They seem to think that Palestine was once an autonomous Arab state, which of course it never was.
And to "prove" it, as we've seen on this blog from time to time, they've offered a jumble of exhibits, ranging from maps with "Palestine" printed on them to coins and stamps issued by the Mandate authority to advertisements for Mandate-era "Palestinian Airways" to travel posters, newspapers and the orchestra of the Yishuv to photos of the pre-war Palestinian soccer team (another Yishuv initiative, composed of, er, Jews).
Now, some of the Israel-hating brigade are over the windmill, having discovered that French writer Alphonse ("Lettres de mon moulin") Daudet mentioned "Palestine" as long ago as – mon dieu! – 1869!
And they of course have been keen to share this fabulous Zionist myth-busting find with others.
Here, for instance, is just one of the "shares" currently doing the rounds on social media:
Well, that "little nugget" sure ain't gold.
Somebody's been "seeing queer things" alright, and it's not only the person in Daudet's story.
When will the dunderheads and dupes of the anti-Israel movement realise that Israel's "propagandists" are not denying that the existence of a place dubbed "Palestine".
They are denying the historical existence of Palestine as an autonomous entity.
They are pointing out that the Roman conquerors renamed Judea "Palestine" as a deliberate measure to undermine Jewish ties with that land.
And they are now pointing out that, when Daudet was writing, Palestine indeed existed, and existed as it had been for hundreds of years, a backward province of the Ottoman Empire.
Once again, anti-Israel propagandists have proved only the validity of the old adage "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing".
The Sahara desert has been so named for centuries. There are even references to Saharan peoples. There has never been a Saharan nation. The reference to "Saharan peoples" simply designated people who lived in a certain region.
ReplyDeleteThose who live in the Levant are referred to as Levantines. Again, it's a regional designation, not a national one. Ever been to Appalachia or the Outback? Regions, not nations.
L. King
As if anyone is denying that there was a province called Syria-Palestine, administered from Damascus, part of the Ottoman Empire.
ReplyDeleteYou have to love these little anti-Semitic lab rats, who press tweet every time they see a reference to "palestine" (eg the 1939 soccer match in Oz), they need to be deprogrammed from their cult of hate and lies.
Maybe they should look into Relandi's book from 1695!
A Tour and Census of Palestine Year 1695: No sign of Arabian names or “Palestinians”
Pity it demolishes their narrative of a Arab/Muslim independent state with of course no Jews.