The British? Museum. Still rewriting History.

WorldNetDaily correspondent Pamela Geller has just caught up with Daphne Anson and Ian G of  TheAlmondRod.

Prior to my blog appearing, Daphne kindly posted an account of my email correspondence with The British? Museum.
http://daphneanson.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/timeline-palestine-is-british-museum.html

In an article which references Bat Ye'or, Ms. Geller  has documented further examples of the Museum's departure from scholarship and rationality.  http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/dangerously-rewriting-history/

In Daphne's blog you can read the Museum's justification of  the use of the term 'Palestine' to describe the Land at a time when  the PA did not exist.

"I am sorry to hear that you did not find the exhibition engaging. In archaeological and Egyptological discourse, ‘Palestine’ (and ‘Syro-Palestine’) refers to an area (broadly from the north of Sinai to Kadesh, and from the Mediterranean to the current Jordan border), not a present or past state. Similarly ‘Nubia’ is an area that overlaps the boundaries of several historic polities, including today. “Israel” is generally used to refer to the modern state, and “Israelites” as the group of people first mentioned in ancient texts on the stela of Merenptah in the 13th century BC. There is no reference to Arab peoples, or the Palestinian Authority in the exhibition, which would of course be inappropriate given the timeframe covered. Please accept our apologies if the wording has caused any offence. Neal Spencer, British Museum"

And from my reply,

 I don’t accept that Palestine is a scholarly term, in common scholastic use and (especially since 1947), referring to a particular or general area. You draw its border at the Jordan, but the British Mandate included Trans-Jordan (now the Kingdom of Jordan) and I have maps that include what is now part of Syria. In other words, the term you are using as a general scholarly term is, in fact, politically defined.

On the time-line Palestine is used to refer to Canaan in 2055 BC. The area you define as Palestine would not include parts of Canaan!

It’s just too confusing.

Which is my point. It would have been simple to include a foot-note explaining where Nubia and Canaan were. In the case of Canaan; Israel, the disputed territories and part of Jordan. In the case of Nubia; parts of Southern Egypt and Northern Sudan.

In the meantime, your exhibition states that Palestine existed in 2055 BC. At best, this is poor scholarship, bad teaching and dangerously ignorant of politics. At worst, it is collusion with those who seek to eradicate Israel ‘from the River to the Sea’. ” (broadly from the north of Sinai to Kadesh, and from the Mediterranean to the current Jordan border) “.

It is not a matter of offence to me. I am not a Jew or an Israeli. It is a matter of scholarly accuracy and, also, sensitivity to the current and volatile situation in the Land." 

There is much more to read at Daphne's blog  and at Ms. Geller's article. 

You can find an account of 1001 Muslim inventions - sort of -  here .