As I grew under the Israeli Government, the country of Jordan set the school curriculum. History, Political Science, and Social Studies did not include the Jews. A major mistake by the Israeli Government in the education system.

Regardless of the claims made by Palestinians accusing Israel of being unfair to the local Arabs, the freedom to study our religion and history was protected by law. The only history we learned was concerning Islamic, Arabic, and European nations. Equally, the atrocities of the Moguls and the Crusaders in Jerusalem never included the Jews, only Muslims. The study of ancient history in Arabic schools has no mention of Jews living in the land. The main focus was on the Canaanites, whom Palestinians today claim to descend from.

As I lived in Palestine, everyone I knew could trace their heritage back to the original country their great grandparents came from. Everyone knew their origin was not from the Canaanites, but ironically, this is the kind of stuff our education in the Middle East included.

The writers of our history in the Middle East intentionally blotted out the Jews; I never knew the history of the Jews until I started looking into the Bible. One look at the curriculum taught in Arabic countries would prove that honesty and integrity is severely lacking in the Arabic writers of the history education manuals. It is amazing to watch the distortion and twisting of history to serve the growing hatred of the Jews; a common trend today in many eastern and European countries.

The Holocaust for example is being denied, despite tons of evidence in The Yad Vasheem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. Similar attempts are made by certain politicians to blot out any Jewish claim to the land of Israel. In an interview between Zola Levit and Mr. Husseni (a right hand man to Yasser Arafat) on a Zola Levit Television program, Mr. Husseni bluntly claimed that the Palestinians originated from the Jebusites before Abraham moved to Israel. He clearly changed the historic fact for an American audience lacking in Eastern History. The fact is that today's Palestinians are immigrants from the surrounding nations! I grew up well knowing the history and origins of today's Palestinians as being from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Christians from Greece, Muslim Sherkas from Russia, Muslims from Bosnia, and the Jordanians next door. The civil and tribal wars between Yemmenites (from Yemen) and Kessites (from Banu Kais of Saudi Arabia) were also ignored by Mr. Husseni even though they are well known among Palestinians.

My grandfather, who was a dignitary in Bethlehem, almost lost his life by Abdul Qader Al-Husseni (the leader of the Palestinian revolution) after being accused of selling land to Jews. He used to tell us that his village Beit Sahur (The Shepherds Fields) in Bethlehem County was empty before his father settled in the area with six other families. The town has now grown to 30,000 inhabitants.

Muslims and Arabs alike lack the understanding of the Jewish history. An unbiased brief study on Jewish History should ease the tension Muslims and Arabs have against the Jewish people. The Jewish nation, as a political entity, started at the great exodus of Israel from Egypt about 1,500 B.C; Israel was a land promised by God. Even the Quran admits to this incident; "And after him (Moses), we said to the children of Israel, dwell Ye in the promised land, and when the time of the promise of the latter days comes, we shall bring you out of various peoples." (Al-Isra[17]:104).

Under the leadership of David (Daud) and his son Solomon (Sulaiman), the Jewish nation progressed to world importance. King Solomon constructed the magnificent Temple of Jerusalem. The Jews, being the first people to worship the one and true God, followed after their father Abraham (Ibrahim). As Israel grew, pagans to the north were gaining strength and military skills, and the Jews relaxed in their success.

The prophet Jeremiah warned of the coming invasion of the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar (Nabukhath Nassar) and the Chaldeans (Al-Caldanieen). Instead of heeding God’s warning the Jews jailed the prophet to shut him up.

Daniel, another prophet of Israel studying Jeremiah's prophecies of the upcoming invasion and exile to Babylon (Babel), prophesied the return of Israel, and the first coming of the Messiah (Al-Maseeh), including the exact date of his arrival. Daniel also prophesied the great nations of the world and their destruction, and the establishment of God's Kingdom under the rulership of the Messiah (Al-Maseeh).

After their captivity in Babylon (Babel), the Jews were released by Cyrus (Darius), as prophesied by Isaiah and Jeremiah, and once again rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple in 516 B.C. Coexisting with Persia, Greece, and Rome, the Jews held on while being invaded. Rome in the time of Christ had heavy taxes on the Jews in Israel, who always plotted a rebellion, but had no chance against Rome. Rejecting their Messiah and depending on their own power, the Jews plotted a rebellion in 66 A.D.

This was a devastating war for the Jews; they suffered more than a million casualties in five months alone. The Messiah (Al-Maseeh) predicted the destruction of the temple, which was fulfilled to the letter; "Not one stone shall be left upon another." In 130 A.D, by building a pagan temple on the Temple Mount, Emperor Hadrian provoked the Jews into another rebellion, which ended Israel and caused the Jews to be dispersed throughout the whole world (The Diaspora). This remained until 1948, and since then the Jews have become an enemy of almost every country in the world. This will remain until they are attacked by armies from every nation in what the Bible calls "The Battles of Armageddon."

As promised in the Bible, no one could totally vanquish the Jews, yet they were slaughtered like animals during the Spanish Inquisition, they were starved and murdered endlessly in forced conversions throughout Europe. Persecution followed them to the ends of the earth. A large part of the success of Islam and its prosperity must be credited to the Eastern Jews. It was the oppressed Persian Jews who helped the Muslims to subdue and conquer the Persians. The relationship between the Jews and the Muslims was constantly changing. The time of Al-Mutawakil (a persecutor of the Jews and Christians), at the beginning of the eighth century, was very hard upon Jews and Christians alike. The Muslim Kaliph Al-Mamun (813-832), and the rest of the Muslim rulers knew how much, from all that they desired, could be learned from the Jews in their midst. Jewish physicians, teachers, and merchants became quite the fashion. Fleets of trading vessels commanded by Jewish captains were sailing in the Mediterranean. In the beginning of the Ninth century the Jews called the Gaonim contributed many scholars and schools. The Bible was translated for the first time into Arabic by a Jew, Saadia ben Joseph (892-942).

Rabbi Menachim ben Saruk compiled and completed the first Bible dictionary. The Gaonim schools flourished until 997 A.D. Hai was the last of the Gaonim. When the Kaliph got jealous of the wealth of the Gaonim, he made up some false charges and imprisoned Hai and his father, and confiscated their wealth. Hai escaped, and a little later, a last attempt was made to reconstruct the Gaonim schools by a Hezekiah, but it failed. The last Gaonim was executed (1036) by the order of the Kaliph. All Jewish schools were closed, and the scholars were scattered. Palestine and the whole of the Byzantine Empire were almost completely deserted by Jews. In Spain, the Kaliphs had great interest in their scholarly Jews. In his reign, Kaliph Abderahman III had a Jewish minister, Hasdai ben Issac, who he greatly valued; the whole Jewish nation was historically judged by single specimens, which in this case influenced the Kaliph in his general policy towards the Jews.

Hanoch ben Moses, another Jew who had great powers and privileges had the title of Nagid, or Prince, of the Jewish community in Spain. Just like Daniel in Babylon and Joseph in Egypt, God appoints a Jew for the purpose of preserving His chosen people.

Another Jew, Samuel ha-Levi ibin-Nagrela, or Samuel Ha-Nagid (as he was called) was a first-rate theologian, a poet and the minister for the Kaliph. Later the Jews were accused on false charges of converting their neighbors, and 1,500 families were persecuted and had to leave Granada (1066) to other cities.

In their dynasty, the Almohade (Al-Mahdeyeen) who were fanatic warriors, under Abdel-Mumen, gave two choices to both Jews and Christians; Islam or Exile. Many Jews and Christian secretly preferred to exile than convert.

Many other notable Jewish men contributed to the Islamic world. Solomon Ibn Gabirol (1021-1070), in poetry and philosophy, Maimonaides (1135-1204), and many others.

Many of my Christian friends advised not to mention Israel in this writing, but I must warn my beloved people, whom I always pray for. It is beyond me to sit down and watch my people perish for the lack of knowledge. The Biblical knowledge is God's, and I must share it as He commanded, trusting God to soften the hearts and minds of men.

The Bible has been the most accurate source of Middle Eastern History, Archaeology, and the study of the future developments of the world. It is the compass to know the future, and has been 100% accurate. It is not included in the educational curriculum in the east, and is taken out of schools in the west. I challenge my reader to test it, and I plead to you for your eternal destiny.

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