bogie_blogger

I've read the Bible, really I have, years and years ago. And I remember chapters about Palestinians and Hebrews, and tribes moving and being forced to move, but I don't remember who did what to whom.

Can anyone recap the early books of the Bible and say who did what and what went on that might relate to the Middle East problems that exist today?

I don't care if you point fingers or make excuses at/for some or any group; I just wonder if there is history that can explain today's affairs.

I know Islam didn't exist back then, but maybe there was an Arab/Hebrew thing going on? Anyone able to give an "executive summary"?

Sauron

Oh, sure. That's easy. I'll just summarize 4000 years of history and lay out the interactions to modern events. You want that in DOC format, or in HTML? Just gimme a sec.....

That's a pretty tall order you're asking.

Why don't you try using Google to find some basic websites. Even Wikipedia - as much as I despise it - would probably get you off to a good start.

bogie_blogger

I decided to take your advice and refresh my memory. Pretty much what I thought about the Hebrews, Egyptians and Palestinians; a lot of bad blood between them for 4000 years or so.

I think that the only solutions are unpractical.

It may actually take the end of the world to solve the problem; asteroid, exploding Sun, extreme plague, etc.

Why don't you like Wikipedia?

Toto

Nothing that happened 2000 years ago has any relation to what is going on today, although some perceptions about what happened may be used as rationalizations.

Not really. Just the normal sibling rivalries and tribal territorial disputes.

Present day Palestinian nationalists identify with the Canaanites that the Israelis presumably conquered, but in fact there was no conquest or exodus

bogie_blogger

I guess so, but there seem to be parallels anyway. The radical Islamists have focused their hate on Jews and Christians. Maybe they do that to "justify" their amibtions (world domination seems to be their goal)?

Anat

BTW bogie blogger, whom do you consider to be the biblical parallels of Palestinians?

Sauron

It is not a reference. It's a group blog. Which means that you, me, or any other non-expert can write about it. It has far more writers than it has editors or fact-checkers. Which means that bullshit can pass for a reference, simply because the system is overwhelmed with the volume of content it must review.

bogie_blogger

Philistines? At least that is what I got from the web.

I guess to a certain extend the same can be said for almost any website. If a fact is important you really have to get confirmation from other sites, and you have to consider the source. Religion and anti-religion oriented sites are particularly suspect IMHO because reason and logic are often the first victim.

Anat

The Romans renamed the country Palestine after the Philistines, but by then the Philistines had ceased to be an identifiable ethnicity. They were Aegean tribes that arrived in the Levant in the 12th century BCE but after 2 centuries became assimilated in the Canaanite population and lost most of their unique cultural characteristics.
See The Rise of Some People or Other for what archaeologists have to say. Appendix B deals with the Philistines.

Sauron

1. Not really. Not all websites are equally miserable in that respect.

2. Anyone who depends solely on websites, deserves whatever they get from that effort. Research is defined by the quality and relevance of the source to the topic at hand -- and not whether or not the information is accessible on the web.