Falsifying History to Hebraize Palestinians

Experts are refuting an Israeli researcher’s claim that Palestinians are “ethnically Jewish” as a fundamentally flawed theory that contradicts both science and history, while Palestinians slammed it as part of a larger scheme to erase their identity.

“The claim that there are Jewish genes is ridiculous and unscientific,” Kamel Katalo, professor of Sociology at Al-Khalil University, told IslamOnline.net.

Tsvi Misinai, an associate with Israel’s Ariel Center for Policy Research (ACPR), has come up with a thesis claiming that many Palestinians are “genetically Jewish”.

He alleges that the ancestors of today’s Palestinians are decedents of the Hebrews who did not leave after the Romans sent the people into exile and were converted to Islam during the Ottoman era.
“After reading his booklet, I got the impression that the man makes strident generalizations and reaches spurious and completely erroneous conclusions based on questionable premises,” insists Katalo.

He said one central flaw in Misinai’s theory is that it has never been established that there are what he called “Jewish genes.”

“Indeed, if there was something like that, there would have been a unified definition of being Jewish.

“If there were indeed unique Jewish geneses, then what would explain the fact that there are Jews of all races?”

Ismail El-Shindi, professor of Islamic Jurisprudence at Al-Quds Open University, dismisses Misinai’s claims as far-fetched.

“It is historically established that the Jewish population in Palestine under the Ottoman rule, especially in the early period, was very small.”

He also refuted the claim that the Ottomans compelled people to embrace Islam.

“This is a totally mendacious claim. There is no compulsion in Islam, and Jews and Christians as well as others were granted complete religious freedom under past Islamic states.”


Falsifying History

“They want to give an impression that Jews had always maintained a sizeable presence in Palestine, which is not true,” Shindi insists.
Professor Shindi describes Misinai’s “totally concocted” theory as the latest chapter in an Israeli scheme to rewrite Palestinian history.

“They want to give an impression that Jews had always maintained a sizeable presence in Palestine, which is not true,” he insists.

“These people are the greatest falsifiers of history.”

Muhammed Masalmeh, a resident of the southern West Bank town of Dura, bushes off the Israeli author’s theory as non-issue.

“This entire issue about people having Jewish roots makes no sense to me,” Masalmeh, who hails from a large Palestinian clan which Misinai says has Jewish roots, told IOL.

The 60-year-old Palestinian stressed that even if he had Jewish roots as Misinai claimed, it would mean nothing to him.

“Islam shapes a person’s entire identity. A Muslim can’t have conflicting identities.”

Muhammed Yousef Makhamra, an Arabic teacher, hails from the Makhamara clan living in southern Al-Khalil, another community Misinai claims has Jewish roots.

“I don’t think that my clan ever had any other identity besides the Palestinian-Arab-Muslim identity.”

The clan has roots in both Palestine and Jordan and was always an integral part of the Palestinian Arab Muslim community.

“We never maintained an esoteric, cultic or insular presence as Jews do.”

Makhamra believes Misinai’s theory is nothing but a new plot to fabricate history to justifying the creation of Israel in 1948 on the rubble of Palestine.

“Those standing behind him are trying to falsify history and give legitimacy to the Israeli Jewish occupation of our homeland.”

On April 18, 1948, Palestinian Tiberius was captured by Menachem Begin’s Irgun militant group, putting its 5,500 Palestinian residents in flight. On April 22, Haifa fell to the Zionist militants and 70,000 Palestinians fled.

On April 25, Irgun began bombarding civilian sectors of Jaffa, terrifying the 750,000 inhabitants into panicky flight.

On May 14, Jaffa completely surrendered to the much better-equipped Zionist militants and only about 4,500 of its population remained, and Israel was created on the rubble of Palestine.

“Having failed to liquidate the Palestinian cause and dislodge us from our ancestral homeland, they are now trying to invent stories and narratives to achieve their old goals,” contends Makhamra.

By Khalid Amayreh

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