Article 53

By Dr. Bill Jones

Dr. Bill Jones was a beloved longtime teacher / writer with Zion’s Hope. This Legacy Feature, which first appeared in Zion’s Fire some years ago under the title “A Palestinian State: Fact or Fiction,” has been republished with modifications.
[Zion’s Fire] Editor’s Note: The Ancient Philistines, who inhabited a narrow swath of land along the Mediterranean Sea adjacent to Israel, likely migrated to the area known historically as Philistia, from the island of Crete and other islands of the Aegean Sea.
The “Palestinians” living in this region today trace their ancestry to Arab tribes from the Arabian Peninsula that settled in the area after the Arab conquest of the land in the 7th century A.D. Thus the “Palestinians” of today are not descendants of either the ancient Canaanites or Philistines.

What’s the Story?

The eyes of the world are often turned to the Middle East, Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount. We are told again and again of the great struggle for a homeland for a race of people known as “Palestinians.” They desire, we are told, the restoration of their homeland, usurped by the Israelis and the United Nations.

In addition, they are willing to conduct a “jihad” (holy war) to protect the sanctity of the third most sacred spot of Islam – the Temple Mount. All of this is presented to us on an almost daily basis as fact. But is it indeed factual, or have we been sold a “bill of goods”? An understanding of the historical background of everything involved will help us to put it all in perspective.

How it Began

The story begins in Genesis 17:19-21. God had promised that a son would be born to Abraham. Because of Sarah’s age, she did not believe she could bear a child. Following a custom of the people of that day, Abraham and Sarah agreed that a handmaid, Hagar, would give birth to the promised child.

Hagar did indeed have Abraham’s son and named him Ishmael. In Genesis 17, God informs Abraham that this is not the child He promised. Sarah would be the one to being forth Abraham’s heir, and his name would be Isaac.

The story resumes in Genesis 21:9-13. There is conflict between Hagar and Sarah, and their two sons Ishmael and Isaac. The conflict begins in Genesis, and it has continued down through the ages. The descendents of Isaac are the Jews. The descendents of Ishmael are the Arabs.

We are seeing the continuation of the conflict in our day. It will not be resolved until the King of`kings and Lord of lords comes back to establish His kingdom. What began in Genesis will culminate in Revelation.

Not Until 1967

I remember watching a television special on the Arab/Israeli problem. The commentator commented on how he could not understand why there was so much animosity between the two groups.

They had a common ancestor (Abraham), shared many cultural traditions, and according to him, worshipped the same God using different names (Jehovah and Allah). Given all this, the hatred between the two groups was incomprehensible to the reporter. I found myself shouting at the set, “Read your Bible!”

In Genesis 16, verse 12, the angel of the Lord said to Hagar, “And he [Ishmael] will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

We see the final fulfillment of this prophecy in many of the Islamic Arab people of today. But what of the claims that the “Palestinians” are only asking for the restoration of their ancient homeland and possession of a highly sacred religious site?

It is of great interest to note that before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war there was no serious push or demand for a Palestinian homeland. Some might object by saying that the Six-Day War gave control of a major portion of the “Palestinian land” to the Israelis – and that prior to the war the Palestinians were in possession of their land, and had no need to raise a furor.

However, the Israelis did not take this land from the late Palestinian chairman Yasser Arafat. They captured the territory from the Jordanians in a war they did not want and were forced to fight for national survival. Before the war, the people who now identify themselves as “Palestinians” lived in Jordanian territory, not “Palestinian land.” Consequently, they did not develop a nationalistic, pro-Palestinian fervor until after the war and the land was in the hands of the Israelis.

A Roman Offense

The first time the name “Palestine” was used for this land area was in A.D. 135. After Rome defeated the Jews and destroyed Jerusalem, they wanted to erase even the memory of Israel. They renamed it “Syria-Palestina,” which means “Land of the Philistines.”

The ancient Philistines occupied a small strip of land on the southwest coast of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea. They were a constant thorn in the side of the Jews, but they never controlled more than a tiny portion of the Land. Eventually, they were conquered by King David.

The so-called “Palestinians” of today are not descendants of the ancient Philistines. Neither are they of Canaanite descent.

The land of Canaan never existed as Palestine or as an autonomous entity. This land – between the river and the sea – has been ruled over by the Israelis, Romans, Muslim Caliphs, Christian Crusades, Ottoman Turks, and the British. There has never been a nation of Palestine with a Palestinian government at any period of history.

In fact, there is no Palestinian language, no distinct Palestinian culture, and there are no distinguishing characteristics. Palestinians are Arabs and are no different than Jordanians, Iraqis, Saudis, or any other Arab people.

Unsupported by the Koran

This fact raises another important issue. The Arab nations own 99.9% of all of the Middle East lands. Israel owns less than one-tenth of 1%. The entire state is about the size of Vermont. With tens of thousands of square miles of basically uninhabited Arab lands, why could not a “Palestinian” homeland be located there?

Because the basic issue is not a homeland: The basic issue is Israel. Even one-tenth of 1% of the total land mass is too much if the Jews live on it – according to the Arab mindset.

What about their holy sites? Surely the Palestinians could not walk away from their sacred places in Jerusalem, could they? The truth is, there are no genuinely sacred, Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem as the Arabs claim.

No doubt the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque – situated on the Temple Mount – immediately come to mind. No doubt you recall the hundreds of times you have heard or read that this is the third most holy site in Islam. The truth is the Koran – the sacred scriptures of Islam – says nothing about Jerusalem. Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia are referenced hundreds of times, but Jerusalem is never mentioned.

In fact – there is no historical evidence that Mohammed, the founder of Islam and author of the Koran, ever visited of set foot in Jerusalem. How, then, did these mosques come to be known as sacred?

The Dome of the Rock was built in A.D. 691. The Al Aqsa Mosque was built a few years later. There are several theories as to why the Dome of the Rock was built. The predominant one today is that it was built to commemorate Mohammed’s ascension to heaven to receive instruction from Allah concerning the prayers his followers were to perform.

However, it should be noted that there is no direct information about this in the Koran. History shows that the idea of Mohammed’s ascension from the Temple Mount arose hundreds of years after the Dome of the Rock was built.

This tradition is based on an interpretation of the Koran entitled “The Night Journey.” The 17th Sura states, “… from the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him our Signs …”

From that statement, some Muslims later deduced that the first Temple was in Mecca, and the second one was in Jerusalem. This is the closest the Muslims can get to claiming Jerusalem as a holy city and the Temple Mount as a sacred spot.

History records that in A.D. 638 the Caliph Omar conquered and entered Jerusalem. He went straight to the Temple Mount to honor the location of the Temple of Solomon. The site of the “Holy Rock” was highly esteemed by the earliest Muslim leaders because it was the site of the Temple, not because it held Islamic religious significance.

In the same chapter of the Koran quoted above, under the title of “The Night Journey,” we also find the following statements:

  • “Pharaoh sought to scare them [the Israelites] out of the land: but We [Allah] drowned him together with all who were with him. Then We said to the Israelites: ‘Dwell in this land [Israel].’ When the promise of the hereafter [End of Days] comes to be fulfilled, We shall assemble you [Israelites] all together [in The Land of Israel].”

Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi, an eminently qualified scholar on Islam and the Koran, states:

  • “God wanted to give Avrabam [Abraham] a double blessing, through Ishmael and through Isaac, and ordered that Ishmael’s descendants should live in the desert of Arabia and Isaac’s in Canaan. The Koran recognized the Land of Israel as the heritage of the Jews and it explains that, before the Last Judgment, Jews will return to dwell there. This prophecy has already been fulfilled.”

Positive Muslim-Jewish Relations

In summary, the claim of the Palestinians of sovereignty over Jerusalem on the basis of being a holy place is an empty claim. To make such a claim is actually a rejection of the clear teaching of the Koran and Islam. Professor Palazzi comments further: “Anti-Jewish sentiments expressed by Islamic leaders throughout the Middle East are, in fact, not religious in nature, but rather, political. The best proof of this is in the fact that Islamic anti-Judaism is quite recent.”

He then recounts how Omar, the first Muslim Caliph (ruler) to enter Jerusalem, ended the Roman ban that prevented the Jews from entering Jerusalem. Other Caliphs built synagogues for the Jews. One of the greatest conquerors was Saladin. After destroying the Christian Crusaders, he sent letters to the Jewish leaders, proclaiming, “Your exile is over. Whoever wants to come back is welcome.”

The professor’s point is that the early Muslims had no prejudice against the Jews. He continues this point by stating: “The late King Faysal of Iraq openly expressed his sympathy for the Zionist movement, while King Abdullah of Jordan was [reluctantly] compelled to wage war against Israel by the other Arab leaders [as was his son King Hussein].”

Changing the Story

In the early 2000s, the Muslim law of Waqf began to alter the story. The Jerusalem Islamic Waqf is an Islamic religious trust (sometimes called an “Islamic Religious Endowments” organization) best known for controlling and managing the current Islamic edifices on and around the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

This Waqf has proclaimed that the Western Wall (Kotel) is not a Jewish shrine, but rather, the wall to which the Prophet’s [steed] was tethered, or at best, the wall surrounding the Muslim Mosque. The Waqf has also stated that all of Hebron – the city of Jewish patriarchs – should be turned over to the Resident Arab [“Palestinian”] Authority, and that Jews would be forbidden to pray there in the Cave of the Patriarchs.

These kinds of declarations are ridiculous and absurd.

The Kotel (Western Wall) was effectively – according to the Islamic tradition – the place where al-Buraq (the Prophet’s steed) was tethered, but it was already an existing part of the 1st century Herodian structure. Muslims have never prayed close to it, and it has never had a special relevance in Islam. On the contrary, the Western Wall is crucially important to Jewish worshippers as it is the closest point of access for Jews today to their ancient Temple, and specifically to the Holy of Holies.

Apart from Mecca, no Islamic holy place is off-limits for non-Muslims. Historical sources say that the Prophet Mohammed entertained a delegation of Catholics from Najran in the Mosque of Medina, and permitted them to celebrate a mass inside the Mosque, notwithstanding the fact that Christian rites can include words that are against Islam [such as stated that Jesus is God].

There is nothing in Islamic Law that prevents Jews from praying on Haram al-Sharif/Har Habayyit (the Temple Mount), at the Cave of Machpela in Hebron, or in any other place that is regarded as holy by Muslims.

The most telling statement Professor Palazzi makes may be this: “Anti-Jewish sentiments expressed by Islamic leaders throughout the Middle East are, in fact, not religious in nature, but rather, political.”

In fairness, it must be noted that Professor Palazzi is very pro-Islam and pro-Arab. What he is against is Palestinian terrorism and the use of Islam as an excuse for anti-Semitism.

Whether or not the situation in Israel will improve in the short term, we do not know. The one thing that is essential is truth, but there is so much being propagated today that is myth, misconception, and misunderstanding.

God’s people need to be informed and knowledgeable about the issues of our day, as they pray intelligently and fervently for the peace of Jerusalem.