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In "Myths of the Middle East," Farah wrote:

The truth is that Palestine is no more real than Never-Never Land. The first time the name was used was in 70 A.D. when the Romans committed genocide against the Jews, smashed the Temple and declared the land of Israel would be no more. From then on, the Romans promised, it would be known as Palestine.

The name was derived from the Philistines, a Goliathian people conquered by the Jews centuries earlier. It was a way for the Romans to add insult to injury ... Palestine has never existed – before or since – as an autonomous entity. It was ruled alternately by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and, briefly, by the British after World War I. ... There is no language known as Palestinian. There is no distinct Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians.

What about Islam's holy sites? There are none in Jerusalem. Shocked? You should be. I don't expect you will ever hear this brutal truth from anyone else in the international media. It's just not politically correct.

I know what you're going to say. "Farah, the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem represent Islam's third most holy sites." Not true. In fact, the Koran says nothing about Jerusalem. It mentions Mecca hundreds of times. It mentions Medina countless times. It never mentions Jerusalem. With good reason. There is no historical evidence to suggest Mohammed ever visited Jerusalem. ... Meanwhile, Jews can trace their roots in Jerusalem back to the days of Abraham.

"The truth is that Palestine is no more real than Never-Never Land."

Except that there is a region inhabited by people who call themselves Palestinian after the region. Modern associations and identities are irrelevant in the historical context. The percentage of the people residing in Israel who can trace their ancestry to the region is at least as high among the Palestinians as it is the with the predominantly European Jews who also inhabit Israel

The history of human habitation of the Holy Land, in particular the Natufian neolithic culture, dates back nearly 10,000 years before the arrival of Abraham. The Bronze Age Canaanite period began a full 2,000 years before Abraham wandered in from Ur to claim the land.

Within the next 2500 years the Jews only governed the region for about 300 years. Egyptians, Assyrians, Hittites, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Malmuk Egyptians, Khurds, Crusaders, Ottoman Turks, Napoleonic French, Brits have all had a claim in their time. In this context the pope is as legitimate and anyone, and more entitled than many to offer advice.