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Tuesday, August 15, 2017

The only indigenous Palestinian Arab families, it seems, are descended from Jews

At JCPA, Pinhas Inbari has a fascinating study of the origins of Palestinians.

One of his points is summarized:
Not a single Palestinian tribe identifies its roots in Canaan; instead, they all see themselves as proud Arabs descended from the most notable Arab tribes of the Hejaz, today’s Iraq, or Yemen. Even the Kanaan family of Nablus locates its origins in Syria. Some Palestinian clans are Kurdish or Egyptian in origin, and in Mount Hebron, there are traditions of Jewish origins.
He has interesting details about the Jewish origins of some of the Palestinian Arab families:

For Muslim families, a Christian origin could indicate a Jewish origin, though not necessarily. The Christian families of Ramallah are an example. According to their tradition, the Christians of Ramallah are descended from the Christian Bedouin tribe of southern Jordan. (Yes, there were Christian Bedouins in the past.) They were the Haddadin tribe of the Karak area, 140 kilometers south of Amman, who were forced to leave 250 years ago by pressure from the Muslim tribes who sought to marry their daughters.32
Originally, the Haddadin tribe was Yemenite, and it was forced to leave pre-Muslim Yemen at the time of the Jewish king, Dhu Nuwas (455-510 CE), to avoid converting to Judaism and to maintain their Christianity.33  Today, the Haddadin is one of Jordan’s important tribes, and its members hold senior positions in the Hashemite government; an example is Munzer Haddadin, who headed the Jordanian delegation to the talks on water with Israel.
The Jewish origin of the fellahin [villagers, laborer] is a fascinating subject. The Israeli computer scientist Zvi Misinay has sponsored genetic studies that have demonstrated a “primary” genetic link between the Palestinian fellahin and the Jews.34  Arab researchers have rejected this thesis, ascribing it to the desire to Judaize the Palestinians.35
Nonetheless, in conversations, many Palestinians confirm ancient traditions of Jewish origins that are common in their families. For example, a female clerk in the office of Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) once told me that her origins lay in the two biblical towns of Tzora and Eshtaol mentioned in the Samson story (Judges 13). Interestingly, the pairing of Tzora and Eshtaol is also preserved in spoken Arabic. The Palestinian Encyclopedia, published by the Palestinian Authority, describes “Sar’a” as a village that was founded in Canaanite days.36   The Israeli nonprofit organization Zochrot, which preserves the memory of the Palestinian villages that were destroyed during the War of Independence, makes use of the Palestinian descriptions but adds that the original name of this village was Sor’a and that it was known by this name at least until the 16th century.37
Crypto-Jews
A source in Mount Hebron told me once that the Mount Hebron villagers call the residents of Hebron “the Jews.” Although the families of Hebron do not regard themselves as having Jewish ancestry, in the Mount Hebron villages there are traditions with Jewish origins. The most notable examples are the village of Yatta – the Biblical Juttah – and particularly among the Makhamra family.
Israel’s second president, Yitzhak Ben Zvi, was a noted historian who researched the village of Yatta. In 1928 he described the lighting of Hanukah candles and observance of Jewish customs.38
The tradition that the Makhamra clan has Jewish ancestry is common to this family, noted Ben Zvi. Strikingly, one finds on a Palestinian Facebook page,39 called “All of us are for Palestine,” a passage reposted from a different Facebook page called “Yatta is everyone’s”:
It is said that the Makhamra family is of Jewish origin, and this was proved in the United Nations, and in 1947 Yatta was registered as a Jewish town, and it is said that all the residents of Yatta are of Jewish origin, and that the Samu, the Maharik family, the Carmel, Susya, Bani Naim, the Ta’amar, and the Rashaida and Azazmah tribes [in Jordan] are also Jews.40
 The Middle East scholar Moshe Elad said on Israel’s Arabic television that two members of the Makhamra family had converted to Judaism and were now Israeli citizens living in Israel and that in the village customs of lighting Shabbat and Chanukah candles had been preserved.41
Unfortunately, the two terrorists who perpetrated the Islamic State-inspired attack at Tel Aviv’s Sarona market on June 8, 2016, were members of the Makhamra family.42 
Essentially, the only Muslim families who can claim to have been in Palestine 2000 years ago were converts from Judaism or Christianity. By far most of them come from other areas of the Middle East or Europe.

I have looked at this topic a number of times over the years, and here is my latest list of  over 130 Palestinian families and their origins (although I've seen some contradictory origins listed for some families):

Abbas

Iraq

Abdil-Masih  (Beit Sahour)

Turkey

Abid

Sudan

Abu Aita (Beit Sahour)

Turkey

Abu Ghosh

Europe/11th century

Abu Sitta

Egypt

Abu-Kishk

Egypt

Adwan

Arabia

Afghani 

 Afghanistan

Ajami 

Iran

Al Hafi

Iraq

Alami

Morocco

Alami 

Morocco

Alawi 

 Syria

Al-Hayik (Beit Sahour)

Turkey

Arafat

Syria

Araj

Morocco

Aramsha

Egypt

Arashi

Egypt

Ashrawi

Yemen

Awwad

Egypt

Azd, Azad

 Yemen

Badra

Egypt

Baghdadi 

Iraq

Banna

Egypt

Bannoura

Egypt

Bardawil 

Egypt

Barghouti

Yemen (may be Jewish)

Bushnak 

Bosnia

Chehayber

Turkey

Dajani

Arabia via Spain

Darjani

Arabia

Djazair 

Algeria

Doghmush

Turkey

Erekat

Jordan

Fakiki

Morocco

Faranji

France

Faruqi

Iraq

Fayumi

Egypt

Filali

Morocco

Gharub

Egypt

Ghassan

Lebanon

Haddadin

Yemen

Halabi 

 Syria

Hamis

Bahrain

Hammouda

Transjordan

Hannouneh (Beit Sahour)

Turkey

Hashlamun

Kurdistan

Hijazi 

 Arabia

Hindi 

India

Hourani 

 Syria

Husseini

Arabia

Ibrahim (Beit Sahour)

Turkey

Iraki 

Iraq

Issa

Arrived in 1820s to Haifa, not sure from where

Jabari

Iraq

Jazir

Algiers

Kafisha

Kurdistan

Kanaan

Syria

Khair

Egypt

Khairi

Morocco

Khalil

Arabia

Khamadan

Yemen

Khamati

Syria

Khamis 

 Bahrain

Khazen

Lebanon

Khoury (Beit Sahour)

Turkey

Kukali

Syria

Kurdi 

Kurdistan

Lubnani 

Lebanon

Mahdi

Morocco

Makhamra

Jewish

Marashda

Egypt

Masa'ad

Egypt

Masarwa

Egypt

Maslouhi

Morocco

Masri 

Egypt

Matar

Kuwait

Mattar

 Yemen

Metzarwah

Egypt

Mughrabi, Moghrabi 

Morocco

Murad

Albania/Yemen

Muwaqat

Morocco

Muzaffar

Morocco

Nablusi

Named after Nablus - but that was named in the 7th century

Nammari

Spain

Nashashibi

Kurdish/Turkoman/Syria

Nusseibeh

Arrived 7th Century

Omaya

Arabia

Othman 

 Turkey

Qudwa

Syria

Qurashi

Arabia

Qutob

Morocco

Ridwan

Ottoman

Rishmawi (Beit Sahour)

Turkey

Sa'ad

Egypt

Salibas

Greece

Samahadna

Sudan (maybe)

Saud / Saudi 

Arabia

Shaalan

Egypt

Shakirat

Egypt

Shami 

 Syria

Shamis

Syria

Shashani

Chechnya

Shawish

Arabia

Sidawi

Lebanon

Sous (Beit Sahour)

Turkey

Sultan

Turkey

Surani

Lebanon

Taamari

Arabia

Tachriti

Iraq

Tamimi

Yemen/Egypt/Arabia

Tarabin

Mecca oe Egypt

Tarabulsi 

Lebanon

Tartir

Egypt

Tawil

Egypt

Tayib

Morocco

Tijani

Morocco

Tikriti 

Iraq

Touqan

Northern Arabia or Syria

Turki 

Turkey

Ubayyidi 

 Sudan

Uthman

Turkey

Yacoub (Beit Sahour)

Turkey

Yamani 

Yemen

Zabidat

Egypt

Zaghab

Morocco

Zarqawi

Jordan

Zeitawi

Morocco

Zoabi

Iraq

Zubeidi

Iraq



The only real indigenous Palestinians who can claim to have lived in Palestine since before the Roman conquest are those who are descended from Jews.

Which means that today's Jews are really the only indigenous people left from the area that was later known as Palestine.

 Update: Qasem - Arabia.



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