A three-hundred year old book has been found with a census (of some kind) of old Palestine, the Holy Land.
You can read it (in Latin and Greek) on Google Books, or at Archive.org.
The author, Adriaan Reland, either went to the Middle East himself, or stayed home in the Netherlands, depending on where you read about him.
I can't find the translation, but another blogger says he stumbled onto the book in a bookstore, and it verifies the claim that there were extremely few Arabs in Palestine in 1695.
Also, not one place-name in Israel is linguistically Arabic, and there was no Palestinian people or nation.
I wish I could read Latin.
Here, read the blog yourself.
Update: Apparently nobody has actually read the book. I find that this makes me very skeptical.
Showing posts with label Palestine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palestine. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
85,000 Videos Released. Some of the Best. Must See.
British Pathé released 85,000 old newsreels to YouTube. Bloggers and researchers have gone through the list as best they can and here are some about Israel/Palestine in the 20th century on the ElderOfZiyon blog. Truly great stuff.
If you go through the few selected videos, you'll notice the tiny size of the prayer area in front of the Western Wall (called "Wailing Wall" in the newsreel). It's since been fixed.
Perhaps the most significant (so far) is this video, "Arabs Declare Holy War":
"Two states are being born", the narrator intones. If only he knew.
At the opposite end of the importance scale, the filmmakers realize the only thing that shows up clearly on film are the various hats:
I watched a bunch of the films. The silent films taught me something: You can't tell which side is which without either a narrator or clearly marked hats. You can't even tell which war, which continent, or which year. There is no way to tell aggressor from defender, winner from loser. You can tell forest from desert.
For talking films, the strongest effect of the visual is to make the sound of the narrator authentic and believable. You think you're seeing what is being said. Sometimes you are, sometimes you aren't.
American Dr. Ralph Bunch, UN mediator, tells us "The war is over in Palestine", proving the effectiveness of the United Nations. A lot of wisdom in 19 seconds:
A lot of wisdom, that is, if you can read between the lines.
If you go through the few selected videos, you'll notice the tiny size of the prayer area in front of the Western Wall (called "Wailing Wall" in the newsreel). It's since been fixed.
Perhaps the most significant (so far) is this video, "Arabs Declare Holy War":
"Two states are being born", the narrator intones. If only he knew.
At the opposite end of the importance scale, the filmmakers realize the only thing that shows up clearly on film are the various hats:
I watched a bunch of the films. The silent films taught me something: You can't tell which side is which without either a narrator or clearly marked hats. You can't even tell which war, which continent, or which year. There is no way to tell aggressor from defender, winner from loser. You can tell forest from desert.
For talking films, the strongest effect of the visual is to make the sound of the narrator authentic and believable. You think you're seeing what is being said. Sometimes you are, sometimes you aren't.
American Dr. Ralph Bunch, UN mediator, tells us "The war is over in Palestine", proving the effectiveness of the United Nations. A lot of wisdom in 19 seconds:
A lot of wisdom, that is, if you can read between the lines.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Peace Talks Circling the Drain — Flushed?
To the surprise of nobody, the Peace Process is lost at sea, somewhere near that Malaysian airliner.
There was a plot twist at the end, though. Netanyahu the Likudnik was putting pressure on Mahmoud Abbas to extend the peace talks. I don't know anybody who predicted this. So maybe the Arabs do have the upper hand at this point. We'll have to watch and see.
Abbas himself just turned 79 last week. How many more years will he be running the PA? And who's next?
The PA itself is apparently gone, though. They've replaced it with a new Arab "State of Palestine". The current agreements, are only between Israel and the PLO. Abbas is also head of the PLO. Will the PLO be dissolved too?
Abbas and the new fake Palestine will get all kinds of lovely paperwork from the UN, and they'll display it proudly and have high-level announcements, and meetings. And then... What? A big strawberry from the Israelis.
The rubber hits the road when Abbas starts importing weapons 'Legally', probably into Gaza. Israel will stop it. Then what? War? More likely, Abbas will set up mutual defense treaties with a number of states that are already at war with Israel. This could include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria (ha!), and probably Iraq. I foresee longer speeches.
They're also threatening to tie up Israel in the ICC. At worst they can prevent some Israeli leaders from travelling to some parts of the world where they don't want to go anyway. Britain and the US aren't likely to go along.
Maybe somebody will disband the UNRWA and make the new Palestine take in all the descendents of the refugees. A fine kettle of fish for Abbas then. He'll probably retire the next day.
Maybe that's it! Netanyahu could have been planning this from the beginning. Once there is a state of "Palestine", there's no excuse for having all those refugees. Heck, Lebanon could just get rid of their problem by demanding the people in the UN camps be repatriated. Let's keep this idea our secret for a while, until after Abbas has joined those 15 UN organizations.
If the new Palestine announces its intent to liberate the rest of Israel for the Arabs, I think it would be a declaration of war. That plus a few rockets coming from Gaza might be enough to start the real thing. But even the Big War in Europe started with a phony war for nearly a year.
On the other hand, Israel could ask for a do-over. Israeli diplomats have just ended a strike and Israel hasn't been playing with a full team.
This whole thing could spiral out of control. Or just be intercontinental flatulence.
There was a plot twist at the end, though. Netanyahu the Likudnik was putting pressure on Mahmoud Abbas to extend the peace talks. I don't know anybody who predicted this. So maybe the Arabs do have the upper hand at this point. We'll have to watch and see.
Abbas himself just turned 79 last week. How many more years will he be running the PA? And who's next?
The PA itself is apparently gone, though. They've replaced it with a new Arab "State of Palestine". The current agreements, are only between Israel and the PLO. Abbas is also head of the PLO. Will the PLO be dissolved too?
Abbas and the new fake Palestine will get all kinds of lovely paperwork from the UN, and they'll display it proudly and have high-level announcements, and meetings. And then... What? A big strawberry from the Israelis.
The rubber hits the road when Abbas starts importing weapons 'Legally', probably into Gaza. Israel will stop it. Then what? War? More likely, Abbas will set up mutual defense treaties with a number of states that are already at war with Israel. This could include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria (ha!), and probably Iraq. I foresee longer speeches.
They're also threatening to tie up Israel in the ICC. At worst they can prevent some Israeli leaders from travelling to some parts of the world where they don't want to go anyway. Britain and the US aren't likely to go along.
Maybe somebody will disband the UNRWA and make the new Palestine take in all the descendents of the refugees. A fine kettle of fish for Abbas then. He'll probably retire the next day.
Maybe that's it! Netanyahu could have been planning this from the beginning. Once there is a state of "Palestine", there's no excuse for having all those refugees. Heck, Lebanon could just get rid of their problem by demanding the people in the UN camps be repatriated. Let's keep this idea our secret for a while, until after Abbas has joined those 15 UN organizations.
If the new Palestine announces its intent to liberate the rest of Israel for the Arabs, I think it would be a declaration of war. That plus a few rockets coming from Gaza might be enough to start the real thing. But even the Big War in Europe started with a phony war for nearly a year.
On the other hand, Israel could ask for a do-over. Israeli diplomats have just ended a strike and Israel hasn't been playing with a full team.
This whole thing could spiral out of control. Or just be intercontinental flatulence.
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