THE ENGAGEMENT

The roots and solution to the problem in the Holy Land

Tsvi Misinai

Liad Publishing August 2007
All rights preserved to the author

Cover design: Yael Saranga

Linguistic Editing: Sivan Raz

Printed by: Eichut digital printing, Rekhovot

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

The war over control of the Land of Israel has been going on now for many years and there is no end in sight. Neither side to the conflict is able to realize its goals. The intensity of the bloodshed has increased to the point where it threatens world peace.

The main obstacle to a peaceful solution is the Palestinian’s demand for the right of return of their refugees to the State of Israel. This demand reflects the Palestinian desire to control the entire country. The obstacle is based on focusing on rights derived from the past instead of focusing on the future. However, to effectively remove this obstacle, a comprehensive examination of the istory of the country and its current inhabitants is required. As it turns out, such an examination allows for seeing the situation under a new light, one which enables resolving the conflict.

In the words of Albert Einstein, “You can't solve problems by using the same consciousness that created them.” Similarly, this attitude illustrates that contrary to what has been the accepted norms of the recent past, the Zionist movement has not fully accomplished its goals In order to resolve the conflict once and for all, one has to keep an open mind and have room for a profound change in attitude regarding the history and identity of the parties involved:

The people of Israel are composed of two main groups. The first was exiled from the Land of Israel after the destruction of the second Jewish temple and has managed to preserve its religion and national identity throughout time, until the Zionist movement returned a major part of it to its homeland – the Land of Israel. The second group consists of those who remained within the Land of Israel, though they were forced to abandon their religion. Over the years the latter group lost its original identity. Due to the change in the name of the land by a Roman emperor from Judea to Palestina, the descendants of these forced converts, together with a small minority of others are recently called “Palestinians.”

As a result of losing its identity, this group suffered greatly and caused many others to suffer, as well. The time is now ripe for the Zionist movement to continue its historic role and enable the real return – this of the Palestinians to their original nation. Such a return shall take place on a national base without any religious coercion, according to the Jewish law relevant in these circumstances.
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INTRODUCTION

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is derived from two contradictory fundamental positions regarding rights for the Land of Israel. The unceasing struggle has claimed many lives and caused considerable suffering to the region’s residents, with no end in sight.

To end the ongoing cycle of violence and destruction, Jews and Palestinians must move beyond the conventions that have fashioned stale thinking. They must make creative use of old-new findings related to the Palestinian identity. Not only do these findings allow for a more effective way of communicating Israel's position, more importantly they offer a just and lasting solution to the conflict.

The findings described below are based on scientific research in a variety of fields. The most extensive of these are a series genetic studies and an historical-demographic research of the Land of Israel covering the past 2,000 years. These studies lead to an amazing conclusion:

Not only is the prevailing idea regarding the Arab identity of the Palestinian population in error, but rather there also exists a surprisingly solid basis for quite another Palestinian identity.

The revolutionary idea about the Jewish origin of the majority of the Palestinians was raised by David Ben Gurion (the first prime minister of the State of Israel) and Yitskhak Ben Tsvi (the second president of the State of Israel) during the period between the world wars in an attempt to provide an answer to the difficult question regarding the non-Jewish population in the Land of Israel.

As a result of the Holocaust, the Zionist enterprise engendered tremendous worldwide support, and no longer the Zionist leadership needed to grapple with the problem. More recently, the intensity of the memory of the Holocaust has dimmed. In light of the mounting terror, the Zionist leadership has again found it necessary to revisit the question of the non-Jewish population. Israel’s leadership today is preoccupied with the running of the country and the complex problems created by neglecting the Palestinian issue. Subsequently it is unlikely that it would rediscover the novel approach of David Ben Gurion and Yitskhak Ben Tsvi with its potential for finding a path to a peaceful and permanent resolution of the conflict.

The accepted historical thought is that the Jews who remained in the Land of Israel after the destruction of the Second Temple were cut off from their land in various ways. This way of thought means that the majority of the land was made up of foreigners until the time of the establishment of the State of Israel. However, this speculation does not rest on historical facts. The "disappearance" of the Jews from the Land of Israel has always remained a mystery.

The hypothesis of David Ben Gurion and Ben Tsvi on the issue of the Palestinian identity has been significantly enhanced and its validity has become even more pronounced by a series of genetic studies that have been published over the past years. These studies demonstrate that the Jews and Palestinians are genetically very close, much more so than the Jews are close to Arabs or other peoples.

Following the publication of these studies, additional studies on the subject have been conducted and published, reinforcing the revolutionary claim as to Jewish-Israeli identity of the Palestinians.

The consequences of the precise evidence concerning Palestinian identity may have vast implications for the future of the region. First and foremost it can be used in a communicative effort in order to minimize the hatred between the parties. Furthermore, it would be a terrible error to ignore these findings when attempting to settle this complex conflict, even if a major paradigm shift is required.

For many years no one has succeeded in even proposing a solution acceptable to both parties of their own free will. Every previous suggested solution has been based on conventional thinking, depriving the parties from exercising their free will.

Subsequently, every agreement thus far has proven temporary or a mere stratagem. Therefore, all that has been previously agreed upon, even after a great deal of effort, has only led to an exacerbation of the conflict with grave consequences for the peace of the region, as well as for world peace.

All the proposed compromises do not deal with the roots of the hatred between the parties nor do they even remotely satisfy their just desires. Each one in turn becomes an additional stage in the history of the growing violence in the Middle East.

In order for any settlement to be freely agreed upon it must get to the roots of the problem. There is no substitute for finding a solution based on the recognition of the deep roots of the conflict and for proposing a solution accordingly!
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ACTIVITIES AND STUDIES REGARDING PALESTINIAN IDENTITY

The first revelation concerning the identity of the Palestinians was published by German researchers in 1860, following the settlement of the German Templars in the Holy Land. Colonel Condor, from the Institute for Israel Research, discovered traces of Aramaic and Hebrew in the language of the Fallahin of the land.

Subsequent to this revelation, Israel Belkind investigated the identity of the veteran residents of the Land of Israel. In 1894, he was the first Jew to preach about recognizing the Jewish-Israeli identity of the Palestinians and about entering into rapprochement with them. He published articles, collected and recorded testimonies 5,7 and taught that " the Arabs in the Land of Israel are the blood brothers of the Jews. " In 1905, the Zionist thinker, Ber Borokhov claimed 10 that "the Fallahin (peasants) in the Land of Israel were also the descendants of the remnants of the Jewish agricultural settlements."

Ben Gurion and Ben Tsvi adopted the idea and found support for it. They raised the finding in a co-authored work entitled “The Land of Israel in the Past and in the Present” that they wrote in 1918 1 . Making reference to this finding was done primarily for the purpose of justifying the Zionist enterprise. Additionally, it contained the hope that the Jewish immigration to Israel would alter the situation and that the Palestinians would become a minority that would be absorbed among the people of Israel.

David Ben Gurion attributed great importance to the subject and believed that this was the key to a future solution! In  his article, entitled “An Inquiry into the Origins of the Fallahin ,” published in 1917, he summarizes 4,7 :

"In the area of the Carmel and the Sharon Valley we encounter in many Fallahin villages, blonde hair and blue eyes and the outward appearance of their faces attest to their forefathers having come here many hundreds of years ago from northern Europe . . . but despite many mixed marriages, the vast majority of Fallahin and Moslems in the western Land of Israel, presents us with another race type and a complete ethnic unit and there is no doubt that in their veins flows much Jewish blood, the blood of those Jewish farmers, the masses who, in troubled times, chose to deny their faith as long as they would not be uprooted from their lands. "

Few years later, Ben Gurion attempted to bring about cooperation between Jewish and Palestinian workers. Ben Tsvi invested substantial effort in researching the subject by exhaustively seeking testimonies throughout the Land of Israel on both sides of the Jordan River (during a very long period, the western part of today's Kingdom of Jordan was considered the same country as the one west of the Jordan river). In 1932, he documented his findings in a book entitled, “Populations of Our Land.” Subsequent to the publication of his book, he continued with his research on this subject.

The massive Arab immigration to the Land of Israel simultaneous with the Jewish immigration, in conjunction with violent events instigated by a small number of Palestinians against the Jews, led to intense hatred between the two groups. It is reasonable to speculate that these circumstances influenced Yitskhak Ben Tsvi to abandon his work on the subject. The difficult events of the time, including the Holocaust and the 1948 war, forced Ben Tsvi to attend to more immediate issues.

In the 1948 war the Land of Israel was partitioned. The number of Palestinians who remained in the State of Israel (the part of the land the constituted the Jewish state) was small and its portion diminished even further as a result of the growing number of Jewish immigrants that flowed into the state after its establishment. At the time, the leadership of the young Jewish state was busy focusing on the integration of penniless immigrants from a variety of cultures, and therefore, the subject of the Palestinian population did not merit sufficient attention.

The numerous confrontations and wars between the Jews and the Arabs increased the mutual hatred and exacerbated the differences between the two, inhibiting any thoughts regarding a rapprochement between the Jews and the Palestinians.

In addition, it must be noted that the revolutionary approach presented here did not rely then on the genetic studies that have added a great deal of credibility to the approach. Regardless, Ben Gurion kept in mind his original findings, and at first, attempted to put them to use with the Bedouin peoples in Israel. These were friendly to Israel, and served in the Israel Defense Forces. The program that Ben Gurion planned for the Bedouin peoples came to be known as yihud (Judaizing). The term was coined to distinguish the process from conversion, as it did not emphasize religion among a population that was secular.

In 1956, Ben Gurion appointed a task group, headed by Moshe Dayan (who later became the chief of staff of the Israeli military), to advance the idea of Judaizing the Bedouin people. The group brought in religious Jews to instruct the Bedouin peoples about Jewish traditions. However, these instructors were unused to the difficult way of life in the Bedouin tents and abandoned their task at the outset. Claiming that Judaizing the Bedouin peoples would anger the world's Moslems, Dayan caused Ben Gurion to abandon the idea.

The military successes of Israel in its wars against the Arabs led to the deterioration of the problem’s consequences. The residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were added to the "Arabs from the Green Line" that Israel governed. However, it was the first intifada in 1987 that newly raised the problem of this population after it had been neglected for many years.

Subsequently, two important events occurred which impacted this subject. The early 1990s brought in the first publication of genetic studies, though of limited scope, pointing to the genetic closeness between Palestinians and Jews. Simultaneously, the Oslo Accords began a process of separation between the Jews and most of the “Arabs” in the Land of Israel.

The problems presented by the Oslo Accords and subsequent events led to further genetic research investigating the closeness between the Palestinians and the Jews. The new studies were published close to time of the outbreak of the second intifada.

Following these genetic studies, two other studies were conducted.

The first, published in 2003 by Elon Yarden , examines the identity of the Palestinian population from a geographical-historical perspective. The second research, published in 2006 by the author of this booklet, considers the demographic-historical perspective of the problem.
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THE GENETIC ASPECT

A number of genetic studies were published on the subject of the closeness between Palestinians and Jews in the years 2000 and 2001. Professor Ariella Oppenheim of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem conducted a series of genetic research studies in

cooperation with other research institutions 11,12,13 . Though extremely important, the findings of these studies in and of themselves would not stir serious repercussions. However, in conjunction with other research results and with the irresolvable situation in the Middle East, these findings acquire great importance.

The research conducted on the male Y chromosome found that there is a great genetic kinship between the Palestinians and the Jews, similar to that which exists between the various Jewish communities.

Additionally, it was found that Palestinians are genetically much closer to Ashkenazi Jews (Jews who came to Israel from European countries) than they are to the Arabs. Similarly, Palestinians are considerably genetically closer to Jews of the Eastern communities and to the Islamic Kurds than they are to the Arabs. These findings not only strengthen the insights of Ben Gurion and Ben Tsvi, but also dispel contradictory claims like those of Syria's late President Hafez Assad that state that Ashkenazi Jewry is descended from the Kazars (a Caucasian nation that temporarily adopted Judaism, more than thousand years ago), and therefore they possess no historical claim over the Land of Israel. Furthermore, the research finds, though not in a categorical way, that the Palestinians residing in the mountains are genetically closer to the Jews than are their brothers who dwell in the plains.

The Human Immunology magazine published yet another genetic study. This piece received more than the usual amount of publicity following the magazine’s instruction to its readers to destroy the article due to the fact that the author had inserted political opinions into the article. The research was conducted by the Spanish researcher professor Antonio Arnez-Vilna from the University of Complotensa in Madrid. It discovered that the immune systems of the Jews and the Palestinians are extremely close to one another and in a way that almost absolutely demonstrates a similar genetic identity.

Simultaneously, a research conducted at the University of Tel Aviv 14 concerning a certain type of inherited deafness widespread among certain sectors of Palestinians, also showed a clear and exclusive closeness to Jews of Ashkenazi extraction that suffer from the same problem. Moreover, only in these two groups is this genetic mutation found to exist!
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EVIDENCE IN MATTERS OF CUSTOMS AND RELIGION

An additional dimension supporting the findings about the origin of the Palestinians can be found among various Palestinian customs and religious traditions. The collection of testimonials began as early as the beginning of the 20th century. The various testimonies, including those dealing with the origin of the Palestinians, rather than with their traditions, as discussed in a later chapter are dealing with a relatively small portion of the current Palestinian population. Today there is only a limited number of those who can testify as to the Jewish origin of the locals, due to the fact that the process of distancing away from Judaism was gradual, and the testimonies which were found tell of those whose departure from Judaism is more recent.

Ratson Tsdaka, a Samaritan writer, tells of an old Arab woman in the village Kufar in the region of Tul-Karem. The old woman told of how her grandmother had instructed her to secretly light candles in hiding on the eve of every Sabbath. The name Kufar means infidels. It was named as such by Muslims due to the fact that it was a village where Jews had lived in the past.

Yehuda Boorla, an Israeli writer, described in his book “Be’ein Cokhav,” his service as an officer in the Turkish army during WWI and his Arab attendant from the land of Israel. One section of the book describes a moment of discovery on the part of the attendant. Upon hearing the author speak about the Islamic custom of cutting off the breasts of Jewish women in order to disable the Jews’ ability to continue to exist, the Arab attendant realized that his mother, who suffered from the same deformity, was in reality Jewish. Yitskhak Ben Tsvi told of the Jewish origin of the residents of the southern Hebron Mountains, and of the fact that as recent as 150 years ago, they observed Jewish traditions. Even throughout later years, they maintained an abstinence from camel meet (allowed in Islam) and lit candles on the eve of the Sabbath and on Khanuka, often not realizing the origin of these traditions.

Yet another cultural tradition that illustrates the Palestinian-Jewish connection can be seen through the lighting of candles on the holiday of Hanukah. It is a known fact that in the Makhamara clan from Kfar Yata (in Judea, the biblical Yuta) and Kfar Anza (located near the Sanur in Samaria) this custom continues still today. In fact, their neighbors refer to them as Jews. In the possession of one of the respected members of this Yata town clan who originated from Yemen (which represents half of the town’s residents) is a silver Hanukah candelabrum passed down throughout the generations. Similarly, in the village of Funduk, located east of Karnei Shomron, there are residents who have a custom of lighting candles on Hanukah.

Near the 19th century, the village of Yuta (known as such till that period) was the only village in the land of Israel of which all its residents were Jewish. With time, the following of Jewish customs subsided due to fear of the village’s new immigrants from East Jordan, and eventually, their Jewish origin was forgotten. Yitskhak Ben Tsvi describes that despite the dwindling of Judaism in Yuta, the elder women of the village gathered on the eve of every Saturday by a tree that grew out of a boulder south of the village to light the Sabbath candles. This practice ended as recently as 1989, following pressures from the younger generation. Remnants of the biblical Yuta’s large synagogue, though in shambles, strengthen the case of a Jewish presence in Yata. The Abu Aram branch of the Makhamara clan, resided next to this synagogue. The village grew to be a town called Yata; most of the new construction took place east of the biblical location of Yuta.

Interestingly, three family members belonging to the Makhamara clan, residing in the neighboring Samoah (the biblical Eshtamoah) have managed to begin the conversion process to Judaism despite the torment and terrorist threats that have been directed at them as a result. One of the elderly women of the family meticulously lights Sabbath candles and fasts in commemoration of the destruction of the Temple. She speaks of a succession of Jewish mothers that has been preserved in the family that means that their sons too are Jewish due to the fact that according to Jewish law the religion is transferred through matrilineal succession.

There is a large synagogue in Samoah which still stands in good condition, testifying to the Jewish origin of at least part of the residents. Furthermore, until the middle of the twentieth century, perforations marking the past existence and removal of mezuzahs (scrolls in boxes) could be found on the door lintels of all of the village’s homes. As the old homes deteriorated and were torn down, so too did the homes on which the mezuzah markings could be seen.

Forty per cent of the residents of the village are members of the Al Makharik tribe (The Burners), a group who maintained Jewish traditions as recent as only one hundred years ago. Even years later, they continued lighting the Khanuka and Shabbat candles and talked about their Jewish origins. In addition, they maintained the purity of the tribe and married only members within the tribe, and gave their children names traditional to Jews and not to Muslims, even though they are translatable to Arabic, such as Sara, Kaukab (Star) and Ayash (life - Khayim). One member recently returned to Judaism.

Due to the Israeli government’s long existing practice of discounting their Jewish identity, the Al Makharik tribe members no longer talk about their Jewish identity, and when pressed on the subject, they state that “they are now Muslims.”

Many residents of villages of the southern Hebron Mountains, who were members of the Makhamara clan, lived in caves in the villages until 1983, at which point in time they completed their move to Yata. Though they have moved from the land, they did not relinquish the land itself, and continue to work it still today.

Visiting the ruins of the biblical Carmel in 1927, Ben Tsvi found a synagogue. It was located next to Al-Carmil village, which is in the southern Hebron Mountains, also then a location of the Makhamara clan. Ben Tsvi found there mezuzahs and heard of the lighting of candles. The village’s Sheikh, Abu-Aram, told him: “we are descendants of Jews.”

In the biblical Tel Maon, next to the Maon village, there exists a small synagogue and a Jewish bathhouse. In the centre of the village of Beit Aziz there was an ancient neglected synagogue that through the years continuously deteriorated. With the implementation of the Oslo Accords the grounds were razed.

In Khirbat Anim Al Fawka (upper), situated just north of the green line, live descendants of Jews who were expelled by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 war from Anim Al Takhta (lower, situated just south of the green line near Shani). Till this day, there is an opulent synagogue in Anim Al Takhta. In addition, there is an extravagant and well maintained synagogue in Susya. In contrast to the other synagogues of the area, according to writing found on its wall, this one was turned into a mosque in 787.

In the entire cave region in the southern Mount Hebron and in Dura, burial customs are according to Jewish traditions, rather than of Islam. This can be seen through the use of burial caves, preservation of graves, and annual pilgrimages to cemeteries.

In Awarta, located south of Nablus, there were elderly people who fasted once a year on a date approximating Yom Kippur, as per the tradition they received from their fathers. This fast was apparently based on the Samaritan calendar that varies somewhat from that of the Jewish calendar.

In an Arab-Israeli city, located in the Triangle (east of the Sharon), lives a Sheikh who claims to be a descendant of Mugrabi Jews who were forced to convert to Islam. Regardless of the conversation, till this day, he maintains a Jewish holy book and in secrecy tells Jews of his origins and of the forced conversion of his forefathers.

Similarly, it is known that some of the residents of the Triangle continue to practice the Jewish of Tashlikh (performed close to the time of the Jewish new-year). Another practice that illustrates the Palestinian-Jewish connection can be seen among the clans in Katana (a village neighboring Abu Ghosh), as well as in many other places, where young boys are circumcised at the age of 8 days (as opposed to a later age which is the norm in Islam). As recent as 300 years ago, there were Jewish priests living in Anan (the village Hananya in Galilee) – currently a deserted village.

The last observant Jew left Shfar’am in 1920, leaving the keys to the local synagogue in the hands of his Muslim neighbors. This synagogue, still well preserved today, the synagogue which has survived till this day in Sakhnin, and the Jewish cemetery in the village of Kfar Yassif all play a silent witness as to the relatively recent Jewish origin of at least some of the residents of these locations.

Each of the above phenomena is evidence that would allow Israeli religious circles to recognize the Palestinians’ authentic Jewish roots, thereby justifying their return to the people of Israel.

At this point, it would be appropriate to quote a section from Yitskhak Ben Tsvi's book, published in 1932, entitled, “The Peoples of our Land” 2,3.His testimony from that period is crucial due to the fact that not all of the customs of his time are as intensely preserved today:

"Thirdly – the religion. It is officially Islam, but in fact, the Fallahin [peasants] know very little about the Koran and the rudiments of the Muslim religion except for the known formalities in which they are fluent. Even their mosques were established only few hundreds of years ago, mainly by the Turkish government. Even today, there are regions where mosques are very few in number.

Similarly, it is known that the Fallahin are not careful in their observation of neither simple nor complex religious commandments. The Islamic religion, for example, forbids women from going in public with their faces uncovered. In direct contrast to Islamic conventions, the Fallahin women go about their days with uncovered faces whether they are at work in the fields, in the cities or at prayer. (In Turkey, before World War I, for example, the Turkish Fallahin women did not go out in public in the city with their faces uncovered.) It is clear that in the Land of Israel the Islamic religion was not so deeply entrenched.

Or take for example the matter of an oath: When the Fallah swears in the name of the prophet Mohammed, the oath is not taken seriously. But if he goes to the grave of a holy person of the village or of the surrounding area and swears there, we may completely rely on his oath. I know of an instance where the reconciliation of a blood feud was dependant on the accused party swearing on his innocence beyond all doubt. When asked to swear in the name of the Prophet Mohammed, the accused did not hesitate. However, when asked to swear on the grave of a holy person (Noah, the Righteous) they desisted. The Fallahin's veneration for and fear from the local saints surpasses that which they hold for the founder of their religion.

Additionally, the religious celebrations and the "musms" (the known holidays in which they come to honor admired holy men) testify to the validity of the local tradition that preceded Islam. Take, for example, "the Nabi Musa [Prophet Moses]" with its tens of thousands of pilgrims. For us, the Jews, these worshippers are combined in our minds with demonstrations against Zionism and with attacks against Musa's people [the Jews – the people of Moses]. However, we should not forget that Nabi Musa is Moses, the Jewish lawgiver and that this ritual is an echo of the former rules of the Law of Moses in Israel, thereby this Fallahin tradition was in fact inherited from their Jewish ancestors.

The same also applies to Nabi Rubin [Ruben, Jacob’s son], Nabi Shueb [Yitro – the priest of Midyan – the father in law of Moses] as well as other celebrations of this type. These "musms" in which tens of thousands of people gather together, are a kind of continuation of the same folk celebrations that were frequently held by the Fallahin at the time of the Jews [of the second temple] and perhaps, even prior to that, at the time of the Canaanites.

All of the Jewish prophets, the forefathers of the Jewish nation and heads of the tribes (Judah, Benjamin, Joseph, Zebulon, etc.) are still living memories among the Fallahin.

Jews, themselves, have already stopped visiting these graves, but the Fallahin continue to prostrate themselves over them.

This is not Islam, but a continuation of the once reigning religion in the Land of Israel before Islam and these rituals were integrated into the new religion [the quasi-Islam]. These holidays and practices are in no way part of the Islamic world though they are quite customary in the Land of Israel.

The ritual does not apply to the heroes of the Jewish Bible exclusively. Whoever was at the festivity of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yokhai or Rabbi Meier Ba'al Ha-Nes by the hot springs of Tiberia, certainly saw Fallahin and Bedouin who come and dance together with the Jews and swear in the name of Rabbi Shimon [Bar Yokahi] and Rabbi Meier [Baal Hanes – the miracle maker]. In Peki’in [a town in the center of the upper Galilee], the Druze and the Muslims, together with the Jews, show admiration for the "Jewish Righteous" Rabbi Hoshaya from Tirah and Rabbi Yossi from Peki’in. This clearly illustrates the continuation of a Jewish ritual among the Fallahin, one which they continued to celebrate even after their conversion to Islam”.

In discussing the claims of Yitskhak Ben Tsvi about the non-serious manner in which the Palestinians treated Islam, it is important to note that beyond the mosques of the Temple Mount, it was King Hussein of Jordan who initiated the building of the first mosques in the West Bank. Moreover, before the establishment of the State of Israel, in areas within the Green Line, there were considerably few mosques. It was none other than the Israeli National Religious Party, who controlled the Interior and Religion Ministries, who initiated the building of many of the mosques throughout the state.

Israel Belkind, an agronomist, was commissioned by the Turks on a mission to the east of the Jordan River. As a result, Belkind reported findings of a secluded Jewish tribe in Wad Sirkhan, which maintained Jewish customs. Even before the end of the 19th century, Belkind wrote in his article, entitled “The Arabs who are in the Land of Israel:”5,7

"Throughout the land, graves of holy people are found in which the Arabs come to prostrate themselves before them and fulfill their vows. Many of these are also holy to the people of Israel.

Also found in the vicinity of Nes Tsiona is a grave known by the name of Nabi Rubin, the prophet, that is, Reuben the eldest son of our forefather Jacob. The Arabs of all of the surrounding areas consider it to be an obligation to come and spend some time there at the end of the summer months. Close to Kfar Sava, the grave of Nabi Benjamin is situated and not far from it is that of Nabi Sham’un (Simon) and others."
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LANGUAGE AND NAMES

Additional support in the direction of these findings comes from the Palestinian pronunciation of spoken Hebrew as well as the integration of sayings and maxims derived from the original Hebrew and spoken by "Arabs" from villages in the Galilee such as Sakhnin and Arabeh.

Names of settlements also hint at the Israeli origins of the residents, such as the Hebrew word "kfar" for village, which in Arabic is pronounced as kafar or kufur. These words appear frequently in the names of many Arab villages within the Land of Israel yet they are not Arabic nor do they appear in other Arab lands. (For example, Kfar Yassif, Kfar Kana, Kfar Yata, Kfar Manda, Kfar Samia.) In addition, the names of some of these villages like Jaba (Hebrew Geva – hill, pronounced Jaba in Classical Arabic) or Tira (Hebrew Tirah – castle) possess significance only in the Hebrew language.

Yitskhak Ben Tsvi found that the names of 34.5% of the Palestinian villages in 1932 still retained their earlier Hebrew form.

He discovered that in the western part of Land of Israel (the part west of the Jordan river), two-thirds of the names of Palestinian villages of that year had Hebrew/Aramaic names. Of these, there were 277 names that resemble names of Hebrew settlements from the period of the Second Temple (about 2000 years ago) or are even identical to them. Additional research relating to the 19th century revealed that Palestinian mountain settlements retained names that resemble ancient Hebrew names and have Hebrew language sound to a much greater extent than those settlements situated in the plains.

Yitskhak Ben Tsvi makes the following claim in his book: "If in fact the Jewish settlements became inhabited by entirely different people, they would not have preserved the Hebrew names (which in fact, did occur in most of those settlements where the population did change, such as in the eastern part of  the Jordan). Such is not the case in western land of Israel where the old Hebrew names are preserved which proves the continuity of settlement in this place (emphasis of the author)".

This matter of preserving names is not limited to villages. The majority of cities preserved their original names barring small changes in print or pronunciation: Safed (Tsfat), Tiberia (Tveria), Yaffa (Yaffo – Jaffa), Akka (Akko – Acre) A-nasra (Natsrath – Nazareth) Bethlehem and Khalil (in Arabic – friend, khaver in Hebrew – Khevron – Hebron). Nevertheless, this is a weaker proof because cities, in contrast to villages, due to their larger size, are not as likely to disappear or be entirely re-established.

It is not just the names of settlements, but also the names of the residents that help reveal the Israeli-Palestinian bond. The English researcher Condor was the first to find Biblical names among Palestinian Fallahin. Many of these names have no root in the Arabic lexicon. Large, distinguished families in the Gaza Strip, Jaffa and Nablus have names of Jewish or Samaritan families. The following are but a few examples: Abu Khatsira, which includes approximately 3,000 people and controls the fishing industry in the Gaza Strip. This family not only holds the name of an important Jewish family, but also maintains in the mosque where the family prays a picture of the father of the family, Rabbi Jacob Abu Khatsira.

Kkhel, which came into the public eye due to the violence of some of its sons, descends from Yemenite Jews who immigrated to the land of Israel in the 11th century. In Bnei Brak one may still find Rabbis from this family.

Elbaz, a family which numbers in the thousands, descended from the Jews of Morocco who immigrated to Israel apparently at the time of the Mugrabi immigration.

Abulafia descends from the family of the kabbalist Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, who lived in Spain in the 13th century.

El-Razi (also pronounced El-Gazi - The Gazian) has a name identical to that of the intellectual Turkish Jew, Rabbi Ya'akov Yisrael Yom Tov Al-Gazi, who immigrated to Jerusalem in the middle of the 12th century.

Ya'ish, the family where the current mayor of Nablus – Adli Ya'ish comes from, is a large family in Nablus descending from the Samaritan Metukhiah family, whose origin is the Israeli tribe of Ephraim.

In Arabeh, near Sakhnin, there are a number of Jewish surnames, such as Ibri, from the Hebrew word for Hebrew, in addition to the name Cna’ana, from the Hebrew word referring to the Canaanites. The common Jewish Tsadok and Solomon family names were found among the villagers of Midya, near Modi’in.

The following is an additional quote on the subject of language from Yitskhak Ben Tsvi's book: “The Hebrew language was replaced at an earlier time by Aramaic as the spoken language of the people. In the Talmudic period, Aramaic was already the language of usage, more dominant than Hebrew . . . In the first generations, after the Arab conquest, the residents used Aramaic and signs of Aramaic have remained among the Fallahin until today and according to experts in the spoken Fallahin dialect in Israel, there are many Aramaic words which are not in use by the Arabs in Hijaz and neither are they used among Arabs of other places who never used Aramaic.”

Israel Belkind wrote in a similar vein in his article entitled “The Arabs who are in the Land of Israel 5,7: "Investigators and language researchers have proven that in the Arabic language currently spoken by the residents of the land, there are many elements of Hebrew and Aramaic language which were spoken by the inhabitants at the time that it was conquered by the Arabs. These elements are not found in the written Arabic language or the spoken Arabic language in other lands. It was already proven by Major Condor, in his research on the land of Israel, that the "Arabs" had spoken Aramaic in the days of the Crusades (emphasis of the author), the language spoken by the Jews until the Arab conquest."

The Aramaic language did not fade away so quickly, since the time of Condor’s research. In 1974, when the Ofra settlement broke ground, the present residents of the biblical Ofra – the village of Tybiya, were found to be speaking Aramaic as well as they were all Christians.

Yet another matter on the topic of language that strengthens the argument and illustrates the lack of an Islamic settlement in the land of Israel is the fact that, among all versions of spoken Arabic, the Palestinian version is the one closest to classical Arabic (to the exception of few Saudi dialects that served as the origin for classical Arabic). This proves that the language was not passed on orally by Arab immigrants, but rather mostly through the reading of Arabic literature and official documents.

Another meaningful name – Yahud el-Arab (the Jews of the Arabs) – was given to the Palestinians, as result of their origin, level of sophistication and suffering – where in all these aspects they resembled the Jews.
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TESTIMONIES

Family traditions of Palestinians and Bedouins, from various regions in Samaria, Judea, Negev and the Galilee, reveal important support for these findings. These traditions, that were passed from generation to generation, give strong indications of a Jewish source.

Even today, one may find many who will tell of their Jewish or Samaritan origins. Regarding the Samaritans, it can be seen from their tradition and documents that they are mainly the descendents of the tribes of Israel that remained in the country since the days of the first temple.

Palestinians too will secretly tell of having Jewish or Israeli origins, though most of them preserve this subject as a secret out of fear from negative consequences were they to speak openly about this issue. However, one may still hear people speak of this, as in the case of the cave dwellers just south of Hebron, Christians from the village of Mrar, and Bedouins from Rahat as well as stories from many other village people. Their Jewish origin is what motivates Bedouins to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, a collaboration dating as far back as the days of the Palmakh (1948), when the Al-Haib tribe created a special unit of the Palmakh by the name of Palhaib.

In his book “Memories of the Land of Israel,” Abraham Ya’ari talks about the writing of Zalman David Livontin. In 1903 Livontin wrote about Bedouin leaders, of nomadic tribes of the Sinai Desert and of the Negev, who wandered as far as Jerusalem in order to propose a union with the Jews and the creation of a treaty with Herzl, who they named as “The King of Israel.” There stories about Bedouin tribes that consider themselves belonging among the Israeli nation and refer to themselves as Bani Israel (sons of Israel). In addition, Livontin also mentioned an Emir called Amsolam residing near the border between Egypt and Israel, with a Jewish origin On April 29, 1929, the Davar newspaper published an article detailing a meeting that took place in 1925 between the article’s author and the leader (Moukhtar) of Ein Arik, a village near Ramalah. The Moukhtar, appearing to be honest and consistent, said that according to the family’s tradition, the forefathers of the members of that village as well as of six other neighboring ones were descendants of the tribe of Benjamin. They settled in these villages upon leaving Jerusalem before its destruction in 70 A.D.

There are many testimonies telling of villagers’ Jewish origin from the Khizmeh village (located north of Jerusalem). In researching this, a comparative anthropological test was carried out, examining the heads of the villagers and of Jews. The test revealed a high closeness between the two, to the extent that proves the Jewish origin of the villagers.

Residents from a succession of large villages located on outskirts of Jerusalem, including Beit Surik, Beit Inan, Bidu and Katana, claim that 99% of them descend from Samaritan families.

They are all descendants of four brothers who individually settled in the area and established what today have become four complete villages, numbering in thousands.

The residents of the village of Tybiya (next to Ofra), Christians who speak Aramaic, testified as to their being of Jewish origin. In Ein-Sinya (near Shilo) there were Jews as late as the beginning of the 20th century, explaining why the family of Moshe Sharet (Israel’s first Foreign Minister) settled there. The Jews of the village stated that the rest of the residents were originally Jewish.

Testimonies claiming Jewish origin without observance of Jewish traditions exist also in the Lakef village (located next to Karney Shomron), in Khares (next to Ariel), in Sakhnin, and in one out of three of the large clans in Beit Tsfafa (bordering Jerusalem).

The village Beit Awa, which is in the southern hills of Hebron, is the center of the Masalma clan whose sons claim that they are originally Jews who arrived from Yemen. As distinguished from many others who make similar claims, members of this clan do not preserve any Jewish customs today.

Yitskhak Ben Tsvi, who toured the southern Hebron Mountains, told of the Jewish background of the residents of Beit Awa, members of a clan whose other members were found in the following villages: Al-Burge, Al-Majed, A-Sika, Beit A-Roosh Al Tachta (lower), Beit A-Roosh, Al-Fawka (upper), Dir Al-Asal Tachta and Dir Al Asal Fawka.

In Tawani there is an Abu-Aram branch of the Makhamara clan, whose members also tell of their Jewish origin. The region of the southern Hebron Mountains is filled with cave resident of the same branch. For example, cave residents in Khirbat A-Taben, Khirbat Al-Fakhot, Bir Al-Id, Khirbat Sirat Awad Ibrahim, Khirbat Al-Mufkara, and past residents of Khirbat Bani Dar (next to Nabi Yakin), who left the caves in order to live in Bani Na’im.

Salamin, an additional branch of the Makhamara clan, is spread around in Khirbat Salama (after which the clan was named), in Khirbat Dirat and in Khirbat Brook.

Another clan from the Hebron area that is known for its Jewish origins is called Duweik. One of its members, Aziz Duweik, was arrested by Israel in 2006, while serving as the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council. In the same area lives at least one clan of a Jewish-Mugrabi origin. The Muslemani family (meaning convert to Islam) is the last Jewish family to have converted to Islam in Hebron. The elders of the Al-Mukhtsabin family (The Overseers), from Hebron, also claimed a Jewish origin.

The union of the clans controlling the city is called Tamimi (which means “complete” in Islam) due to the fact that in its origin, it was made up of Jewish families that completed their conversion to Islam by wholly disengaging from Judaism. The name Tamimi originates from the word tamim, which means honest and refers to a person who ceases to publicly impersonate a Muslim whilst privately practicing Judaism (for more details, see later section “The Demographic-Historical Perspective”)

One of the Bedouin leaders from Rahat claims that the majority of the Bedouins in Israel are descendants of Jews. Many Bedouins from Rahat, including members of the El-Huzaiel tribe, claim that 99% of the Bedouin in Israel are Jewish. The residents of El-Arish, located in the Sinai Peninsula, near the Israeli border, are called by the Arabs Yahud Sina, which translates to mean “the Jews of Sinai.” Additionally, they themselves recognize their Jewish origin. The sons of the Sliman family, from the Bu’aina/Nujidat from Galilee, also make a claim to a Jewish origin.

King Faisal of the Hashemite dynasty went even further, when in 1917 he wrote to Frank Port, "We are of the same race and blood and cooperation will bring great prosperity to the land."

Faisal's grandfather's (king On) mother descended from a family of forced Israeli coverts to Islam that immigrated to the east of the Jordan, later returning to one of the villages west of the Jordan. In contrast to the prevalent behavior today, when Faisal was growing up, his grandfather's mother's Israeli origin was known and no great effort was made to conceal it.

After the 1967 war, Anton Atallah (a Christian Palestinian leader from Jerusalem) said to Nathan Yellin Mor (an Israeli right wing leader): "We are fundamentally one people. I am a resident of Jerusalem for many generations. We undoubtedly became Christian after the destruction of the Temple during a period of Christian persecution. In any event, we, the Jews, and the Moslems fought for the defense of Jerusalem at the time of the Crusades."

A chairman of the Jordanian parliament was quoted in a newspaper, "If we dug deeply in the ground, we would find that the bones of our grandfathers are common to us all." Yasser Arafat, in an attempt to float a trial balloon, was quoted by Smadar Perry in the Yediot Akharonot newspaper after the beginning of the second intifada: "We, the Palestinians and the Jews, are all the sons of the Prophet Samuel." However, due to Arafat's limited knowledge of history, it did not merit much attention.

Additional support to the findings is the Palestinian claim that Jesus was Palestinian and that the first Christians were Palestinians.

Arafat went even further by calling Jesus "the first Palestinian" though by doing so, he contradicted Palestinian claims of them being descendants of the Canaanites. Khanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian Christian leader, who forcefully argues that the Palestinians are the descendants of the first Christians. Due to the fact that Jesus and the first Christians were all Jewish, and to the fact that the name “Palestine” surfaced only about 100 years after the death of Jesus, one may justly dismiss the Palestinian claim on this issue as propaganda.

However, all claims regarding this Palestinian tradition are only of an inexact nature. The original permanent Palestinian residents of the land, including the Christians among them, were, in fact, descendants of the People of Israel. The Palestinians today rightfully view the small Christian minority among them as descendents of the first Christians despite the fact that their ancestors neither were Palestinian nor were they ever called that.
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THE GEOGRAPHICAL–HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

In his book “Zion in Justice Shall be Redeemed” 8 the attorney and researcher Elon Yarden arrives at very clear conclusions regarding the descent of the Palestinians and their closeness to the Jews. The book is based on a thoroughly examined principle that claims that in the mountainous areas in the Land of Israel, that is, the Galilee, Samaria and Judea, the vast majority of the population did not abandon their places of residence for thousands of years.

In contrast, the various migrants who arrived to the country mainly settled in the lowlands, plains and valleys of Israel. Sometimes these migrants drove out residents of areas they arrived at, while at other times they cohabitated with present residents of the places in which they chose to settle. The migrants tended to reside in any given place for a limited period of time and would ultimately continue their migration to other lands.

According to Yarden, the Palestinian residents of the Triangle are a mixture of migrants and original residents of the mountainous area, who sought their livelihood in a place close to the centers of the new Jewish settlements.

In principle, the permanent settlements of mountainous areas, in contrast to the more transient settlement in the lower lying areas, is a known occurrence in the history of other lands. This is due to the fact that mountains have always made the movement of armies more difficult and hazardous, thereby requiring more effort to conquer than those of the plains and the valleys.

Furthermore, the mountainous areas were also substantially less conducive to agricultural cultivation. As a result of the harsh work environment, the residents of the mountains were often hardier; it was more difficult to defeat them and remove them from the lands to which they had devoted their hearts and souls for generations.

Even when a new deadly conqueror arrived in the region, he bothered the residents of the mountainous region less than the residents of other areas. Due to the ruggedness of the mountainous residents and because of their relative poverty in comparison with others, they were not a good source for tax collection.

The tradition that developed in the mountainous region toward every conqueror, even in the most difficult periods, contained the belief in the local residents’ ability to survive based on a faith that these times would pass.
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THE DEMOGRAPHIC–HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

My books, entitled “The Road Map to the Third Intifada” 6 summarizes a research that was conducted from the demographichistoric perspective. Another book of mine, entitled “Brother Shall not Lift His Sword against Brother” 9 is a popular shortened version. The following key historical events that caused the current error regarding Palestinian identity are discussed in the books, together with many other events that shaped the demographic landscape of the country. Readers interested in more details and bibliography, are referred to these books. The Jews' rebellions against the Romans (70 and 135 A.D.) caused a depletion of the Jewish settlement in Israel turning the people of Israel into a minority within their land. Not less severely, it also led to a change of the name of this Roman province in 135 A.D. from “Judea” to “Palestina.” It was this name change that caused the Jews, returning to Zion in the 19th and 20th centuries, and others, to refer to the old-time residents of the land as Palestinians and not as Jews.

The conquest of the land of Israel by the Arabs was completed in 640, however, it did not bring with it Arab settlers to the country. Arab settlers were brought to other captured lands in order to secure the loyalty of the residents who had Islam forced upon them. Since in the Land of Israel, there were hardly any idol worshippers and Islam was not forced upon Jews or Christians, there was no need for Arabs to settle the land. What, in fact, did bring about Arab rule in the land was a serious economic discrimination toward non-Moslems (mainly heavy taxes from which Moslems were exempt), which caused only a very few to convert to Islam, mainly in the 8th century.

The situation changed appreciably in 1012, the period of the Shi'ite caliph El-Khakem (Al-Hakim), who ruled the Fatimid Caliphate (named after Fatma –Mohamed’s daughter) from its center in Cairo. The Shi'ite regime decreed that all of the residents of the land of Israel who were not Muslim must convert to Islam or leave.

As a result of this decree, the majority of Christians left and the People of Israel once again constituted the vast majority of the people in its land. However, the people of Israel, all of whom clung to their land were forced to adopt Islam.

The forced conversion to Islam led to the Islamicization of over 90% of the population. For the majority of these converts, Islam was only outwardly manifested. In their homes they practiced their Jewish religious customs. The name given to these forced converts was Musta’arbim (hidden as Arabs). In 1044, another Fatimid caliph canceled the decree. Since the decree had violated Islamic principles (not permitting forced conversion), the caliph permitted those who had been coercively converted to Islam to readopt their former religions. This was a most unique occasion due to the fact that, under normal circumstances, abandoning Islam is against the law and is punishable by death.

About a quarter of the Jewish Musta’arbim used the opportunity to return to Judaism. The remainder continued to practice Islam outwardly as a result of their difficult economic situation and the taxes imposed on non-Muslims. In this manner they benefited from their outward Islamicization without their having betrayed their original religion, (in most cases Jewish), the ritual observance of which was kept within their homes. The idea of anyone relinquishing and exchanging his national identity was at the time, unthinkable. The confusion was only about religion.

Until the time of the Crusader conquest, the rise of the rate of Musta’arbim returned to 90%. As a result of the discriminatory economic situation, young full Jews (from both religious and national-ethnical perspective), envying the economic advantages of their Musta’arbim friends and relatives, also became Musta’arbim.

Following the murders by the Crusaders, the decline in the economic situation in the land and the plagues in the Mameluke period, there was a further decrease in the number of non-Jews by origin in the country and in the rate of those who outwardly maintained their original religion. In general, the country’s total population went into a steep decline.

Beginning in 1840, the descendents of the Musta’arbim were joined by various other migrants to the country. The migrants were concentrated in regions that had been settled by Jews who were returning to Zion (synonymous with both the Land of Israel and Jerusalem). Due to many reasons detailed above, the Zionist settlers, being confronted with Arabic speaking foreigners, ignored the fact that many of the descendants of Musta’arbim knew about their original identity and a portion of them even managed to preserve various Jewish customs.

Due to the influence of foreigners and terror (that started in 1921 and continued until 1948, before there was any Israeli occupation of anything), the descendants of the people of Israel, especially those who had lost the memory of their true forebears, have today become the bitter enemies of the Jews.

In the historic upheavals that occurred in the midst of the fleeing of refugees, most of the foreign migrants left. As a result, the present conflict is a tragic civil war whose only justification is based on the widespread ignorance about the origins of the Palestinians. At the same time, the majority of Palestinian refugees was settlers, foreign to the western land of Israel, and possesses no authentic claim to a right of return.

The demographic research exposes the current mistakes that prevail today in the accepted demography of the Palestinians. It explains and details how, as opposed to Palestinian claims about the existence at the present time of close to 5 million Palestinians in the Land west of the Jordan river, the correct number is rather less than 3 million, of which 86% are descendants of the people of Israel. The following chart summarizes the results of the demographic-historical research of the Land of Israel over the past 2,000 years.

Chart: The size of population in the Holy Land and percentage of the people of Israel among the entire population (from 1914, not including Jews by religion and only west of the Jordan).

0  1  2  3   4   5   6    7    

68  70  135  600  640  1012  1099  1100  1290  1291  1400  1517  1800  1840 1914  1948  1949  1967  2004

Millions

Year

General Population

0%  10%  20%  30%  40%  50%  60%  70%  80%  90%  100%

Percentage of the People of Israel Population Percentage of the People of Israel.
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THE NECESSARY SOLUTION – THE ENGAGEMENT

Recognizing the closeness between the majority of Palestinians and the Jews is crucial for the sake of minimizing mutual hatred.

Moreover, the findings also point in the direction of a solution. A significant part of the book, “The Road Map to the Third Intifada,” is devoted to this inferred solution.

The current Israeli leadership, hard-pressed by day-to-day matters, is suffering from a dwindling supply of the creative spirit that characterized the Zionist movement in its early days. The Zionist movement took the initiative to create an historic process of realizing an idea that had originally appeared as unrealistic. Within 50 years this movement succeeded to establish the State of Israel and to bring to it the major part of the world’s Jewry. Today, the movement needs to shake off static and stagnation in order to continue on with its historic mission. As stated in the book of Ezekiel:

“And say unto them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all; and they be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms anymore at all; . . . Moreover, I shall make a covenant of peace with them – it shall be an everlasting covenant with them;” (Ezekiel 37, verses 21, 22, 26)

Despite the fact that Ezekiel's prophecy appears appropriate enough for describing the first return to Zion, the occurrence of the destruction of the Second Temple illustrates that it cannot be considered as an everlasting covenant of peace.

The following quote is from a book entitled, "Wholeness and the Implicate Order" 15 by the well-known physicist, David Bohm.

Bohm writes about humanity in general, but is especially significant to the residents of the Land of Israel. He states (emphases are those of the author): "The notion that all of these fragments [groups of men] are separately existent is an illusion, and this illusion cannot do other than lead to endless conflict and confusion. Indeed, the attempt to live according to the notion that all the fragments are really separate is, in essence what has led to the growing series of extremely urgent crises that is confronting us today."

It is fitting that the words of this distinguished scientist would serve as a beacon for the residents of the Land of Israel in light of the wars, terrorist attacks, anti-terrorist operations, suffering of innocent victims, confusion which has enveloped Israel's leadership and the chaos which prevails in the Palestinian Authority. Moreover, confusion and crises have become a permanent fixture of many other states whose citizens have personally suffered from the internationally mounting terror.

The tangled situation in which the region finds itself necessitates an innovative perspective on the situation. The powerful and negative energies invested in the conflict need to be funneled in a positive direction. This will allow the people of Israel to not only live in peace and with security but also to execute a quantum leap on the way to enlarging its scope and prosperity.

Mark Twain had already identified, in the beginning of the Zionist movement, the great potential concealed in the Jewish state. This can be seen through his words in "About the Jews": "Dr. Herzl intends to gather the Jews from around the world into the Land of Israel ruled by a government of their own . . . In my opinion, an immediate stop should be put to this prank. It is totally undesirable that the race with the most brilliant minds in the world will suddenly discover its power. If horses knew their strength, we would not be able to continue to ride upon them."

Both the visions of Theodore Herzl and Mark Twain were only partially realized. We may easily mark the principal reason that prevented the complete realization of Mr. Twain's vision, or perhaps fear. Undoubtedly, this reason may be attributed to the Jewish-Palestinian rift that occurred in the midst of the realization of Dr. Herzl’s vision.

The solution directly derived from the true identity of the Palestinians is the reunification of the two factions into one united state in the western part of the land of Israel!
[Zionsake: Why not include Jordan since about 80% of the Jordanians are Palestinian, of whom the majority could be Jewis - plus the Hashmonites who claim that they are Jewish?]

This concept is close to the original goals of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) prior to the Oslo Accords and to the goals of many Palestinians today - the creation of one secular state over the entire territory of the western land of Israel. However, since this must be a lasting agreement, and moreover, one which is acceptable to the Jews, it can only be accomplished with the essential and vital stipulation that this accord would not be allowed to create a bi-national state (of Jews and Arabs where neither side is a small minority).

Moreover, this approach dovetails with the original political aspirations of the Right Wing in Israel, by providing the Jewish people sovereignty over the entire western Land of Israel. This approach would enable a compromise to be reached between the extremists of both sides. A compromise of this sort would allow for stable peace, as distinguished from the tenuous peace that results from the compromise between the moderates of both sides. The most just and practical way to achieve this ultimate goal of peace is by a willing return of the majority of Palestinians to being members of the people of Israel.

The preferred solution is called the Engagement Plan. It contains many components dealing primarily with the recreation of the Palestinian educational system, uprooting their hatred toward the Jews and the Zionist enterprise, teaching them their complete history, Hebrew culture and Jewish tradition, thus allowing them to integrate into the State of Israel as first-class citizens and partners.

The process needs to be quite thorough and span a long period of time, thereby enabling both sides to accept each other as the blood brothers that they truly are. The process would only apply to Palestinians who currently live in the western part of the historic land of Israel.

No religious coercion would be involved, as the reunification would occur primarily at the national level. After obtaining information regarding the Jewish traditions, one may choose to be secular or follow the religion of his choice. This approach follows the Jewish religious law that was practiced in the Land of Israel at the time of the First and Second Temples; Jews who were idol worshippers were not forced to convert back in order to be considered part of the people of Israel.

The religious Jewish law that was practiced during the time of exile, whereby a lenient conversion was a condition for the reunification of a descendant of forced converts of Israel, is not relevant in this instance. This is due to the fact that the probability of aliens being claiming a right of membership among the people of Israel is very low. This is stated because since from the time of the forced conversion in the Land of Israel (1012), the percentage of the people of Israel in their land has been at its highest level (see the above chart) and the probability of intermarriage with aliens was extremely low, also taking into account the geographical separation between Jews and others. In contrast, among descendants of the forced converts in exile, there exists a strong concern regarding the high rate of intermarriage that has occurred over the generations since the time of the forced conversion.

Additional details regarding the solution may be found in the book “The Road Map to the Third Intifada” and in Elon Yarden’s book, “A Common Homeland – Not a Disputed Territory” 7 both of which deliberate on the required revolution of the Palestinian identity and its implications.

Regarding the probability of the adoption of the proposed unconventional solution, it can best be summarized by the following quotation: “To live in Israel without believing in miracles is the impractical.” – David Ben Gurion.

Despite the fact that the aforementioned change in perspective may seem to be impractical, the plan is attainable due to the:

1. The majority of Palestinian families (over 50%) is aware of their Jewish origins and would be happy to return whence welcomed by the nation of their origins.

2. Many Palestinians prefer to be citizens of the State of Israel to living under the rule of terrorist organizations. Obviously, they would prefer to be first class citizens, and therefore, they would want to join the people of the State of Israel.

3. Most Palestinians are loyal above all to their families, then to their clans, to those in power and only at the end to their religion and people. A strong State of Israel, confident in its direction and its just cause, can successfully execute the engagement plan.

4. The stages of the joining of the Palestinians to the State of Israel, as well as the other measures taken for such goals, will prevent the categorizing of the joiners as the fifth column.

5. It is not vital that all Palestinians join the people of Israel.

Due to the real numbers of Palestinians, even if half of the Palestinians in the western land of Israel would not join, the percentage of those who will remain “Arabs” in the entire country will be still lower than the current percentage of the so called “Israeli Arabs” within the borders of the green line.

This will be true even without any further immigration of the world’s Jews to the State of Israel.

The following quotation best summarizes the importance of the consciousness change required by both parties: “I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be” – Dr. Martin Luther King.
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REFERENCES

1. The Land of Israel in the Past and in the Future. The Yiddish version. Ben Gurion, David & Ben Tsvi, Yitskhak. New York, 1918.

2. Populations of Our Land. Warsaw: The Labor Committee of "Brit Hanoar" and the World Khaluts Center, 1932. Ben Tsvi, Yitskhak.

3. Population of the Land of Israel. Writings of Yitskhak Ben Tsvi, Vol. no. 5. Tel Aviv: Mitspeh Publishing, 1936 (identical to contents in source 2).

4. An Inquiry into the Origins of the Fallahin. Ben Gurion, David. Tel Aviv: Khermon Publishing, 1969.

5. Arabs in the Land of Israel. Belkind, Israel. Tel Aviv: Khermon , 1969.

6. The Road Map to the Third Intifada – The roots and solution to the Problem of the Holy Land. Misinai, Tsvi. Tel Aviv: Liad Publishing, 2006.

7. A Common Homeland Not a Disputed Territory. Yarden, Elon. Tel Aviv: Liad Publishing, 2006. (Contains sources 4 and 5 as appendices)

8. Zion in Justice Shall be Redeemed (An Alternative to the Oslo Accords). Yarden, Elon. Tel Aviv: Liad Publishing, Tel Aviv, 2002.

9. Brother Shall Not Lift Sword Against Brother. Misinai, Tsvi. Tel Aviv: Liad Publishing, 2007. (The book is a shortened version of source 6, written in a popular style).

10. Writings of Ber Borokhov, Volume 1. Kibbuts Meukhad Publishing, 1955.

11. Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations
    share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes. M. F. Hammer, A. J. Redd, E. T. Wood, M. R. Bonner, H. Jarjanazi, T. Karafet, S. Santachiara-Benerecetti,
    A. Oppenheim, M. A. Jobling, T. Jenkins, H. Ostrer, and B. Bonne-Tamir PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, Volume 67, No. 12, pp 6769-6774, June 6, 2000. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/97/12/6769#FN152

12. High-resolution Y chromosome haplotypes of Israeli and Palestinian Arabs reveal geographic substructure and substantial overlap with haplotypes of Jews.  Almut Nebel · Dvora Filon · Deborah A. Weiss
    ·
    Michael Weale · Marina Faerman · Ariella Oppenheim·Mark G. Thomas Human Genetics, Volume 107, pp 630-641, 2000. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/tcga/tcgapdf/Nebel-HG-00-IPArabs.pdf

13. The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East Almut Nebel, Dvora Filon, Bernd Brinkmann, Partha P. Majumder, Marina Faerman,
    and Ariella Oppenheim American Journal of Human Genetics, Volume 69, pp 1095-1112, 2001. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1274378

14. Genetics of congential deafness in the Palestinian population: multiple connexin 26 alleles with shared origins in the Middle East. Shanin H, Walsh T, Sobe T, Lynch E, King MC, Avraham KB, Kanaan M. Human Genetics 110(3):284-9, Mar 2002. http://www.tau.ac.il/~karena/manuscriptspdf/2002/Shahin_et_al_2002.pdf

15. Wholeness and the Implicate Order. Bohm, David. Routledge, 1980.
    .

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