Two thousand years late: Palestinian Authority recruits Hasmoneans and Herod as Palestinians

The Hasmoneans built winter palaces. Herod expanded them. Two thousand years later, the Palestinian Authority has arrived to turn Jewish achievements into Palestinian identity.

This historical invention is typical of PA brazenness. It takes the palaces of Jewish rulers, presents them as expressions of Palestinian heritage, and seeks international recognition to give legitimacy to that fiction.

The Hasmoneans were a Jewish dynasty ruling Judea. Herod was a Roman client king of Judea of Edomite ancestry, whose family had adopted Judaism and who built an ancient fortress. The identities and political allegiances of Herod and the Hasmoneans differed, but both ruled thousands of years before the invention of the Palestinian people.

That apparently presents no obstacle to the PA's Tourism Ministry:

Archaeologist Marwan Samrat: "[The Herodion's] construction date was during the Hasmonean period. There was a group of palaces… who by the way was of Edomite origin."

Issa Zo'rob, Tourism Ministry: "Our role as the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities is to raise awareness. We will initially raise awareness among the local public about the place's importance because this memory ultimately needs to live and it must be made known that these are important places that represent Palestine.Not long ago, at the beginning of this year, 2026, the site was nominated for the tentative list of World Heritage Sites under the name 'Winter Palaces at Tel Abu Al-Alaik,' and this gives the site Palestinian legitimacy so that the site will be declared and preserved according to the Palestinian narrative."

[Official PA TV, Jericho Through Time, Oct. 26, 2026]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the same absurdity on an even grander timescale: A commentator from Fatah, the PA's ruling party, claimed over 15,000 years of Palestinian history, while a Fatah archaeologist claimed 100,000 years of Palestinian continuity, recasting ancient Jews as Palestinians who adopted Judaism. At the same time, the PA/Fatah seeks to delegitimize Jewish presence in the Land of Israel by stripping sites, such as the Cave of the Patriarchs, of their authentic Jewish history and identity.

With its great imagination, the PA manufactures Palestinian ancestors indefinitely, even as "old as the earth itself." Because for the PA, history is not something that happened but is a political tool: Declare the palaces Palestinian, teach it far and wide, and seek international endorsement.