Myths of the Middle East - Draiman

Myths of the Middle East

by Joseph Farah 

Joseph Farah, an Arab-American journalist, is the editor and chief executive officer of WorldNetDaily.com, a leading independent news site.See more articles by Joseph Farah

I've been quiet since Israel erupted in fighting spurred by disputes over the Temple Mount. 
Until now, I haven't even bothered to say, "See, I told you so." But I can't resist any longer. I feel compelled to remind you of the column I wrote just a couple weeks before the latest uprising. Yeah, folks, I predicted it. That's OK. Hold your applause. 
After all, I wish I had been wrong. More than 180 people have been killed since the current fighting in and around Jerusalem began. And for what? 
If you believe what you read in most news sources, Arab/Palestinians want a homeland and Muslims want control over sites they consider holy. Simple, right? 
Well, as an Arab-American journalist who has spent some time in the Middle East dodging more than my share of rocks and mortar shells, I've got to tell you that these are just phony excuses for the rioting, trouble-making and land-grabbing. 
Isn't it interesting that prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, there was no serious movement for an Arab/Palestinian homeland? 
"Well, Farah," you might say, "that was before the Israelis seized and liberated Judea and Samaria also known as the West Bank and Old Jerusalem." 
That's true. In the Six-Day War, Israel recaptured and liberated Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem. But they didn't recapture these territories from Yasser Arafat. They recaptured them from Jordan's King Hussein. I can't help but wonder why all these Arab/Palestinians suddenly discovered their national identity after Israel won the defensive war and regained its territory. 
The truth is that Arab-Palestine is no more real than Never-Never Land. The first time the name was used was in 70 A.D. when the Romans committed genocide against the Jews, smashed the Jewish Temple and declared the land of Israel would be no more. From then on, the Romans promised, it would be known as Palestine. The name was derived from the Philistines, a Goliathian people conquered by the Jews centuries earlier. It was a way for the Romans to add insult to injury. They also tried to change the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina, but that had even less staying power. 
Arab-Palestine has never existed -- before or since -- as an autonomous entity. It was ruled alternately by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and, briefly, by the British after World War I as trustee under the Mandate for Palestine. The British agreed to restore the land to the Jewish people as their homeland as dictated by international law and treaties of post WWI. 
There is no language known as Arab-Palestinian. There is no distinct Arab-Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Arab-Palestine governed by Arab-Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc. Keep in mind that the Arabs control 99.9 percent of the Middle East lands over 5 million square miles. Israel represents one-tenth of 1 percent of the landmass. 
But that's too much for the Arabs. They want it all. And that is ultimately what the fighting in Israel is about today. Greed. Pride. Envy. Covetousness. No matter how many land concessions the Israelis make, it will never be enough. 
What about Islam's holy sites? There are none in Jerusalem. 
Shocked? You should be. I don't expect you will ever hear this brutal truth from anyone else in the international media. It's just not politically correct. 
I know what you're going to say: "Farah, the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem represent Islam's third most holy sites." 
Not true. In fact, the Koran says nothing about Jerusalem. It mentions Mecca hundreds of times. It mentions Medina countless times. It never mentions Jerusalem. With good reason. There is no historical evidence to suggest Mohammed ever visited Jerusalem. 
So how did Jerusalem become the third holiest site of Islam? Muslims today cite a vague passage in the Koran, the seventeenth Sura, entitled "The Night Journey." It relates that in a dream or a vision Mohammed was carried by night "from the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him our signs. ..." In the seventh century, some Muslims identified the two temples mentioned in this verse as being in Mecca and Jerusalem, but when Mohammed died, the Mosque in Jerusalem did not exist, it was built decades later as a sign of conquest. And that's as close as Islam's connection with Jerusalem gets -- myth, fantasy, wishful thinking. Meanwhile, Jews can trace their roots in Jerusalem back to the days of Abraham. 
Some of the round of violence in Israel erupted when Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon tried to visit the Temple Mount, the foundation of the Temple built by Solomon; which is stated as part of a 1925 Muslim Wakf guide to Temple Mount. It is the holiest site for Jews. Sharon and his entourage were met with stones and threats. I know what it's like. I've been there. Can you imagine what it is like for Jews to be threatened, stoned and physically kept out of the holiest site in Judaism? These episodes of Arab violence have been repeated since the 1920's.
So what's the solution to the Middle East mayhem? Well, frankly, I don't think there is a man-made solution to the violence. But, if there is one, it needs to begin with truth. Pretending will only lead to more chaos. Treating a 5,000-year-old birthright backed by overwhelming historical and archaeological evidence equally with illegitimate delusional claims, wishes and wants gives diplomacy and peacekeeping a bad name.