The origins of the Arabs of the Land of Israel, as reflected in their family names
 

The origins of the Arabs of the Land of Israel, as reflected in their family names, reveal much about their historical migrations and ethnic backgrounds. Not only names, but also genetic studies confirm this connection. The name of the Jews derives from the region of Judah, which refers to the territory of the Tribe of Judah, while the Arabs trace their origin to Arabia. This raises the question: who are the Palestinians? Family names shed light not only on Jews who immigrated to the Land of Israel from the lands of their dispersion and on the professions they pursued, but also on Arabs, whose surnames indicate ethnic groups and regions from which they migrated to the Holy Land following their Jewish neighbors and the spreading rumor that Jews were returning to their homeland. Consequently, identical family names can sometimes be found among both Jews and Arabs. For instance, Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti was born in Tikrit, Iraq. In general, Palestinian surnames—known as nisbah (نسبة)—denote tribal affiliation or place of origin. Many bear names of respected tribes with verifiable historical records rooted in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, and beyond. Examples include:
al-Masri (Egypt), such as Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri;
al-Akkari (Akkar, Lebanon), represented by militant Ibrahim al-Akkari;
Khamis (Bahrain);
al-Faruqi (Iraq);
al-Arj (Morocco);
al-Lubnani (Lebanon);
al-Maghribi (the Maghreb, meaning Morocco);
al-Jaza’iri (Algeria);
al-Zarqawi (Zarqa, Jordan);
al-Yamani (Yemen);
al-Afghani (Afghanistan);
al-Faranji (“the foreigner,” a term used for Europeans, especially the French, as in the family Frangipani);
al-Hindi (India)—absent from the 1931 British census, likely originating from Indian soldiers who served in the British army, such as Amin al-Hindi;
Hamati (Hama, Syria);
Othman (Turkey);
Alawi (present in Syria but originally from Saudi Arabia, sometimes claimed to descend from the Tribe of Levi);
Halabi (Aleppo, Syria);
Dajani (Saudi Arabia);
Matar (Bani Matar village, Yemen);
al-Kurdi (Kurdistan, recently evacuated from East Jerusalem);
al-Baghdadi (Iraq);
Tarabulsi (Tripoli, Lebanon);
Hourani (Hauran, Syria);
al-Husayni (Saudi Arabia, claiming descent from Muhammad, though the al-Husayni family migrated from Algeria);
Masarwa (Egypt);
Bardawil (Egypt, Lake Bardawil);
Nashashibi (Syria);
Boshnaq (Bosnia);
Zu’bi (Iraq);
Turki (Turkey);
Haddadin (Yemen);
Abu Sitta (Tarabin tribe, Egypt);
al-Azd (Yemen);
al-Hijazi (Saudi Arabia);
al-Tamimi (Saudi Arabia);
al-Qurashi (Saudi Arabia, possibly descendants of the Quraysh tribe);
Murad (Yemen);
al-‘Ubayd (a city in Sudan);
al-Tartir (Tartir village, Egypt);
Ta‘mari (Saudi Arabia);
al-Zubaidi (Zubaid tribe, Iraq);
al-Sourani (Tyre, Lebanon);
al-Sidawi (Sidon, Lebanon);
al-Fayoumi (Faiyum, Egypt);
Sha‘lan (Egyptian Bedouins);
Hamdan (Yemen); al-Banna (Egypt).
The Maronites of Gush Halav trace their ancestry to Christians who arrived from Greece and Malta.
The Bedouins originated in the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt;
the Circassians came from the Caucasus;
the Armenians from Armenia—most descended from refugees who fled to Jerusalem during the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottomans in World War I.
The most famous “Palestinian” of all, Yasser Arafat al-Qudwa, was born in Cairo, not Jerusalem as he claimed, and the al-Qudwa clan originates from Aleppo, Syria.
Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Qur’an, whereas it appears 656 times in the Hebrew Bible. Neither “Palestinians” nor “Philistines” appear in the Qur’an—the latter, mentioned in the Bible, came to the southern coast of the Land of Israel from Aegean islands, not from Arabia. By contrast, the “Children of Israel” are mentioned 43 times in the Qur’an and 64 times in the Hadith. Roman records of Provincia Iudaea mention only Jews and no other nation. Early Arab historians such as Ibn Khaldun, in his Muqaddimah (p. 55), described the Land of Israel as “the exclusive homeland of the Jewish people.” Yaqut al-Hamawi wrote in his Mu‘jam al-Buldan: “Mecca is sacred to Muslims; Jerusalem is sacred only to the Jews.” Ibn Taymiyyah likewise stated: “There is no place in Jerusalem that can be called holy, and the same applies to the tombs in Hebron.” Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah asserted that “the Prophet Muhammad never set foot in or visited Jerusalem.” Muslims later sought to rally their faithful against the Jewish state by claiming that Muhammad miraculously traveled by night on a winged horse (Buraq) from Mecca to a “distant mosque” (al-masjid al-aqsa), which they now identify with the Temple Mount. Yet the historian al-Waqidi, in his Kitab al-Maghazi, located that “distant mosque” near Mecca, in a town called al-Ju‘ranah. At Muhammad’s death in 632, no mosque stood on the Temple Mount—only a Byzantine church known as Saint Mary of Justinian. As for the Arabs now living in Gaza, they have no historical, archaeological, or philological connection to the ancient Philistines, who were of Mycenaean origin and described in sources as “fair-haired.” This was acknowledged by the Hamas Interior Minister during Operation Protective Edge. After the “Philistine” theory collapsed, some Arabs began to claim descent from the Jebusites to assert an older claim to Jerusalem than that of the Jews, yet this claim lacks any historical, linguistic, archaeological, or theological basis. It is no coincidence that Caliph Umar, who conquered the Land of Israel, established his capital in Ramla rather than in Jerusalem. Even today, some Muslim scholars and imams teach about the Jewish right to the Land of Israel—unfortunately, they remain a persecuted minority, hounded by the Muslim Brotherhood and its followers.

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