In light of recent events, and because certain televangelist-types have again made idiotic comments about who the Palestinians are (or aren’t), I am re-posting this short piece of history (with additions and corrections) which I wrote a few years ago.

The Jerusalem area was first settled about 4500 BCE. It is first mentioned as a city by the Egyptians about 2000 BCE. The Hebrews/Israelites invaded Canaan about 1358/50 BCE, about 650 years after we know Jerusalem already existed. But they didn’t capture Jerusalem because they couldn’t. David conquered Jerusalem in about 1003/4 BCE, about 354 years after the Hebrews/Israelites invaded and settled in Canaan, taking it from the Jebusites. Meanwhile, the capital of Israel had been Shiloh, where the people actually had their first temple (archaeology has proven this). Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonians from the Jewish people in 586/7 BCE and most Jews were deported to other lands. In 538 BCE the Jews were allowed to return and rebuild Jerusalem, making it their capitol again. But, in 332 BCE, Alexander the Great takes Jerusalem without any resistance and it is added to his empire, afterward falling under the purview of the Seleucid Empire. In 164 BCE the Maccabees, a Jewish sect, revolted and managed to defeat the Seleucids, thus taking Jerusalem back. They had a state which lasted about 101 years. But, in 63 BCE the Romans, under Pompey, took Jerusalem. It remained under Roman domination, with the capitol of Judea actually being Caesaria, until the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Bar Kokhba and his forces took Jerusalem in 132 CE and held it for about three years, until 135 CE. Afterward, the territory was renamed “Palestine” by Hadrian and Jerusalem (renamed Conia Aelia Kapitolina) eventually fell under Byzantine domination as the Roman Empire crumbled. But the Persian Sassanids managed to capture that area and place Jerusalem under Jewish control in 614 CE. That lasted about three years, the Jewish leader there being killed and the Sassanids deciding that placing Jerusalem back under Christian control would be a better idea. Then, in 636/7 CE Islamic forces captured Aelia. They held it, more or less, for about 1311 years until the Jewish people were allowed to return under British mandate in 1947/48.

So, for all practical purposes, the Hebrews/Jews had Jerusalem for about 729 (until gaining it back in 1948) years out of its approximately 6518-year history! And it has literally been held by the Muslims for a longer period than by anyone in history.

The Palestinian people are descendants not only of Arabs, but also of Jews, ancient Greeks and Romans. They are not just Egyptians as some in the televangelistic world would tell you. After the Bar Kochba Revolt, most Jewish people were forcibly removed from that territory, and it was renamed “Palestine”. Jerusalem was rebuilt as Aelia Kapitolina and Pagan Romans were settled there. The rest of that territory began to be populated with various peoples. There were already a large number of Greeks there, and Arabs began to move in over time. These peoples – the Romans, the Greeks, and the Arabs, as well as others, along with the few Jews who were left, intermingled over time and became the Palestinian people. And they eventually became mainly Christian. Many have remained Christian to this day.

So, at least get your history straight. If you think that it belongs to the Jews because of “God”, then say that. But don’t say that the Muslims have no historical right to it.