What do Tom Friedman and Hamas have in common?

Both of them believe in a mythical nation!

 From Thomas Friedman in the New York Times:

Israel should have either put out its own peace plan or tried to shape the U.N. diplomacy with its own resolution that reaffirmed the right of both the Palestinian and the Jewish people to a state in historic Palestine and reignited negotiations.

From Al Arabiya, quoting Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh:

“We repeat today that we are with the establishment of a Palestinian state on any liberated part of Palestinian land that is agreed upon by the Palestinian people, without recognizing Israel or conceding any inch of historical Palestine."

Like the PLO and others, these people use the phrase "historic[al] Palestine" as if it is identical to the boundaries of British Mandate Palestine after August 1922 when Transjordan was split off from the Mandate.

As I have shown extensively, "historic Palestine" has little in common with British Mandate Palestine. It did not include the Negev but it did include parts of today's Jordan and Lebanon.

 The idea that "Historic Palestine" coincides with the areas that are controlled by Jews is of quite recent vintage. But it has been repeated so often that, like many lies, it get accepted as truth by so-called "experts" in prestigious newspapers.