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European Journal of Applied Sciences – Vol. 10, No. 6

Publication Date: December 25, 2022

DOI:10.14738/aivp.106.13715. Gurevitz, M. (2022). Deceptive Claims Rewrite the History of Canaan. European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(6). 606-608.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Deceptive Claims Rewrite the History of Canaan

Michael Gurevitz

Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Ecology

George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University

Ramat Aviv 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel

The geographical region of Israel(previously part of Canaan), was named ‘Palestine’ first by the

Greeks and then by the Romans, using likely the biblical name of the Philistines, arriving from

the Aegean region and Mediterranean islands like Crete and Sardinia, and occupying the area

around the Gaza strip. Canaan is considered the homeland of the Israelites since approximately

1700 BC when Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish nation, arrived from Haran (in Ur; a region

in today’s Iraq). The settlement of the Hebrew nation in Canaan was buttressed by Joshua

(successor of Moses) and the Hebrew tribes following their escape from slavery in Egypt. Later,

the 12 Israelite tribes, united by king Saul, established a strong kingdom that reached its

topmost power during the leaderships of David and his son Solomon (approximately at 1000

BC). Soon after and due to internal conflicts. the Hebrew kingdom was divided to ‘Judah’ and

‘Israel’, two monarchies that fought constantly against surrounding enemies. The temple built

by king Solomon in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians (Nebuchadnezzar) in 587 BC,

and the Jewish elite population led by king Jehoiachin as well as his successor king Zedekiah

were exiled to Babylon (the present area near Bagdad in Iraq). A few hundred years later, many

Jews returned to Canaan after the defeat of Babylon by the Persians, and built a second temple

during the kingdom of Herod. This temple was destroyed by Titus, a Roman warlord, on 70 CE

following a revolt, and most of the surviving Jewish population either left the country or were

exiled to slavery in Rome. Notably, although dispersed at various times, Jews have lived

continuously in Canaan, through the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, Muslim,

Crusader, Ottoman and British rulings, concentrating primarily in Tiberias, Zefad, Nazeret,

Nablus, Hebron, Jerusalem and Jaffa, and reaching a considerable population of approximately

600000 prior to WWII. During mostly the 18 and 19 centuries, Arabic refugees from the

neighboring countries and Bedouins from the Arabian deserts in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt

and Jordan settled in the vacuum formed in Canaan by the exile of the Jews. The offspring

generations of these refugees constitute the population named nowadays Palestinians (no

connection to the Philistines). On the basis of this historic background and the continued

affiliation of the Jews to Zion (Israel with Jerusalem in particular), for a number of millennia,

the United Nations voted in November 1947 on the return of the Jews after the WWII holocaust

back to their homeland. Notably, the Arabic refugees (Palestinians) never claimed for

independence nor did they define themselves a nation, and had always been considered

refugees belonging to either Jordan (the Western Bank) or to Egypt (the Gaza strip). National

aspirations of these refugees did not rise even at 1948, when the neighboring Arabic countries

invaded and tried to destroy Israel immediately after the leave of the British Mandate and

declaration of independence, but it first emerged after the Six-Day-War in 1967, when Israel

retaliated to the Arabic aggression and defeated Egypt, Syria and Jordan. This war changed the

region geographically in that Israel occupied the Western Bank (previously belonging to

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Gurevitz, M. (2022). Deceptive Claims Rewrite the History of Canaan. European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(6). 606-608.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/aivp.106.13715

Jordan), the Golan Heights (previously belonging to Syria), and Sinai (including the Gaza strip;

previously belonging to Egypt). Whereas the Golan Heights region was scarcely populated

(mostly by Druse villages), and was often used by Syrian soldiers for sniper-shooting down at

Israeli farmers, the off-springs of the Arabic inhabitants in the Western Bank, in the Gaza Strip,

and Arabic citizens of Israel (all Palestinians), have begun their attempts to re-write the history

by raising ‘national’ aspirations and deceptive geographical demands on the entire territory of

Israel. Although the strive for independent nationality can be understood, the Israeli occupation

of the West Bank and Sinai (including the Gaza strip) resulted from the war against Jordan and

Egypt, respectively, not against a Palestinian entity of any sort. In the years after, the occupied

West Bank was offered to Hussein (Jordanian King) to regain his control over this previous

Jordanian territory, but, in realizing that the Palestinian population of this region might catalyze

a revolution by his own Palestinian population with removal of the Hashemites from power, he

refused. Concurrently, Anwar Sadat (Egyptian president) refused to take control over the Gaza

strip when Sinai was returned to Egypt upon the peace treaty achieved with Israel in 1979, for

a similar reason, namely, the Palestinian population could have endangered his control over

Egypt. Hence, the Palestinian demands of the entire Israeli territory are evidently unjustified

(both historically and religiously) and also contradict the United Nation’s decision to let the

Jews return to their mother land. By calling their leave of Israel during 1948 ‘Nakba’ (kind of

catastrophe), the Arabic inhabitants of Canaan should have blamed the leaders of mostly

Jordan, Syria and Egypt, who promised them a return after the destruction of the resurrected

new Israeli State. Since Israel was not defeated, these Arabs (less than a million) lost their

homes and property, as well as the right to demand their return. It is a pity that the Arabic

leaders did not solve their problem at that time by allowing their absorption in the numerous

Arabic countries in an exchange deal against the Jews and their property left behind when

obliged to leave the Arabic countries after 1948, but preferred instead to keep them in ‘Refugee

Camps’ to constitute a continuous pressure on Israel.

Overall, the Palestinian claims for ownership of the land of Canaan (Israel) are groundless and

contradict even the Qur’an statement that Israel belongs to the Jews (Sura 5 verse 21). The

Israelites (Jews) inhabited this land thousands of years prior to the rise of Islam or the arrival

of the Arabic refugees and Bedouins to the region. The Al-Aksa mosque in Jerusalem was built

in 705 CE on the site of the Hebrew temple, to wipe off the residual signs of Judaism, reminiscent

to the construction of Christian churches on the remains of the Pyramids in Central and South

America. The sacredness of Al-Aksa is a falsified fairytale similar to the preposterous myth of

Muhammad’s arrival on a winged horse to Jerusalem and flying to heaven. Therefore, the claims

of the Palestinians about an Israeli conquest of their homeland as well as endangering their

holy sites are erroneous, lacking real roots. It seems presently, that the only solution for these

refugees and their offspring generations would be by providing sufficient international and

financial support for their incorporation in the surrounding Arabic countries, whose main

problem with Israel (so they declare) is that of the Palestinian refugees. No doubt, continuous

Palestinian claims for their previous homes and property are definitely a recipe for an endless

struggle with Israel. In today’s chaotic political situation, where the Arabic oil is a dominating

factor in the international foreign affairs, many countries blame Israel for conquering

‘Palestinian land’ and an ‘Apartheid-like’ ruling system. Yet, not only that both claims are

unjustified, a more realistic attitude should consider and even cherish the standing of Israel

against the ‘crawling conquest’ of the West by the radical Islam. The establishment of Kosovo

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European Journal of Applied Sciences (EJAS) Vol. 10, Issue 6, December-2022

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

(part of Yeguslavia) as an independent Muslim country (inhabited by mostly Albanian

immigrants), or spread of the Islam in many African countries (they have forgotten their torture

and slavery by Arabic merchants), as well as the increasing numbers of Muslim immigrants in

European countries that lost control over regions that even the police cannot enter (e.g., in

Marseille, France), are just a few examples of the worldwide dangerous expansion of the Islamic

extremism (Jihad).