One of Israel's key demands in the current peace process is that the Palestinians simply recognize Israel as the national and historical homeland of the Jews. But last week Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority punctuated its refusal to do so by claiming the Jews have no historical ties whatsoever and are aliens in the land.

In a show on official Palestinian Authority TV on October 22, a leading Palestinian historian and a senior government official lectured their audience on how the Jews of Israel have no connection to any land in the Middle East, and are inventing archeological finds to support their false claims.

By contrast, the two insisted that the Palestinians have 4,000-5,000 years of history in the land. Many have pointed out before that such claims run completely counter to other Palestinian claims. For example, the Palestinians say they are Arabs and therefore descendants of Abraham. However, Abraham had not yet been born 4,000 years ago.

Over the past few decades, an avalanche of archeological finds and historical documentation have attested to the Jews' strong and rich history in the region, while very little has been produced to support an Arab presence dating back any further than the Muslim conquest 1,300 years ago.

[Translation provided by Palestinian Media Watch]

NOTE: The upcoming issue of Israel Today will explore the various ancestral claims of today's Palestinian Arabs.

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