between them and China ... or Russia, or...

There was no ethnic cleansing of Palestine. You keep eating up the propaganda. The Palestinians were better off under Fatah, who had some capacity to reason. Hamas have lead the people into disaster and it's blamed on Israelis.

I suppose you decry attacks against schools and hospitals while giving Hamas a free pass for deliberately building their assets close to their most vulnerable people, putting them in danger.

I blame the western media, especially those of the left like the ABC and the Guardian, and also the Herald. The only media outlets to criticise Hamas's cynical practice of treating civilians like publicity pawns belong to Murdoch! The world has turned upside down.

Let's get real. No one cares about the Uyghurs because of China's money. Do you think all those Arab states would be silent if the US was treating their Turkic people like that? No, they would be declaring war! But China is completely exempt for a few reasons:

a) Arab countries want Chinese money
b) China, unlike the west, will not tolerate any criticism
c) Chinese are not white and whites are now the most hated group (aside from Jews).

The biggest concern for me is that Hamas enjoyed a huge publicity coup by placing military assets near hospitals, schools and civilians and refusing to allow the people to escape. Using civilian pawns for publicity could not have worked out any better for them.

Hamas receives zero criticism for placing their vulnerable people in mortal danger. Everyone thinks that is absolutely fine. Perfectly understandable in their situation, right? Each death of a child or weak patient is publicity gold for Hamas.

They have arranged things so that the only way Israel can fight them is to harm civilians - and Hamas have been most diligent in reporting every single act of Israel to the press. And the western press laps it up uncritically.

The failure of the western left media to call Hamas to account for their cynical and cruel strategies means that this tactic will become a standard approach for terrorist outfits around the world. We are helping to encourage and propagate this tactic.

In future wars, hospitals, churches and schools - once safe havens - will be the very most dangerous places. And, when such incidents happen in the future, their origin can be traced back to this conflict.

Anti-semitism is an issue too. Jewish people are being beaten up on the streets. Jewish shops are being vandalised. Is the world turning into 1930s Germany? Why isn't the news media up in arms about this?

Imagine the reaction if a white power march had placards "Kill the Blacks". There would be outrage. Headlines for weeks. Meanwhile, Palestinian protesters carry signs saying 'Kill All Jews". That is apparently fine with the ABC, Guardian and Sydney Morning Herald.

These news outlets make no objections to calls to exterminate Jews, nor to Hamas setting up their tunnels under hospitals and schools - but they have a huge problem with Israel defending itself from their own 9/11.

The more the media blames Israel without looking at both sides, the more popular the human shield strategy will become in future conflicts.

Given the rank stupidity and self-destructiveness of the western news media in recent times, I am starting to understand why China and Russia prohibited free speech in the media - to prevent their countries from ripping themselves apart, as our societies are doing.

Sy Borg wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 4:04 pm

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 7:38 am

Sy Borg wrote: ↑November 11th, 2023, 10:54 am For some reason, people think Palestinians are ultra-important but they see Uyghurs as worthless, yet the latter has been treated more harshly. Why is that? Maybe it's hard to jump on a bandwagon against the Chinese because they defend themselves, whereas the west is an easy target because it self-flagellates, naive to the blatant and cynical hypocrisy of the nations who judge it.

Justice lacks borders. All who suffer similarly deserve the same support. ... But, across the whole world, there are so many of them, all we can do, in practice, is to follow the headlines, and voice our support for those on whom the media are focussing today. This isn't great, but it's the real world.

China is so much closer to you, in Oz, than it is to Europeans or Americans, so it is reasonable that you would be more aware of the plight of the Uyghur people than we are. But their plight is similar to that of the Palestinians, or the Ukrainians, or any of the others, so justice for one is the same as justice for all.

I'm not sure the West is as easy a target as you suggest, though. "The West" is basically Imperial America and its lackeys, and it is them who aid and support Israel in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. They not only "defend themselves", they support their satellite states as they *attack* those whose land they have stolen and occupied by military force. I see no significant difference between them and China ... or Russia, or...

There was no ethnic cleansing of Palestine. You keep eating up the propaganda. The Palestinians were better off under Fatah, who had some capacity to reason. Hamas have lead the people into disaster and it's blamed on Israelis.

Please pay attention!

Sculptor1 wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 4:05 pm

Sy Borg wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 4:04 pm

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 7:38 am

Sy Borg wrote: ↑November 11th, 2023, 10:54 am For some reason, people think Palestinians are ultra-important but they see Uyghurs as worthless, yet the latter has been treated more harshly. Why is that? Maybe it's hard to jump on a bandwagon against the Chinese because they defend themselves, whereas the west is an easy target because it self-flagellates, naive to the blatant and cynical hypocrisy of the nations who judge it.

Justice lacks borders. All who suffer similarly deserve the same support. ... But, across the whole world, there are so many of them, all we can do, in practice, is to follow the headlines, and voice our support for those on whom the media are focussing today. This isn't great, but it's the real world.

China is so much closer to you, in Oz, than it is to Europeans or Americans, so it is reasonable that you would be more aware of the plight of the Uyghur people than we are. But their plight is similar to that of the Palestinians, or the Ukrainians, or any of the others, so justice for one is the same as justice for all.

I'm not sure the West is as easy a target as you suggest, though. "The West" is basically Imperial America and its lackeys, and it is them who aid and support Israel in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. They not only "defend themselves", they support their satellite states as they *attack* those whose land they have stolen and occupied by military force. I see no significant difference between them and China ... or Russia, or...

There was no ethnic cleansing of Palestine. You keep eating up the propaganda. The Palestinians were better off under Fatah, who had some capacity to reason. Hamas have lead the people into disaster and it's blamed on Israelis.

Please pay attention!

Says the bloke who claimed that Hamas did not use civilians as human shields and demanded that I provide evidence. I provided evidence so you stopped talking. Why couldn't you admit to being wrong?

Would Palestinians today be better off if Hamas had not engaged in a sneak attack, taking out 1,200 Israeli civilians and kidnapping hundreds more? Yes, they would be going to work and pending time with their families. Now they are either dead, injured, refugees or living in fear.

Great governance by Hamas - not.

Sy Borg wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 4:11 pm

Sculptor1 wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 4:05 pm

Sy Borg wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 4:04 pm

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 7:38 am

Justice lacks borders. All who suffer similarly deserve the same support. ... But, across the whole world, there are so many of them, all we can do, in practice, is to follow the headlines, and voice our support for those on whom the media are focussing today. This isn't great, but it's the real world.

"human shields" is a propoganda trope. Isreal has its command headquarters and millile silos in residential areas. THink about that.

China is so much closer to you, in Oz, than it is to Europeans or Americans, so it is reasonable that you would be more aware of the plight of the Uyghur people than we are. But their plight is similar to that of the Palestinians, or the Ukrainians, or any of the others, so justice for one is the same as justice for all.

I'm not sure the West is as easy a target as you suggest, though. "The West" is basically Imperial America and its lackeys, and it is them who aid and support Israel in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. They not only "defend themselves", they support their satellite states as they *attack* those whose land they have stolen and occupied by military force. I see no significant difference between them and China ... or Russia, or...

There was no ethnic cleansing of Palestine. You keep eating up the propaganda. The Palestinians were better off under Fatah, who had some capacity to reason. Hamas have lead the people into disaster and it's blamed on Israelis.

Please pay attention!

Says the bloke who claimed that Hamas did not use civilians as human shields and demanded that I provide evidence. I provided evidence so you stopped talking. Why couldn't you admit to being wrong?

Would Palestinians today be better off if Hamas had not engaged in a sneak attack, taking out 1,200 Israeli civilians and kidnapping hundreds more? Yes, they would be going to work and pending time with their families. Now they are either dead, injured, refugees or living in fear.

Great governance by Hamas - not.

Great governance by Netanyahu- not.
But he has choices.

Sy Borg wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 4:04 pm The more the media blames Israel without looking at both sides, the more popular the human shield strategy will become in future conflicts.

Your media coverage clearly differs from what I see in the UK. Our 'news' has been filled with support for Israel, loudly proclaiming the support of just about every "world leader" for Israel. The controversy here is that our media and government are out of step with the feelings of their electorate. It's not that everyone here is pro-Palestine, it's that there is a strong swell of sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians, who have endured a brutal military occupation for three generations. There is some support for Israel in the community, too. It isn't one-sided, while our media coverage definitely is.

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑November 13th, 2023, 10:10 am

Sy Borg wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 4:04 pm The more the media blames Israel without looking at both sides, the more popular the human shield strategy will become in future conflicts.

Your media coverage clearly differs from what I see in the UK. Our 'news' has been filled with support for Israel, loudly proclaiming the support of just about every "world leader" for Israel. The controversy here is that our media and government are out of step with the feelings of their electorate. It's not that everyone here is pro-Palestine, it's that there is a strong swell of sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians, who have endured a brutal military occupation for three generations. There is some support for Israel in the community, too. It isn't one-sided, while our media coverage definitely is.

No, our news is full of protests by rabid anti-Semites and a government asking Israel to back off. Most outlets even avoided mentioning Hamas's use of hospitals and schools as human shields, giving the false impression that Israel is deliberately targeting the vulnerable, which has been a huge boost for anti-Semitic groups.

The electorate is hostile because they feel let down. Most of the protesters do not give a **** about the Palestinians, just as they don't give a **** about the Uyghurs - it's an outlet for a generalised anger and hostility with every anti-Semite in town joining in. It's just an excuse to protest. Consider "Queers for Palestine", for example. That was pure virtue signalling because Palestine is hostile towards LGBT+ rights. Really, they should be protesting against Palestine for queer rights, but they instead follow the mainstream media in whipping up hatred against Israel for defending itself.

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 6:58 am Jewish terrorists should never have been appeased in 1948 by giving them someone else's land...

Seems to me that this is the core of your position. You see the acts of 1948 as unjust, and desire to see them undone.

In other words, Israel should not exist.

And therefore nothing that Israel does can ever be justified because the only just thing Israel can do is cease to exist.

Isn't that it ?.

Consul wrote: ↑November 7th, 2023, 1:24 pm

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑November 7th, 2023, 12:50 pm Islam only emerged around 500 CE, so of course Jews were there first. And before they were Jews (religious), there were people in the land (geographical/national) we now call Palestine, from whom the current indigenous populations descended.

"The Palestinians claim to be descendants of the Canaanites. We shall have to examine this hereditary claim[.]"

(Wolffsohn, Michael. Whose Holy Land? The Roots of the Conflict Between Jews and Arabs. Cham: Springer, 2021. p. 81)

"The Canaanites lived on a cemetery of nations on the baleful, blood-drenched soil of the Holy Land. It was above all the Canaanites from whom the Jews wrested this land more than three thousand years ago. This was done in an earthly manner, albeit with a religious justification. Sometime later, the Jews took land away from the Philistines as well. They took land from other peoples too, but mainly from these two.

Today, the Palestinians claim to be descendants of these peoples. What they are attempting to say is, “We are the legal successors of the Canaanites and the Philistines. We demand our property back from the Jewish occupiers.”

As we are looking for the owners of the Holy Land, let us examine this assertion. It leads us to the field of genealogical research and, yes, even racial science. These are delicate disciplines not only in Germany but—understandably—especially in Germany. But it is no use. We must not shy away from controversial issues. To deny that they exist will solve nothing.

We will see that the Palestinians are not the legal successors of the Canaanites and the Philistines—at least not if they also claim to be Arabs. Some might ask why this is. Who would seriously want to deny that the Palestinians are Arabs? No one.

To begin with, the Canaanites were not a people or a tribe, Arab or Jewish, Mesopotamian or Egyptian.

The natives of (what is today) the Holy Land are referred to in the oldest archaeological sources as “Retenu” and later as “Hurru”. An Egyptian monument from the fifteenth century BCE provides more details. It tells about a campaign carried out by the pharaoh Amenhotep II in the year 1429 BCE. The natives are called “Hurrians” (or “Hurru”). The “maryannu” were their ruling nobility. In addition to the maryannu, there were traders from the coastal cities. And these traders are referred to as “Canaanites” on this monument. The name “Canaanite” was thus originally a term that referred to a social class or occupation.

The monument also mentions the “Apiru-Habiru”. These were foreign semi-nomadic people who had no land and mainly lived in the hills west of the Jordan. Some lived in cities as dependents of the natives. Habiru—Hebrew? They certainly sound similar, don’t they? We are on the right track, because a century later in Egyptian documents all groups descending on or immigrating into (what is today) the Holy Land from the desert and other regions are referred to as “Hebrews”. The Israelites were “Hebrews”—but not the only ones. The Israelites, tribes from the Arabian Peninsula, the Ammonites, the Edomites, as well as the Moabites were also “Hebrews”. They were all related, in other words, enemies included.

The close relationship and tense relations between the Ammonites and the Moabites is illustrated by the story of their ancestors. Lot’s daughters “made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.” (Genesis 19:33) The following night, the younger daughter slept with her drunk father. “Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the first-born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.” (Genesis 19:36–38)

And so there we have them—the black sheep of the family. The Edomites, who were named after the Hebrew word for red, were also considered black sheep by the Bible and the Jews. The progenitor of the Edomites was Esau, the rough twin brother of the progenitor Jacob.

Egyptian sources also mention raiding nomads, the Bedouins, as a further group of people. In the fourteenth century BCE, the sources of the then ruling Egyptians named the entire region (now a province) “Canaan”.
Thus far we can say

* The term “Canaan” was originally used to denote an occupational group (traders) but later came to be the name of a province.
* Accordingly, the inhabitants of this province were called “Canaanites”, and these Canaanites were a mixture of peoples. They were in no way homogenous. They were multicultural, multiconfessional, “multinational” (although one cannot really speak of nations here), and “multi-racial”.
* Both the traders (Canaanites) and the Hebrews (including the Israelites later on) were part of the native population—despite the fact that the Hebrews were immigrants.
* Later on, a part of the various Hebrew groups and tribes conquered the entire province of Canaan. These were the Israelites.
* The non-Israelite inhabitants of Canaan died out. Direct successors cannot be identified, not even with the microscope of history—unless you create them in a test tube. There are no legal successors to their property. They no longer exist. That is the distressing truth. Unfortunately, history is often cruel.

Who were the Philistines? Are they the real ancestors of the Palestinians? The assumption is likely, if only for linguistic reasons: Palestine—Philistine. The Romans not only annihilated the Jewish community; they also wiped out the name Judah. By doing so, the Roman occupants hoped to obliterate all memory of the earlier Jewish owners. Names and power are closely related. This has nothing to do with justice. It is the law of the strongest, a highly questionable type of law. The Romans changed Judah to the “Land of the Philistines”, i.e. “Palestine”.

But were the Philistines Arabs? Were, as modern-day Palestinians claim, the Philistines really the ancestors of today’s Palestinians?

If the Philistines were Arabs, then they chose a strange route from their homeland to (what is today) the Holy Land. They originally came from the Greek mainland, the Peloponnese, from the Aegean Islands, Crete and Asia Minor. As we know, Arabia is located elsewhere.

The Philistines came to (what is today) the Holy Land as the Sea Peoples in the mid-twelfth century BCE. In Canaan, the rule of the Egyptians, which was already weak, began to falter, not least because of the invasion of the children of Israel about one hundred years earlier.

In 1168 BCE, the Sea Peoples attempted to invade the Egyptian heartland but were defeated by Pharaoh Ramesses III. His victory, however, was only partial. The Sea Peoples seized the southern coastal strip of the Egyptian province of Canaan and also captured its capital city, Gaza. These peoples had been fleeing from the Doric Greeks since the thirteenth century BCE, and they were Indo-Europeans, in other words they were not Semites. The Palestinians are both Semites and Arabs, and they rightly attach great importance to this. However, if they are Semites and Arabs, the Indo-European Philistines cannot be their ancestors.

The triumph of having their country named after them by the Romans was at the same time their historical downfall. They easily and fully adapted to the Roman world, and nothing more was heard of them—until the Palestinians discovered them as their ancestors. The Tel Aviv biologist Bat-Scheva Bonna Tamir discovered by means of DNA analyses that there is one people who are—genetically—closest to the Jews: the Palestinians (Tamara Traubmann and Ruthi Sinai, Haaretz, 9 May 2000).

Of course the Arabs also tried to penetrate (what is today) the Holy Land, which bordered on the Arabian Peninsula. As expected, the (pre-Islamic) Arab Bedouins also expanded into this neighbouring region. Such an attempt was made during the lifetime of the judge Gideon, in the twelfth century BCE. They likely came more often, both previously and afterwards. In general, however, they conducted raids, did not settle, and therefore left no archaeological records.

The Canaanites and the Philistines were thus not the earliest inhabitants of the Holy Land."

(Wolffsohn, Michael. Whose Holy Land? The Roots of the Conflict Between Jews and Arabs. Cham: Springer, 2021. pp. 110-13)

You really are a Zionist aren't you! The fact that an important opposition to Zionist claims came from Arab Jews, who had lived in harmony for hundreds of years, that in Muslim countries there are even Jewish museums displaying the influence of the Jews on their society, seems to completely be ignored in your propaganda for Zionist policies. The ruling party has a history of destructive policies that have, from the very beginning, wanted to take the land back and millions were pushed into Lebanon in 1948.

You are whitewashing the apartheid government of Israel and the atrocious revenge of the IDF, despite the fact that Israeli Newspapers have shown that the Israelis do not hold to their eye for an eye, but even shoot at their own citizens in order to kill terrorists. This mechanistic, inhumane approach is in keeping with calling Palestinians "animals" and dehumanising the whole population.