ABBAS: ‘THE BIBLE SAYS WE WERE HERE BEFORE ABRAHAM’:

Archaeological evidence has long disproved any historical claims of Palestinian peoplehood, but the facts did not deter Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas from spuriously claiming Palestinians were in Israel from before the Biblical Abraham. Palestinian Media Watch on Monday 6 June 2016, exposed repeated statements by Abbas and his religious adviser on official PA TV in recent months airing the ahistorical claims, according to which the Palestinians have been in Israel for "5,000" or "6,000" years. On PA TV Abbas said, "our narrative says that we were in this land since before Abraham. I am not saying it. The Bible says it. The Bible says, in these words, that the Palestinians existed before Abraham. So why don't you recognize my right?" In exposing Abbas' assertions, PMW clarified that his statement about the Bible is false.

The only Biblical reference Abbas could be talking about is the text that Abraham dwelt 'many days in the land of the Philistines.' (Gen 21: 34) However, the Philistines have no connection to today's Palestinian Arabs. The Philistines were a people of Greek origin who settled in the land of Canaan and lived beside the Israelite tribes. The Palestinians who are Arabs could not have had ancestors in the land from biblical times predating Israelite and Judean statehood because Arabs only arrived in the land in 637 A.D. with the Muslim invasion. The 'Palestinians' are not mentioned in the Bible," explained PMW. Significantly Abbas in his comments based the Palestinian "right" to the land on his historical lies, showing how the attempts at revisionist history on the part of the PA are part of an intentional political campaign to legitimize its claims. The lack of actual Palestinian history was recently laid bare when the PA in May 2016 opened its Palestinian Museum of art, history and culture - with absolutely nothing inside it. (Arutz-7) Pray according to God’s promises in scripture: "The scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous." Ps 125: 3