Abraham Rabinovich, a Jerusalem Post staff writer, in a May 25, 2000 article entitled "Chipping Away at the Past," wrote:

"The Merneptah Stele... raises more questions than answers. Describing the victories of the [Egyptian] Pharaoh Merneptah, it includes the following lines:

'The [sic] Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe: Ashkelon has been captured;
Gezer has been captured;
Yano'am is made nonexistent.
Israel is laid waste and his seed is not.'

Scholars say the hieroglyphic signs for Ashkelon, Gezer, and Yano'am indicate city-states, while for Canaan the indication is of a foreign land. For Israel, the indication is not of a land but of a foreign people. Scholars have engaged in long debates about the historical implications of that mention, but it remains a mystery."
05/25/00 Abraham Rabinovich