"The palistinians (sic) have had a state since prehistory, ..." Mrrzy, that is an over broad reading of history (or prehistory), and has no basis in normative scholarship. I do not claim to be an expert of the ANE, but it was my area of study for my B.A. in History, and I have been an interested layman for over fifty years since. I know that to most folks, here, history of the area has no meaning. I personally prefer the term Levant, a term not used quite so much now, to describe the area from NE Sinai along the Mediterranean Coast to SE Anatolia (Turkey) and eastward into what is now parts of Jordan and Syria. The reason for my preference is that "Levant" carries no emotional religious, ethnic nor racial baggage in discussing the history of that place. Palestine is the English form of the Latin word for Philistines, an arch foe of Israelites in the pre-Monarchic period and the early kingdom period of Israel from the 10th century BCE (BC). Philistines were neither Arab peoples or Semitic peoples; they came from the Mediterranean islands, most notably Crete, Cyprus and Sardinia, and were kin to the later Greeks. Arabs (that is folks from the Arabian peninsula, were not a major player in the area, except for traders, until the Roman period in the Levant (2nd century BCE. And, of course, there was no Muslim presence until the mid-7th century CE(AD), which coincides with a great Arab influx into the Levant, even until modern times. If you, Mrrzy (or anyone) are truly interested in the History, PM me. If I get a few requests I will put a small reading list together for you.
|