From time immemorial
From time immemorial
One of the nice things about the blogosphere is that occasionally there's someone who takes the initiative to do his/her own original research. Elder of Ziyon has taken such a step; and gone to the archives of the Palestine Post and other newspapers to get a sense of when the term "Palestinian" started to refer Arabs alone.
His conclusion:
So while the word Palestinian as referring to Arabs who lived in the area does seem to predate the 1964 establishment of the PLO, it is not by much - and it seems pretty clear that the impetus towards the establishment of the PLO came from Egypt and other Arab states, not from the Palestinian Arabs themselves.
I don't think I'm spoiling a surprise here, because reading the excerpts he has provided is enlightening and well worth the read.
Elder of Ziyon goes back to the archives this week to show the historical aversion of Arabs to allow Jews to own land in Israel, "
The More Things Change":
I have long held that there is a common denominator in the Arab side of the Israel-Arab conflict: the fact that Arabs do not want Jews to own land in the Middle East.
It is not that they don't want any Jews there, because historically there have been Jews in Arab lands. It is simply that they cannot abide Jews owning land in the area, no matter how legally it is acquired. I believe this is because the Arab Muslim psyche is so heavily invested in the idea that Jews are weak dhimmis, as they acted this way for centuries, and this was some sort of validation of the supremacy of Islam.
He backs this up with a clipping from 1939.
It's worth mentioning that in the Post Oslo years the Palestine Legislative Council passed a law making it "high treason" for a Palestinian to sell land to a Jew. This law was once on the website of the PLC, but that website is no longer complete. To the best of my knowledge it has never been repealed. In the Sept 1999 issue of the Middle East Quarterly,
Carol Greenwald writes:
The PA passed legislation in 1998 making Israeli ownership of Palestinian real estate a "harm to national security" that constitutes a "crime of high treason" punishable by death. 33 The murders of five Palestinian land dealers who sold property to Israelis indicated that the Palestinian Authority was not simply using rhetoric.
IIRC the moderate who was implicating in ordering the deaths of the real estate agents was Tawfiq Tirawi.
Crossposted in
Israpundit and
Soccer Dad.
Posted by David Gerstman at May 23, 2005 06:45 AM
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One of the nice things about the blogosphere is that occasionally there's someone who takes the initiative to do his/her own original research. Elder of Ziyon has taken such a step; and gone to the archives of the Palestine Post... [Read More]
Tracked on May 23, 2005 06:50 AM
From time immemorial
One of the nice things about the blogosphere is that occasionally there's someone who takes the initiative to do his/her own original research. Elder of Ziyon has taken such a step; and gone to the archives of the Palestine Post and other newspapers to get a sense of when the term "Palestinian" started to refer Arabs alone.
His conclusion:
I don't think I'm spoiling a surprise here, because reading the excerpts he has provided is enlightening and well worth the read.Elder of Ziyon goes back to the archives this week to show the historical aversion of Arabs to allow Jews to own land in Israel, "The More Things Change": He backs this up with a clipping from 1939.
It's worth mentioning that in the Post Oslo years the Palestine Legislative Council passed a law making it "high treason" for a Palestinian to sell land to a Jew. This law was once on the website of the PLC, but that website is no longer complete. To the best of my knowledge it has never been repealed. In the Sept 1999 issue of the Middle East Quarterly, Carol Greenwald writes: IIRC the moderate who was implicating in ordering the deaths of the real estate agents was Tawfiq Tirawi.
Crossposted in Israpundit and Soccer Dad.
Posted by David Gerstman at May 23, 2005 06:45 AM