User talk:Onceinawhile
Nomination of Masada myth for deletion
The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Masada myth until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.
Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article until the discussion has finished.DYK for Walls of Babylon
On 28 December 2025, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Walls of Babylon, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the walls of Babylon (reconstruction pictured) were included in many early lists of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Walls of Babylon. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Walls of Babylon), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to nominate it.
Rjjiii (talk) 00:02, 28 December 2025 (UTC)
CS1 error on Travelogues of Palestine
Hello, I'm Qwerfjkl (bot). I have automatically detected that this edit performed by you, on the page Travelogues of Palestine, may have introduced referencing errors. They are as follows:
- A bare URL error. References show this error when one of the URL-containing parameters cannot be paired with an associated title. Please edit the article to add the appropriate title parameter to the reference. ( | )
Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can . Thanks, Qwerfjkl (bot) (talk) 18:26, 2 January 2026 (UTC)
Emigration of Christians from Israel and Palestine
Hi, you didn't respond to my post to the talk page on 6 January. At the time I found that almost 50% of the prose came from the older article, which is more than 20%. TSventon (talk) 23:42, 8 January 2026 (UTC)
- Hi @TSventon: thanks for the prod, and apologies for taking time to reply. I had set a reminder to respond – I just wanted to see how the current edits from another editor settled first.
- As an aside, I have appreciated your comments greatly, particularly the way you have made them on the talk page so as not to add complexity to the DYK nomination page.
- On the %s below, it is definitely much closer to 20% now, and I could move it below 20% quickly by consensing some repetitive points. I added it all in because your earlier comment had suggested you liked the content on that page, so I would just need to do it carefully to ensure retention of the core information when cutting it down.
- What I really want to do when I have more time is create historical population tables for the regions (today’s Israel and Palestine separately) and particularly the major historical Christian population areas within each. This isn’t for the DYK, but will make for interesting reading.
- Onceinawhile (talk) 00:14, 9 January 2026 (UTC)
DYK for Old City of Haifa
On 10 January 2026, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Old City of Haifa, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Roman and Byzantine Old Haifa, Medieval Old Haifa, and the Old City of Haifa are all different places? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Old City of Haifa. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Old City of Haifa), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to nominate it.
—Ganesha811 (talk) 00:04, 10 January 2026 (UTC)
Category:Historical myths has been nominated for renaming
Category:Historical myths has been nominated for renaming. A discussion is taking place to decide whether it complies with the categorization guidelines. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at the category's entry on the categories for discussion page. Thank you. Mclay1 (talk) 14:30, 17 January 2026 (UTC)
You are in the news, and not in a good way
Wikipedia’s War Against Biblical Archaeology - Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology. See also Philadelphia Church of God Szmenderowiecki (talk · contribs) 04:41, 14 February 2026 (UTC)
- More of a blog than the news, and although published it's not clear if Eames has any academic qualifications. If he did, he might have known better than to repeat sensationalized claims by a regular Wikipedia critic on X, rather than coming to check for himself.
- See also discussion at Talk:Yeho'ezer ben Hosh'ayahu seal.
- Onceinawhile (talk) 05:49, 14 February 2026 (UTC)
You're in a kind of media
Namely the Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology: [1]. FYI-ping to @ImTheIP and @Zero0000, you're in there too. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 10:14, 15 February 2026 (UTC)
- Ah, someone already told you. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 10:14, 15 February 2026 (UTC)
Upcoming expiry of your ipblock-exempt right
Hi, this is an automated reminder as part of Global reminder bot to let you know that your WP:IPBE right which gave you the ability to bypass IP address blocks will expire on 02:43, 1 March 2026 (UTC). If your IP is still blocked, please renew by following the instructions at the IPBE page; otherwise, you do not need to do anything. To opt out of user right expiry notifications, add yourself to m:Global reminder bot/Exclusion. Leaderbot (talk) 19:42, 22 February 2026 (UTC)
“learn rather than defending”
Hello,
In continuation of our conversation in Talk:Zionism, I would like to have more recommendations on books discussing aspects you think I am missing in Zionism.
I have read plently of books, essays, and even some translated protocols. I regard myself as highly knowleagable in the field, but one can never know enough!
Arabic suggestions are also welcome.
Also about narrative reading: I meant reading books written by the likes of Herzl, Ben Gurion, ‘Alami, etc. Also other notables like Daniel Deronda (which I stopped reading in the middle and plan to return to) or the last chapter of Land of the Gilead by Laurence Oliphant. Also gems like this one. And of course, books like The Case for Israel and Kovalik & Galloway's The Case for Palestine. I like my narrative books written by non-subject experts and be of the propagandist nature. History books have a different place in my heart. I am currently occupied with Selig Brodetsky's memoirs and will later finish George Eliot's Daniel Deronda. Now is the best time to recommend books because the moment my Hebrew is sufficient for reading, I will have a list that extends years.
Best, NorthernWinds (talk) 21:34, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
- @NorthernWinds: some suggestions:
- if you are reading Oliphant and Daniel Deronda, and enjoy narratives about the region more broadly (see Travelogues of Palestine), you must read Orientalism (book). Obviously an extremely important book. But since you like narratives, you could also try Said’s The Question of Palestine and his memoir Out of Place
- to really understand Zionism you must first read about ethnic nationalism more broadly. My suggestions would be Imagined Communities and Nations and Nationalism Since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality and The Invention of Tradition by Eric Hobsbawm. Gelvin’s quotation in our article There was no such thing as Palestinians is a nice taster. The irony is that ethnic nationalism (and self determination) was pushed by the US, UK and France - themselves built upon civic nationalism - not because ethnic nationalism was an inherently good thing, but because it undermined their competitors’ empires. The classic application of this to Zionism is of course The Invention of the Jewish People - whilst opponents attacked some of the more speculative theories in there, the core of the work is entirely consistent with wider scholarship on ethnic nationalism
- Have a read of the detail in Balfour Declaration. In simple terms you will see that Zionism was only for idealists and dreamers until the British injected it with rocket fuel in a desperate and arguably antisemitic attempt to get American Jews to push America into the war and German Jews to work against their own war effort. I find the quotation in there from the Report of the Palin Commission (beginning "It is said that the effect of the Balfour Declaration was to leave the Moslems and Christians dumbfounded...") to be particularly insightful at such an early stage. Anyone paying attention at that time knew the British had opened a pathway to perpetual conflict, with permanent oppression of Palestinians a fundamental requirement to the success of the project. And this memorandum written by the only Jewish member of the British cabinet at the time of the declaration File:The Anti-Semitism of the Present Government, Edwin Montagu, 23 August 1917.jpg
- Hopefully that is enough for now. Hope these weren’t too obvious for you.
- I find it intriguing that you enjoy books “written by non-subject experts and be of the propagandist nature”. Personally I find it hard to read works that I know are lying to me. But on the other hand I think I can understand your point - in the real world everyone has an agenda, so why not embrace it openly.
- Onceinawhile (talk) 22:34, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
- Oh my God... I've written an essay here for half an hour but it disappeared :( sorry! But I don't have time to write it all again.
- Thank you for the recommendations! Several have made it to my list
- I used to be an avid reader of Palestine travels. I recommend several, and have gone into it more in my original response D:
- Again sorry for the short response! Please reiterate the things you want me to respond to most and I'll do my best to respond in detail.
- Best, NorthernWinds (talk) 00:42, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
- @NorthernWinds: my pleasure.
- On Travelogues of Palestine, which of the books listed in the article without a blue link should really have a Wiki article written about them? I have written a few, and keen to write more. And any particularly notable ones missing from the list entirely?
- Onceinawhile (talk) 07:15, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
- There are a few availible in Hebrew I've been eyeing that are currently missing from the list (1 2 3 4). I don't know whether the articleless one is notable.
- Whoever made this list, blessed be s/he. Spent almost all my time reading them years ago during difficult times in high school.
- Anyways, that's what I have to say to your question. Glad to have a good conversation after our less succesful one.
- Feel free to contact me anytime, or follow this up with further inquiries.
- Best, NorthernWinds (talk) 22:43, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
DYK for The Historical Geography of the Holy Land
On 25 February 2026, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that a map (pictured) from the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land was used to negotiate the borders of Mandatory Palestine? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/The Historical Geography of the Holy Land. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to nominate it.
HurricaneZetaC 12:02, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
DYK for Emigration of Christians from Israel and Palestine
On 28 February 2026, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Emigration of Christians from Israel and Palestine, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that conflicting media coverage of Christian emigration from Israel and Palestine seeks to influence Western Christians? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Emigration of Christians from Israel and Palestine. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Emigration of Christians from Israel and Palestine), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to nominate it.
Rjjiii (talk) 00:02, 28 February 2026 (UTC)
- Congrats! And thanks for talking through it, Rjjiii (talk) 17:28, 28 February 2026 (UTC)
- Thank you @Rjjiii: particularly for helping form a consensus. Hope you found the article interesting. Onceinawhile (talk) 23:54, 28 February 2026 (UTC)