To the editors:
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The “Palestinians” are the indigenous population of the Land of Israel. Archaeology testifies that the Jews preceded them by many centuries. When the Romans conquered the country and renamed it “Palestine” they found only Jews. The first Arabs, who originated in Saudi Arabia, didn’t arrive until the great Muslim conquests of the seventh century. Indeed, the bulk of those who today call themselves “Palestinians” are descended from people who migrated to the country after 1840. Even their family names testify to this: one of the most common ones is Masri or al-Masri, meaning Egyptian. As the Jews had two kingdoms there and maintained a continuous presence in the country except for a brief period during the Crusaders’ massacres, they and not the Arabs are the indigenous ones.
The “Palestinians” are descendants of the biblical Canaanites and Philistines. There is not a shred of evidence for this claim. Indeed, the Arabs who now call themselves “Palestinians” didn’t even start to do so until well after the State of Israel was established. Before 1948, they called themselves “Arabs” and it was the Jews who called themselves Palestinians.
