In Al-Monitor, Hadeel Al Gherbawi writes how many palestinians Arab are leaving for greener pastures in Turkey. And while the tone of the piece is unmistakably anti-Israel, it is actually devastating to the claims of palestinian Arabs and Israel-haters.
You see, it contains admissions that these Gazans are not at all indigenous to the land of Israel.
Thousands of Palestinian families in Gaza have Turkish origins. Khaled al-Katib, a Palestinian citizen of Turkish origin, told Al-Monitor, “Our family originates from the Turkish city of Izmir. My grandfather, who was in the Ottoman army, was dispatched to Palestine where he settled and formed his own family. Decades later, I headed to Turkey to look up our family tree. Official papers showed that we are of Turkish origin. I applied for Turkish citizenship, and now I am in the process of obtaining it.”
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Al-Monitor spoke to Metin Kaya, a Turkish citizen and a reporter for Anadolu Agency who has lived in Gaza for nearly nine years. He said, “I was born in Istanbul in 1991. I came to Gaza in 2008 when my father worked with Turkey’s Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) in Gaza.
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The history of Palestinian-Turkish relations is traced back to the Ottoman Empire that ruled the Arab world, including Palestine, for four centuries from 1517 until its fall in 1922.
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In turn, historian Nasser al-Yafawi told Al-Monitor, “There are many Palestinian families with Turkish origins such as al-Gharbawi, Tarzi, Turk, Birkdar, Jukmadar, Radwan, Jasir and al-Jamasi. Also family names ending with the letters ‘ji’ are often of Turkish origin, such as al-Batniji and al-Shorbaji.”
He continued, “Turkey has left numerous cultural legacies in Gaza, with more than 1,100 Ottoman words still used in the Palestinian dialect such as ‘Bek,’ ‘Pasha,’ ‘Effendi,’ ‘Saraya,’ ‘Maqam’ and ‘Akzkhana’ (Turkish for hospital). Also, several Turkish cultural customs have been maintained in Palestine, such as hospitality, the use of blue evil eye beads and taking off shoes at the door.”
So yeah, they admit they are not indigenous. And not for the first time either.
Yet way too many people blindly follow palestinian Arab claims of indigenousness, while ignoring the very real evidence of Jewish indigenousness.
I can only guess why.
Hat tip: Michal
