So, Who Were Those Arabs?

You may have read that Arabs were the indigenous people in Palestine, before the Jews.

Previously the false link between "Palestinians" and the "Philistines" existed as a propaganda ploy.  But indeed it is false.

Then there was a reference by Saeb Erekat to the Natufians.

You also may have read that there is proof in that someone called Geshem the Arabian was a figure mentioned in the Bible at Nechemiah 2:19.

There are also sources like this, a bit non-academic, dealing with 'What Does The Bible Say About Arabs?'

So, if proof is brought from the Bible, what else is recorded there should be good for you, like in II Chronicles 21:16, where we read

"And the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians that are beside the Ethiopians; and they came up against Judah, and broke into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house..."

from which we can surmise that 

a) Arabs existed;

b) but they were not indigenous to the Land of Israel as they were a neighboring people;

c) they were close in geographical proximity to the Ethiopians, i.e., across the Reed Sea in the Arabia Peninsula;

d) even the they tried to occupy the Land of Israel.

And was the latest UNESCO vote connected to all this?

Nechemiah 2:-

And I said unto the king: 'Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?'...send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.'...

And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, for that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. 11 So I came to Jerusalem...And I went out by night...and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire...

...the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them: 'Ye see the evil case that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire; come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.'

..But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said: 'What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?' Then answered I them, and said unto them: 'The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build; but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.'

Doesn't that echo today's events?

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For those who want a parallel New Testament reference that Arabs were not indigenous but were present:

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. 2:7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying...how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?...Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." (Acts 2:4-11)

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