Fatah and historian: Jews do not have roots in Palestine, only Palestinians are rooted in ancient peoples

Fatah-run Awdah TV host: "We will take you on a journey through time to our Canaanite ancestors, of whom we Palestinians are proud to be their continuation… We will talk a lot about the historical Palestinian identity. We are raising this topic today for the first time due to its importance and also because of the danger of harm to the ancient Palestinian history by the biblical stories, which the colonialist Zionist settlement movement has exploited to carry out its political goals in the land of Palestine, the land of Canaan." …

Expert on Palestinian history Faisal Zakarneh: "[Greek historian] Herodotus visited Palestine in the 5th century BCE. He called it Palestine and spoke about the Palestinians in it. He did not mention Israelis or Jews. This is the greatest proof and the oldest document, and it is not a Palestinian or Arab document – it is European, from Herodotus. It proves that there is no basis for all that talk... Edwin's research defined for us who the Canaanites are. They are all the names we use, whether Amorites, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Samaritans, or the House of Omri, Ioudaios (i.e., "Jew" in Greek), or Judeans. Judah is not related to Jews. It is something completely different. Judaism as a religion appeared later in advanced stages, in a later period. Not before then – after that."

Host: "So Judaism is a religion and not an ethnic group."

Faisal Zakarneh: "It is a religion and not an ethnic group. There are many ethnic groups and cultural identities that adopted the Jewish religion in previous periods. There is no proof that there is such an ethnic group. Religious studies have disproven this. There were no ancient Israelites and Hebrews...

The roots of a large portion of the Palestinian people go back to ancient peoples. Their religion changed over time, they were idol worshippers or worshippers of the Stone Age religions, and then became Canaanite idol worshippers, and later became Jews, then Christians, and then Muslims."

[Fatah-run Awdah TV, Facebook page, March 10, 2026]

The Palestinians have no history prior to the modern period, while an abundance of evidence proves Jewish history in Israel

Genetic research has conclusively proven that modern Jews share a common origin in Israel

Herodotus used the term "Palestine" to refer to the coastal region then under control of the Philistines, who have no connection to the Palestinians

"Edwin's research" refers to Syrian author Lord Edwin E. Hitti

"The House of Omri" was the sixth king of the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel