In the days of Alexander the Great's rule over Eretz Yisrael the descendants of Yishmael and Keturah laid claim to a partnership with the other descendants of the Patriarch Avraham. Since they are identified in the Torah as the progeny of Avraham, they argued, they should share the land promised to him.

The refutation of their claim made by the spokesman for Jewry was based on a passage in this week's Torah portion (Bereishet 25:25).

"Avraham gave all that he had to Yitzchak."

This incident is related in the Talmud (Mesechta Sanhedrin 91a) alongside a claim made by the Canaanites to the land, a claim which was also soundly refuted.

One cannot help but see in those two false claims a mirror of the arguments today for a "single, democratic state" or "two states for two nations."

Now, as then, these claims will be no more than exercises in futility, as Israel remains only ours forever.

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