Israel is NOT giving the Palestinians a place to vote - it's simply letting the PA set up election centers. The US just allowed the Iraqi government to set up election centers in the US for Iraqi exiles to vote. Similarly, there've been Central American countries who've done the same here, to say nothing of all the foreigners who go to their countries' consulates/embassies to vote (want to let the Palestinians vote, say, at Orient House?). Aliens here do NOT go back home to vote in most cases. So, it really should not be a big deal to have the Palestinians vote in Jerusalem - they're not Israelis (although plenty of Israelis also vote in other countries' elections through dual citizenship) and, in any case, it's doubtful that Israel really wants to keep, say, Beit Hanina or Shu'afat...

Shai: Arabs did not descend from Cannanites. Cannanites desended from the Arabian peninsula. This is a well proven fact that the scientifc community agrees on. .................................................................. III History Printer-friendly version of section Until comparatively recent times knowledge of the Arabian Peninsula was limited to that provided by ancient Greek and Roman writers and by early Arab geographers; much of this material was unreliable. In the 20th century, however, archaeological exploration has added considerably to the knowledge of the area. The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighbouring areas. About 3500 bc, Semitic-speaking peoples of Arabian origin migrated into the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia, supplanted the Sumerians, and became the Assyro-Babylonians (see Sumer). Another group of Semites left Arabia about 2500 bc and settled along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea; some of these migrants became the Amorites and Canaanites of later times http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761556449/Arabian_Peninsula.html

Arabs were christians before Islam arrived to the east mediteranean region and in the Arabian penensuila, the arabs there were pagans. Nowadays, not all Isrealites are Jews...!!! So why do you assume all arabs are muslims. And why do you associate muslim arabs with Mecca and Medina. Arabs in Iraq have been there since before Islam...! So please read some history before talking about it.

Unfortunately it's impossible to relate to the veracity of what the encarta encyclopeia writes because it's a subscription service, and they don't reveal their sources on the web page you provided. All the other sources I've been able to find of the view you espouse, that Caananites are Semitic, also were very sparse about their reasoning. They just say it, the way you do, without proof. It may be possible that they were a tribe with Hamitic origins like Egypt, that were inbred with Semitic tribes over time, thus explaining their use of Semitic language. The archeological record is rife with evidence of Egypt's control over Canaan and Canaan's cultural affinity to Egypt's, as well as Canaan's use of Semitic languages, so this is an explanation. I've provided you two sources, the Torah, which was written at a time when people really knew who was derived from whom, not 5500 years later by scholars who might have questionable motives. There, in the Torah, it says the Caananites are Hamitic and not Semitic. Canaan was a grandson of Ham. Perhaps the problem is we don't share the same definition for "Semitic". You seem to think if they are Semitic, they are Arab. Not the case. In the Torah, Arabs are referred to as "Ishmaelites". There were several tribes of Semites and the Torah lists them. That all Arabs are Semites does not mean all Semites are Arabs, and that even if we are to accept your view of the origin of Canaanites as being Semitic, we haven't agreed, because I see no proof, that they also came from the Arabian Peninsula. The area between the Tigris and Euphrates, which you mentioned, you will see on a map is not part of that peninsula, but part of the fertile crescent of Iraq. That Arabs live in Iraq today proves nothing, as Arabs living in EGypt proves nothing. Thus if you could prove they were Semitic, you couldn't prove they were Arabs with any of the sources I've seen. The only current People with any tie to the land of Israel are thus Jews. The second source I provided was the Wikipedia article that allows anybody to examine the sources of their information. While the first source, the Torah is enough for me, the second I provided for you since the Torah probably isn't something you're going to accept as proof for various reasons. So, please provide the evidence that supports your view that it is Arabs who are the proto-Canaanites. By evidence, I mean the proof by which people derive the conclusion that Arabs, not Semites, were Canaanites.

UNILATERISM NOW - ANNEX & ENGAGE JERUSALEM - proclaim "SHEMA YISHMAEL"

It's very interesting that Mr. "Palestine" and Encarta claim that Arabs date from BCE 3500. However, there's a slight chronological problem involved since Ishameil wasn't born until BCE 2,101. Therefore, one must conclude that Mr. "Palestine" and Encarta agree that Arabs as they define them, predating Avraham by a millennium, CANNOT be descendents of Avraham. Consider the repurcussions of that. Paqid Yirmeyahu Israeli Orthodox Jew Paqid 16, The Netzarim www.netzarim.co.il

Although Hellenist rulers noted a small concentration of Hellenist colonialists (from Pilos, see below) in Syria as early as BCE 5th century (Herodotus, later Philo), Israel was never called Palestine until 135 CE, when Hadrian "transferred" all of the Yehudim (Jews) out of Yehudah (Judah = Judea) in the wake of quashing the Bar Kokhva Rebellion. In fact, Hadrian renamed Yerushalayim "Aelia Capitolina" after their Hellenist idol -- the idolatrous name which Arabs continued to call it until the 10th century. Only Jews have maintained the name of Yerushalayim (Hellenized, then anglicized, to Jerusalem) throughout. Nor is there any validity to the Muslim claim that Yerushalayim is the third most holy site in Islam. The Quran states (for those who believe it) that Muhammed ascended from a "distant place." Until the 20th century when it became politically expedient to switch, that "distant place" was Medina and the third most holy site to Islam was the "Hala Sultan Tekke" -- in Cyprus! Before 135 CE, Palestine was present-day Gaza, occupied by Greek (Mycenaean) colonists who had originated in Pilos, "Sea People" from Mycenae (in Greece), hence "Pilos-tines." (Their fellow Mycenaeans, BTW, in addition to Pilos in Syria, settled the village of Pilos on the northwestern Sinai coast adjacent to the Delta.) Mr, "Palestine" deftly confuses the term Arab with Palestinian, Phoenician and Canaanite to encourage readers to make the leap to assume that today's Arabs have ancient connections to the Holy Land. In addition to the chronological problem I've already pointed out, unless today's "Palestinians" are willing to renounce their claim to be Arabs, they cannot be Greek Philistines. Until the 20th century, "Palestinians" were what gentile called Jews, not Arabs, living in the Holy Land. Further, Arabs INSISTED they were NOT Palestinians because there was "only one Arab nation." That's still true. The "Palestinian" issue is a false political tool arrogated by Arab occupiers of Israel. If Torah isn't true then Islam's antiquity is based on false premises. If Torah is true then Torah precludes Islam being true. Like Christianity, that's the problem with displacement theology. It's also why displacement theologies have to do away with the real thing. Paqid Yirmeyahu Israeli Orthodox Jew Paqid 16, The Netzarim www.netzarim.co.il

ITS TIME TO REMOVE ALL NATIONS FROM ISRAEL EXCEPT THE ONES THAT ONLY ACCEPT THE NOACHIDE LAWS REMOVE THE XTIANS AT ONCE AT ONCE.... OR THEY WILL REMOVE YOU THROUGH CONVERSIONS AGAIN. REMOVE THE BUDDISTS THE ARABS AND ALL THE PERVERSION OF THE LAND. REMOVE THE JEWS THAT DO NOT STAND WITH TORAH. ITS TIME FOR ISRAEL TO BE FOR THE JEWS ITS TIME TODAY ARENT YOUR JEWS TIRED OF APPEASEMENTS AND PEACE TALKS THEN GETTING KILLED BY TERRORISTS OR ASSIMILATIONS. ARENT YOU TIRED OF VATICAN TELLING YOU THIS AND THAT THE ARABS LYING AND TWISTING AND KILLING EVERYTHING? ARENT YOU ISRAELS REAdy to face your failures and step UP ? MOST OF YOU ISRAEL STILL THINK IT WAS YOU THAT WON YOUR WARS..IT WAS GD WITH YOU DO YOU THINK YOU DESERVE GD TO DEFEND YOU AGAIN ? GET READY BECAUSE THIS WAR YOU HAVE BROUGHT UPON YOURSELFS. THIS WAR IS YOUR OWN POLITICIANS AND THEN THE WAR WITH THE XTIANS AND THE ARABS ,,, IF THERE IS ANYTHING LEFT OF YOURSELFS AFTER YOU DESTROY YOURSELFS FROM WITHIN. YOU ISRAELS ARE FOOLS. YOU HAVE MOB SOCIALIST MENTALITY YOU CANT FIGHT ANY MORE. YOU BOW TO SHARON S PAST FROM HIS GLORY DAYS 20 YEARS AGO. THAT CANT SAVE YOU TODAY YOU WILL TALK TOUGH ANSWERING ME IN THIS COMMENT SECTION BUT YOU ARE PUNKS IN YOUR HOME LAND. YOU WILL CHALLENGE ME TO A DUEL BUT YOU CANT FACE YOUR OWN LAND AND FUTURE YOU WILL TELL ME THAT I SHOULD MOVE TO ISRAEL IF I AM SUCH A BIG TALKER,, TELL ME WHY? I WOULD HAVE TWO BATTLES. I WILL HAVE TO BATTLE YOU PATHETIC JEWS BEFORE I BATTLE THE ENEMIES OUTSIDE. LET THE WORLD ONCE AGAIN SEE THE MACCABBES THE KING DAVID WARRIORS . JEWS ARE DIFFERENT BY GDS WORDS. DAMN IT..STAND UP ALREADY , SEPERATE FROM THE USA AND ALL OUTSIDE PRESSURES AND BE JEWS STANDING ALONE AGAINST THE WORLD YOU AND ONLY YOU CAN HAVE GD DEFEND YOU IF YOU WANT..

During the days of Jordanian occupation of Jerusalem, we could not visit our holy sites. Furthermore, you demolished as many of our synagogues and cemetaries as possible, even using grave stones to build toilets. You should hold your tongue on this subject.

who is the father of Isaac and Ishmail as you well know and his forefathers, his fore-fore fathers etc lived quite a time before. Com on we don`t live in the dark ages, we can live together.

To pro-Israeli Encarta is an encyclopedia that's not open for editing like wikipedia, every edit u submit (in the US version only) is reviewed by Encarta's staff.

Why waste time and effort in trying to make the impossible two-state solution happen? Perhaps we should cut the bullshale and ALL become "palestinians".

I apologize for my sarcastic outburst. Seriously.... We the nation of Israel belong here in ISRAEL. Jerusalem is our capital. Non-Jews should be allowed to live fruitful lives in this Land if they genuinely wish to do so. They need not and should not be allowed full citinzenship. This is ISRAEL, the land of the Children of ISRAEL. We are not and will never be a Democracy. Besides, even if you polled the Jewish population you would find that the majority does not want non-Jews to be full citizens. (human rights they deserve, citizenship in the Jewish State they don't.) They are not Jews. Racist? Perhaps.... In my house this is the way I live. I have many Gentile friends, though they don't live in my house as family members. As we come to truly know this fundamental truth. we will know how to treat those who happen to be living here. Shana Tova