There are two categories of people who are fanatically devoted to Hamas: Islamists and committed leftists. They promote the narrative that Israelis—by which they mean the “evil Jews”—are white colonialists who have seized land to which they have no claim and who have imposed an ugly burden of racial and religious apartheid against the “Palestinians,” who have never hurt anybody. This narrative works because, sadly, when it comes to the Middle East, you can wade through most people’s deepest thoughts without getting your ankles wet. Therefore, they mindlessly accept the narrative. Things change, though, when you counter the narrative with facts—and a 17th-century look at Ottoman Palestine should change lots of minds.

I’ll start with a video in which people are asked to sign a petition supporting Hamas. The people shown in the video happily agree. However, as part of that petition, the petitioner tells them that he is obligated to read them the terms and conditions. That’s when things fall apart:

Oh you like Hamas?

Siding with Hamas isn’t easy when you know what they actually stand for.

Well done: FactsForPeace on IG pic.twitter.com/ksLmr2dDeE

— Yaakov Langer (@jacklanger) November 2, 2023

Obviously, that’s a minute sample, but it does show that, when you get away from the hysterics on college campuses and the jihadis on the streets of major cities, most people are open to facts and will change their minds.

I’d like to advance some newly acquired facts to change the narrative that Jews are colonizers who have used and abused the Arabs with ancient ties to the land. Actually, these facts are new to me but, in point of fact, they have a history. In the late 1600s, Hadriani Relandi, a polyglot who spoke several European languages, along with Arabic, Ancient Greek, and Hebrew, traveled to Ottoman Palestine. Upon his return, he wrote a two-volume magnum opus called Palaestina et Monumentis Veteribus Illustrata, which translates to Palestine and Ancient Monuments Illustrated. The book is in Latin so, if you’re comfortable with the language, you can read Volume I here and Volume II here.

If you don’t want to read the books, this Facebook post summarizes what Relandi found when he traveled through Palestine, then a far-flung outpost of the Ottoman Empire. If you read the post, the most important takeaway is that Palestine was not an Arab land; it was (and is) a Jewish and Christian land. (The post is in Greek but, if you click on “read more,” it should open a new page in English. I’ve also embedded the text at the end of this post.)

This accords perfectly with what I’ve written about, which is Pierre van Paassen’s The Forgotten Ally, which describes the same land in the lead-up to WWII. Van Paassen writes that Palestine was a remnant of the Ottoman Empire, that the Jews had always been there, and that the few Arabs  there had drifted into the land beginning in the 1830s when they’d been ejected from other parts of the Ottoman Empire.

A lot of people like to say that there’s no mileage to be had from trying to counter the left’s argument that Arabs are the indigenous people and Jews the colonialists. To that I say, “Pshaw!” That is the main argument that is being used to persuade disinterested people who have been bathed in the toxic propaganda about Western colonialism versus innocent indigenous people. That’s why people who know nothing about the facts so willingly accept Hamas as the voice of the victims and Israel as the sword of the oppressor.

If you give them facts, they will change their minds. In the poisonous and delusional world of leftist and Islamic make-believe, facts matter. And the beautiful thing about both Relandi and van Paassen is that, when they wrote their facts, they had no dog in the current fight. There was no State of Israel, there were no Arabs identified as Palestinians, there were no Mullahs in Iran funding things, there was no West Bank and Gaza, and Hamas and Hezbollah didn’t exist. Their information, if you will, is pure.

Try it. Share that link on Facebook, if you still post there, and see what happens with facts.

Book "Palestina ex Monumentis Veteribus Illustrata". The book is written in Latin. In 1695. Rilandy was describing what was then called Palestine.

The author Adriani Rilandi is a geographer, cartographer, traveler, philologist, he knew several European languages, Arabic, ancient Greek, Hebrew.

He visited almost 2,500 settlements mentioned in the Bible. The research was conducted as follows:

*He first created the map of Palestine. He then designated every settlement mentioned in the Bible or the Talmud with its original name.

* If the original was Jewish, it meant "pasuk" (a suggestion in the Holy Scriptures that mentioned the name. )

* If the original was Roman or Greek, the connection was in Latin or Greek.

In the end, he did a population census by settlements.

Here are the main conclusions and some facts:

* The country is mainly empty, abandoned, sparsely populated, the main population is Jerusalem, Akko, Tsfat, Jaffa, Tveria and Gaza.

* Most of the population is Jews, almost everyone else is Christians, very few Muslims, mostly Bedouins.

* The only exception is Nablus (now Shchem), where approximately 120 people from the Muslim family Natsha and approximately 70 "shomronims" (Samaritans).

* In Nazareth, the capital of Galilee, lived approximately 700 people - all Christians.

* In Jerusalem there are about 5,000 people, almost all Jews and a few Christians.

* In 1695, everyone knew that the origin of the country was Jewish.

* There is not a single settlement in Palestine that has Arabic roots in its name.

* Most settlements have Jewish originals, and in some cases Greek or Roman Latin.

* Apart from the city of Ramla, there is no Arab settlement that has an original Arabic name. Jewish, Greek or Latin names that have been changed to Arabic that don't make any sense in Arabic. In Arabic, there is no meaning in names like: Akko, Haifa, Jaffa, Nablus, Gaza or Jenin, and names like Ramallah, al-Khalil (Hebron), al-Quds (Jerusalem) - they do not have philological or historical Arabic roots. So, for example, in 1696, Ramallah was called Bethel (Beit El, the House of God), Hebron was called Hebron and the Cave of Mahpel was called El-Khalil (the nickname of Abraham) by the Arabs.

* Relandi mentions Muslims only as nomadic Bedouins who came to the cities as seasonal workers in agriculture or construction.

* About 550 people lived in Gaza, half of them Jews and half Christians. Jews were successful in agriculture, especially in vineyards, olives and wheat, Christians were engaged in trade and transportation.

* Jews lived in Tveria and Tsfat, but their occupation is not mentioned, except for the traditional fishing in Kineret.

* In the village of Um El Fahm, for example, lived 10 families, all Christians (about 50 people). There stood a small Maronite church.

The book completely refutes theories about "Palestinian traditions", "Palestinian people" and leaves almost no link between the land and the Arabs who even stole the land's Latin name (Palestine) and took it for themselves.

The book "Palaestina ex Monumentis Veteribus Illustrata" was written in Latin in 1695. The author, Adriaan Reland, was a geographer, cartographer, traveler, philologist, and linguist who was well-versed in several European languages, Arabic, Ancient Greek, and Hebrew.

He meticulously documented nearly 2,500 settlements mentioned in the Bible. His research was conducted as follows:

He first created a map of Palestine and marked each settlement mentioned in the Bible or the Talmud with its original name.

If the original name was in Hebrew, he marked it as "pasuk" (a passage in the Holy Scriptures where the name was mentioned).

If the original name was of Roman or Greek origin, he provided the Latin or Greek equivalent.

In the end, he compiled a census of the population based on these settlements. Here are some key findings and facts:

The land was mostly empty, abandoned, and sparsely populated, with the primary population centers in Jerusalem, Acre, Safed, Jaffa, Tiberias, and Gaza.

The majority of the population was Jewish, with almost all others being Christians, and very few Muslims, mainly Bedouins.

The only exception was Nablus (now Shechem), where about 120 people from the Muslim Nashash family lived alongside approximately 70 "Samaritans."

In Nazareth, the capital of Galilee, about 700 people lived, all of whom were Christians.

In Jerusalem, there were around 5,000 people, mostly Jews, with a few Christians.

In 1695, it was well-known that the roots of the country were Jewish.

There was not a single settlement in Palestine with Arabic origins in its name.

Most settlements had Hebrew originals, with some having Greek or Latin origins, which had been adapted into Arabic names that held no meaning in the Arabic language. For example, names like Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, Nablus, Gaza, or Jenin had no philological or historical Arabic roots.

Reland only mentioned Muslims as seasonal agricultural or construction laborers who came to the cities.

In Gaza, around 550 people lived, with half being Jewish and half Christian. Jews were engaged in successful agriculture, including vineyards, olives, and wheat, while Christians were involved in trade and transportation.

In Tiberias and Safed, Jews lived, but their occupations were not specified, except for their traditional fishing activities in the Sea of Galilee.

In the village of Umm al-Fahm, there were about ten families, all of whom were Christians (approximately 50 people). There was a small Maronite church in the village.

Reland's book thoroughly refutes theories about "Palestinian traditions" and a "Palestinian people" and establishes very little connection between this land and the Arabs, who even adopted the Latin name of the land (Palestine) and claimed it as their own.