Last updated on: 5/2/2008 | Author: ProCon.org

Merneptah Stele

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This site was archived on Aug. 3, 2021. The two-state solution is no longer the most popular solution among the jurisdictions involved. A reconsideration of the topic is possible in the future.

(a.k.a. Israel Stele)

Abraham Rabinovich, a Jerusalem Post staff writer, in a May 25, 2000 article titled “Chipping Away at the Past,” wrote:

“The Merneptah Stele… raises more questions than answers. Describing the victories of the [Egyptian] Pharaoh Merneptah, it includes the following lines:

‘The [sic] Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe: Ashkelon has been captured; Gezer has been captured; Yano’am is made nonexistent. Israel is laid waste and his seed is not.’

Scholars say the hieroglyphic signs for Ashkelon, Gezer, and Yano’am indicate city-states, while for Canaan the indication is of a foreign land. For Israel, the indication is not of a land but of a foreign people. Scholars have engaged in long debates about the historical implications of that mention, but it remains a mystery.”

May 25, 2000 – Abraham Rabinovich