There is a stark contrast between historical narratives and reality. Your grandmother was forced out of Baghdad under the threat of slaughter; meanwhile, Ibrahim’s grandmother was instructed to leave Haifa to clear the way for Arab armies, who intended to eliminate the Jewish population of the nascent State of Israel.
This distortion of history reminds me of the rhetoric a former Egyptian friend used to repeat in college—claiming that Egypt had won every war against Israel and that Israel only sought peace in 1978 out of defeat.
You’re not wrong. The causes are not equivalent and I’ve never said they were. But two people whose grandmothers both lost their homes in the same decade, in the same region, found each other in a cab in London, and chose something other than grievance. That’s what I wrote about. And that’s rarer than it should be.
“Palestinians” were invented by Arafat, an Egyptian, in the 1960s. “Palestine” never existed beyond a Roman and British colonial name for Jews’ homeland.
The existence of Jews does not disprove the existence of Palestinians. The Cairo Genizah proves a continuous Jewish community existed in Cairo, and no one is disputing the fact that Jews have persisted, or even that a Jewish population has persisted in Palestine as well. What DNA testing tells us is the people who call themselves Palestinians (which they have long before Arafat) have a significant (80-90%) Levantine admixture. Showing them to be direct descendants of the Canaanites. You can change religions, but you can't change your DNA.
It is reported in reliable sources Arafat's parents originally lived in Gaza (father) and Jerusalem (mother). Many different people of different backgrounds and religions have lived in this tiny region for thousands of years. Part of my own family came from Spain to Tzfat ~400 years ago. Even then the land was not devoid of people.
No matter where Arafat or his family were born, there are now two groups of people hoping to live in this set of lands, preferably as neighbours. Without honesty and forbearance, that cannot happen.
Exactly this way or another, both grandmothers were victims of the conflict. The reasons for their suffering were structurally different, yet they manifested in similar ways: both were forced to leave their homes. Peace — or even peaceful coexistence — is possible only if the burden of those “structural differences” is fully confronted, and each side comes to understand that, in different ways, we are all victims. That is not easy, and it may never fully happen, but it is the only path forward.
Population of “Palestine”: Encyclopedia Britannica 1911, Egyptians, Algerians, Afghans, non-Arab Bosnians, non-Arab Circassians, Persians, Sudanese, Turks, non-Arab Kurds, and others.
“The inhabitants are composed of a large number of elements differing widely in ethnological affinities, language, and religion. It may be interesting to mention, as an illustration of their heterogeneousness, that early in the 20th century a list of no less than fifty languages, spoken in Jerusalem as vernaculars, was there drawn up by a party of men whose various official positions enabled them to possess accurate information on the subject.”
This isn’t true. 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from Israel under the threat of death. The Arab armies didn’t want the Palestinians to leave because it would’ve been impossible to return and they need an Arab presence. I am a Jew and had to relearn this history. Read Benny Morris.
Yes, in most cases the Arab leadership did encourage flight with the intention of returning but there were also some very dark chapters in 1948 that cannot be denied.
“Palestine” was a Roman name imposed on Jews and ancient Israel, referring to Philistines who were Greek. “Palestinians” are a modern invention with no lineage to it.
Please give sources that confirm your assertion the they have existed for millennia .
Even in the early to mid 20th century Palestinians were people who lived in British Mandate Palestine. Jews and Arabs. They were Palestinian citizens and carried Palestinian passports. My late father-in-law was one of them. He was Jewish. There was the Palestinian Symphony. The Palestinian Post newspaper. Palestinian Airlines. All were Jewish. They are now the Israeli Symphony, the Jerusalem Post and El Al Airlines.
The fake “Palestinian” moniker came from the British Mandate, nicknamed “Palestine” an old Roman name. Jews originally were designated as “Palestinians,” until relinquished in favor of “Israeli.”
Philistines were “Sea Peoples” from the Aegean. Egyptian records say they came from “islands of the sea.” Bible says they came from Crete, the Greek island. Philistines attempted to sack Egypt before settling on the Mediterranean coast. They’re extinct.
That is questionable but they settled in the Levant and mixed with the locals. Do you understand why Jew land was referred to as filistinia? Please read about it.
Some were Jews, others were Christian’s, Druze and Muslims. The philistines were not Greeks. They were Levantine neighbors of the Jews and the name Palestine was given to the region by Greeks. Later it was used by the Romans. Read any encyclopedia and you will find the history.
You are arguing against yourself and don’t seem to see that. We all know many different peoples lived all over the Middle East. The group that now identifies as Palestinian are Arabic Muslims. They don’t have claim to that land.
Palestine was a Roman name imposed on Jews and ancient Israel, referring to Philistines who are extinct. Palestinians were invented by Arafat who was Egyptian, and they have no lineage to it.
You are perpetuating lies. You quote sources which are widely discredited. Arab leaders and committees encouraged Arabs to flee their homes in advance of the attacks on Israel.
The people then were not called Palestinians. They were Arabs. Nobody called them Palestinians until 1964 when Arafat was appointed the leader of the just invented (by Russia) ‘Palestinians’. The Russians used them as a tool against the US influence in the region.
Anyhow, I liked your story. Thank you for sharing something positive in a sea of negative events and polarisation.
I also have positive stories of Egyptians being open and understanding about Jews and Israel. That I experienced in Egypt where I worked in the nineties of last century.
The Soviets did exploit the situation but Palestinians carried Palestinian passports and were referred to as Palestinians long before Arafat, who was a Palestinian who lived in Egypt, was born. My story isn’t a fantasy but a story that has repeated itself throughout the world ever since men began to carry weapons. Human nature has an element of evil which reveals itself until society is ready to force a solution to stop the bloodshed. It is a cycle that repeats itself.
Islam is a death cult. Muslims value death over life. “From infancy, children are nurtured to love jihad. A girl sets out to meet her lord with her blood and body parts.”
When you're a "Palestinian" named al Masri, "the Egyptian," or Maghrebi (North Africa) or al Husayni (Saudi Arabia) or Tikriti (Iraq) or Bushnak (Bosnia) —you're not native to Israel.
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. Population of “Palestine”: non-Arab Samaritans, Egyptians, Algerians, Afghans, non-Arab Bosnians, non-Arab Circassians, Persians, Sudanese, Turks, non-Arab Kurds, and others.
“The inhabitants are composed of a large number of elements differing widely in ethnological affinities, language, and religion. It may be interesting to mention, as an illustration of their heterogeneousness, that early in the 20th century a list of no less than fifty languages, spoken in Jerusalem as vernaculars, was there drawn up by a party of men whose various official positions enabled them to possess accurate information on the subject.”
“So far from being persecuted, the Arabs have crowded into the country and multiplied till their population has increased more than even all world Jewry could lift up the Jewish population." — Winston Churchill in 1938
“The Arab immigration since 1921 has vastly exceeded the total Jewish immigration during this whole period." — Franklin Roosevelt in 1939
.Lebanese-American scholar Franck Salameh: “Indeed, except among a few members of the Arabophone Christian educated elites of Beirut, Damascus, Haifa, and Jerusalem, there exist no Arabic-language documents from the first half of the twentieth century, no local Arabic press, no local Arabic literature, and no Arabic private or consular correspondence referring to the Holy Land as ‘Palestine’ or its Muslim inhabitants as ‘Palestinians.’”
“The term ‘Palestine’ itself is of Western (European, not Arab) provenance, and it refers to the Holy Lands from a modern Christian perspective, as a home for Christians and Jews, usurped by Arabs and Muslims in earlier times. Indeed, only twentieth-century Jews and Christians—imbued as they were in Western ideas and languages—referred to themselves as ‘Palestinians’ during the British Mandate period, with Muslims largely shunning the term and opting for earlier Ottoman labels—religious labels in the main.
And so it was only when the Jews of British Mandate Palestine relinquished the term ‘Palestinian’ in favor of ‘Israeli’—only then did Arabs and Muslims begin warming to the term ‘Palestinian,’ eventually espousing it as their new national moniker only in the mid-1960s.”
Abdullah al-Hadlaq, writer, Al-Watan, Kuwait: “When the state of Israel was established in 1948 there was no state called palestine. Where did we get that name which we have been defending? It didn’t exist.”
Yes, there was and there is some arab admixture in their genes, but they mostly maintained their indigenous genome. Just like Jews of Europe who mingled with European but maintained their levantine genome with some European admixture.
Haifa’s Jewish mayor and business leaders begged their communities to stay in ‘48, promising them safety. But their own leaders compelled them to leave. That was a poor choice.
Jihadists comprise a small section of Palestinian society just as the hilltop do. For obvious reasons Palestinians don’t like us but most don’t want to live under sharia law and those factions will not take control unless there is a complete breakdown of civilization such as existed under Hamas which was supported by Netanyahu.
There is no “Palestinian society.” Jews originally were designated as “Palestinians,” in British Mandate Palestine. It’s a made-up moniker. They’re just rebranded Arabs, Muslims, and anything else.
Abdullah al-Hadlaq, writer, Al-Watan, Kuwait: “When the state of Israel was established in 1948 there was no state called palestine. Where did we get that name which we have been defending? It didn’t exist.”
Israel also didn't exist on any map for over 2,000 years. That doesn't mean the Jewish people don’t deserve a homeland and frankly the Bible that belongs to the jewish people is not a grant deed in the eyes of the rest of the world . You cannot suddenly appear after 2,000 a year absence and displace the families who have lived there for as many years. It's time to open a new chapter.
The reason why this story resonates so much is that the majority of Jews in any western country would now think twice (or ten times) before admitting their Jewishness to the (very likely) Muslim cab driver. We want to believe that a conversation like this is possible. And at the same time, if we are honest with ourselves, we know that the chance of this is miniscule.
Terrible crimes are committed across the world. Yet it would be unthinkable in the west to vandalize a Syrian restaurant in, say, Toronto, because of a war in Syria that in only a couple of years far surpassed the death toll of the last 100 years of Israeli-Arab conflict. It would be unimaginable to discriminate against the Chinese diaspora for endless crimes committed in the PRC. No one would ever consider it reasonable to shoot up a Muslim school in Amsterdam because of the endless and very bloody conflict across the Sahel, driven by Islamic fundamentalists. No one shows up in an NYC neighbourhood with heavy Yemeni presence to yell at the Yemenis for having the world's biggest humanitarian crisis of the last ten years, due to them slaughtering each other in large numbers. No one drives through the Tutsi neighbourhood in London, demanding the rape of Tutsi women because of the conflict in the DRC. All of this happens to Jews living in the west and their synagogues, schools, business, homes, retirement and community centres every single day.
This is true although many Arabs have been assaulted as well. But your point is a good one and Jews are disproportionately blamed. Whatever the case, no one should be allowed to harm others in any way.
Nope. When Arabs and/or Muslims get some sort of backlash in western countries, it's never because of what happens in Pakistan, or the aforementioned Syria and Yemen, or Israel. It's always in retaliation for things that are done IN the west by Muslims (terrorism, grooming gangs, etc.) - and of course it's wrong, as any collective backlash. But ONLY JEWS are attacked for shit that has nothing to do with the countries where the attacks take place. That's the whole point of the explanation above.
The importance of this encounter can’t be overlooked but is rather an example of how stories can be exchanged without the fear of being who or what you are. It’s as if he was extending not just an olive branch but regardless of the why’s or wherefores Ibrahim wanted you to know that he understood what your grandmother had gone through. It’s a beautiful story
What a beautiful story! Thank you for sharing it with us. God created ALL human beings in His Own Image and loves ALL human beings equally. It is through these personal interactions and relationships that we can show God's love to one another. I pray ALL people come to know the infinite love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 🙏
If you mean that the term “Palestinian” was conjured up by Yasser Arafat (possibly with the help of the Communist Russian government/KGB at the time), I agree with you on that point. However, it is still true that God created ALL human beings in His Own Image and sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross for ALL human beings to give every human being the opportunity to spend eternity in Heaven with Him rather than in Hell, which is what we all deserve. As Christians, we are called by Jesus Christ Himself to pray for our enemies and those who persecute us. That doesn't mean we should sit back and allow them to kill us if we can prevent it. We are allowed to defend ourselves, and we have a responsibility to defend others who cannot defend themselves. I am praying that ALL people come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. 🙏
This is such a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing. Your paragraph -
"That Jewish displacement from Arab lands and Palestinian displacement from their homes are not competing tragedies to be ranked. They are one connected story of a region in the throes of colonialism, Nazism, and the upheaval of World War II."
Well, good thing he was in the 30% of Palestinians who don't say they feel religiously obligated to martyrdom in all situations. You're braver than me rolling the dice on that in the back of a locked car 😅
This piece is doing something rare and sadly, the comments section is the proof of how rare it is. :-(
You wrote about two people in a cab choosing connection over grievance. The comments section immediately chose grievance. Historical debate, pushback on whether Ibrahim's premise was valid, and some competition about whose grandmother had it worse, ignores everything your post saying.
I live for stories of connection and grace. They are the only light I see in this darkness. And so many people want to shout (sic) that light out.
I had a bit of a similar experience In Chicago. My elderly aunt had her driver pick up us to take us to a cousins' home. Even though this man had been driving her for some years, apparently this was the first time she thought to ask him where he is from. "I am from Palestine" he answered. I was in the back of the cab- my aunt in the front. In my mind I was like "Oh, I don't feel like this whole political conversation right now." She began talking to him- he said he was raised in Jordan but his parents were Palestinian, and I don't remember what exactly what he said that made me decide to speak up, but it was something very pro-America, and critical of the anti-West stance that permeates a lot of the ME." I asked where exactly his family is from. He said "Are you familiar with the country?" I answered "Yes, I'm from Jerusalem." His answer? "Oh, G-d bless you. You know what I am talking about!"
Beautiful. Sadly the younger generations are learning one side only— that Jews are colonizers. The grandmothers are dying out. People like Mohammed probably need to stay quiet if he doesn’t want a fatwah on his head. I still pray tho. Your story gives me hope.
There is a stark contrast between historical narratives and reality. Your grandmother was forced out of Baghdad under the threat of slaughter; meanwhile, Ibrahim’s grandmother was instructed to leave Haifa to clear the way for Arab armies, who intended to eliminate the Jewish population of the nascent State of Israel.
This distortion of history reminds me of the rhetoric a former Egyptian friend used to repeat in college—claiming that Egypt had won every war against Israel and that Israel only sought peace in 1978 out of defeat.
You’re not wrong. The causes are not equivalent and I’ve never said they were. But two people whose grandmothers both lost their homes in the same decade, in the same region, found each other in a cab in London, and chose something other than grievance. That’s what I wrote about. And that’s rarer than it should be.
“Palestinians” were invented by Arafat, an Egyptian, in the 1960s. “Palestine” never existed beyond a Roman and British colonial name for Jews’ homeland.
Palestinians are an outgrowth of a former Jewish population who converted and mixed with Christian’s and Muslims. The roots are the same as Jews.
If Fauxlestinians had a legitimate history (They don’t), then you wouldn’t need to make up stupid shit that they’re really Jews.
We know all that. The ones who refuse to do research and follow propal narratives won't listen.
They are not all Jews. They are Christian, Druze, Muslim, Samaritan Palestinians.
Stupid shit.
The Cairo Geniza demonstrates Jewish continuity from the 9th century through the 19th century.
The existence of Jews does not disprove the existence of Palestinians. The Cairo Genizah proves a continuous Jewish community existed in Cairo, and no one is disputing the fact that Jews have persisted, or even that a Jewish population has persisted in Palestine as well. What DNA testing tells us is the people who call themselves Palestinians (which they have long before Arafat) have a significant (80-90%) Levantine admixture. Showing them to be direct descendants of the Canaanites. You can change religions, but you can't change your DNA.
“Palestine” never existed. “Palestinians” never existed.
It is reported in reliable sources Arafat's parents originally lived in Gaza (father) and Jerusalem (mother). Many different people of different backgrounds and religions have lived in this tiny region for thousands of years. Part of my own family came from Spain to Tzfat ~400 years ago. Even then the land was not devoid of people.
No matter where Arafat or his family were born, there are now two groups of people hoping to live in this set of lands, preferably as neighbours. Without honesty and forbearance, that cannot happen.
.Arab peace activist Loay Al Shareef: The Palestinian cause is a lie. The goal is the destruction of Israel, not self-determination
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PwScd_Ok0U
Jews are the indigenous people. Arabs, Muslims are colonizers.
I reject the premise of Ibrahim’s observation/statement/argument/etc…
Exactly this way or another, both grandmothers were victims of the conflict. The reasons for their suffering were structurally different, yet they manifested in similar ways: both were forced to leave their homes. Peace — or even peaceful coexistence — is possible only if the burden of those “structural differences” is fully confronted, and each side comes to understand that, in different ways, we are all victims. That is not easy, and it may never fully happen, but it is the only path forward.
You are so gracious, Hen.
Population of “Palestine”: Encyclopedia Britannica 1911, Egyptians, Algerians, Afghans, non-Arab Bosnians, non-Arab Circassians, Persians, Sudanese, Turks, non-Arab Kurds, and others.
“The inhabitants are composed of a large number of elements differing widely in ethnological affinities, language, and religion. It may be interesting to mention, as an illustration of their heterogeneousness, that early in the 20th century a list of no less than fifty languages, spoken in Jerusalem as vernaculars, was there drawn up by a party of men whose various official positions enabled them to possess accurate information on the subject.”
This isn’t true. 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from Israel under the threat of death. The Arab armies didn’t want the Palestinians to leave because it would’ve been impossible to return and they need an Arab presence. I am a Jew and had to relearn this history. Read Benny Morris.
False, very few Arabs were expelled during Israel’s War of Independence.
Otherwise, explain the millions of Arab citizens of Israel?!
Arabs were responsible for the expulsion of Arabs.
Yes, in most cases the Arab leadership did encourage flight with the intention of returning but there were also some very dark chapters in 1948 that cannot be denied.
Not true.
PM of Syria at the time acknowledges Arabs expelling Arabs. Show this to the “scholar” Benny.
Some were expelled while others weren’t. It would’ve been difficult to cleanse millions.
Palestinians didn’t exist until the 1960s.
Palestinians have existed for millennia. You don’t understand the meaning of Palestinian.
“Palestine” was a Roman name imposed on Jews and ancient Israel, referring to Philistines who were Greek. “Palestinians” are a modern invention with no lineage to it.
Please give sources that confirm your assertion the they have existed for millennia .
Even in the early to mid 20th century Palestinians were people who lived in British Mandate Palestine. Jews and Arabs. They were Palestinian citizens and carried Palestinian passports. My late father-in-law was one of them. He was Jewish. There was the Palestinian Symphony. The Palestinian Post newspaper. Palestinian Airlines. All were Jewish. They are now the Israeli Symphony, the Jerusalem Post and El Al Airlines.
Jews have existed for thousands of years. “Palestinians” didn’t exist until 60 years ago—Invented by an Egyptian, Arafat.
The fake “Palestinian” moniker came from the British Mandate, nicknamed “Palestine” an old Roman name. Jews originally were designated as “Palestinians,” until relinquished in favor of “Israeli.”
Don’t argue with her. She is a bot. She isn’t real.
Palestine was also a name used by the ottomans. Judea = Jews is silly word play that has its roots in ancient history not modern geopolitics.
Philistines were “Sea Peoples” from the Aegean. Egyptian records say they came from “islands of the sea.” Bible says they came from Crete, the Greek island. Philistines attempted to sack Egypt before settling on the Mediterranean coast. They’re extinct.
That is questionable but they settled in the Levant and mixed with the locals. Do you understand why Jew land was referred to as filistinia? Please read about it.
Some were Jews, others were Christian’s, Druze and Muslims. The philistines were not Greeks. They were Levantine neighbors of the Jews and the name Palestine was given to the region by Greeks. Later it was used by the Romans. Read any encyclopedia and you will find the history.
You are arguing against yourself and don’t seem to see that. We all know many different peoples lived all over the Middle East. The group that now identifies as Palestinian are Arabic Muslims. They don’t have claim to that land.
Philistines were European, likely Greek. You’re welcome.
Palestine was a Roman name imposed on Jews and ancient Israel, referring to Philistines who are extinct. Palestinians were invented by Arafat who was Egyptian, and they have no lineage to it.
You are perpetuating lies. You quote sources which are widely discredited. Arab leaders and committees encouraged Arabs to flee their homes in advance of the attacks on Israel.
The people then were not called Palestinians. They were Arabs. Nobody called them Palestinians until 1964 when Arafat was appointed the leader of the just invented (by Russia) ‘Palestinians’. The Russians used them as a tool against the US influence in the region.
Anyhow, I liked your story. Thank you for sharing something positive in a sea of negative events and polarisation.
I also have positive stories of Egyptians being open and understanding about Jews and Israel. That I experienced in Egypt where I worked in the nineties of last century.
The Soviets did exploit the situation but Palestinians carried Palestinian passports and were referred to as Palestinians long before Arafat, who was a Palestinian who lived in Egypt, was born. My story isn’t a fantasy but a story that has repeated itself throughout the world ever since men began to carry weapons. Human nature has an element of evil which reveals itself until society is ready to force a solution to stop the bloodshed. It is a cycle that repeats itself.
So what?! Golda Meir carried a Palestinian passport (from the British government under the mandate post-WW1).
It’s a regional term, not long-standing nationality.
When Arabs love their children more than hating Jews, there could be peace.
What as silly statement that was back then and now.
Islam is a death cult. Muslims value death over life. “From infancy, children are nurtured to love jihad. A girl sets out to meet her lord with her blood and body parts.”
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1232928623985035
Arabs, Muslims, whoever, didn’t adopt the faux “Palestinian” moniker until the 1960s, after Jews relinquished it.
Arab population in
Palestine
: mostly local, with some immigration 🌿
The great majority of Arab Muslims and Christians were long-established local families whose roots often went back many centuries.
Most came from:
local peasant villages (fellahin)
long-standing urban families in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Nablus, Hebron
descendants of populations that had lived there through Byzantine, Arab, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods
Was there Arab immigration too? 🚶
Yes, but smaller in scale:
some came from Egypt during the 19th century
some from Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan
labor migration increased during the British Mandate because the economy expanded
Important scale difference ⚖️
Historians generally agree:
Arab immigration existed, but did not account for the majority of the Arab population
Jewish population growth after 1882 was much more heavily driven by immigration
In simple terms 📌
Most Arabs were locally rooted
Some Jews were locally rooted
Most Jewish growth before 1948 came from immigration
That is why both peoples can point to real historical attachment — but the demographic growth patterns were very differen
Jews are indigenous to Israel. Arabs are not. “Palestine” was a Roman colonial name that “Palestinians” have no lineage to.
The inventor of “Palestinians” Arafat was born in Cairo, Egypt.
When you're a "Palestinian" named al Masri, "the Egyptian," or Maghrebi (North Africa) or al Husayni (Saudi Arabia) or Tikriti (Iraq) or Bushnak (Bosnia) —you're not native to Israel.
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. Population of “Palestine”: non-Arab Samaritans, Egyptians, Algerians, Afghans, non-Arab Bosnians, non-Arab Circassians, Persians, Sudanese, Turks, non-Arab Kurds, and others.
“The inhabitants are composed of a large number of elements differing widely in ethnological affinities, language, and religion. It may be interesting to mention, as an illustration of their heterogeneousness, that early in the 20th century a list of no less than fifty languages, spoken in Jerusalem as vernaculars, was there drawn up by a party of men whose various official positions enabled them to possess accurate information on the subject.”
“So far from being persecuted, the Arabs have crowded into the country and multiplied till their population has increased more than even all world Jewry could lift up the Jewish population." — Winston Churchill in 1938
“The Arab immigration since 1921 has vastly exceeded the total Jewish immigration during this whole period." — Franklin Roosevelt in 1939
🙄
.Lebanese-American scholar Franck Salameh: “Indeed, except among a few members of the Arabophone Christian educated elites of Beirut, Damascus, Haifa, and Jerusalem, there exist no Arabic-language documents from the first half of the twentieth century, no local Arabic press, no local Arabic literature, and no Arabic private or consular correspondence referring to the Holy Land as ‘Palestine’ or its Muslim inhabitants as ‘Palestinians.’”
“The term ‘Palestine’ itself is of Western (European, not Arab) provenance, and it refers to the Holy Lands from a modern Christian perspective, as a home for Christians and Jews, usurped by Arabs and Muslims in earlier times. Indeed, only twentieth-century Jews and Christians—imbued as they were in Western ideas and languages—referred to themselves as ‘Palestinians’ during the British Mandate period, with Muslims largely shunning the term and opting for earlier Ottoman labels—religious labels in the main.
And so it was only when the Jews of British Mandate Palestine relinquished the term ‘Palestinian’ in favor of ‘Israeli’—only then did Arabs and Muslims begin warming to the term ‘Palestinian,’ eventually espousing it as their new national moniker only in the mid-1960s.”
Palestine never existed. There are no Palestinians.
Not in your head, but that has nothing to do with reality.
This Iranian explains that Palestine never existed https://x.com/VividProwess/status/2039576058140184932?ct=rw-null
Abdullah al-Hadlaq, writer, Al-Watan, Kuwait: “When the state of Israel was established in 1948 there was no state called palestine. Where did we get that name which we have been defending? It didn’t exist.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoVgChX0kOo
This Arab Muslim explains that “Palestine” never existed…
https://www.tiktok.com/@iamkalkidan/video/7288625346046364936
Take Benny Morris with a large grain of salt.
Benny morris is a scholar.
Benny is not objective.
And you are?
My understanding is that he modified his views over time.
The PM of Syria was objective: He blamed Arabs for the expulsion of Arabs. But Benny didn’t tell you this.
Read Benny Morris after he changed his mind too. https://jcfa.org/article/exposing-how-post-zionists-manipulate-history/
Wasn't there also significant Arab migration INTO Israel during that period?
Yes, there was and there is some arab admixture in their genes, but they mostly maintained their indigenous genome. Just like Jews of Europe who mingled with European but maintained their levantine genome with some European admixture.
Cairo Geniza 1,000+ years of Jewish documents from 9th to 19th centuries.
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/discarded-history-exhibition-lifts-the-lid-on-1000-years-of-medieval-history
who cares. Just move forward, please. In peace, of course.
Haifa’s Jewish mayor and business leaders begged their communities to stay in ‘48, promising them safety. But their own leaders compelled them to leave. That was a poor choice.
You’re wrong about Palestinians.
https://archive.org/details/dr_---filastin-kharitah-map-of-palestine-mutbaeat-easkari-1337-13458000
You’re delusional that Israel can/should try to live in peace with those that are genocidal Jihadi Islamists…
Arabs are from Arabia.
Jews are from Judea & Samaria.
#AnInconvienentTruth
I wonder how many femtoseconds you & all of the other #UsefulIdiots would last living under Islamist Jihadist Sharia Law?!
Jihadists comprise a small section of Palestinian society just as the hilltop do. For obvious reasons Palestinians don’t like us but most don’t want to live under sharia law and those factions will not take control unless there is a complete breakdown of civilization such as existed under Hamas which was supported by Netanyahu.
There is no “Palestinian society.” Jews originally were designated as “Palestinians,” in British Mandate Palestine. It’s a made-up moniker. They’re just rebranded Arabs, Muslims, and anything else.
The word “Filastin” does not exist in any language.
Palestine did not exist in the Ottoman Empire. I already posted an administrative map.
You posted one Ottoman map; there are others that called it Palestine.
Abdullah al-Hadlaq, writer, Al-Watan, Kuwait: “When the state of Israel was established in 1948 there was no state called palestine. Where did we get that name which we have been defending? It didn’t exist.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoVgChX0kOo
Israel also didn't exist on any map for over 2,000 years. That doesn't mean the Jewish people don’t deserve a homeland and frankly the Bible that belongs to the jewish people is not a grant deed in the eyes of the rest of the world . You cannot suddenly appear after 2,000 a year absence and displace the families who have lived there for as many years. It's time to open a new chapter.
Thanks for sharing
The reason why this story resonates so much is that the majority of Jews in any western country would now think twice (or ten times) before admitting their Jewishness to the (very likely) Muslim cab driver. We want to believe that a conversation like this is possible. And at the same time, if we are honest with ourselves, we know that the chance of this is miniscule.
Terrible crimes have been committed by both sides in this conflict.
Terrible crimes are committed across the world. Yet it would be unthinkable in the west to vandalize a Syrian restaurant in, say, Toronto, because of a war in Syria that in only a couple of years far surpassed the death toll of the last 100 years of Israeli-Arab conflict. It would be unimaginable to discriminate against the Chinese diaspora for endless crimes committed in the PRC. No one would ever consider it reasonable to shoot up a Muslim school in Amsterdam because of the endless and very bloody conflict across the Sahel, driven by Islamic fundamentalists. No one shows up in an NYC neighbourhood with heavy Yemeni presence to yell at the Yemenis for having the world's biggest humanitarian crisis of the last ten years, due to them slaughtering each other in large numbers. No one drives through the Tutsi neighbourhood in London, demanding the rape of Tutsi women because of the conflict in the DRC. All of this happens to Jews living in the west and their synagogues, schools, business, homes, retirement and community centres every single day.
This is true although many Arabs have been assaulted as well. But your point is a good one and Jews are disproportionately blamed. Whatever the case, no one should be allowed to harm others in any way.
Nope. When Arabs and/or Muslims get some sort of backlash in western countries, it's never because of what happens in Pakistan, or the aforementioned Syria and Yemen, or Israel. It's always in retaliation for things that are done IN the west by Muslims (terrorism, grooming gangs, etc.) - and of course it's wrong, as any collective backlash. But ONLY JEWS are attacked for shit that has nothing to do with the countries where the attacks take place. That's the whole point of the explanation above.
Hate is hate no matter what excuse is used. Settler violence is as bad as any antisemitic attack.
Really missing the point here.
Loved this story, Hen. Keep talking. Keep telling the truth. Sharing conversations like this give me hope amid the madness.
Most days, I am not brave enough to feel hopeful. Reading this post reminded me what earned hope feels like. Thank you!
The importance of this encounter can’t be overlooked but is rather an example of how stories can be exchanged without the fear of being who or what you are. It’s as if he was extending not just an olive branch but regardless of the why’s or wherefores Ibrahim wanted you to know that he understood what your grandmother had gone through. It’s a beautiful story
What a beautiful story! Thank you for sharing it with us. God created ALL human beings in His Own Image and loves ALL human beings equally. It is through these personal interactions and relationships that we can show God's love to one another. I pray ALL people come to know the infinite love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 🙏
God didn’t create “Palestinians”: Arafat, an Egyptian, did that.
If you mean that the term “Palestinian” was conjured up by Yasser Arafat (possibly with the help of the Communist Russian government/KGB at the time), I agree with you on that point. However, it is still true that God created ALL human beings in His Own Image and sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross for ALL human beings to give every human being the opportunity to spend eternity in Heaven with Him rather than in Hell, which is what we all deserve. As Christians, we are called by Jesus Christ Himself to pray for our enemies and those who persecute us. That doesn't mean we should sit back and allow them to kill us if we can prevent it. We are allowed to defend ourselves, and we have a responsibility to defend others who cannot defend themselves. I am praying that ALL people come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. 🙏
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob didn’t create Islam.
This is perfect
As a Tunisian, I must say I totally agree. Thank you for dharing with such a beautiful and engaging style. I have learned a lot. I subscribed!
A rich and beautiful story. Nice to learn a bit more about you since I read a lot of your writing.
This is such a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing. Your paragraph -
"That Jewish displacement from Arab lands and Palestinian displacement from their homes are not competing tragedies to be ranked. They are one connected story of a region in the throes of colonialism, Nazism, and the upheaval of World War II."
Should be made into a flag.
Well, good thing he was in the 30% of Palestinians who don't say they feel religiously obligated to martyrdom in all situations. You're braver than me rolling the dice on that in the back of a locked car 😅
This piece is doing something rare and sadly, the comments section is the proof of how rare it is. :-(
You wrote about two people in a cab choosing connection over grievance. The comments section immediately chose grievance. Historical debate, pushback on whether Ibrahim's premise was valid, and some competition about whose grandmother had it worse, ignores everything your post saying.
I live for stories of connection and grace. They are the only light I see in this darkness. And so many people want to shout (sic) that light out.
I had a bit of a similar experience In Chicago. My elderly aunt had her driver pick up us to take us to a cousins' home. Even though this man had been driving her for some years, apparently this was the first time she thought to ask him where he is from. "I am from Palestine" he answered. I was in the back of the cab- my aunt in the front. In my mind I was like "Oh, I don't feel like this whole political conversation right now." She began talking to him- he said he was raised in Jordan but his parents were Palestinian, and I don't remember what exactly what he said that made me decide to speak up, but it was something very pro-America, and critical of the anti-West stance that permeates a lot of the ME." I asked where exactly his family is from. He said "Are you familiar with the country?" I answered "Yes, I'm from Jerusalem." His answer? "Oh, G-d bless you. You know what I am talking about!"
Beautiful. Sadly the younger generations are learning one side only— that Jews are colonizers. The grandmothers are dying out. People like Mohammed probably need to stay quiet if he doesn’t want a fatwah on his head. I still pray tho. Your story gives me hope.
How are there “Palestinians” when “Palestine” was a Roman name imposed on Jews and ancient Israel? Oh, that’s right: They’re invented.