Were Palestinians once Jewish?

Someone sent me this video. I think it's kind of wild, especially since there were times when I've met certain Arabs I thought - "Oh my God, he looks so Jewish holding that prayer book" or "She looks just like my aunt" - and even at times felt as if we were closer than sisters or brothers. There was no explanation for this.

And then this video (mostly in Hebrew but with some English subtitles).



So at a retreat last week at the Austrian Hospice, I ask one of my Palestinian friends who lives in the Hebron area if he believes this theory that they come from Jewish stock. He tells me 'Oh yes, my grandfather told me we are descended from Bar Kochba .'

People were like - ok, now they have Right of Return, since they're all Jewish, together with, it's harder getting along with your own, never mind getting along with the Arab world. Maybe it's better that they stay where they are?

Then I think one could understand more - with this theory in mind - why their explusion/fleeing from their villages in 1948 was so painful that they commemorate it each year, as we have done for 2,000 years our exile. If they were originally Jews, then they've been exiled for the third time, and don't like it much one bit.