Agano la Kale limejengwa juu ya mawazo ya kipindi cha uhamisho na cha baada ya uhamisho, uvumbuzi wa kifasihi na hadithi za kubuni, si juu ya ukweli uliothibitishwa. Masimulizi yake ya kimithali yanapaswa kusomwa kama hadithi za kubuni, theolojia na fasihi, si kama ukweli uliothibitishwa. Wakanaani wanafanana kabisa na Wafoinike. Mfumo wa herufi za Wafoinike wa maeneo ya pwani ya Palestina na Lebanon – unaojulikana kwa kawaida kama mfumo wa herufi wa Proto-Kanaani – ulipelekwa kwa Wagiriki, Waaramu, Waarabu na Waebrania. Hata hivyo, maneno ya Agano la Kale "Wakanaani" na "Waisraeli" katika Palestina si lazima yarejelee au kuelezea makabila mawili tofauti ya kikabila.

The Old Testament is based on exilic and post-exilic imagination, literary invention and fiction not facts. Its myth-narratives should be read as fiction, theology and literature, not proven facts. The ‘Cana’anites’ are in fact identical to the Phoenicians. The alphabet of the Phoenicians of the coastal regions of Palestine and Lebanon – conventionally known as the proto-Canaanite alphabet – was given to Greek, Aramaic, Arabic and Hebrew. However, the Old Testament terms ‘Canaanites’ and ‘Israelites’ in Palestine do not necessarily refer to or describe two distinct ethnicities.

Niels Peter Lemche, mtaalamu wa Agano la Kale katika Chuo Kikuu cha Copenhagen, ambaye maslahi yake yalijumuisha Waisraeli wa mwanzo na uhusiano wao na historia, Agano la Kale na akiolojia, amependekeza kwamba simulizi ya Agano la Kale kuhusu "Waisraeli" na "Wakanaani" lazima isomwe kama miundo ya kiitikadi ya "wengine" (yaani wasio Wayahudi), badala ya kuwa rejeo la kundi halisi la kikabila la kihistoria: "Wakanaani [wa Palestina] hawakujua kwamba wao wenyewe walikuwa Wakanaani. Ni pale tu walipokuwa, kwa kusema hivyo, wamo 'wameondoka' nyumbani kwao asili … ndipo walipokiri kwamba walikuwa Wakanaani" (Lemche 1999: 152).

Niels Peter Lemche, an Old Testament scholar at the University of Copenhagen, whose interests included early Israelites and their relationship with history, the Old Testament and archaeology, has suggested that the Old Testament narrative of the ‘Israelites’ and ‘Canaanites’ must be read as ideological constructs of the other (as the non-Jews) rather than as a reference to an actual historical ethnic group: ‘The Canaanites [of Palestine] did not know that they were themselves Canaanites. Only when they had so to speak “left” their original home … did they acknowledge that they had been Canaanites’ (Lemche 1999: 152).

Uvumbuzi wa kifasihi na ukweli kwamba waandishi wa Agano la Kale wa kipindi cha uhamisho walibuni kwa mawazo neno 'Wakanaani' – muundo wa kidini na kiitikadi wa waandishi hawa – hauonyeshi lazima kwamba kulikuwa na mgogoro kati ya Waisraeli wa kihistoria na Wakanaani huko Palestina.

Literary invention and the fact that exilic Old Testament authors imaginatively coined the term ‘Canaanites’ – a religio-ideological construct by these authors – does not necessarily indicate that there was a conflict between historical Israelites and Canaanites in Palestine.

Hata hivyo, katika zama za kisasa (kuanzia mwishoni mwa karne ya 19)

However, in the modern era (beginning with the late 19th century)

Viongozi wa Kizayuni wa Ulaya walizitwaa simulizi za Agano la Kale kama masimulizi ya kihistoria na kuzitumia kwa njia ya kutumikia malengo yao ili kuhalalisha mradi wao wa walowezi na mzozo wao na wenyeji wa asili wa Palestina. Hata hivyo, mzozo wa Israeli na Palestina ni mzozo wa kisasa na haupaswi kuchanganywa na Palestina halisi ya kihistoria, ya kale, wala na itikadi zozote za kidini na kiitikadi zilizofuata kutokana na simulizi za Agano la Kale.

European Zionist leaders appropriated the Old Testament narratives as historical accounts and used them instrumentally to justify their settler project and their conflict with the indigenous people of Palestine. Nevertheless, the Israeli‒Palestinian conflict is a modern conflict and should not be confused with the real, historical, ancient Palestine or any subsequent religio-ideological constructs of the Old Testament narratives.

Kihistoria, jina Cana’an lilitumika kweli katika Enzi ya Shaba ya Marehemu.

Historically the name Cana’an was indeed used in the Late Bronze Age.

Lakini jina hilo halikuwa likirejelea daima eneo la Cisjordan kuanzia Gaza hadi Mto Litani. Wala halikuwa neno pekee lililotumika kuhusiana na eneo hili (kati ya Wadi Gaza na Litani). Majina mengine kama Palestina, pamoja na majina ya awali kama Retenu na Djahi, nayo yalitumika kwa eneo hili (ikiwemo, wakati fulani, maeneo ya ndani ya magharibi ya Palestina na Transjordan) katika kipindi cha Enzi ya Marehemu ya Shaba. Kanaani ilirejelea eneo la kijiografia la ukubwa tofauti, kando ya pwani ya Mediterania ya Lebanon, Palestina na Siria (wala si Palestina pekee). Wakati mwingine hili lilijumuisha maeneo ya ndani. Katika milenia ya kwanza, hata hivyo, Foinike (Lebanon ya leo) ndilo jina lililotumika zaidi kwa eneo la pwani ya kaskazini, ambalo hapo awali lilijulikana kama Kanaani, wakati jina Filistia, lililotokana na Waashuru, lilitumika zaidi mwanzoni kwa pwani ya kusini na baadaye kwa Palestina yote. Jina Kanaani linapatikana katika maandishi ya kale ya Mashariki ya Karibu likirejelea si eneo mahsusi la Palestina pekee, bali pia, na hasa, Siria, kuanzia karne ya 15 KK hadi mwanzoni mwa karne ya 9 KK. Marejeo ya kwanza yenye uhakika ya jina Kanaani yanapatikana katika maandishi ya kikabari kwenye sanamu ya Idrimi kutoka Alalakh kaskazini mwa Siria (takriban 1500 KK), katika umbo la Kinahhu.

But the name did not always refer to the Cisjordan area from Gaza to the Litani River. Nor was it the only term used in connection with this area (between the Wadi Gaza and the Litani). Other names such as Palestine, as well as earlier names, such as Retenu and Djahi, were also used for this area (including, at times, the inland regions of western Palestine and the Transjordan) at some point in the course of the Late Bronze Age. Cana’an referred to a geographical region of varying size, along the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon, Palestine and Syria (and not just Palestine). At times this included regions inland. In the first millennium, however, Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) was the most common name used for the northern coastal region, which had earlier been referred to as Cana’an, while the Assyrian-derived name of Philistia was most often used initially for the southern coast and later for Palestine as a whole. The name Cana’an is found in ancient Near Eastern inscriptions with reference not just to the specific area of Palestine but crucially to Syria from the 15th century BC to the early 9th century BC. The first certain reference to the name Cana’an is found in cuneiform on the statue of Idrimi from Alalakh in northern Syria (c. 1500 BC) in the form Kinahhu.

Jina la Kanaani pia linapatikana mara kumi na sita katika maandishi ya Kimisri; kati ya hayo, kumi na mawili ni kutoka kipindi cha Ufalme Mpya (Hasel 2009: 8–17). Jina hilo linapatikana katika baadhi ya vidonge vya Amarna katika umbo la kn’ny – takriban miaka thelathini kutoka katikati ya karne ya 14 KK. Katika maandishi haya, mji wa kale wa bandari wa Ugarit wenyewe si wa Kanaani, lakini Qadeshi ni wa Kanaani. Jina hilo pia linatokea katika maandishi ya Kimisri katika umbo la k3n‘n‘ kutoka karne ya 13 KK, katika maandishi ya Hattusa, ya Ramesses II na ya Merneptah (hili la mwisho kutoka takriban 1205 KK). Kwenye Jiwe la Merneptah, mji wa Gaza unatajwa kuwa ‘mdomo wa (yaani, “mwanzo wa” k3n‘n‘).

The name Cana’an is also found sixteen times in Egyptian texts; of these, twelve are from the New Kingdom (Hasel 2009: 8–17). The name is found on some of the Amarna tablets in the form kn’ny – about thirty years from the middle of the 14th century BC. In these inscriptions, the ancient port city of Ugarit itself does not belong to Cana’an, but Qadesh does. The name also occurs in Egyptian inscriptions in the form k3n‘n‘ from the 13th century Hattusa, Ramesses II and Merneptah inscriptions (this last from c. 1205 BC). On the Merneptah Stele, the town Gaza is referred to as ‘the mouth of (that is, “the opening to” k3n‘n‘’.