Illustrative. Rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel, in Gaza May 11, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammd Salem

In its brief report on a recent archaeological discovery in Gaza, Reuters not only reported the facts but also uncritically provided a platform for inane Palestinian historical revisionism.

Detailing the unearthing of 125 Roman-era tombs near a building site, including a rare find of two sarcophagi made from lead, both the Reuters’ report and accompanying video aired the statements of two Gaza-based authorities who hijacked the exciting archaeology news by unabashedly trying to connect the ancient discovery to the modern-day Palestinians.

Fadel Al-A’utul, of the prestigious French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research, claimed that this find “proves to the world about the existence of Palestinian culture and heritage.”

Likewise, Jamal Abu Reida, the General-Director of the Hamas-run Antiquities Ministry, asserted that:

The cemetery is important because it deepens Palestinian roots on this land and that it dates back to thousands of years and it refutes the Zionist allegations. It refutes Israeli claims that Palestine is a land without people and that its people are without land. The existence of this cemetery…signifies stability and ongoing habitation.

The fly in the ointment for both Al-A’utul and Abu Reida’s claims, is that these tombs predate the Palestinians and are entirely unrelated to Gaza’s current inhabitants.

According to a 2014 historical survey in Haaretz, the Gaza of Roman times was inhabited by a diverse population of Jews, Greeks, Romans, Philistines, Egyptians, Persians, and Bedouin.

Notice who’s missing?

The Palestinians didn’t reside in Roman Gaza because there weren’t any Palestinians yet.

The Palestinians claim to trace their heritage back to the Muslim Arab conquest of the region in 637 C.E., hundreds of years after these ancient tombs would have been sealed.

By ludicrously alleging that these tombs are evidence for 2,000 years of Palestinian history and that they also serve as a refutation of long-standing Jewish ties to the region, Al-A’utul and Abu Reida are not only distorting history in the service of modern-day politics, but are also calling into question the integrity of any academic archaeological work that is conducted in the Hamas-administered coastal enclave.

Ancient Lies, Modern Politics: Palestinian Historical Revisionism

The claim that these Roman-era tombs are somehow proof of a continuous Palestinian existence in the region for thousands of years is the latest in a long line of Palestinian attempts at historical revisionism.

Since the early 1920s, it has become common for Palestinian nationalists to claim that, despite the enormous amount of archaeological evidence proving otherwise, the Jewish people have no ties to this region. Along similar lines, they also claim that the Palestinians are the true descendants of the ancient peoples who once inhabited this land.

Even though this claim has been widely debunked (including by, of all people, a Hamas official), it hasn’t stopped past and present Palestinian leaders like Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and Saeb Erekat from spreading it at home and around the world.

Ultimately, the purpose of this disinformation is to delegitimize Israel and to justify the Palestinians’ claim to sole ownership of the land.

When Reuters publishes such claims without a rejoinder, they aren’t just aiding in the spread of falsehoods; they are also serving as a valuable tool in the ongoing Palestinian propaganda war against Zionism and the Jewish state.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.