Israel Palestine: Who’s Indigenous?

This is the first post by a new Israellycool contributor, Ryan Bellerose. He has been known to Israellycool for a while and we’re delighted to publish this important essay here.

I am a Métis from Paddle Prairie Metis settlement. My father, Mervin Bellerose, co-authored the Métis Settlements Act of 1989, which was passed by the Alberta legislature in 1990 and cemented our land rights. I founded Canadians For Accountability, a native rights advocacy group, and I am an organizer and participant in the Idle No More movement in Calgary. And I am a Zionist.

Indigenous status

To begin, let us acknowledge that there is no rule that a land can have only one indigenous people; it is not a zero sum game in which one group must be considered indigenous so that therefore another is not. However, there is a very clear guideline to being an indigenous people. It is somewhat complex but can be boiled down to the checklist below, as developed by anthropologist José R. Martínez-Cobo (former special rapporteur of the Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities for the United Nations).

This list was developed because indigenous rights are beginning to be respected across the planet. This recognition is incredibly important, so we as indigenous people cannot allow non-indigenous people to make false claims, which ultimately would harm our own rights. Israel is the world’s first modern indigenous state: the creation and declaration of the sovereign nation of Israel marks the first time in history that an indigenous people has managed to regain control of its ancestral lands and build a nation state. As such, this is incredibly important for indigenous people both to recognise and to support as a great example for our peoples to emulate.

The actual working definition of “indigenous people,” (not the Wikipedia version, nor Merriam Webster, both more suited to plants and animals) for purposes of this essay is that developed by aforementioned anthropologist José R. Martínez-Cobo. With this as my foundation, I will detail why Jews are indigenous to Israel, and why Palestinians are not.

Martinez-Cobo’s research suggests that indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing on those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal system.

This historical continuity may consist of the continuation, for an extended period reaching into the present of one or more of the following factors:

  • Occupation of ancestral lands, or at least of part of them
  • Common ancestry with the original occupants of these lands
  • Culture in general, or in specific manifestations (such as religion, living under a tribal system, membership of an indigenous community, dress, means of livelihood, lifestyle, etc.)
  • Language (whether used as the only language, as mother-tongue, as the habitual means of communication at home or in the family, or as the main, preferred, habitual, general or normal language)
  • Residence in certain parts of the country, or in certain regions of the world
  • Religion that places importance on spiritual ties to the ancestral lands
  • Blood quantum – that is, the amount of blood you carry of a specific people to identify as that people. The concept was developed by colonialists in order to eventually breed out native peoples.

Let us now look quickly at the Jews. How do they fit this definition?

  • Their lands were occupied, first by the Romans, then by the Arabs in the seventh century.
  • They share common ancestry with previous occupants as determined by several genetic studies.
  • Their culture can be traced directly to the Levant, where it developed into what is now known as “Jewish culture.” While different Jewish communities have slightly different traditions, they all share the same root culture, and it remains unchanged. They have resurrected their traditional language, and while many still speak Yiddish and Ladino, Hebrew has become the primary language again.
  • They have spiritual ties to the land, which plays a large role in their traditions as a people.

Despite all the arguments about “European” Jews, they in fact meet all the criteria set forth by Martínez-Cobo. Even though Israel is the first modern indigenous state, it still has lands that are occupied by foreigners in Judea and Samaria. Those are ancestral lands and, many feel that they should be returned to the indigenous peoples for self-determination.

Now, for the flip side.

Palestinians have what are called “ rights of longstanding presence;” and although these are legitimate rights, they do not trump indigenous rights. The very nature of “longstanding presence” means that although they lived somewhere a long time, they do not have the right to occupy indigenous peoples and control them.

The argument that Palestinians are indigenous is incorrect for several reasons.

  • Approximately 50% percent of Palestinian Arabs can track their ancestors back farther than their great-grandparents. Many are descended from Arabs brought to the Levant by the British to build infrastructure after World War I.
  • The vast majority of Palestinians are Arabic speaking Muslims; the Arabic language is indigenous to the Arabian Peninsula, as is the Muslim religion. The Muslim religion’s holiest places are not in the Levant, but in the city of Mecca, located in the Arabian Peninsula. They have no specifically Palestinian culture that is completely Palestinian dating before the 1960s; in fact, prior to that, the majority identified as “greater Syrians.”
  • Some Palestinians share common ancestry with indigenous peoples, but they neither follow indigenous traditions nor do they self-identify as those indigenous peoples. They share neither religion nor language with them. Blood quantum alone is insufficient to transmit indigenous status.
  • The Arabs of the Middle East subsumed several indigenous populations, but no group can become indigenous through subsuming indigenous peoples. Rather, they conquered the entire region and spread their own language, customs, and religion. This is historical fact.

Now you might ask, why is this important? It is important to indigenous people because we cannot allow the argument that conquerors can become indigenous. If we, as other indigenous people, allow that argument to be made, then we are delegitimising our own rights.

If conquerors can become indigenous, then the white Europeans who came to my indigenous lands in North America could now claim to be indigenous. The white Europeans who went to Australia and New Zealand could now claim to be indigenous. If we, even once, allow that argument to be made, indigenous rights are suddenly devalued and meaningless. This is somewhat peculiar, as those who are arguing for Palestinian “indigenous rights” are usually those who have little grasp of the history, and no understanding of the truth behind indigenous rights.

If you should encounter the argument that conquerors may themselves become indigenous to a region by virtue of conquering, direct those who assert the argument to this article, and help them understand not only is the argument wrong – it is dangerous to Indigenous people everywhere.

whats another word for Israeli indigenous
What’s another word for “Israeli’? – Indigenous. Poster by: Philippe Assouline

98 thoughts on “Israel Palestine: Who’s Indigenous?”

  1. Sources are needed. “50% of Palestinians can trace their ancestors to… ” – source? We can’t convince people who are on the fence just based on our word.

    1. PW Virginia USA

      I looked up census figures from 1920 and 1930…they clearly show that the growth of Arab populations could only come from immigration and not natural growth

  2. While there are some historical inaccuracies in the post (see below), the idea is original and compelling, and should be embraced.

    * “Their lands were occupied, first by the Romans, then by the Arabs in the seventh century.” The Land of Israel was occupied by many more, though indeed the Romans and Arabs are the most important to the argument.
    * “it still has lands that are occupied by foreigners in Judea and Samaria.” depending on where in history one looks, arguments can be made for Lands on the East bank of the Jordan river, as well as on the Golan.
    * “Approximately 50% percent of Palestinian Arabs can track their ancestors back farther than their great-grandparents.” this is probably a typo and the _can_ should have been _cannot_
    * “but in the city of Mecca” should be but in the cities of Mecca and Medina (with Jerusalem a later invention as a holy place subsequent to intra-Islamic political struggles).
    * “prior to that, the majority identified as “greater Syrians.”” should read “prior to that, the majority identified as just “Arabs.” and were offended to be called Palestinians.”

    1. Most of your points are well taken. I don’t think they change the thrust of Ryan’s article and I feel its important to see his approach as a non-Israel expert. The broader historical point is well made and that the deliberate inversion of Arab and Jew to make the Arab the indigenous people is the issue.

    2. Ron, while I agree from the perspective of presenting an argument “Approximately 50% percent of Palestinian Arabs cannot track… ” is stronger than “Approximately 50% percent of Palestinian Arabs can track…” from a factual perspective it’s pretty much the same, since 100 – 50 = 50

      🙂

    3. I wasn’t writing a novel ron, and in point of fact I needed to simplify this for the readers who have not studied the history. the article would be quite ponderous if I included every occupation and revolt in the levant. I did not say that the lands in Judeah and Samaria were the only occupied lands, so im not sure how thats an inaccuracy so much as a non essential point. The city of Mecca is the primary holy site which was my point, I wasn’t going to list all of Islams holy sites because then someone would have asked me “why not jerusalem, when everyone knows Jerusalem was added later on and isnt considered to be as important. as for the “greater Syrians” quote, thats actually straight from an Arab source.

      I am ok with criticism, but I am Metis, my area of study in school wasn’t Middle eastern history I have largely self educated.

      either way feel free to write an article with similiar points, the crux of the article is that the palestinians are pushing a false Narrative. and I haven’t seen too many non jews call them out for doing so.
      regards
      Ryan

      1. Islam generates holy sites at will. One day, probably soon, there will be Mosques in Paris, London and Rome designated the 4th, 5th & 6th holiest sites in Islam. It’s just their method of operation.

        Look at the beautiful Church of St Sophia in Constantinople. Oh wait, it’s not a Church any more. And it’s not Constantinople any more. They made a huge mistake not managing to rename Jerusalem properly. I think we should change the English spelling now though: Jewrusalem.

  3. Very compelling argument with world wide applications. I do agree with Ron corrections. If you look at old painting of the holy land it is very clear that the Arab increase in numbers due the British who start developing the are plus the early, new Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe who start building new villages and needed labor. The word was out and many Arabs move to the land of Israel because that where the work/money was. The Turks who occupied the area for 400 prior to the Brit did very very little in land developing or other source of income.

    1. In parts of Islam-conquered areas of the Middle East, the concept of the wheel disappeared. No one even had carts. Kafirs learned to own nothing a Muslim could take.

      Meanwhile, in Egypt, Copts (the word meant “Egyptian”) survived the same way oppressed Jews in Europe did: by education, literacy and business acumen.Keeping a low profile Today in Egypt Copts own telecommunications while Muslims stand in line for bread. When there is bread.

      Prior to the Arab pirates of the 7th and 8th centuries, Egypt was the breadbasket of the Mediterranean. Arab sheepherders allowed their flocks to destroy hundreds of years of careful cultivation along the Nile. Papyrus disappeared and so did literacy in the Med. Islam makes its followers memorize because they’re illiterate.

      If they can’t shoot with it, blow stuff up, or otherwise destroy, Arabs aren’t interested. Look at what they’ve done with all their oil wealth. The non-Israel Middle East will never ever manage a Nobel science prize and they don’t care.

      Indigenous is fine, but how about some consideration for what a people does with natural resources? Jews took a miserable desert and made it a garden. Now the envious want the garden back, though when given all those greenhouses, they ripped them apart to make better weapons.

  4. This article is fraudulent. Accepted mainstream histories of the Jewish people – including those in Israel’s own universities – clearly state that 90% of all Jews alive today are descendants of the Khazar people of Central Asia, who emigrated to central Europe.

    Genetic testing shows the Palestinians to be a close genetic match to the Judeans of ancient Israel, and Israalies to be Khazar-European. Only sephardic Jews carry a similar level of Judean genetic markers as Palestinians do.

    You cannot argue with the reality of these scientific and historic facts. 90% of Israelis are not Jewish by matrinlineal blood. And frankly, international law does not care if you believe a religious book promised you a certain piece of land.

    The sad thing is, none of you will bother to check anything I have said. Logic and facts mean nothing to Zionists. Zionists are born into lies, and live by lies. Zionists are a disgrace to Judaeism.

    1. This has been debunked so many times. You are pushing a myth. The Holy Land is full of Jewish sites
      and archaeology.

    2. This is such a stupid thing to say, that 90% of the Jews are descendants from the Khazar people. And which Israeli university claims this stupidity?
      Years ago I took courses in Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Do you want to say that since then history has changed?

      And you know what is really sad? That you believe such nonsense!

      90% of the Israeli’s are not Jewish through their mother. Now, for me everybody who has the Israeli nationality is an Israeli. Since about 20% of the Israeli population is Arabic, it is correct to state that they are not Jewish. Of the remaining 80%, there is a certain percentage which is not Jewish and does not claim to be Jewish (for example partners of Jewish residents). It appears that you just like the number 90. 90% of this and 90% of that. I’ll tell you something: you are 90% wrong. (And I am kind)

    3. Alewc, if you had bothered to give links and sources, I might have bothered to check them. As it is, you are basically another antisemitic liar, who makes up stories and then says “check it out.” Well, my friend, YOU make a claim, YOU prove it. That’s how it works in law.
      Now, you tell me – even if the Khazars converted to Judaism, what about the Jews who were already living in Europe? Do you think they simply disappeared overnight and left the field clear for the converts?

    4. Alec I can tell you as a medical scientist and a professor in one of the countries top schools of medicine who is familiar with the genetic studies on the topic your claims about the scientific evidence is wrong, wrong wrong. You are either misunderstading the science or reading someone deliberately skewed interpretation of it.

      And if you believe professor Sands viewpoints on Jewish history is considered mainstream (“Accepted mainstream histories of the Jewish people – including those in Israel’s own universities..”) well that explains why you read the genetic studies the way you do.

      In the ground of the land are artifacts going back thousands of years that connect the people who lived there culturally to the Jews of today and not the Arabs. The dead sea scrolls for example are fragments of the same bible Jews adhere to today. They are written in an ancient version of the Hebrew contemporary Jewish holy books are written in. Any kid in Hebrew school anywhere in the world would be able to read many words on the dead sea scrolls. An Arab living right there where they were found would not have a clue about how to read any of the words (unless he knew Hebrew).
      The is no evidence of an ancient Arab culture before the 10th century AD, about 1000 years after the writing of the dead sea scrolls. How can Jews be colonists to a land where buried in the ground are artifacts of their own culture and history. Lets face it, Israel is the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland

    5. And on and on. Interestingly, Kurds share DNA with Jews. Maybe it happened during the Exile to Babylon?? Whatever. When you see peshmerga fighters, or Kurds protecting their culture from Syria, Turkey, Iran, etc., – i.e., cultural cohesion across centuries, or the way the Iraqi Kurds (same ones Saddam was so afraid of) came back after that genocide and had their lands up and running while the rest of Iraq was still embroiled in conflict.

      Blood – DNA – will tell.

    6. Alec-my Family came from Hebron, until the butchery of the Mufti’s men in 1929. Our Mizrahi Family was there from well prior to the Arab Muslim invasions, and in fact had had strong ties to Binyamin of Tiberias. With the Jordanian Occupation, the rest of our lands were taken, our homes, as happened to our relatives from throughout the MENA Region, the expropriation, ethnic cleansing with refugee status that was the result of the first two activities. It has always been the standard that populations were moved with the overturn of Empires and political change, and the population exchange that occurred post WW2 was pretty standard, except for the Mufti of Jerusalem and his followers, and al-Islam’s claim to the divine right of Muslims to rule the Levant. The Khazar myth has been exploded again and again, yet as the Colonialist you obviously are, you seem to think Blood Quantum as defined by you trumps all claims to being Indigenous. If you had actually read Ryan’s Article, you might have noted that in the definition of Indigenous offered and used by him, BQ is identified for what it is. And very well defined and noted for what it is not. I am a Zionist, that does not mean I hate Arab Muslims, but after my Family having lived as “dhemmi” in our own Homelands for 1500 years, with all that horror meant, I and mine refuse to give up self-determination, nor to bow my head to the anti-Jewish prejudices of dominant majorities that actually believe their own propaganda BS. This new people, the “Palestinians”, rejected by other Arabs, and mistreated by same, taken advantage of for financial and political reasons by “Arab Leadership” have my sympathy, however their bloody history since WW1 and refusal to accept and develop their own Nation-State strikes me as sufficient reason to reject your hypocrisy and eurocolonialist perceptions and views. Go learn some Levantine history, learn to speak, read and write Hebrew and Arabic, and get over your culturally engrained prejudice against the Ethno-Religious People known this century as Jews.

  5. IN the 1990s my family emigrated to Canada & I recall my son telling me of an incident in his class (in French Canada). The teacher asked the pupils who were ‘native Canadians’ to put up their hands. He then asked each child where their grandparents were from & if they answered Canada asked about their great grandparents until every child came up with a country that was not Canada. He then asked those who were native Canadians to put up their hands at which point of course no one could. The point was well made. BTW the teacher was a Jew who had come to Canada from Morocco!

    1. French Canadians are French first. As are the Cajuns in Louisiana and those French-speaking 6th generation “Americans” in Maine and Massachusetts.

  6. E Pluribus Wombat

    I am picking out some city blocks in Bialystok Poland which, according to the Arab indigenous theory of everything, are mine by birthright. Never mind that no one in my family has set foot there in 120 years. They’re mine under the rule of indigenous peoples. So those dirty Poles better cough up the real estate or there will be mayhem and whatnot.

  7. Thank you, Ryan, for taking the time and making the effort to learn about the issues of a people that is not your own but with whom you can empathize. Your article was excellent, well-written, and approached an old issue from a fresh angle. I will look forward to reading more of your articles in the future.

  8. Palestinians are as indigenous to Israel and its surrounding territories as Obama is indigenous to Hawaii. Muslims are always looking to move in and take over areas developed by someone else. Once Israel developed that area, created jobs and a higher standard of living, the buzzards swooped in for the kill. This is one Goy (with a splash of Ashkenazi) who is wise to the Palestinian lying game. Muslims are the best liars in the world, so let’s give credit where credit is due.

  9. Whilst a supporter of Israel I am not sure about some of these assertions. Not least of which because based upon them we English cannot claim to be the indigenous people of England!

    Isn’t the real problem here that it always depends on how far you go back in history? Surely if you wind back far enough there are no indigenous peoples at all since all countries formed as a result of pre-historical migration

  10. One big problem with the idea that indigenous people belong “where they came from” is that some people are partly from one area and partly from another. Should they go back to both places? Is the goal for my heart to be in Israel and my pancreas in Poland?

  11. I think that its important to understand what indigenous means and why its important.

    I actually had an argument on my facebook page regarding the english, just Because the english do not completely fit the checklist, doesnt make them any less valid a people, they simply arent indigenous. they have rights of longstanding presence and as there are no indigenous people of the region left, thier rights would supercede any others. In Places where there are indigenous people, their rights supercede rights of longstanding presence.

    Its also important to understand that almost every indigenous people were victims of a more “powerful” culture. and while “might makes right” was the most popular way to do things for centuries, we are supposed to be more enlightened now.

    its very important to understand that indigenous status is granted by where you are physically from, if it was then the idiots quoting the bering strait landbridge and the africa genesis theories would be correct. its about where your people became a people as well as several other important factors.

    1. Very good article, Ryan. You have studied the situation very well. And as far as the Palestinian claim that Jerusalem “is an Islamic holy site,” Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Qu’ran on any page nor in any language.

      Thank you, Ryan and hope to hear more from you!

        1. And who are you to speak for us, exactly? We’re not ashamed of surviving and we’re not ashamed of regaining our ancestral lands. You think we should be ashamed because the sight of an independent Jewish state offends the national pride of the previous occupiers (i.e. you).

        1. No, not directly. There is a reference to the “furthest mosque” but it is only with some heavy interpretation that this is reckoned to be Jerusalem. Despite the fact that the name Jerusalem existed in many contemporary works to the Koran, that name is completely absent from it.

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  13. The strategy of all colonialist projects was to deny the legitimacy of the indigenous population in order to justify their ethnic cleansing and the theft of their land. This article will suite those who believe that the Jews settled “a land without a people for a people without a land”, and to clear the conscience of the guilty. Palestinian culture like ALL Middle Eastern cultures has a distinct Arab/Islamic influence. Even the Jews of the Middle East prior the creation of the “state” Israel had (and still have) a distinct Arab/Islamic influence within their communities. Samarian Jews who still consider themselves Palestinian are so similar to their Muslim and Christian neighbours that you would be unable to tell the difference between them. What makes Middle Eastern peoples (i.e. Iraqi, Kurd, Palestinians etc…) different are the subtle differences in cultural dress, food, names, poetry, literature etc… accents. For example some Palestinian family names have Hebrew, Canaanite, and Christian roots, while others are distinctly Islamic. The Palestinian people were effectively Arabized during the 7th century, where many of the Christian and Jewish inhabitants converted to Islam over time, giving us a Muslim majority today. This is why recent DNA studies have shown that the Palestinians share a common gene with Middle Eastern Jews and that the Palestinians are indeed as indigenous to Palestine as the native Americans are to America. This article is a complete fraud, and a tool used by Zionists to justify the theft of another peoples land and culture. Why is it when we speak of “Israeli culture” what we find is a distinctly Palestinian/Arab culture? Why would Israel need to steal Arab food, music and other elements of their culture and claim it to be “Israeli” or “Jewish”? Since when has Humus and Falafel become a Israeli food? Since when has Arab sounding Music become “Israeli music”? Until Zionists can accept responsibility of the cultural and ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the Palestinians, there will never be peace. It is a disgrace that articles like this exist and it is a disgrace and pretty sad that people believe this shameless propaganda.

    1. You apparently didn’t read the article. Blood quantum alone isn’t enough to make the Palestinians native. Their language, culture, and religion is not from the Levant, therefore, they CAN’T be indigenous. In fact, the Palestinians weren’t “Arabized” in the 7th century, because they didn’t even exist back then. Name me one Palestinian leader before 1900

      1. Horst Kackebart

        So the twisted definition dictates. I don’t see how anyone could believe either Israelis or Palestinians to have a mutually exclusive right to this region and this is where the problem begins. When we start talking about who is indigenous and who is not, we are basically starting to justify the cleansing of the party who is not, in this case the Palestinians.

        I will never root for any party which claims exclusive rights to a region that is home to millions of human beings who are to be denied the right to their Heimat.

        This should have never been about WHO is right and who is wrong, who can stay and who can leave, it should have always been about HOW they can all live together in peace and enrichen one another’s lives and cultures.

        The bloodshed over fictitious man-made rights to soil will never find an end until either all Palestinians and Israelis are wiped from this planet or they start working on living by the rules and values their respective religions dictate them, so eventually future generations can live without grudges and practive love and understanding towards each other. That is what man must strive towards.

        1. Um maybe if you learnt how to read, then you would notice this article says nothing you accuse it of, maybe English isn’t your first language if so you may want to stop commenting on English material it just makes you look stupid, you made up what you thought the article was about without actually understanding it or maybe without reading it you should be embarrassed at your stupidity here.

      2. You should go to explain this to the English people in London.

        Maxime Rodinson:

        “The Arab population of Palestine were native in all the usual senses of that word. Ignorance, sometimes backed up by hypocritical propaganda, has spread a number of misconceptions on this subject, unfortunately very widely held. It has been said that since the Arabs took the country by military conquest in the seventh century, they are occupiers like any other, like the Romans, the Crusaders and the Turks. Why therefore should they be regarded as any more native than the others, and in particular than the Jews, who were native to that country in ancient times, or at least occupiers of longer standing? To the historian the answer is obvious. A small contingent of Arabs from Arabia did indeed conquer the country in the seventh century. But as a result of factors which were briefly outlined in the first chapter of this book, the Palestinian population soon became Arabized under Arab domination, just as earlier it had been Hebraicized, Aramaicized, to some degree even Hellenized. It became Arab in a way that it was never to become Latinized or Ottomanized. The invaded melted with the invaders. It is ridiculous to call the English of today invaders and occupiers, on the grounds that England was conquered from Celtic peoples by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in the fifth and sixth centuries. The population was “Anglicized” and nobody suggests that the peoples which have more or less preserved the Celtic tongues – the Irish, the Welsh or the Bretons – should be regarded as the true natives of Kent or Suffolk, with greater titles to these territories than the English who live in those counties.”

        1. Maybe it would help you to actually read the article, yeah? Because the point you are raising has already been addressed.

          1. As I say in my own comments, the Torah tells us that the Jews were not the original inhabitants of the land. Also, ever heard of Aramaic? It predates Hebrew. So either people are truly ignorant of Jewish culture or they are determined to justify in any way they can an unjust situation.

    2. I am Jewish, and I was born and raised in the US. My grandparents were born in Lithuania, what is now Belarus, and possibly Poland or Asian Georgia. In elementary school (5th grade?) we were once assigned to do a family tree including the nationalities of our grandparents. So I asked my only surviving grandmother what was her nationality, and she said “Jewish” and that my other grandparents were Jewish, too. EVERYONE of her generation who had been lucky enough to escape Europe, to whom I asked that question invariably said “Jewish”. I asked a Greek Jew, a Turkish Jew, a Moroccan Jew, various Ashkenazi Jews, and Jews who weren’t sure where their forebears were from, but the answer was NEVER anything other than “Jewish”.

      Before my parents’ generation’s attempts to assimilate, there was a very distinct Jewish culture, and it was NOT Arabic or Muslim. There was music, dance, a language of home and street usage, a language for prayer and teaching of the holy books (there are many, not just one), there were culturally distinct foods, which I could easily ascertain by looking at Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, etc. cookbooks. NOT anywhere near Arabic/Muslim. There was also a distinct way of dress, which, again is nowhere near either European or Arab/Muslim.

      Many of those differences have been preserved by the Ultra-Orthodox of Brooklyn and of Israel; the tragedy is that the culture was very nearly wiped out by the Holocaust, and further destroyed by American-born Jews who wanted not to be discriminated against, so they assimilated their lives and customs — even gave their babies English names, and changed their Yiddish last names (which were forced on them by the Russian Tsar — if you delve earlier, people used patronymics) — if you knew that, you might not make your ill-conceived claims.

      Nowadays, in Israel, the culture is changing, as culture always does, but is still very recognizable. The Arab elements come from the Jews from Arab countries, but also because the music, and food are fun! That doesn’t make Israeli Jews into Arabs, nor does it constitute ethnic cleansing. It doesn’t make Arabs indigenous, either. Just because I have a pair of beaded earrings which were made to honor me by the Oglala Dakota grandmother of one of my students in Nebraska for teaching her beloved grandchild doesn’t make me Native American (or First Nations). It just means that I feel honored that she took the time to make them for me. People all over the world are eating Hummus by now, so your argument in no way holds us or any other people whose cultures have been (depending on your politics) appropriated from or borrowed, as having any less right to our land, language and history.

  14. The strategy of all colonialist projects was to deny the legitimacy of the indigenous population in order to justify their ethnic cleansing and the theft of their land. This article will suite those who believe that the Jews settled “a land without a people for a people without a land”, and to clear the conscience of the guilty. Palestinian culture like ALL Middle Eastern cultures has a distinct Arab/Islamic influence. Even the Jews of the Middle East prior the creation of the “state” Israel had (and still have) a distinct Arab/Islamic influence within their communities. Samarian Jews who still consider themselves Palestinian are so similar to their Muslim and Christian neighbours that you would be unable to tell the difference between them. What makes Middle Eastern peoples (i.e. Iraqi, Kurd, Palestinians etc…) different are the subtle differences in cultural dress, food, names, poetry, literature etc… accents. For example some Palestinian family names have Hebrew, Canaanite, and Christian roots, while others are distinctly Islamic. The Palestinian people were effectively Arabized during the 7th century, where many of the Christian and Jewish inhabitants converted to Islam over time, giving us a Muslim majority today. This is why recent DNA studies have shown that the Palestinians share a common gene with Middle Eastern Jews and that the Palestinians are indeed as indigenous to Palestine as the the English are to England, the Fench to France and the German to Germany. This article is a complete fraud, and a tool used by Zionists to justify the theft of another peoples land and culture. Why is it when we speak of “Israeli culture” what we find is a distinctly Palestinian/Arab culture? Why would Israel need to steal Arab food, music and other elements of their culture and claim it to be “Israeli” or “Jewish”? Since when has Humus and Falafel become a Israeli food? Since when has Arab sounding Music become “Israeli music”? Until Zionists can accept responsibility of the cultural and ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the Palestinians, there will never be peace. It is a disgrace that articles like this exist and it is a disgrace and pretty sad that people believe this shameless propaganda. I am not saying that Jews have no religious claim to Palestine, but Christians also have a religious claim and so do Muslims. The land belongs to the people who have lived on that land for generations and who are rooted to the land. The damage Zionism has done is immense, and it is really sad that Zionists are unable to connect with their humanity, when it comes to the Palestinians.

    1. Wow you are another with no reading comprehension, learn to read in English properly before putting your foot in your mouth, your comment has so many inaccuracies it’s more than a joke lol. Maybe read and more importantly comprehend the words and you’d see 60-90% of your reply is straight out lies or with everything the articles says. Try not to be so ignorant. And just in case you actually read this : the article does acknowledge “rights of longstanding presence” so your toatally wrong and apparently need comprehension lessons.

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  16. Am Mrs Benita obaba from USA,i want to testify of the good work of DR FRANK.
    i was humiliated by my ex husband and also treated like a commoner because he got in contact with with a harlot who turned him against me totally.
    i need vengeance by all means so i got in contact with DR FRANK who help fight against the harlot and the two of them had a serious marital breakdown and confusion was now their breakfast and all and everything went down the drain and he is begging me now like seriously,as am saying this right now my husband is even more 100% in love with me again but i don’t want to give him any chance again because i don’t want to get hurt.
    so whatever your situation look like just email the below address now.
    [email protected]

  17. What does Mr. Bellerose believe about Jews in Canada – are your citizens or occupiers? Do Jews in Canada have rights in his view or are they merely part of the colonial oppressors?

    1. Interesting question for Ryan. All the Jewish families that I know in Canada came as refugees from Europe. Those who came for the Gold Rush are buried outside Vancouver, BC.

    2. Sahap Kadir Seit-ali

      do individuals not have right over all for any place in the promise land called earth.
      for that is our real country, the planet earth.

      full stop.

    3. I am Jewish American, and no, I do NOT have indigenous rights in the US. However, I’m not a colonial oppressor either — it’s not an either/or choice. I do have the right to be treated fairly under the law, which is not true for many (but not all) indigenous peoples in the US and also in other parts of the world. Brazil is working VERY hard to preserve the rights of the Amazonian indigenes, although with hardly any money to pay people to do the work. So without much success, but you have to credit them for trying. Several African countries are trying to preserve native wildlife while also preserving the lifestyle and languages of their indigenous people. We, as a planet, have a lot of work to do.

      1. Agree. And using the same perspective, how can a claim be made that Palestinians are being treated fairly under the law? They were kicked off their land, their houses and villages bulldozed and planted over, forced into refugee camps for generations and with Israel having absolute control over their lives.

        1. There is a difference between being kicked off one’s land, and land that never legally belonged to one in the first place. Arabs are NOT indigenous to the Levant, whereas Jews, Samaritan, and Druze are. And if the Arab countries, with lots of land and resources had chosen to take care of their people, there would not be a refugee problem. Indians and Pakistanis took care of refugees, and Israel took in more Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa (850,000) than Arab refugees who left (600,000), but we never hear any moaning and crying about that. Jewish refugees lost everything, and I don’t see the Arab countries making any offer of restitution to them. And no, Israel does not have absolute control over refugees’ descendants’ lives, or it would have prevented the massacres of descendants in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Egypt, just to name a few countries. It pains me to see so much misinformational propaganda spread by people who don’t know what they’re talking about.

        2. You seem to believe that the so called “Palestinians” were innocent passive bystanders… They were no such thing… In fact, roughly half of the “Palestinian refugees” left the area when it was still under British rule… The vast majority of the balance upped and left without ever seeing an IDF soldier…

          As for refugee camps, blame the Arab host countries… BTW, exactly how does Israel have “control” (let alone “complete control”) over refugees in camps that are located in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Jordan?!…

  18. cherry johnson

    Am Mrs Benita obaba from USA,i want to testify of the good work of DR FRANK.
    i was humiliated by my ex husband and also treated like a commoner because he got in contact with with a harlot who turned him against me totally.
    i need vengeance by all means so i got in contact with DR FRANK who help fight against the harlot and the two of them had a serious marital breakdown and confusion was now their breakfast and all and everything went down the drain and he is begging me now like seriously,as am saying this right now my husband is even more 100% in love with me again but i don’t want to give him any chance again because i don’t want to get hurt.
    so whatever your situation look like just email the below address now.
    [email protected]

  19. Sahap Kadir Seit-ali

    contact me and i will educate you on the real history.

    palestinians were taken there after ww1? ha ha ha ha, you are obviously a very unwell man and need of a shrink for your delusions.

    in case you are under 12 please report to a senior respected relegious sparadic jew. they will educate you on the difference of, hebrew, jew, zionist, rabbanic, essenic, israel.

    1. What is real history to you? The myth that the so-called Palestinians were kicked out of their homes? Please! The Palestinians are just a propaganda pawn used by the Arabs to try and destroy Israel. If this was all about statehood, there would’ve been peace in 1947. Name me one Palestinian leader before 1900 if they are such an ancient people.

      1. Sahap Kadir Seit-ali

        Real History, To Me Is, Undistorted, Unchaned, Unbaised Facts of The Past.

        it appears you are far, too, brain washed to accept life and history as is. so i may be wasting my time. but, i will write this for the record to remain.

        you are not semetic, most especially if you look like a danish, scot, norwegian, sweedish, anglo saxon.

        you may be a zionist, as zionism is a very large club, that anyone from anywhere in the world can join.
        however, if you are living in israel, and a resident, than you and anyone else, since late 1940’s, when atomic bombs, were made available.

        again hebrew? well if your families are german – irish – english you cannot be hebrew or semetic can you now? p l e a s e !

        one of my great grand parents owed a massive house and much land, with much wealth in what you N O W call is ra el. he was murdered, house, land, property taken and his wife had to take their children and leave before they shot the children and his wife in thehead as they did to him. he was originally jewish. he had never been to europe, nor germany. he had turkish jewish family background. photos are available of the incident.

        robbery, rape, murder, genocide, abuse, hell is what they and many others suffered long before you were born and long before the 1940’s. don’t bother giving me, your psha kref, white, germanic, viking, slutsky manner. not interested.

        regards to officials for the area? sure, The Turks / altaiks empire called Osmanli. Which was attacked by almost every country on the planet and they still nearlly lost the battle. palestine, syria, etc, was under the power, official leaders as you call it for approx 1000 years.

        a homo sexual child molesting, drunk, by the name of t.e.lawrence encouraged the saud / faisal / quresh family, to lead their army (which was osmanli) to stab the turkish army in the back (traitors) and weaken the south of the turkish empire.
        that is how syria, palestine, were taken in nov 1917.

        in nov 1917 mr rothschild had a document for a land it is said in his name, for a formation of a zionist club group and home. it did not say hebrew people, semetic people, jewish people.

        within a year or two he had a nice little mansion built and allowed you people to come in 30 years later.

        there were jewish and palestinenian people living next door to each other for a thousand years and into 3000 years without issues. so? where were you? in a german sausage in munich or in your germanic irish latin fathers scrotum?

        you are actually saying that there are no palestine people and its just some trick? like the africans that sat for days on end at the center of tel aviv?

        one does not need a leader, or politician or an army to live, in peace, quite on their ancestors land. which appears to me, is something you or your grand parents never had. that is why you were given the plot of land from murdered people that refused to live their home. that is why the whole world is turning against israel just like it was written in the original scriptures. your god, will destroy you, as he promised, if you did not behave one more time.
        well you have not behaved.

        so? it is inevetable you will be destroyed by russia, korea and china and not iran. iran is to peacefull and calm. however, russian turks, russians, china, is not very impressed.

        israel has killed bullied unarmed people.

        now, you will have people that will come after you for your crimes. you must now pay.

        the arabs are your best partners. saudi, israel were created around the same time. along with germany, uk, usa they are one great team. but they do not want you idiots to know that, because you are brain – washed.

        my family was not a myth.
        we are not arabs.
        i am part jew, and i am ashed of you and israel.

        the filistine people have been there for thousands of years. read real history, not usa, uk, eu, israel history. real histroy, real. not the bolony that comes out of your phscotic heads, when you wake up in the morning.

        i cannot educate someone, that does not even know the basics.
        we would need to start at basics. i am busy today.

        however, in approx 3 weeks, i am opening a site, which anyone can log onto, which will tell the full story of the f i l i s t i n e people as it was.

        i suggest you grab that chance, to educate yourself. it may help you understand who’s land you are on.

        and it may help you also leave before you are nuked by russia not iran.

        all russians hate how you bully these weak, defenseless people.

        i been in your israel and around. many times. i have films, pics, material that is enough to hang your so-called leaders.

        who ever you think they really are.

        This Not Not about my opinion. It is what it is.

        bullies, will always get dealt with.

        1. all russians hate how you bully these weak, defenseless people

          Are you suggesting that Israel should treat the Palestinians the way the Russians treat Ukraine and Chechnya?

          1. Sahap Kadir Seit-ali

            You obviously have no real understanding about russia / ukraine & russia / chechnya. do not talk to me about other subjects not related.

            we are talking about filistin – izrael – zionism.

            if russia has done something wrong, russia will be dealt with as a seperate matter.

            this subject has to be dealt with on it’s own merits.

            do not try to bring others in or other subjects from other people or parts of the world, to blend in with the G E N O C I D E the poor F I L I S T I N E people have had to endure for a very very long time.

            and pay for these crimes you shall.
            if you beleive in the coming one, god, and you beleive in the scriptures, you must understand that god will destroy you all this time as he warns in the book of mosses.
            you should read it. you have only your selfs to blame. there will be no more sent away from the false promise land. it will be straight death. from your god. no one else need lift a finger now.

            it is done. nothing or no one can save you. even if we wanted to save you we could not.

            seperately, the doom that will arrive in israel will be israel created, as israel appears hungry for war. and there are a few entities out there that will wake up one morning, and will have had enough of british-zionist-anglo-american alliance world murder, genocide, rape, theft, lies, lies, lies and more and more lies, and lies of zionism, of the confused re written christianity and judeaism. which has nothing to do with the real orhtodox christians and the speradic or esseniz jews. they are real peace worshipers.

            you are idiol worshipers of false hood.
            you are not real jewish,
            you are not real semetic,
            you are not real hebrew,
            you are not real judea beleivers of peace,
            you are not spirituals scholars or peaceful people,
            you do not really believe in peace.

            you are Z I O N I S T ‘s. simple.
            that speak for itself.

            putin has given a promise that he will not enter into any wars, bullying, issues with anyone let alone chechenya. crimea should really be joint to the up coming united turks, straight after the secret zionist power controlling turkiye is destroyed.

            we have promised, we will give the istanbul mosk back to moscow as it was an original orthodox christian cathedral. with an apology for its changed use in 1453 by warrior fatih sultan mehmet han murad 2.

            same time nato will be dropped like a ton of bricks.
            than uk, usa will colapse. in your madness you will nuke usa because the usa people turned against you.

            out of hatred you will nuke usa. instead of hoping usa and russia nuke each other and israel raise as a super power.
            that will now no longer be possible.

            chechens have their special understanding via middle warriors that all is cool.

            russia which really is russian – turks do not have to tell you what they are intending with others, as it is not your business.

            the only rights in america for land is native americans.
            no matter how many rothschild lawyers are in place to fiddle paperwork and so called laws, it is futile. they will all face doom.

            this day of 15th of nissan, further legal justice of the never began and never ending galactical universal justice will strike in the heart of all evil ones. zionist’s whom are the leaders of all evil on planet earth.

            we the creatures and gods of this planet order you to be gone evil ones.

            Be Gone

          2. Sweetie, you were the one who brought up the Russians, not I.

            As for the rest of your reality-challenged rant, I shall leave you to your delusions in peace.

        2. Jews (including Ashkenazis) are considered a Semitic people who originated in what is now Israel over 3000 years ago. They originally spoke Hebrew, a Semitic language. This is undeniable. Yet, the so-called “Palestinians” try to steal the history of the Jews, claiming they are an ancient people, yet all records of such a people are relatively modern.

          Yes, Arabs and Jews lived next door to each other. But Jews lived as dhimmis, aka second class citizens. Why should Jews have to live as second class citizens under Arabs?

          And yes, my recent ancestors lived in Europe for generations. But if I were to pack up and move to Japan tomorrow, and my descendants only marry other Jews living in Japan, will my descendants be ethnically Japanese?

          And while I do not believe any of the stuff written in any Bible, I do remember reading that the God of the Bible will always be with the Jewish people.

          And the Saudis are the best friends of Israel. Where the hell have you been? And no Israel will not be destroyed by Russia, China, and Korea. In fact, Israel is developing stronger ties with these countries.

          And if these “Palestinian” people have been in existence for thousands of years, enlighten me on their deep history. I’ll be waiting enthusiastically.

          1. Sahap Kadir Seit-ali

            hello cliff,

            i am a jew / turk.

            jewish family going back a very long time. to times before there was such a thing as europe.

            i am jewish. i do not believe you are jewish at all. i have my blood line and dna trace history, to prove it.

            you do not. never mind how i know. prove me wrong if you can no problem. come, show!.

            you keep saying things like, you remember this and you think this and you think that. well my fellow, it is good you can think. however your thoughts are based on brain-washed propoganda, false history and meaningless jibber of the war makers.

            i currently refuse to be israely based on principle and peace.

            i am not a zionist and never will be if i can help it.
            israel state is nothing but a global trick.
            the worst enemies of people and jewish people in the zionists. zionists planned, financed, controlled and murdered millions in their so called world war 1 and 2 genocide of the world – part and altaik dna. zionist ruled germany, uk, ww1 and ww2 and israel as they the xionists them selves created israel.

            the ashke nazi are not jewish.

            the global nwo are not created by them. tell me, are you aware of the year of the roman, greek and egyptian so called empires? well? do you not know the nwo was around from then?.
            the ashke (love) nazi ( kind – kosher) is something that originated from altaik – lymerian people.

            the jewish people the palestinine people, and all around that region are originally the produce of medetterranian, eastern african mix. which is cool. as people are people. no love lost unless you are descriminating as you lost the power of your third eye.

            there is no actual real issue, nor problem, nor class, nor politics, not relegion, nor elohim, nor money, not such a thing as the choosen people nor is there a real promise land. as these things are the tools of the evil ones. the beast.
            other tools they use amongst millions of their tools to brain wash you, are such things as capitalism, commonism, politics, voting, banking, credit cards, marxism, nationalism, racism, facism, wars, armies, fear, passports, nwo, cfr, eu, uk, usa, nato, un, israel, saudi, and the list is endless.
            if you are not yet educated enough to know the above please come to my classes and get educated. until my teachers site opens, please try not to waste the time like this.

            all the things you believe are not even real. so i cannot base anything on things that are false.

            do you now what happened and how in 1917 between the british-zionists, turks, saud family, faisal family, rothschild family, rockefeller family and co, t.e.lawrence, opium drugging of the turkish people in their food 1916 – 1920, an ka ra, in order for you to have a current so-called is ra el ?

            and how arabs, the british-zionist-anglo-american alliance, uk, usa, germany are one group?

            you believe there is a real arab jew problem in reality? ha ha ha you a funny boy.

            be well, get real educated by the real wise ones not in schools, unis etc, etc.

            waken before it’s too late.

            1. I had genetic testing done, and I’m more than 97% Jewish. I don’t think that less than 3% European counts for much. I KNOW that my Jewish heritage is indigenous to the Levant — as Ryan says, there are too many facts proving it. So I’d like you to do some more studying. I have.

    2. Sahap Kadir Seit-ali

      So where, were the palestinians bought to your israel from ???????
      ————————————–
      his article is fraudulent. Accepted mainstream histories of the Jewish people – including those in Israel’s own universities – clearly state that 90% of all Jews alive today are descendants of the Khazar people of Central Asia, who emigrated to central Europe.

      Genetic testing shows the Palestinians to be a close genetic match to the Judeans of ancient Israel, and Israalies to be Khazar-European. Only sephardic Jews carry a similar level of Judean genetic markers as Palestinians do.

      You cannot argue with the reality of these scientific and historic facts. 90% of Israelis are not Jewish by matrinlineal blood. And frankly, international law does not care if you believe a religious book promised you a certain piece of land.

      The sad thing is, none of you will bother to check anything I have said. Logic and facts mean nothing to Zionists. Zionists are born into lies, and live by lies. Zionists are a disgrace to Judaeism.

      1. The Khazar thesis has been proven wrong. I already knew that — don’t need to read fraudulent material to support YOUR fraudulent hypothesis.

  20. Sahap Kadir Seit-ali

    Genocide is the systematic destruction of all or part of a racial, ethnic,religious or national group.

    [1] What constitutes enough of a “part” to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars.[2][3] While a precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG).

    rticle 2 of this convention defines genocide as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, anational, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”[4]

    Raphael Lemkin, in his work Axis Rule in Occupied Europe (1944), coined the term “genocide” by combining Greek genos (?????; race, people) and Latin c?dere (to kill).

    1. Then that makes it pretty clear that the Arabs are doing their darndest to commit genocide on the Jews, and not the other way around.

  21. Sahap Kadir Seit-ali

    indigenous is irrelevant.

    because,

    what is relevant, is a single individual each and every one.

    if you do not know that, you cannot be a real jew.

  22. Larry A Singleton

    No offense; but why do you have this dysfunctional piece of crap Disqus? You can’t “paste” in this thing. You have to go over and edit the damn thing. Even after “filtering” it through WordPad. Also, I have to “sign in” to this rotten thing twenty times a day. Or every time there’s a Disqus comment feature.

    This is what it looks like if I paste:

    No
    offense; but why do you have this dysfunctional piece of crap Disqus? You can’t “paste” in this thing. You have to go over and edit the damn thing. Even after “filtering” it through WordPad. Also, I have to “sign in” to this rotten thing twenty times a day. Or every time there’s a Disqus comment feature.
    And if there are several paragraphs it does the same thing with every paragraph, including bunching the paragraphs together so you have to go back and “edit” or separate the paragraphs. It’s frustrating in the extreme.

    The above was two paragraphs. I came back to add this.

  23. The fundamentals are very simple.

    The world is in an ideological war to the death !!!

    Islam is using this ME conflict to maintain the focus of the world wide Jihad movement.

    The goal of Islam is to have an Islam only world without Infidels.

    Muslims are born and bred to revere Death and Martyrdom

    We are born and bred to revere Life and Liberty

    Never the twain shall meet, but on the field of war

  24. Nation building is not exclusive to whites or the Jewish people. Example? The Japanese and Koreans came from continental Asia and there were people there before them living in tribes. So who has the right to Japan and Korea? If they don’t have to give it back, why should Israel?

  25. As long as you have Arabs living in Greater Israel, terror and violence will never stop. It is in their blood and in their culture. Just look around in the world and see how terror and violence is promoted in the Muslim countries and in the Muslim communities in Europe and elsewhere. They are killing each other by the tens of thousands. When is the world at large going to wake up and face the harsh reality? That terror and violence must be eliminated at all costs like a cancer or we are doomed to extinction. Death to all terrorists must be applied, no exception. When the Arabs Muslims; are teaching their children from infancy to commit terror and violence. There is no alternative but elimination of the terrorists and those who promote and incite the masses to commit terror and violence. The Arabs have an Arab/Palestinian state in Jordan which is over 80% Arab Palestinians. The territory of Jordan is Jewish territory. The Arabs also have the 12 million sq. km. received after WWI, the homes and the over 120,000 sq. km. The Arabs confiscated from the over a million Jewish families expelled from Arab countries that lived there for over 2600 years.

  26. Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria is Jewish territory – No annexation is required
    If anything it may need to be re-incorporated or re-patriated.
    Let me pose an interesting scenario. If you had a country and it was conquered by foreign powers over a period of time. After many years you have taken back you country and land in various defensive wars. Do you have to officially annex those territories? It was always your territory and by retaking control and possession of your territory it is again your original property and there is no need to annex it. The title to your property is valid today as it was many years before.
    Annexation only applies when you are taking over territory that was never yours to begin with, just like some European countries annexed territories of other countries.
    YJ Draiman

    Jews hold title to the Land of Greater Israel even if outnumbered a million to one.
    The fact that more foreigners than Jews occupied the Land of Israel during certain periods of time does not diminish true ownership. If my house is invaded by a family ten times larger that mine does that obviate my true ownership?

    Jewish roots and rights to all the land of Greater Israel are stronger than ever!
    “If I am turned out of hearth and home and remain outside one night, I am legally entitled to return the following day. If I suffer for ten, twenty, five thousand or fifty thousand nights, does my right of return stand in inverse relationship to the length of my exile? Quite the contrary; my right to return and recover my freedom becomes stronger in direct proportion to what I have endured, not by virtue of some abstract arithmetic, but because of the nights spent in exile, and because I want my children, to be spared a similar experience.”
    YJ Draiman

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