While I often enjoy your posts Jamie, you have confused me. How does Judaism get to be an offshoot of itself?

Cause I said so....

But yeah, essentially Islam and Judaism share a common religeous ancestor (as does Christianity and do the fire worshipping Zoroastrans). Its all blurred, because both claim to be the original faith. However they were almost certainly preceeded by more patheonistic faiths, which many of the nations and people of the area take their names from.

Of note is the donkey headed diety Pale.

Genetically, the palestianians are likely to be dececendents of Jewish and Christians, who themselves were decendents of other groups, and the genetic lineage of the area dates back to pre-history (its a very long settled area).

So realistically, its more accurate to claim that both Islam and Judaism share a common ancestorial religeon from which they stem, rather than saying either really occured first.

ee aw ee aw ee aw to know better...

Its always easier to maintain that Palestinians/Muslims are descended from the original inhabitants because there are far great numbers of them throughout the ME. But if we look at the basic premise that Judaism predates Islam by a considerable time, then there is no dispute to be had. Jews suffered various pogroms and massacres (ie. Roman, Crusader)throughout their time in Palestine. The is readily accessible information.
That is not to denigrate the fact that Muslims at various times have constituted the majority, but one should not consider the Jews as usurpers. Nb. European Jewry are themselves descended from exiled tribes of Israel.

A revisionist at work.

No clients today, Master Seth?

The Arabs were the original usurpers of the 'Holy Land.' Your attempts to denigrate Jewish claims to the land of Israel speaks more about your anti-Israel agenda as much as your conceited leftist tendencies.

What an inconvenience it must be to you trying to reconcile a Jewish state in a Muslim region. Poor boy.

I can only assume the original post avoids outright condemnation of Israeli actions for the purpose of irony, or through an aversion to predictability.

This week I was at Goldsmiths Uni where I observed a wealth of pro-Palestinian material. Recently the rejection of a Palestinian student for non-political reasons manifested itself in the form of anti-Israeli sentiment such as the certification of 'no Israeli produce' by campus coffee shops. This somewhat undermines the stance irrespective of the current situation.

A recent blog took issue with the BBC's use of the term 'militant' in reference to the elected Hamas. This work was praised by the same people who are all too quick to throw slurs of a far less accurate and articulate nature towards our own governments. They would do well to remember Western meddlers gave Israel their power.

Edited by johnfirewall (23 Nov 2012 1.02am)