A person who I like to consider a friend sent me a link the other day that is worth sharing with "The World," both Jewish and non-Jewish.
The link, http://www.think-israel.org/goldreich.palestina.html, is to an article titled A Tour Of Palestine; The Year Is 1695.
The article is presented both in English and Hebrew.
The article, originally in Hebrew, was written by Avi Goldreich and translated into English by Nurit Greenger. Both Hebrew and English text is online.
The bottom line is that when a man by the name of Hadriani Relandi toured what was temporarily known as "Palestine" he discovered, and recorded the fact, that the land was almost totally Moslem-free.
There were, Relandi reports, Bedu but most other Arabs were Christians. Relandi's work even includes an unofficial census of several major communities of the time. In every case, Jews were the majority.
Relandi's work also throws into disrepute the Muslim's claim to settling cities of antiquity (that is, before 1695).
The Goldreich/Greenger copy is not included on this blog since I was unable to ascertain if the work is copyrighted.
Suffice it to write that it IS worth clicking on the link (above).
