Wednesday, February 04, 2009

WHEN ISRAEL AND THE ARABS WERE ALLIES. It has happened! Excerpt from the paper abstract by Peter Feinman, posted at HNN:
Thus there once was a time when Arabs and Israel were allies and Israel was part of the Semitic world around it as brother, cousin, and husband to its many peoples, when the image of Isaac and Ishmael standing together as one matched the historical record of 853 BCE. One prays that we won't have to wait another 2861 years for these peoples to be allies and part of the same family once again.
The event in question was the Battle of Qarqar, between the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III and a coalition of West Semitic groups (including King Ahab of Israel), Arabs, and others.