[encephalos]

I’ve read / heard various interpretations on the relationship/lack of of The Philistines and The Palestinians.

The main one being, that original Philistines are not modern-day Palestinians, yet the etymology of the name seems to have its roots.

The alternative etymology is that Palestinian literally translates to παλαιστής in Greek which means "fighter" and in Turkish (the π/μπ sound is written and pronounced as b, so Balestinian where a Balesti is also a fighter in Turkish).

I’ve also heard/read that The Philistines were individuals (possibly some type of proto-Greeks) that were essentially outcasted and banished from Crete and other Aegean States as they were problem individuals, à la Australia? So thieves, liars, shillers, connivers, etc. Which ultimately settled in modern-day Gaza/Israel.

Last year, there were new scrolls discovered that were dated as BC and contained the contents of some of the most important books in The Torah and written in Ancient Greek - where the Hebrew texts of these books were discovered much much later as in centuries later.

There’s also the mystery of that whole area where the scrolls were discovered that were for the last part of the century closed off from further archeological studies and excavation (orders from the State of Israel) which has always puzzled historians and archeologists. As if, to avoid rewriting any history as has been written or further disprove / prove any claims individuals have long argued for.

Now that the site is back to being open (I think) for such further explorations, maybe we’ll get more truths / alternative histories. I once heard from local Cretans that back in the post WWII era, there had been Israeli divers that found Hebraic potteries/treasures off the Cretan coast that had looked aged, but ultimately were found to have been planted and staged a few decades earlier.

Again, never confirmed any of this, so it’s all here-say, but there’s definitely some forces that are or have been trying to keep certain truths and facts well-hidden out there.

[zozbot234]

> There’s also the mystery of that whole area where the scrolls were discovered that were for the last part of the century closed off from further archeological studies and excavation

Why is that surprising? Given the topic, some enduring Philistinism is only to be expected.

[encephalos]

Definitely not surprising, just an attempt at being PC.

[matrix12]

They brought pigs with them to eat. It pretty much rules out a lot of peoples of the Levant.