Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 00:12:19 EDT
Subject: (no subject)
To: MARSHAMANN-AT-webtv.net, RETLL-AT-aol.com, donarl-AT-juno.com,


 Hi all -- this is written by an Arab-American
> > > journalist, Joseph Farah, who
> > > seems to be the lead man in the Internet-based
> > > conservative paper,
> > > WorldNetDaily.  This article is pretty amazing,
> > > given the author' s ethnic
> > > background.  Unfortunately, there aren't enough
> > > people out there who share
> > > Mr. Farah's views.
> > >
> > >  Other articles of sorts can be found at
> > > www.worldnetdaily.com.
> > >
> > >
> > >           Myths of the Middle East
> > >  ? 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
> > >
> > > I've been quiet since Israel erupted in fighting
> > > spurred by disputes over the
> > > Temple Mount. Until now, I haven't even bothered to
> > > say, "See, I told you
> > > so." But I can't resist any longer. I feel compelled
> > > to remind you of the
> > > column I wrote just a couple weeks before the latest
> > > uprising. Yeah, folks, I
> > > predicted it. That's OK. Hold your applause.  After
> > > all, I wish I had been
> > > wrong. More than 80 people have been killed since
> > > the current fighting in and
> > > around Jerusalem began. And for what?
> > >
> > > If you believe what you read in most news sources,
> > > Palestinians want a
> > > homeland and Muslims want control over sites they
> > > consider holy. Simple,
> > > right?  Well, as an Arab-American journalist who has
> > > spent some time in the
> > > Middle East dodging more than my share of rocks and
> > > mortar shells, I've got
> > > to tell you that these are just phony excuses for
> > > the rioting, trouble-making
> > > and land-grabbing.
> > >
> > > Isn't it interesting that prior to the 1967
> > > Arab-Israeli war, there was no
> > > serious movement for a Palestinian homeland?
> > >
> > > "Well, Farah," you might say, "that was before the
> > > Israelis seized the West
> > > Bank and Old Jerusalem." That's true. In the Six-Day
> > > War, Israel captured
> > > Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem. But they didn't
> > > capture these territories
> > > from Yasser Arafat. They captured them from Jordan's
> > > King Hussein. I can't
> > > help but wonder why all these Palestinians suddenly
> > > discovered their national
> > > identity after Israel won the war.
> > >
> > > The truth is that Palestine is no more real than
> > > Never-Never Land. The first
> > > time the name was used was in 70 A.D. when the
> > > Romans committed genocide
> > > against the Jews, smashed the Temple and declared
> > > the land of Israel would be
> > > no more. From then on, the Romans promised, it would
> > > be known as Palestine.
> > > The name was derived from the Philistines, a
> > > Goliathian people conquered by
> > > the Jews centuries earlier. It was a way for the
> > > Romans to add insult to
> > > injury. They also tried to change the name of
> > > Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina,
> > > but that had even less staying power.
> > >
> > > Palestine has never existed -- before or since -- as
> > > an autonomous entity. It
> > > was ruled alternately by Rome, by Islamic and
> > > Christian crusaders, by the
> > > Ottoman
> > > Empire and, briefly, by the British after World War
> > > I. The British agreed to
> > > restore at least part of the land to the Jewish
> > > people as their homeland.
> > >
> > > There is no language known as Palestinian. There is
> > > no distinct Palestinian
> > > culture. There has never been a land known as
> > > Palestine governed by
> > > Palestinians.
> > > Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from
> > > Jordanians (another recent
> > > invention), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc.
> > > Keep in mind that the Arabs control 99.9 percent of
> > > the Middle East lands.
> > > Israel represents one-tenth of 1 percent of the
> > > landmass. But that's too much
> > > for the Arabs. They want it all. And that is
> > > ultimately what the fighting in
> > > Israel is about today. Greed. Pride. Envy.
> > > Covetousness. No matter how many
> > > land concessions the Israelis make, it will never be
> > > enough.
> > >
> > > What about Islam's holy sites? There are none in
> > > Jerusalem.  Shocked? You
> > > should be. I don't expect you will ever hear this
> > > brutal truth from anyone
> > > else in the
> > > international media. It's just not politically
> > > correct.
> > >
> > > I know what you're going to say: "Farah, the Al Aqsa
> > > Mosque and the Dome of
> > > the Rock in Jerusalem represent Islam's third most
> > > holy sites." Not true. In
> > > fact, the Koran says nothing about Jerusalem. It
> > > mentions Mecca hundreds of
> > > times. It
> > > mentions Medina countless times. It never mentions
> > > Jerusalem. With good
> > > reason. There is no historical evidence to suggest
> > > Mohammad ever visited
> > > Jerusalem.
> > >
> > > So how did Jerusalem become the third holiest site
> > > of Islam? Muslims today
> > > cite a vague passage in the Koran, the seventeenth
> > > Sura, entitled "The Night
> > > Journey." It
> > > relates that in a dream or a vision Mohammed was
> > > carried by night "from the
> > > sacred temple to the temple that is most remote,
> > > whose precinct we have
> > > blessed, that we might show him our signs. ..." In
> > > the seventh century, some
> > > Muslims identified the two temples mentioned in this
> > > verse as being in Mecca
> > > and Jerusalem.  And that's as close as Islam's
> > > connection with Jerusalem gets
> > > -- myth, fantasy, wishful thinking.  Meanwhile, Jews
> > > can trace their roots in
> > > Jerusalem back to the days of Abraham.
> > >
> > > The latest round of violence in Israel erupted when
> > > Likud Party leader Ariel
> > > Sharon tried to visit the Temple Mount, the
> > > foundation of the Temple built by
> > > Solomon.
> > > It is the holiest site for Jews. Sharon and his
> > > entourage were met with
> > > stones and threats. I know what it's like. I've been
> > > there. Can you imagine
> > > what it is like for Jews
> > > to be threatened, stoned and physically kept out of
> > > the holiest site in
> > > Judaism?
> > >
> > > So what's the solution to the Middle East mayhem?
> > >
> > > Well, frankly, I don't think there is a man-made
> > > solution to the violence.
> > > But, if there is one, it needs to begin with truth.
> > > Pretending will only lead
> > > to more chaos. Treating a 5,000-year-old birthright
> > > backed by overwhelming
> > > historical and archaeological evidence equally with
> > > illegitimate claims,
> > > wishes and wants gives diplomacy and
> > > peacekeeping a bad name.
> > >
> > > A daily radio broadcast adaptation of Joseph Farah's
> > >                   commentaries can be heard on
> > > TalkNetDaily.
> > >
> > >
> > >

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