PHILISTINES AND PALESTINIANS

Responding to Moses in Mecca, TTP member "Marco" has asked about the historical lineage of the ancient Philistines and their connection to modern-day Palestinians after whom they are named.  OK, Marco, here goes.

The origins of the Philistines are unclear.  Genesis 10:14 lists the Pelishtim as among the sons of Ham, shorthand for the Hebrews' traditional enemies which also included Egyptians and Canaanites, while Amos 9:7 claims they come from "Caphtor." 

At least two things about them are clear.  They are not aboriginal to the Levant (east coast of the Mediterranean) and they are not Semitic.

They clearly spoke an Indo-European language.  All the Philistine words like "seren" (captain) or names like Goliath mentioned in the OT, and words on Philistine inscriptions unearthed by archaeologists have non-Semitic/Indo-European etymologies.

Several scholars identify Caphtor with Crete.  The earliest pottery excavated at four of the five Philistine coastal cities (Ashdod, Ekron, Ashkelon, and Gath – the fifth is Gaza) are Aegean in origin.  That the Philistines came originally from Crete ties in with the theory that they were Minoan refugees from the greatest volcanic eruption in human history, that of Thera, radiocarbon dated as between 1639-1616 BC. 

The remnant of Thera is today known as the island of Santorini north of Crete.  The civilization that flourished in Crete is known as Minoan to scholars after the legendary King Minos.

That would mean that the Philistines settled on the Mediterranean coast of modern-day Israel about a century or so before the Hebrews settled in the Judean highlands (ca. 1500-1400 BC. 

The Hebrews seem to have originated from northern Mesopotamia where present-day Syria, Iraq, and Turkey come together.  Genetic DNA testing is showing that modern Jews are more closely related to Kurds and Armenians – the region's original inhabitants – than to Arabs.

After the Philistines were conquered by Assyria in 732 BC and again by Babylon in 580 BC, they disappear from history.  Yet 600 years after they were gone, the Romans in 135 AD in their attempt to ethnically cleanse Judea of rebellious Jews re-named the region Philistia (alternatively Palaestina).  The Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire kept the name.  When the Arabs conquered it in 638 AD, they kept the name with a slight change to Filisteen.

The name stuck through rule by Seljuk Turks, Egyptian Mamelukes, Ottoman Turks, and the British who took over the territory after WWI.  Yet the bottom line to all this history is that the Arabs who live in "Palestine" and call themselves "Palestinians" have absolutely nothing – ethnically, linguistically, or historically – to do with the Biblical Philistines who all vanished almost 2600 years ago.

Theirs is the same attempt of the Romans, to deny the Jews' historical heritage to the Land of Israel.  The Palestinians' claim is just as fraudulent as the Romans – but at least the Romans existed.  The "Palestinians" have never existed in any distinct historical sense from other Arabs.

And the way things are going with their current civil war, their inability to govern themselves, and their psychological collapse into a culture of hate and murder, they may soon cease to exist at all.  Just like the Philistines.