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Rather sure of yourself arn't you. Then why does the Stela identify such a people? And why does the bible clearly say so? But you know that the "Israelites" were not a people even though they were held together by a "system of eponymous ancestors" sounds like a "people" to me. As for some debating this I guess your refering to minimalist nihlists again. "

I would not place mendenhall as a nialistic minimalist, and how do eponymous ancestors sound like a people? they are purely fictive.

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Once again you know that the hill people were only tenatively if at all tied to the later period. Please the evidence for such a radical break. Please explain why thge later group adopted the name Israel or why they would claim descent from them and further explain how this is any different from the U.S.A.,Britain or assorted other cultures and nations. As for one possibility among many really. The united monarchy is dated c. 1000 B.C.E. so that between 1200 B.C.E. and 1000 B.C.E. there was a radical change in the population of much of Palestine. Please give the "abundant" evidence for such a radical change. If the texts I've read anything to go on it appears thatthat c. 1200-800 B.C.E. there was only rather even development. Since there is no evidence that these hill people wewre replaced at some point their descendents became part of the United Monarchy. "

The truth is that there is no evidence to make the tie, I do accept the possibility, but the people who in 1000 BCE or 800 BCE call themselves Israelites were not very well culturally tied to the hill people. They could just as easily be called Canaanite. I mean, look how easily the southern tribes left their identification as Israelites. Throughout the bible we see that this part of the nation did not identify culturally as Israelites.

As for a nation adopting a former name, how about Sadam claiming babylonian credentials, the Nazi's claiming ties to historical sources, Ethiopia claiming to be Sheba, or other kings throughout the ancient near east claiming to be tied to ancient dynasties or powers, Greeks claiming ties to Egyptian ideaology, Romans taking Greek culture?