The Palestinian Myth
For the past year and a half now the world has been bombarded by discussions about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Two countries, two sides-each vying for a small piece of land in the Middle East. But is it really that simple?
When one takes a step back, and briefly looks at the historical foundations of this war-the picture looks quite different indeed. Some basic questions need to be asked: Such as, who are the Palestinians? Moreover, where does the term Palestinian even come from?
To begin with the second question first. After the second Beis Hamikdash was destroyed by the Romans, in order to add insult to injury, they changed the name of Eretz Yisroel to Palestina. The idea was to try to reconnect the land to the ancient nation called the Philistines who once lived here and thereby disconnect the land from its Jewish roots. Now, at the time the second temple was destroyed there were absolutely no Plishtim (Philistines in Hebrew) living in Israel. They were exiled hundreds of years before, in the year 604 BC by Nebuchadnetzar to Bavel (Mesopotamia) where they disappeared into the abyss of history.
This explains why there is no mention of the Plishtim at all in chronicles of the second temple era such as in the Mishna and in the writings of Josephus. They simply did not exist anymore during the second temple. However, this did not stop the Romans from trying to reconnect the land to this ancient, extinct nation called the Philistines. Thus, emerged the name Palestine-a term that was coined by the destroyers of the second temple to disconnect the land from its Jewish roots.
But back to today. Does any of this have any connection to the people who currently call themselves Palestinians. Absolutely not! Today’s Palestinians are descendants of people who immigrated to Israel from Arabia and Egypt in the past few hundred years. They have no genetic, religious, historical and cultural connection at all with the extinct Philistines who were exiled and subsequently disappeared in Babylon 2,500 years ago. Thus, the term Palestinian as it is used today is an egregious historical lie that has simply been propagated for political and pseudo religious motives. So when sadly misinformed activists cry about a two state solution, the real question is who are these two states?
In truth, it is hard to believe how so much of the world has fallen for such a big lie. However, a little deeper look, shows that this was already foretold in our Holy Torah. In Parshas Haazinu ( Deuteronomy: 32:21) the verse says: “They provoked Me with a non-god, angered Me with their vanities; so shall I provoke them with a non-nation, with a withered nation shall I anger them”. And so the solace that I can draw from this is that just as we have seen the fulfillment of this negative prophecy in our time, so we should all merit to see the complete fulfillment of all the prophecies of redemption and comfort speedily in our days!
Kol Tuv
-Ariel Galian