Controversial Book Questions the Foundation of the Israeli State

This book has raised a controvery in Israel. It says that there is nothing like Israeli people and the ethinicity of Jews is not tied to the place that they currently live in. Judea's descendants could be the Palestinians living there for centuries and not the Israeli people. These Palestinians were once Jewish and they then converted to Islam after Romans exiled them.

What if the entire tale of the Jewish Diaspora is historically wrong?

What if the Palestinian Arabs who have lived for decades under the heel of the modern Israeli state are in fact descended from the very same "children of Israel" described in the Old Testament?

And what if most modern Israelis aren't descended from the ancient Israelites at all, but are actually a mix of Europeans, North Africans and others who didn't "return" to the scrap of land we now call Israel and establish a new state following the attempt to exterminate them during World War II, but came in and forcefully displaced people whose ancestors had lived there for millennia?

There never was a Jewish people, only a Jewish religion, and the exile also never happened -- hence there was no return. Zand rejects most of the stories of national-identity formation in the Bible, including the exodus from Egypt and, most satisfactorily, the horrors of the conquest under Joshua.

Source: www.alternet.org...

[edit on 3-8-2009 by sunny_2008ny]

It does not matter who was there first.

All that matters is that they can learn to live together.

No one "owns the land".

The Land "owns us".


And who cares what people Think about history? Unless you have a time machine, theres no definitive proof. It is mostly all speculation at this point.

Originally posted by muzzleflash
It does not matter who was there first.

All that matters is that they can learn to live together.

No one "owns the land".

The Land "owns us".

And who cares what people Think about history? Unless you have a time machine, theres no definitive proof. It is mostly all speculation at this point.

Straight from someone who has not read it ?

History matters my friend - read it now before you make any more cliche statements of sentimental trollop.....start with a book by Davis called EUROPE.

reply to post by muzzleflash

All that matters is that they can learn to live together.

If there is a war for land and if the factions belong to different religions then how can they live together? Palestinians hate Jews and vice-versa, and history proves that. I think history does matter (not the history we learn in school, but the history that we experience in the society)

Truly speaking i really dont care what a book says as there are thousands of books that claim and counter claim eachother. What matters is looking from your own perespective wether it's right or wrong.

In my view it's kool Israel stays where they are but they should stop illegal settlements and genocide of Palestinians.