"In the 19th century, Mark Twain visited the Holy Land and found it
virtually deserted - possibly a total population of up to a quarter of a
million tops. Jews were present in to the holy cities and the Arab
population albeit numerically larger but thinly scattered and often
transient. The Zionist settlers took over the malarial areas, planted
eucalyptus trees, built and developed farms and industry. Arabs flocked
into the area of the Yishuv. But there was no concept of an 'Arab
Palestine': most Arabs would have vaguely regarded themselves as 'south
Syrians' but the real allegiance was to family and tribe, not to a
non-existent Palestine.

As Abba Eban said of Yasser Arafat, the Arabs never missed an opportunity
to miss an opportunity. Now, however, they are winning the propaganda war
- many Christians believe that there was once a Palestine which was taken
over by the Jews. Similarly, the great myth of Islamic tolerance has been
promulgated - as if the Christian communties in Asia Minor, Egypt and
north Africa spontaneously decided to reject their faith in favour of that
of their conquerors. Certainly, there was a limited co-existence in Spain
but largely because the Moors were a minority. Islamic culture rested
largely on that of the old Graeco-Roman world which they absorbed and
adapted. It was essentially derivative rather than original."
-- Canon Michael Lewis