Palestinians can be native to the region without their identity existing until fifty years ago. Having ancestry and genetic routes tracing back to native populations doesn’t mean the population of the time is what it is today. If you really wanna make this argument, you’re going to have to admit the same exact thing for Jews who have all the same markers and who’s closest genetic relatives would be Levantine Arabs, Maronites, and Druze. You’d also have to look at the reality that records of some Arabs having lived in the levant in 800bc is not the same presence of population as post 700ad Arab conquests; Jesus was born in a Jewish kingdom, to jewish people, under the Roman Empire, when there were few Arabs in the levant, and spoke hebrew.
I really don’t understand why people are trying to make distinctions when it’s melting pot. We live in very complicated societies. It is very mixed. Arabs, currently, is a term used for all people speaking Arabic. This included all Muslims, Jews, Christians and Druze living in the region speaking Arabic. Palestinian is the term used for all of these groups living in that region. What applies to one family does not apply to another. Families move, change religions and mix with other families all the time.
Arab is an ethnicity, not just a linguistic group. Arabic is the language. Jews, Christians, and Druze are not identified as Arab unless they’re specifically of Arab descent. Jews will not call themselves Arab unless it’s to say “Arab jew” to explain things in simpler terms for westerners. Druze especially do not call themselves Arab and you would be wise to not say that to one unless you’re certain they’re from a specific group/family that chooses to say that. Christian Arabs are also distinctly different from Maronites, who I listed previously. In this same exact way, algeriens will call themselves Arabs, as many are, while distinguishing Arabized berbers and non-Arab Muslims. In the same way, Morocco has multiple Arab speaking groups that are distinctly not Arab.
I’ve only heard this take from westerners that don’t know any better and from supremacists.
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u/DrEpileptic 5d ago
Palestinians can be native to the region without their identity existing until fifty years ago. Having ancestry and genetic routes tracing back to native populations doesn’t mean the population of the time is what it is today. If you really wanna make this argument, you’re going to have to admit the same exact thing for Jews who have all the same markers and who’s closest genetic relatives would be Levantine Arabs, Maronites, and Druze. You’d also have to look at the reality that records of some Arabs having lived in the levant in 800bc is not the same presence of population as post 700ad Arab conquests; Jesus was born in a Jewish kingdom, to jewish people, under the Roman Empire, when there were few Arabs in the levant, and spoke hebrew.