If I were a Palestinian...

[ManusJustus]

superchunk said:

ManusJustus said:

superchunk said: 

haha, you are right and wrong. The reason Palestine in arabic sounds like filistin is because there is no letter 'P' equivalent in the arabic language. so 'P' is usually pronounced with an 'F' sound or 'PH' sound. The Philistine people you are thinking of in the Bible are not Semetic origin as Jews and Arabs are. Biblical philastines are long gong my friend. They were actualy people who originated from phoenician areas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philistines

Palestinians as a nation/cultural identity didn't come about until around the late 1800's. However, Arabs have been the majority population in the area since about 300 AD.

Where did you think the word Palestine comes from?

You people have a lot of problems thinking about the progression of population.  The Philistines didnt just disapear, the Jews didnt just disapear, Arabs didnt come into an empty area and populate it all by themselves.  In actuality, modern Palestinians are the decedents of Philistines, Jews, and Arabs.  The Palestinians and their ancestors have been living in Palestine since the beginning of human history.

oh for the love of god.

My minor is in Middle Eastern History. I have take numerous history classes on the region beyond annoyance. Philistines from the bible we greek, pheonician, white. NOT SEMETIC, i.e. not arab or jewish or their ancestors.

The earliest reference to modern Palestine as a cultural identity is in the 1800's. Not romans or anyone else before then. Before that it has always been part of some other empire; roman, persian, arab, and to a lesser extant christian warlords (crusaders).

I also have a minor in the same subject, except mine gave me more knowledge than 'there is no p sound in Arabic.'

So the Philistines just magically disapeared?  They have no descendents, they didnt mingle with Hebrews, Arabs, Romans, and so forth who came into the region.  That not only goes agaisnt history (which you claim to have some knowledge of) but simple common sense would tell us that the Philistines were integrated into the peoples who conquered them.  And thats exactly what happened in history.

And so what if Palestine has been a part of another empire for a long period of time, that doesnt take away their cultural identity and right to the land they've lived on for thousands of years.  There are countless other ethnic groups that have been ruled for long periods of time but no one would consider taking away their identity or rights because its not as controversial as the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.