Quote Originally Posted by Rex Brynen View Post
Certainly some Lebanese (usually Maronite) Christians claim not to be Arab— as they speak their Arabic (native) tongue, eat shawarma, etc.



Hamas is Sunni--there are hardly any Palestinian Shi'ites.
Agreed. The Phoenician tag is as much a poltiical/sectarian statement as it is anything else.

Arab today is a linguistic term most commonly meaning those who use Arabic. Trying to use it an ethnic group is really a non-starter. Where that really gets silly is in places like Sudan or North Africa. In Sudan the many of "Arabs" looked much like the southerners.

Correct on the Palestinian and Shia Islam; that was one of the reasons the Shia in Lebanon were at first happy to see the IDF kick out the PLO.

Pass the schwarma please

Tom