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While Ashkelon, Gezer and Yanoam are given the determinative for a city - a throw stick plus three mountains - the hieroglyphs that refer to Israel instead employ the throw stick (the determinative for "foreign") plus a sitting man and woman (the determinative for "people") over three vertical lines (a plural marker).
This "foreign people" sign was typically used by the Egyptians to signify nomadic tribes, as opposed to settled city-dwellers. Source
I guess I got the impression you were denying Israel's history in the region. Instead it would appear you are just trying to minimize it.
The Merneptah Stele... does imply Israel was a nomadic people instead of a nation state. The bible says as much about the history of israel during this period (which is kind of the point that some people are trying to make in this thread).