New Version

Few and far between are the Jewish Israeli researchers whose books and writings achieve great appreciation amongst Arab communities in the Middle East.

Professor Shlomo Sand is definitely the exception. Since the initial publication of his book, The Invention of the Jewish People, every interview with him has achieved great publicity in Arab media. Headlines endlessly refer to his name. His theories are not new at all and they have mostly been popular in the Arab world for a long time now, just as The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf have also been widely distributed in the Arab language for quite some time.

The Sand phenomenon is unique and special for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is a conflict that has appeared not only on the battlefield, but also in the media, questioning the very legitimacy of each of the two sides. From this perspective, the views of Shlomo Sand, the Jewish Israeli historian from Tel Aviv University represents a true “point of light” in the Arab world.

This short paper will attempt to present the great spiritual influence of Shlomo Sand, in the Arab world, from Damascus to Cairo, and of course, amongst the Palestinian people.
Three years have passed since the publication of Professor Shlomo Sand’s book, The Invention of the Jewish People. In his book, Sand describes his “revolutionary” historical theory according to which, throughout history, the Jewish people have never been of one common race. The Jews are a mixture of different races, sharing one faith. In Shlomo Sand’s opinion, the stories of the bible are amazing and interesting, but are at the same time, inaccurate. The bible is a literary creation, “a historical myth”, which was written in the sixth century and which shaped the world of the Jewish communities, who received Judaism from different sources. The Jews never returned to their land because they were never sent away from it. The Zionist history developed a racial theory which created a national Jewish myth that actually never existed, and this myth was primarily created in order to expel local Palestinian citizens, who, along with their descendants may actually have been those who originated in the ancient kingdom of Judah.

The supposed “researched” claims of Shlomo Sand are negated with tens of papers and research articles and archeological discoveries advertised every now and then, appearing in a variety of journals. Since Sand published his book, many good historians have disagreed with him, including the historian Israel Bartal, who wrote a powerful response to his claims. Similarly, Dov Ben-Meir’s book, Exile and Redemption of the Jewish People, also negates these claims. The book represents a pointed and researched response to Sand’s refuted theory.

“This is the story of a nation who gave monotheism to the world but at the same time, is haunted by its history: Christianity and Islam. This is the only nation in the world against whom super powers rose to crush, beginning with Amalek and Haman, followed by the wave of anti-Semitism and the Inquisition, and ending with the totalitarian Nazi and Communist movements (one of whose supporters is Sand the Jew, a former member of Rakah - the Israeli Communist Party , S.B.) and it still survived. At the same time, Jewish history was in the process of being created, being passed on from one spiritual center, even after being destroyed, to another, just as in a relay race in which the stick of Jewish creation is passed on, maintained and continuously developed. This is, therefore, a description of the religious and overall fountains from which the fathers of the nation and its pioneers drank, of the will and the ability to withstand, against all odds, in order to found itself again as a Jewish state, and to protect itself and ensure its being built as a modern state, and to ensure that it prosper”.

Is there anything unique about Sand’s theory?
The main point of this paper is not to focus on the content of Sand’s book but rather to focus on the influence of his book on the Arab world. The book is not unique because of its originality, as I already proved in the past in another paper; Sand’s book takes its ideas regarding the race theory from Nazi, Islam, Arab, and Palestinian sources. Already in 1967, Muhammad Musbah Hamdan published his famous book, Al-Istia'amar wal-Sahyonia al-'Alamiya (Colonialism and World Zionism), in which he claimed as background to his book that it was designed to scientifically prove that the Jews of today are not of the ancient Israel tribes.

So, for another example, we can look at the book written by the Islamic activist, Hassan Bash, Al-Tarbiya al-Sahyonia, Min 'Ansariya al-Torah – hila Damu’ya al-Ihtilal (Zionist Education, From Racism in the Torah to Bloodletting of the Occupation). Hassan Bash’s conclusions (my emphasis below) are:
1.Palestine is the Canaanite Arab land originating from 3,000 BC and the Jews arrived at the land in flocks from the start of 1,200 BC. In my opinion, the Torah alone notes this. This is my conclusion, in light of my knowledge as a researcher of Palestinian history and Palestinian sites.
2.The Jews, who founded Zionism, do not have roots amongst the ancient Jewish peoples, who are distinct. The new Jewish people of today are the Khazar Aryan people and do not belong to the Semitic race.
3.An in-depth review of the Jews who survived shows that the Jews are not associated with only one race, but rather comprise seventeen races, all of whom have common community traditions.
The first edition of Hassan Bash’s book was published at least five years prior to Sand’s “revolutionary” book of 2008. Bash’s book analyzes the “Zionist incitement literature”, which was developed based on the belief in an imaginary Jewish past. This “incitement literature” teaches violence and bloodletting and aims to justify the robbing of Palestine from the Palestinian people, which “is the descendant of the ancient Canaanite Arab and Amalekite people (so it says in the Arab original text, S.B.) and of others who lived in this country since the beginning of time. This is also Sand’s conclusion, which he made several years later.
If so, the greatly unique aspect of Sand’s book is not in the content of the book, but in its essence. A Jewish professor of history from a Zionist University – Tel Aviv University, step-by-step, in beautifully phrased Hebrew, justifies and approves all the historical Palestinian claims. It’s no surprise that his book became a major best-seller in the Arab world and is treasured by Palestinians.

The Importance of Sand amongst Palestinian Parties
In an editorial written by Dr. Maher al-Sharif, "Shlomo Sand and the Invention of the Jewish People," the author, a member of the Palestinian People's Party, praises Shlomo Sand’s creation. The author bases his theories on the French publication of the book, whose title is: How the Jewish Nation was Invented, From the Torah to Zionism. This genre of books written in Arabic such as Hassan Bash’s book, which I discussed at the beginning of my paper, is prevalent in the Palestinian and Muslim societies. The Palestinian People’s Party is the party that feeds from and is the reincarnation of the Rakah party (the Israeli Communist Party), which could also be found in the West Bank and in the Gaza strip. The party was founded officially in 1982 and is today lead by Bassam Salahi.
The author notes that he learned of the book in May 2009 when, during a visit in Rome, he participated in a conference that dealt with life as a citizen in Muslim countries. One of the participants in the conference brought him a great gift: a book that he avidly read. Sand’s book, in its French edition, was dedicated to Bassel al-Natasha and to Palestinians and to Jews who want to live in liberty, equality and brotherhood. Al-Sharif reviews the book and chooses to begin with Shlomo Sand’s personal stories. The first story is of Shlomo Sand’s family, who spoke Yiddish, and of their immigration to Israel. Dr. Al-Sharif emphasizes, based on this story that “even then, the young man Shlomo felt that he was sitting on lands that were taken from another people.”
With great appreciation, the author analyzes each and every one of the chapters in the book, and in his article, it is clear that he too agrees with the historical analysis presented by Sand. Sand’s conclusions are not new, and are accepted theories in the Communist movement Rakah in every one of its branches and forms (in Israel and in the occupied territories). The optimal solution to this 100-year old conflict is a two-state solution under one government throughout all of Palestine, and in which the Jews and Arabs would live together in equality.
In this context, Sand’s many conclusions, as described in his book, are directly related to his political stand as an ex-Rakah activist, to his familial background and also to his connections and friendship with the famous Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Darwish also was an ex-Rakah activist, until he left Israel in 1970 and joined the PLO in Lebanon. His research is political and the conclusions are not those of an in-depth study, but rather those of a clear, though well-phrased, political agenda. Sand’s study is guided by “research” in the same way as studies are guided by research when they are funded by companies that manufacture cigarettes, aiming to prove that smoking is healthy. However, not only the Communists, Palestinians and Jews alike, will enjoy Shlomo Sand’s research, but also one can hear the sounds of joy throughout the entire Arab world.

The Position of Sand’s Book in Arab and Palestinian Journalism
The widely-encompassing article written by Assam al-Kurd was published in the al-Quds newspaper, the most widely-read East Jerusalem newspaper in the Palestinian society. The title of the article speaks for itself. "The Israeli historian Shlomo Sand: The “Jewish people” is such an extensive figment of imagination that even the act of return was invented retroactively and the “myth” was created based upon which the State of Israel was founded. The quotation marks are as they appear in the original.
The article deals with a conference that was held in Brussels, during which time Shlomo Sand presented his main principles. Arab intellectuals, and Europeans participated in the conference. The newspaper quotes his speech, through the title of the article, in which Sand explains to the author that he does not accept the theory that the Jewish people were taken from their land and were sent into captivity. To his dismay, he could find no book that tells the truth regarding the problem of discovering the origins of the Jewish people. The newspaper quotes him as saying that “there is a greater possibility that the Hamas fighters are the descendents of King David than the possibility that he (Shlomo Sand) could be the descendent of David.” Sand emphasizes that “the state of Israel was founded through exploitation of its original residents in 1948… Zionism does not try to hide this.”
Amongst the conference participants was the Lebanese author Elias Huri, who called Shlomo Sand his "friend". The participants at the conference and at their head, Huri, all complimented Sand for his brave position, remembering his friendship with Darwish. Huri even said, based on Sand’s comments, that “we turn to all participants and to all those who believe in justice and in the rights of the Palestinian people for self-determination to participate in the fight against the Zionists … Sand’s book calls for action for the Palestinian people, as well as his contribution to human thought.”
During the conference, calls to boycott Israel were heard, as were voices against maintaining normal relationships with Israel, resulting from the Zionist harm done to Palestinian rights. Huri notes that in Lebanon they first stupidly thought they should prevent the distribution of the book because it was written by an Israeli professor from Tel Aviv. However, parties responsible for censorship had not read the book, and later (the Association of Lebanese Authors) this decision was reversed. At the end of the conference, Sand was quoted as saying that today there is “an Israeli people”, which includes Jews and Arabs, and includes Israeli language and literature. The only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the establishment of one nation, including all its citizens in which Israelis and Palestinians will live together, but he feels pessimistic about this possibility. Sand’s claims are not new and he completely justifies the Palestinians, who refuse to acknowledge the state of Israel as a Jewish state.
Sand’s perceptions continue to cause waves and awaken shock across the Arab world; for example, the publication of the popular Egyptian newspaper, ash-Shuruk al-Jadid. 'Azat Hessin’s article, "Shlomo Sand: There is no such thing as the Jewish people." The article is part of a series of articles that examine the institutionalized myths of the Israeli government. The author focuses on two issues: the illusion of the chosen Jewish people and the illusion of the Promised Land that markets success by the Zionists and offers historical justification for the foundation of the Zionist entity, which lies on Palestinian land.
The newspaper emphasizes that the awakening of this false Zionist belief comes from within, from within Israel – an Israeli Professor of Modern History at the Tel Aviv University. Shlomo Sand, in his book, exhibits historical depth (my emphasis), in which he reveals the lies of the Torah and the Zionist lies according to which the Jews were expelled in 70 CE and since then, went into the Diaspora. The Diaspora from which they returned to their land and based upon which they created the State of Israel. The article repeats Sand’s known beliefs according to which the Jews today are a mix of different races and that Palestinians are the dispersed Jewish descendants. Hessin emphasizes that Sand’s claims counter the legitimate foundation of the Zionist claims. Israel was founded as a state at the sake of expelling the original residents of the land [the Palestinians] who had resided there for generations.
The author emphasizes that it took Sand much time to publish his book and that he only did so after receiving his professorship at the Tel Aviv University. Achieving this position offered him a kind of academic immunity to the publication of his book and to expose the truth of the imagined Jewish people.
At the end of the article, the reactions of his readers are expressed, of course, showing joy for what they have read – for example, Tarek Walid's response. “I don’t know what to say really. This person, Shlomo Sand, is truly something amazing. I feel pride and truly want to thank him for his book. He is a true Jew.” Additional readers such as Mahmoud Fathy Mansour or Fawzi Majed express that "they the Jews and the whole world know the truth according to which the Jews have no rights to Palestine, and so why do the Jews continue living there." Mahmoud even poses this question to Sand. There is no doubt that Sand’s book perfectly caught the opinion of the Arab community.
The View of the Fatah Movement and the Palestinian Authority
The Fatah movement has and continues to support Sand’s research. On September 30th, 2010, on the movement al-Moukaf website, it was advertised by the Palestinian Center for Israeli Studies that the book The Invention of the Jewish People by Shlomo Sand had been published. The newspaper was pleased to notify its readers that there was a new edition of the book in Arabic that was published by al-Maktabah al-Ahliyya in Amman (Jordan). The book was translated to literary Arabic that was completed by Saaid Ayash and was edited by As'ad Zu'abi simply and lucidly. The publication notification was eager to compliment the book.
“This book is one of the most exciting books I’ve read because there is nothing more captivating than the writing of the Jewish history, which has begun to grow during recent years. Shlomo Sand began a journey of in-depth research that begins from thousands of years ago. His final conclusions, which he proves in detail, are that the Jews, who are living today in Israel and in other places in the world, have no relationship to and are not the descendants of the earlier nation who lived in the kingdom of Judah during the period of the Second Temple … this of course, contradicts the Zionist claim regarding the return of Israel to its land.” The article repeats Sand’s claims regarding the origin of the Jews of today as a mixture of different peoples.
The article emphasizes that the Jews are not one race as has always been claimed by Zionist historians during the 19th century and forward. They took advantage of the Jewish mythology in order to create a Jewish nation, which exists and does not exist, and they developed a racist theory which lead to the Arab expulsion in 1948. The article continues to quote from Sand’s book at great length and with great appreciation. In the preface to the Arab edition, the editor added that the Zionist historians should be blamed for taking part in the historical distortion that lead to the crimes against the Palestinians. The Palestinians are after all, part of one unified Muslim nation with common roots. Through their approach Sand demonstrates all the distortions of the Zionist beliefs and reveals the Zionist lies, and thus his great importance for the Arab and Palestinian people. The article repeats the praise that the book received from the known Lebanese author Elias Huri, Dr. Khaled al-Hroub and Dr. Maher al-Sharif, who was mentioned previously. These figures emphasize the rejection of the Jewish nationalism and the concept of a common Jewish heritage.

The conclusion of the Center for Palestinian Studies in Fatah is clear. If the Jews have no real roots in Israel and there is no true Jewish nationalism, then why should the Jews have a state? Why did the Jews develop a theory according to which they are one people with common roots who are returning to their land? After all, it’s a lie. Zionism is simply European colonialism that has continued to survive in Palestine and has no right to even exist. Of course, they thank Sand for his generous help in negating the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state.
The Continuation – The Fabrication of Jewish History
Sand’s book has great importance as is emphasized in the al-'Ayyam newspaper, which tends to represent the position of the Palestinian authority. The book questions the legitimacy of Israel such as Rachel's Tomb or the Cave of the Patriarchs. Why should one believe the theory of the Rachel's Tomb rather than believing that in its place actually stood the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque? What is the Jewish connection to the Cave of the Patriarchs? After all, the Zionists invented everything as Sand claims in his famous book. For some reason, in the UN councils, the Palestinian and Arab version that Sand presents was preferred over the historical Jewish version – a version which relies on historical facts and multiple historical origins of Jewish immigrants and others throughout generations.
In Hassan al-Batal’s article "Shlomo Sand, History and Historiography," al-Batal deals with those questions. According to al-Batal, the Jewish history has recently been criticized in a way that negates that very history on countless occasions. The first criticism is from the Vatican, claiming that the concept of the Promised Land is not related to Israel, but rather to some other place. The second is from the UNESCO organization, criticizing the political Jewish history perception that considers the location of the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque as the location of Rachel's Tomb. UNESCO also negates the political Jewish history regarding Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi (the Cave of the Patriarchs), which appears in the list of Jewish heritage sites. The author is correct in what he claims. In 2001, the Palestinian authority changed its textbooks by removing historical Jewish references. So, for example, Rachel's Tomb which appeared in Palestinian textbooks as the grave of the mother of our prophet Joseph, and Jacob’s wife, became the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque.
If Shlomo Sand, the author of The Invention of the Jewish People, was asked, his answer would have been different, the author adds. Shlomo Sand would have said “I’m Israeli and Hebrew is the language of my writing and my dreams, but can one play with the Jewish history?” Sand, adds the writer, is not the first to contradict the fundamental myths upon which the Jewish state was founded. Sand merged the research of many others who also held this concept of the Jewish nationality into his book. What happened in 1948, the Nakba, the Palestinian’s disaster did not phase the Jewish conscience, a conscience that continues to justify the myths of Israel. Sand, according to the newspaper, does not contradict the right of Israel to exist but according to his theory the imagined Jewish myths must not be propagated or allowed to continue. Sand’s position is that Israel’s right to exist is similar to the right of a baby that was born as the result of rape to continue living. Jewish communities all over the world do not have any historical roots in the territory of the state of Israel.
Here the author asks for Sabri Jiryis’s opinion as to whether the “Zionist” author Sand’s position can be accepted. The Zionist title appears in quotation marks in the body of the Arabic article, and not by accident. Sabri Jiryis, asked to determine the matter, was the head of the PLO Palestinian Research Center. According to Jiryis, the state of Israel does indeed exist, but the state of Palestine does not. What gave Israel its need and purpose of existence is the same repetitive established myths about the right of return of the people of Israel, the Jews to its land after a long expulsion. The Arab Palestinian people are a prisoner of these Israeli myths. For that reason, Sand’s book has great importance in burying those same myths and offering Palestinians their right to independence and to a state. “Sand may not have discovered anything new but he has renewed the old.”
Attorney at law Sabri Jiryis is considered by the PLO to be an authority on the origins of Israel. During the sixties, Sabri Jiryis, together with Mansour Kardosh and others, founded the al-Ard movement. Jiryis is an Arab Israeli, born in Fassuta, and studied law at Hebrew University, taking advantage of his legal knowledge in order to act against the State of Israel. In 1965 Jiryis tried to run with the al-Ard movement founders for the Knesset, but the Supreme Court disqualified the party. In 1970, Jiryis left Israel based on an agreement with the Israel General Security Services (Shabak) and moved with his wife to Beirut. There, he quickly assimilated with the PLO, managed the Palestinian Research Center and worked as an advisor for Israeli affairs for the head of the PLO Yassir Arafat.
Jiryis’ nationalistic positions are known as are his views regarding Jewish history in Israel. His position was detailed greatly in his book, Al-Tarikh al-Sahyonia [The Zionist History], which was published in Beirut in 1981. For whatever reason, his position is no different essentially than Sand’s position. After the expulsion of the PLO from Lebanon, Jiryis travelled to Tunis until he finally returned to his village Fassuta in 1996, as a result of his support of the peace process. In 2006, he represented his brother Jiryis Jiryis, the previous head of the Fassuta council, who was suspected of contacting Hezbollah members. Because of Jiryis’ position in the PLO, as a member of the PLO and as Arafat’s advisor, and as a result of his position as a Palestinian historian on the origins of Israel and Zionism, his sayings offer a kind of Palestinian “kosher certification” for Sand’s book.
In conclusion, Hassan al-Batal rhetorically notes that it should be agreed that there is an Israeli nation and not a Jewish nation, which was born in sin, with its Hebrew language and Israeli culture. But it is not at all clear what the focus and relationship are between this nation and other Jewish communities in the world. On the other hand, there is a Palestinian people with Arab language and culture and deep relations with the Arab and Muslim world. Accordingly, it is obvious who has the legitimate rights to found a state and who does not have legitimate rights to found a state in Palestine.
Support for Hamas Policies
Hamas is an organization defined as a terrorist organization in Israel and in the United States, and also in other countries. The Hamas covenant that was first advertised in 1988, completely denied the right of the Jewish people to any part of Palestine. Palestinian land is Waqf – holy land that belongs solely to all generations of Muslims. Therefore, no Arab or Muslim party has any authority to let go of any part of Palestine. “Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). The waiver of any part of Palestine is intentional excommunication- desecration against part of the religion and is a serious religious crime.” The Jewish enemy is described as Nazi that does not distinguish between elderly, women and children. The covenant describes the Jewish Nazi steps taken including concentration camps, stealing of land, destruction of homes and exile of citizens. The mass exile such as the Nakba in 1948 is also a type of murder.
On Saturday December 27th, 2008, The Gaza War (Operation "Cast Lead") began, and lasted until January 18th 2009. The last day of the operation was also the day on which Barak Hussein Obama became president of the United States. During the war, Hamas members who fought in the Gaza Strip won support which was supposedly unexpected expressed during an interview with Shlomo Sand, who was prominently advertised in the Arab world. Sand powerfully criticized the State of Israel, who aimed to harm the Hamas organization, which was threatening to end lives, and was shooting rockets at peaceful citizen homes from the Gaza Strip. Hamas was after all, faithful to its covenant by pursuing its objection by attempting to put an end to Israel.
On the Damascus University website for medical students, Hakeem Fa'al’s article was published under the title "A perspective worth discussing, Shlomo Sand: Is Israel Losing the War?" In his opening comments, Hakeem notes that he read many articles about Israeli left-wingers but was mostly impressed by Shlomo Sand’s writings. The author describes Sand as one of the most respected professors of Israel. The author is also a supporter of Sand’s philosophies according to which Israel should not be recognized as a Jewish state, but it should be allowed to exist, much like the rights of a baby to continue living even though he was born as the result of rape.
In the article, Shlomo Sand expresses his position against the war on Hamas. When he is asked about the rocket attacks sent against the citizens of Israel, he is quoted as saying: “It’s true, it’s not normal that rockets are sent to Israel. But is it normal that Israel has still not decided what its borders are? This state, which cannot stand for rockets is also the same state that is not willing to declare the borders of 1967. Because Israel has rejected the initiative of the Arab league from 2002 according to which it would be fully recognized by the 1967 borders.” In other words, Israel is at fault for the current situation because it has not been willing to declare the 1967 borders. The refusal of Israel according to Sand to participate in the Arab league plan is enough to deny Israel the right to self-defense and justifies the attacks on its citizens.
When Sand was asked about the fact that if Hamas is not willing to recognize the right of Israel to exist at all, then what difference does the Israel borders make, he responded: “Hamas is a movement that is not understandable and does not act according to the rules of diplomacy.” The movement, according to Sand, offered Israel a peace offering for a long time from the Gaza strip and the West Bank but Israel rejected the Hamas offer because Israel wanted to continue murdering the people of the movement. Israel should strengthen the moderates of Hamas. “I do not recognize with the position of Hamas and the religious ideology of the movement but I, as an Israeli and a historian, cannot forget that those who are shooting rockets now are the descendents of those who immigrated from Jaffa and Ashkelon in 1948.” (my emphasis).
Sand defends Hamas many times throughout the article. When asked why Hamas shoots even though Israel left the Gaza strip, he replied: “That’s absurd. Imagine that Germany today only occupies northern France and not southern France as was the case in 1940. Would Germany deny France the right to self definition regarding the land that was occupied? Sharon leaving the Gaza strip was unilateral because he did not want peace with Arafat. Sharon did not recognize the West Bank as being occupied. The Palestinians are not asking for a nature reserve in the Gaza strip, such as the Indians. They are asking for an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza strip.” Therefore, according to Sand, the Hamas has the right to continue shooting rockets on Israel until the West Bank is completely released.
In light of this, Sand is surprised by the question that was next asked of him. Why does the Hamas use the civilian population as a human shield? His response is that this is hypocrisy by Israel to make a claim of this sort at all. Have you forgotten the words of Mao Tse-Tung (the revolutionary communist leader in China and ruler of China between 1949-1976), because every resistance movement needs to act amongst its population just like a fish in water? The meaning of Sand’s words is that Hamas has the full right to act by using concentrated areas of the civilian population. The IDF does not have any right to act against the Hamas movement, which Sand defines as the movement for the national release, similar to the communist movement in China and in other locations.
According to Sand, Israel was partially defeated by the PLO during the first intifada, and therefore, Israel recognized the Palestinian Liberation Organization and gave it the opportunity to work for peace together. Israel should also act this way with the Hamas by recognizing it and offering it the opportunity to negotiate. But Israel, according to Sand, only understands force and he hopes that Obama will pressure Israel to make peace just as President Jimmy Carter made Israel do so at Camp David in 1978, after the Egyptians achieved a partial win in the 1973 war.
This article by Sand in which he justifies the Hamas and strongly criticizes the actions of Israel in the Gaza strip has also achieved much popularity in the Arab media. So, for example, in the al-Awan newspaper, the author Mukhtar al-Khalfawi emphasizes the interview that was held with Sand and quotes the above in a strikingly similar title. The perspective of the author is Islamic. The author repeats the question how what happened in the war and who won the war in the Gaza strip could be interpreted. He believes that although the Hamas ultimately won, Israel demonstrated during the three weeks through the destruction and horror that it is above international law by performing war crimes. The author expands on the article that was described with Shlomo Sand and his approach to the Hamas. In the article, Sand emphasizes that the timing of the war for Israel was perfect because of the Knesset elections that occurred at the same time. The Minister of Security, Ehud Barak, acted based on his election considerations and ran a blitz on the Gaza strip citizens. (my emphasis). During Ehud Barak’s blitz 1300 Palestinians were killed and more than 5000 people were hurt. Barak took the tanks out of the Gaza strip just before the elections to the Knesset and exactly on the day that Barak Obama entered the White House. Because of the election considerations, Barak blew up the Gaza strip while avoiding risking the lives of the IDF soldiers.
Sand knows that his beliefs are highly unusual in Israeli society. According to him, he does not need to be afraid of anyone because of his astonishing beliefs. He has tenure in the Tel Aviv University, and so it will be difficult to fire him from his job (as is directly indicated in the article). In the democratic Israel, there is much freedom of speech, no matter what the content is. In an interview with him during the war on the Gaza strip, which he calls a slaughter, he notes that although he feels alone, he is not afraid. According to him, there is some support of his position as became obvious in the demonstration that was held on January 3rd 2009 in Tel Aviv against the war in the Gaza strip. Thousands of youth participated in the demonstration.
Many more references can be made to Shlomo Sand in the Arab media. All quotes made by him only glorify and completely support the Palestinian rights and mostly ignore the rights of Israel and the Jewish people. Because there is no Jewish people and the State of Israel was born out of sin and resulted in taking away the Palestinian land, the right of the State of Israel to exist is only that of a child born out of rape. From the perspective of research as described above, Sand has not invented any new concepts. His book is actually in support of the Nazi theory according to which there is no Semitic Jewish people and the current Jewish nation is derived of many ethnicities. It is not surprising that France, the land fast becoming more and more anti-Semitic, the country of Dreyfus, awarded him with a prestigious award for his book. When he received the prize, Sand noted that “the book is not Zionist but is also not anti-Zionist.” Sand is right by this definition – the book is simply anti-Jewish.

Dr. Shaul Bartal is a lecturer on Palestinian affairs at Bar Ilan University and author of The Palestinian from the Catastrophe to the Feda'yyin 1949-1956 (Jerusalem, Carmel, 2009).

personal permission to publish by the author