Zionist FAQs: Isn't it true that Palestinians never had either a state, nor any distinct culture or language of their own?

Browse hundreds of pictures depicting Palestinian culture & folklore

The best way to debunk this widely spread Zionist myth is by detaching ourselves from reality by:

• Pretending that the concept of nations state isn’t a recent human political construct, and
• Let's pretend that 90% of current nation-states didn't burst onto the scene in the last 130 years, and
• Let's pretend that over 100,000 European Jewish colonial settlers didn't pay P£1/2 (Palestinian Pounds) per settler to gain Palestinian citizenship for a country that didn't exist and
• Let's pretend this political construct, nationalism, is 2,000 years old, as Zionists make it to be, and
• Let's pretend that the mayor of Jerusalem in 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Din Pasha al-Khalidi, didn't send a letter to Theodor Herzl (the founder of the Zionist movement) protesting early Zionists' colonization plans for Palestine and emphasizing that most important land bridge in history wasn't empty.
• "Report On The State of Palestine" issued on March 28th, 1921 by the Third Palestine Arab Congress to Winston Churchill
  Let's pretend that Palestinians didn't convene their Third Palestine Arab Congress in March 1921 to express their FEARS of Zionists' PLOTS to replace them, and
• Let's pretend that Palestinian notables at the Third Palestine Arab Congress didn't send Winston Churchill a booklet titled "Report On The State of Palestine" articulating their wish to exercise their the right of self-determination, and
• Let's pretend that the Executive Arab Committee in Palestine didn't mobilize the civil society, the mosques, and the churches to demand full independence for the Palestinian Arab Nation in 1931, and
• Let us pretend that a booklet titled: "Studies In Palestinian Customs And Folklore" was not published in ENGLISH and GERMAN by Dr. Tawfiq Cana'an (MD) in 1922. It is worth pointing out that Bibi Netanyahu was raised in a home (located in the Qatamoun neighborhood west of Jerusalem) that was looted from the same Cana'an family! In this regard, Palestinians have every right to ask: when did the yishuv first publish a similar book, not in their old Germanic language (Yiddish) but in Hebrew?
• If Palestinian nationalism was created by KGB in the early 1960s, how come Palestinians' most prominent newspaper was named Palestine as early as 1911?
  Let's pretend that the most prominent Palestinian newspaper wasn't named Falastin (meaning Palestine in Arabic) as early as 1911 (YES, that was six years before the infamous Balfour Declaration). Let's also pretend that Falastin's editors didn't make Zionist and British colonization efforts its main enemies from inception! If you care, here is a rare primary source document published by this newspaper's editor in English soon after the Hebron "Riots" of 1929, and if the boring details interests you, here is a profile of Palestine the paper published as of 1912!
• Let us pretend that Edward Said's father didn't open the "Palestine Scientific Library" in 1910 (yes, seven years before the infamous Balfour Declaration), and it had two branches: one in Jaffa and the other in Jerusalem.
• Let us pretend that American President Wilson did not establish a commission to gauge the desires of the people in the Near East after WWI. Let us pretend that Wilson's commission, known as the King-Crane Commission, did not issue a warning about Zionists plotting to create a "Jewish state," and for this to occur, the indigenous people would need to be forcibly dispossessed and replaced.
• Herzl Died Thinking Israel Would Have Been in Uganda, not in "empty" Palestine
  Let's pretend that Haim Arlosoroff (who was the second in command in the Jewish Agency) didn't acknowledged the existence of the Palestinian national movement soon after WWI ended.
• Let's pretend also that Mr. Arlosoroff didn't warn against ignoring the Palestinian national movement.
• Let us pretend that the Jewish Frontier (Labour Zionists' official propaganda arm in the US during pre-Nakba) didn't publish a fair article in June 1937 detailing the facts about Palestinian National movement and political parties. Let us pretend this article didn't also articulate Palestinians' desire for complete independence and their fear of Palestine becoming a Jewish majority. (Jewish Frontier, June - 1937, p. 16)
• Let's pretend that Judah Magnus and Hans Kohn (two towering Zionist intellectual figures) didn't reach a similar conclusion as Mr. Arlosoroff did earlier around the same time (in the late 1920s) and for the same reasons (Peter Grose, p. 227-28). Let's pretend also both didn't urge the Zionist movement to address Palestinians' fears of replacement and national concerns?
• Let's pretend that the Israelites weren't twelve competing tribes and they were all united in a single nation-tribe 2,000 years ahead of humanity's experience with the nation-state concept, and
• Let's pretend British geographers didn't publish a detail of Palestine in 1843 which proves that over 70% of Palestine's towns and villages were completely erased, and
• Let's pretend David Ben-Gurion (the founding father of the "Jewish state") didn't asserted in 1935 that much of the land was in private hands and the state owns very little when Jews owned under 3%, and
• Were the British so STUPID as to promise COMPLETE INDEPENDENCE to Palestinians in 1939 (who, of course, "didn't exist") while the Indians had been DREAMING of such a thing for 400 years?
  Let's pretend that the colonial occupying power, Great Britain, in May 1939 didn't promise Palestinians complete independence (within ten years) and strict limitations on Jewish immigration based on the White Paper of 1939, and
• Let's pretend the British were so stupid to promise independence to Palestinians (who, of course, "NEVER EXISTED" as a nation) while Indians were dreaming of such a thing for 400 years? And,
• JFK said it BEST in 1939: Palestine Was Hardly Britain's to Give Away
  Let's pretend that the White Paper didn't imply canceling the Balfour Declaration, and
• Let's pretend that JFK didn't write to his father in 1939: Palestine was hardly Britain's to give away!
• Let's pretend Europe's Jews weren't the first to recognize the dangers of nationalism on human civilizations and who didn't reject Jewish nationalism (a.k.a. Zionism) in mass, and
• Let's pretend the Bible's myths are "facts", and let's ignore the fact that there is zero evidence that King Solomon and David ever existed (read more about it details from Google Gemini, the Bible Unearthed, and watch Nova's The Bible's Buried Secrets), and
• Let's pretend that Europe's Jewish communities are all descendants of the original Israelites who appeared out of the blue in Ukraine, Crimea, Eastern Poland, southern Belarus and southern Russia as the Khazari Jewish Empire was collapsing in the 12th century, and
• Browse hundreds of pictures depicting Palestinian culture & folklore
  Let's pretend that all Arab Jews (inclusive of the Sephardi Jewish community) are descendants of the "exiled" Israelites, and
• Let's pretend that the Palestinian people shouldn’t have a country of their own because they have never had a state (similar to Putin's argument when he invaded Ukraine) and have ZERO connections to the original Israelites, and
• Let's pretend that the founding fathers of the "Jewish state" didn't believe that Palestinians were descendants of the original Israelites who simply converted over the centuries (a fact which is backed by DNA science), then

Browse hundreds of pictures depicting Palestinian culture & folklore

After untethering yourself from reality, and convinced yourself that Palestinians nationalism was created by the KGB of the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, we simply ask: why should the peoples of Ukraine, Salvador, Guatemala, Congo, Algeria, ... etc. have the right to self-determination, when none of these countries had a state before gaining independence, nor a distinct language or culture that set them apart from their neighboring states? Most importantly, who sets these rules for nation-states to exist or not? Perhaps, such rules were created by colonial settlers who built their civilizations on plunder, Jim Crow, ethnic cleansing, land theft, and genocides! In other words, even if this ridiculous statement about the Palestinian people was true (they never had a state or distinct culture or language):

• Is that a good reason to loot their homes, farms, lands, and businesses?
• Is that a good reason to block their return to their homes? It should be noted that the UN repeatedly called for the return and compensation of Palestinian refugees.
• A Playlist Of Short Clips Of Jews Sharing Their DNA Test Results
  Is that a good reason to nullify their citizenship in the country where they were born?
• Is that a good reason to deprive Palestinians of their right of self-determination on the land they still own?
• Is that a good reason for persecuted European Jewish refugees to replace and dispossess the native people? Did Zionist Jews give refugees a good name?

Before we bore you with the evidence from Zionist and British sources, we ask you to watch Miriam Makeba (the South African singer and actress) for two minutes, proving that the earlier Zionist narrative is nothing but recycled White Man's racist remarks about Africans. Actually, all European colonial settlers had the exact same script, which Zionists still use to this day. Let us not be too harsh in judging Zionists; they were just a product of pre-WWII times. At the time in Europe and America, racism, colonialism, genocides, Jim Crow, ethnic cleansing, land theft, etc, were the norm. In a nutshell, birds of a feather flock together:

Browse hundreds of pictures depicting Palestinian culture

According to historical facts, Zionism, as an ideology, evolved in response to the rise of Europe's nationalism and antisemitism in the late 19th century, especially in Tsarist Russia (Pale States), France during the Dreyfus affair, and Germany after WWI. Most importantly, Theodor Herzl (the founder of Zionism) died thinking Israel would be in Uganda and not in Palestine! There is very little evidence that Europe's Jews ever used Palestine as the foundation of their political or social movements. On the contrary, there are lots of references to the Chazers during the pre-Dreyfus trial period. Actually, the vast majority of Europe's Jews voted with their feet and immigrated to the Americas after WWII, even after Palestine was emptied of its people. Wouldn't this phenomenon (which continues to this date) explain why Arab Jews had to be AIRLIFTED in hurry (directly from their homes) to fill the void!

Studies In Palestinian Customs And Folkore By Dr. Tawfiq Cana'an in 1922!

Similarly, Palestinian nationalism evolved in response to the presence of Zionism in Palestine and, most importantly, because of the British intention to turn Palestine into a "Jewish National Home." See the Balfour Declaration for further details. On many occasions, these central facts were well articulated by David Ben-Gurion (Israel's 1st Prime Minister) and Moshe Sharett (Israel's 1st Foreign Minister). For example:

• A few months before the peace conference convened at Versailles in early 1919, Ben-Gurion expressed his opinion of future Jewish and Arab relations:
  A pre-Nakba picture of al-Rashidiyya school students and staff in Jerusalem

  "Everybody sees the problem in the relations between the Jews and the [Palestinian] Arabs. But not everybody sees that there's no solution to it. There is no solution! . . . The conflict between the interests of the Jews and the interests of the [Palestinian] Arabs in Palestine cannot be resolved by sophisms. I don't know any Arabs who would agree to Palestine being ours---even if we learn Arabic . . .and I have no need to learn Arabic. On the other hand, I don't see why 'Mustafa' should learn Hebrew. . . . There's a national question here. We want the country to be ours. The Arabs want the country to be theirs." (One Palestine Complete, p. 116)

• On May 27, 1931, Ben-Gurion recognized that the "Arab question" is a

  "tragic question of fate" that arose only as a consequence of Zionism, and so was a "question of Zionist fulfillment in the light of Arab reality." In other words, this was a Zionist rather than an Arab question, posed to Zionists who were perplexed about how they could fulfill their aspirations in a land already inhabited by a Palestinian Arab majority. (Shabtai Teveth, p. xii, Preface)

• Browse hundreds of pictures depicting Palestinian culture & folklore

  As the number of Jews in Palestine (Yishuv) doubled between 1931 and 1935, the Palestinian people became threatened with being dispossessed and Jews becoming their masters. The Palestinian political movement was becoming more vocal and organized, which surprised Ben-Gurion. In his opinion, the demonstrations represented a "turning point" important enough to warrant Zionist concern. As he told Mapai comrades:

  ". . . they [referring to Palestinians] showed new power and remarkable discipline. Many of them were killed . . . this time not murderers and rioters, but political demonstrators. Despite the tremendous unrest, the order not to harm Jews was obeyed. This shows exceptional political discipline. There is no doubt that these events will leave a profound imprint on the [Palestinian] Arab movement. This time, we have seen a political movement that must evoke the respect of the world. (Shabtai Teveth, p. 126)

• Browse this gallery that shows hundreds of Palestinian land deeds that prove land ownership

  But Ben-Gurion set limits. The Palestinian people were incapable (by themselves) of developing Palestine, and they had no right to stand in the way of the Jews. He argued in 1918 that Jews' rights sprang not only from the past but also from the future. In 1924, he declared:

  "We do not recognize the right of the [Palestinian] Arabs to rule the country, since Palestine is still undeveloped and awaits its builders." In 1928, he pronounced that "the [Palestinian] Arabs have no right to close the country to us [Jews]. What right do they have to the Negev desert, which is uninhabited?"; and in 1930, "The [Palestinian] Arabs have no right to the Jordan river, and no right to prevent the construction of a power plant [by a Jewish concern]. They have a right only to that which they have created and to their homes." (Shabtai Teveth, p. 38)
  
  In other words, the Palestinian people are entitled to no political rights whatsoever, and if they have any rights, to begin with, these rights are confined to their places of residence. Ironically, this statement was written when the Palestinian people constituted 95% of citizens, 85% of Palestine's population, and owned and operated over 97% of its lands!

• 
  Jaffa National Christian Orthodox School (1938)

  In February 1937, Ben-Gurion was on the brink of a far-reaching conclusion that the Arabs of Palestine were a separate people, distinct from other Arabs and deserving of self-determination. He stated:

  "The right which the Arabs in Palestine have is one due to the inhabitants of any country . . . because they live here, and not because they are Arabs . . . The Arab inhabitants of Palestine should enjoy all the rights of citizens and all political rights, not only as individuals but as a national community, just like the Jews." (Shabtai Teveth, p. 170)
  

• Browse hundreds of pictures depicting Palestinian culture & folklore
  In 1936 (soon after the outbreak of the First Palestinian Intifada), Ben-Gurion wrote in his diary:
  
  "The Arabs fear of our power is intensifying, [Arabs] see exactly the opposite of what we see. It doesn't matter whether or not their view is correct.... They see [Jewish] immigration on a giant scale .... they see the Jews fortify themselves economically .. They see the best lands passing into our hands. They see England identify with Zionism. ..... [Arabs are] fighting dispossession ... The fear is not of losing the land, but of losing homeland of the Arab people, which others want to turn it into the homeland of the Jewish people. There is a fundamental conflict. We and they want the same thing: We both want Palestine ..... By our very presence and progress here, [we] have matured the [Arab] movement." (Righteous Victims, p.136)
  
• In 1938, Ben-Gurion also stated against the backdrop of the First Palestinian Intifada:
  
  "When we say that the Arabs are the aggressors and we defend ourselves ----that is ONLY half the truth. As regards our security and life, we defend ourselves. . . . But the fighting is only one aspect of the conflict, which is, in its essence, a political one. And politically, we are the aggressors and they defend themselves." (Righteous Victims, p. 652)
  
• Browse hundreds of pictures depicting Palestinian culture & folklore

  In 1936, Moshe Sharett spoke in a similar vein:
  
  "Fear is the main factor in [Palestinian] Arab politics. . . . There is no Arab who is not harmed by Jews' entry into Palestine." (Righteous Victims, p.136)

• Haim Arlosoroff (2nd to David Ben-Gurion in the Jewish Agency & Sharett's predecessor in the Jewish Agency) articulated the earlier facts for over a decade before his assassination in 1933.

Therefore, if the causes of Zionism had not risen, meaning European anti-Semitism, then Palestinian nationalism might not have evolved into what it is today. It's worth noting that the Palestinian people, prior to WWI, always identified themselves as being part of "The Great Syria" (Suriyya al-Kubra). However, that drastically changed when Britain intended to turn Palestine into a "Jewish National Home." See the Balfour Declaration for more details, and the Third Palestine Arab Congress booklet that was sent to Winston Churchill in March, 1921 expressing Palestinians' fears of replacement.

If Palestine and its people NEVER existed and Palestine was empty for 2000 years, why did over 100,000 European Jewish colonial settlers did pay 1/2 Palestinian Pounds (P£) per settler to gain Palestinian citizenship?

This declaration, which was made to the Zionist Movement in 1917, signaled the future dispossession and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people because it did not address their political rights. On the other hand, the declaration recognized the political rights of the "Jewish people" around the world, even though the Jews in Palestine were under 8% of the total population as of 1914 (Righteous Victims, p. 83). In that respect, Lord Balfour, who was the British Foreign Secretary and a self-professed Christian Zionist, stated in 1919:

"Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-old traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder importance than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 [Palestinian] Arabs who now inhabit the ancient land." (Righteous Victims, p. 75)

In response to this declaration, the Palestinian people started to collectively oppose the British Mandate, Jewish immigration, and land sales to the Zionist movement (for more details, see the resolutions of the Third Palestinian Congress of 1921). It should be noted that to date, Palestinians still own over 94% of Palestine's lands.

NYTimes, July 10th, 1938: Palestinian Arabs are against the Zionist state because they feel it endangers their aspiration to have Palestine for their own! The same ones who don't exist now!

As we were researching the Haavara Agreement and the Evian Conference of 1938 that was convened to deal with the Jewish refugee crisis, we stumbled upon this  NY Times article by accident. We were stunned to read the ending of the article (which was written by Edwin L. James wrote on July 10^th, 1938), that summarized much of the Palestinian struggle for the past century. Hang on to your seat first:

Although the Arabs are fighting the British. Rather than the Jews, that is simply because the British exercise authority in Palestine. The real Arab resentment is against the Zionist State. Which the industry of the Jews has been building well. In the increase of Jews moving to Palestine. The Arabs see further danger to their aspiration to have Palestine for their own. Whether or not they are being stirred up by Italian or other influence, the fact that not only the Arabs in Palestine itself are making trouble, but Arabs from Trans-Jordan and Syria are trying to get into Palestine with obviously hostile intention. indicates a general movement with general direction. There is small doubt that the British will put down the present uprisings. But the serious question arises as to what will be the situation after that has been done. The chances are that the friction between the Arabs and Jews will not end there. (NY Times, July 10th, 1938, in PDF)

[Now imagine if Mr. James (the one who wrote this article 85 years ago) wrote this article today in the NY Times, do you have any doubts that he will be publicly canceled (maybe fired too) for being "antisemitic"?]

Sadly, 85 years after Evian, we still hear the mass majority of Jews, reminding us how Palestinians don't exist. When they "do exist," Palestinians must be anti-Semitic since they are anti-Zionists! To rub salt into the wound, they made Palestinians collectively liable for Mufti's actions during WWII. They expected them to be the first in human history who should love (rather than hate) those who dispossessed them and threw them out! Of course, Nakba "never" happened, and Palestinians abandoned their homes willingly during the war of Nakba. Palestine (the most critical land bridge) was empty and was romantically waiting for 2000 years for Zionist Jews to populate and bloom its Negev desert. Only in Zionists' minds could such a twisted sense of reality be tolerated! Don't even dare to expose Zionists' contradiction! They will skin you!

Pre-Nakba performance inside the renowned al-Hamra cinema in Jaffa city

Rather than dealing directly with the issues, sadly, many Israelis, Zionists, and Jews in general opted to ignore the existence of the Palestinians as a people (out of sight; out of mind). It should be emphasized that the hawk of all Israeli hawks, Ariel Sharon, has accepted the existence of a Palestinian state, in principle, in a portion of historic Palestine. Whether Israelis and Zionists like it or not, Palestine now exists as a postal code, international calling code, internet domain name,.. etc., in the heart of "Eretz Yisrael". The 12+ million Palestinians are not going away, and the sooner Israelis and Zionists understand this simple message, the faster they shall start dealing with core issues of the conflict pragmatically.

Browse hundreds of pictures depicting Palestinian culture & folklore

Finally, applying such logic is very dangerous since it would eliminate half of the United Nations' members overnight. It is simply not just to suppress the political, economic, and civil rights of the Palestinian people by claiming that they never previously had a state, distinct language, and distinct culture. Ironically, the Zionist movement has been encouraging Jews from all corners of the world to emigrate to "Eretz Yisrael," so that there is no real common denominator between all of these immigrants, such as a common language, culture, country of origin, or even a unified interpretation of "who is a Jew." For the love of God, this fact has been even proven with DNA science!

In a nutshell, almost every Zionist accusation about Palestinians is a confession! Zionists perfected the art of deflection like no other!

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