Arab Semite

More doubts it seems on the historical events of Masada, which Israeli propagandists have used as a rallying cry for Zionism. One quote: The original archaeologists at the site, Zias said, "had the story and went around trying to find the proof." No concrete evidence for the Zealot suicide has been found, he said. Sound familiar? Go ahead and read the article here .

NYTimes has a story interviewing Dr. Zahi Hawass, archeologist with the Egypt antiquities authority. Among new discoveries in the Sinai, he refutes any evidence for Jewish migration toward Palestine across the Sinai. The journalist makes some annoying assertions like: He was saved by the pharaoh’s daughter, raised in the royal court, discovered his Jewish roots and, with divine help, led the Jewish people to freedom. Then a good admission: But archaeologists who have worked here have never turned up evidence to support the account in the Bible, and there is only one archaeological find that even suggests the Jews were ever in Egypt. And finally my favorite quote by Dr. Hawass: “If they get upset, I don’t care,” Dr. Hawass said. “This is my career as an archaeologist. I should tell them the truth. If the people are upset, that is not my problem.”

The typical Zionist bias against other Semites is shown in this article, although the discovery is still important. The Arabs came with no knowledge of the sea, and drafted craftsmen, sailors and shipbuilders from the local population," Drori said. Did the Arabs of coastal Arabia and Yemen and the gulf region not ever go fishing? But perhaps Drori is simply stating the obvious, that the Palestinian inhabitants at that time, coastal dwellers of Palestine and descendents of Canaanites had significant seafaring experience. Link to Discovery article.

Israel has quite deliberately destroyed the 800 year old An-Nasr Mosque in Beit Hanoun, Gaza province of Palestine. The mosque was built in year 637 AH and named after the Umm An-Nasr battle between Palestinian and Muslim armies and Crusaders' armies. Destruction of places of warship is a war crime defined under the Geneva Conventions.

It’s been a while since i’ve been able to update. The usual excuses. A few stories of importance or at least excitement recently. Giant Camel bones found in Syria , estimated to be 100,000 years old. These guys were as big as giraffes or elephants. It seems the animals were mostly hunted for food rather than used as transportation. And seperately, at the lovely Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, a talk on November 5th with the following abstract. The Israeli Antiquities Authority has a history of excluding, and even destroying non "Israelite" archaeological finds in Palestine. This find by the IAA bolsters evidence that the majority of civilizational activity in Palestine in the 9th century BC and beyond were in the coastal regions where the indigenous Canaanite population has always lived, and continue to today as modern Palestinians. "Yavneh, a city some 20 km south of Tel Aviv, was a Philistine city on the border with Judah. It was occupied for numerous...

From Kahlil Gibran: Published July 1926. I believe in you, and I believe in your destiny. I believe that you are contributors to this new civilization. I believe that you have inherited from your forefathers an ancient dream, a song, a prophecy, which you can proudly lay as a gift of gratitude upon the lap of America. I believe that you can say to the founders of this great nation, "Here I am, a youth, a young tree whose roots were plucked from the hills of Lebanon, yet I am deeply rooted here, and I would be fruitful." And I believe that you can say to Abraham Lincoln, the blessed, "Jesus of Nazareth touched your lips when you spoke, and guided your hand when you wrote; and I shall uphold all that you have said and all that you have written." I believe that even as your fathers came to this land to produce riches, you were born to produce riches by intelligence and labor. I believe that it is in you to be good citizens. And what is it to be a good citizen? ...

Thanks to Google Books, I found some at least entertaining travelogues of Palestine from times bygone. Just in case we needed a reminder of the trouble orientalism had caused: "Just outside the town, under a clump of tamarisk-trees sat a group of dirty-looking Arabs, in pictureque rags. As we passed, they rose from their stony seats, and advanced toward us, holding out little tin cups for alms." (Pg 32, Domestic Life in Palestine, Pub. 1865). Still, they're quaint and sad reads into a country that once was and will be again.