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Palestine (Region)

The region, known by the prosaic geographical designation of Palestine, or perhaps more poetically as historic Palestine, or even just the land of Palestine, is a geographical area located in the perpetually tumultuous expanse of West Asia. It encompasses the contemporary sovereign entities of Israel and Palestine, with certain interpretations extending its reach to include portions of northwestern Jordan. Over the millennia, this land has accumulated a veritable lexicon of nomenclature, each name echoing a different epoch or aspiration: Canaan, the Promised Land, the Land of Israel, the Holy Land, and Judea. One might observe that a place with so many names rarely finds true peace.

The earliest extant textual reference to Palestine, specifically as a distinct geographical region rather than merely a tribal territory, emerges from the 5th century BCE in the seminal work Histories by Herodotus. He referred to this area as Palaistine, a term that, rather inconveniently for some, directly referenced the territory previously controlled by Philistia, a state that had flourished in that precise coastal strip from the 12th to the 7th century BCE. Imperial dominion, a constant in this region, saw the Roman Empire extend its grasp over the area in 63 BCE. Initially, client kings were installed to manage the local populace, a common enough strategy until Rome decided direct administration was more efficient, establishing the predominantly Jewish province named "Judaea" in 6 CE.

However, the Roman patience, much like anyone's, had its limits. The suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt between 132 and 136 CE was a brutal affair, resulting in the elimination of the vast majority of Jews in Judaea. Shortly thereafter, the Romans, with their characteristic thoroughness, expelled and enslaved nearly all the remaining Jewish inhabitants from the historical Judah region centered on Jerusalem, effectively depopulating that critical area. As a final, rather pointed, act of imperial punishment and to irrevocably sever the ancestral ties between the Jewish people and their province, Roman authorities unilaterally renamed the province of Judaea to "Syria Palaestina" around 135 CE.

The administrative reshuffling continued into the Byzantine period, with the region being further subdivided in 390 into the provinces of Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda, and Palaestina Tertia. This intricate bureaucracy was then swept aside following the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s, which led to the establishment of the military district of Jund Filastin. Despite these numerous reconfigurations and shifting allegiances, Palestine's geographical scope has consistently comprised the southern portion of the broader Syria or Levant region.

This land, burdened by its own profound significance, has long been a pivotal crossroads for human endeavor and conflict. As the venerable birthplace of both Judaism and Christianity, it has been a crucible where religion, culture, commerce, and politics have ceaselessly clashed. During the Bronze Age, it hosted a network of thriving Canaanite city-states. The subsequent Iron Age witnessed the emergence of the distinct kingdoms of Israel and Judah. From that point onward, it endured a relentless procession of imperial overlords: the Neo-Assyrian, the Neo-Babylonian, the Achaemenid Persian, the Macedonian empire under Alexander the Great, and then the Hellenistic successors, the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires.

A brief interlude of indigenous rule under the Hasmonean dynasty eventually gave way to its gradual absorption into the vast Roman Empire, and subsequently, the Byzantine Empire. During this latter period, Palestine blossomed into a vibrant center of early Christianity. The 7th century brought another seismic shift with the conquest by the Muslim Rashidun Caliphate, marking the end of Byzantine authority. Rashidun rule was, in turn, succeeded by the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphates. Following the tumultuous era of the Crusades and the eventual collapse of the short-lived Kingdom of Jerusalem, the demographic landscape of Palestine definitively shifted, becoming predominantly Muslim. The 13th century saw it integrated into the formidable Mamluk Sultanate, and from 1516, it endured four centuries as an integral, if often overlooked, part of the sprawling Ottoman Empire.

The 20th century, with its penchant for reordering the world, brought yet more upheaval. During World War I, Palestine was occupied by the United Kingdom as a consequence of the Sinai and Palestine campaign. In the interwar period, specifically between 1919 and 1922, the League of Nations formally established the Mandate for Palestine, placing it under British administration. This era, known as Mandatory Palestine, spanned through the 1940s and was characterized by escalating tensions between Jewish immigrants and the resident Arabs. This simmering conflict ultimately erupted into the 1947–1949 Palestine war, which concluded with the declaration and establishment of Israel across the majority of the territory. The remaining areas, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, fell under the control of neighboring Jordan and Egypt, respectively. The 1967 Six-Day War then saw Israel's occupation of both territories, a situation that has since remained one of the central, intractable issues of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict. One might wonder if any land has ever been so thoroughly contested.

Etymology

For those with a penchant for chronological clarity, a detailed guide can be found at Timeline of the name Palestine.

The name "Palestine" itself is not some recent invention, conjured from thin air by modern geopolitics; it has a remarkably tenacious presence throughout recorded history. A glance at various historical maps of the region reveals its consistent application: from Pomponius Mela in Latin around 43 CE, through the Notitia Dignitatum of 410 CE, to the meticulous Arabic cartography of the Tabula Rogeriana in 1154 CE, and even the Ottoman Turkish Cedid Atlas of 1803 CE. It seems humanity has a long history of drawing lines and assigning labels, often with little regard for how long they'll stick.

Modern archaeological endeavors have unearthed a dozen ancient inscriptions from both Egyptian and Assyrian archives that contain what are considered likely cognates of the Hebrew term Pelesheth. The Egyptian designation, "Peleset" (rendered from hieroglyphs as P-r-s-t), appears in five inscriptions, referring to either a neighboring people or a specific land. These records date from approximately 1150 BCE during the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt. The earliest known mention is found within the temple at Medinet Habu, which chronicles the Peleset as among the adversaries who confronted Egypt during the reign of Ramesses III. The latest known Egyptian reference appears some three centuries later on Padiiset's Statue. Meanwhile, seven known Assyrian inscriptions refer to the region as "Palashtu" or "Pilistu," starting with Adad-nirari III in the Nimrud Slab around 800 BCE and continuing through to a treaty made by Esarhaddon more than a century later. It's worth noting, with a weary sigh, that neither the ancient Egyptian nor the Assyrian sources bothered to provide clear, definitive regional boundaries for these terms, leaving historians to piece together the puzzle with frustrating ambiguity. Eberhard Schrader, in his influential "Keilinschriften und Geschichtsforschung" ("Cuneiform inscriptions and Historical Research"), even suggested that the Assyrian "Palashtu" or "Pilistu" might have referred to a broader "Palestine" or "the East" in general, rather than being strictly limited to "Philistia." Such are the joys of historical linguistics.

The first truly unambiguous application of the term "Palestine" to denote the entire geographical area nestled between Phoenicia and Egypt can be traced to 5th century BCE ancient Greece. It was Herodotus, the so-called "Father of History," who, in The Histories, meticulously described a "district of Syria, called Palaistínē " (in Ancient Greek: Συρίη ἡ Παλαιστίνη καλεομένη). This designation, according to his accounts, encompassed not only the Judean mountains but also stretched into the Jordan Rift Valley. Approximately a century later, the venerable Aristotle adopted a remarkably similar geographical definition for the region in his work Meteorology, even explicitly including the Dead Sea within its bounds. Subsequent Greek chroniclers, such as Polemon and Pausanias, consistently employed the term to refer to this same expansive region. Their usage was mirrored by an array of Roman writers, including Ovid, Tibullus, Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder, Dio Chrysostom, Statius, and [Plutarch], alongside the Romano-Jewish intellectuals Philo of Alexandria and Josephus. It seems the classical world, for all its complexities, had a fairly consistent view of where Palestine was. Herodotus even noted the practice of male circumcision among the "Syrians of Palestine," linking it to the Colchians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians, and stating that the Phoenicians and Syrians of Palestine themselves confessed to learning the custom from the Egyptians. A curious detail, perhaps, but one that paints a picture of cultural exchange in the ancient world.

However, many classical-era sources maintained a distinction, referring to the inland region primarily inhabited by Jews as Judea, thereby differentiating it from the Philistine coastal area. As previously noted, the Roman Empire solidified its dominion over the region, establishing the predominately Jewish province named "Judaea" in 6 CE. The aftermath of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-136 CE) saw the Roman Empire engage in a brutal campaign, resulting in the elimination of a significant portion of the Jewish population in Judaea. Soon after this devastating conflict, the Romans systematically expelled and enslaved almost all remaining Jews in Judaea, leaving the region largely depopulated. It was in this context, around 135 CE, that Roman authorities, in a move widely interpreted as punitive, renamed the province of Judaea to "Syria Palaestina." This act was specifically designed to punish the Jews for the Bar Kokhba Revolt and to permanently sever the symbolic and historical ties between the Jewish people and their ancestral province. This particular renaming stands out in Roman imperial history as the only instance where a province's name was altered directly in response to a rebellion. While circumstantial evidence points to Emperor Hadrian as the instigator of this name change, the precise date remains a matter of some academic debate. The irony, of course, is that the name chosen for this act of erasure ultimately became a lasting identifier for the land.

The term "Palestine" is generally accepted as a cognate of the biblical name Peleshet (פלשת Pəlésheth), which is typically transliterated as Philistia. This term and its linguistic derivatives appear over 250 times in Masoretic-derived versions of the Hebrew Bible. Of these, a mere 10 uses are found in the Torah, often with rather ill-defined boundaries, while nearly 200 of the remaining references are concentrated within the historical narratives of the Book of Judges and the Books of Samuel. Curiously, the term is seldom used in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, which instead opted for the transliteration Land of Phylistieim (Γῆ τῶν Φυλιστιείμ), a distinct choice from the contemporary Greek place name Palaistínē (Παλαιστίνη). There's also a theory, perhaps a little too clever for its own good, that "Palestine" might be a portmanteau of the Greek word for the Philistines and palaistês, meaning "wrestler," "rival," or "adversary." This interpretation aligns with a known Greek fondness for punning on place names, especially given that "wrestler" is part of the etymological meaning for Israel itself. One can almost hear the ancient academics chuckling at their own wit.

The Septuagint consistently used the term "allophuloi" (άλλόφυλοι), meaning "other nations" or "foreigners," throughout the Books of Judges and Samuel. This linguistic choice has led to the interpretation that "Philistines," in the context of figures like Samson, Saul, and David, essentially referred to "non-Israelites of the Promised Land." Rabbinic sources, ever eager to clarify, even insisted that the Philistines mentioned in Judges and Samuel were an entirely different people from the Philistines described in the earlier Book of Genesis. It seems even ancient texts struggled with consistent naming conventions.

During the Byzantine period, the region of Palestine, then part of Syria Palaestina, underwent further administrative division into Palaestina Prima and Secunda. Additionally, a substantial area encompassing the Negev desert and the Sinai became known as Palaestina Salutaris. Following the Muslim conquest, the place names that had been established under the Byzantine administration were, for the most part, simply adopted into Arabic. The name "Palestine" then experienced a resurgence in popularity in Early Modern English. It was widely used in both English and Arabic during the era of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem and was officially resurrected as the formal designation for the territory under the British Mandate for Palestine. It seems some names, like certain ancient grudges, simply refuse to fade away.

Beyond "Palestine," this much-discussed land has accumulated a host of other appellations, each carrying its own historical and cultural weight. These include Canaan, the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael or Ha'aretz), the Promised Land, the broader region of Syria, the Holy Land, Iudaea Province, Judea, Coele-Syria, "Israel HaShlema," the Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Zion, Retenu (an ancient Egyptian term), Southern Syria, the Southern Levant, and Syria Palaestina. One might conclude that a land with so many identities struggles to define itself, or perhaps, is defined by everyone else. The Hebrew name ʾEreṣ Yiśrāʾēl ("Land of Israel"), sometimes abbreviated to hāʾĀreṣ ("the Land"), is the most common Hebrew name for the geographic region, though political connotations can lead to its avoidance by some anti-Zionists. The term פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה Pāleśtīnā is occasionally employed in secular historical contexts, particularly when referring to periods of European (especially Roman and British) control. After 1948, the term פָלַסְטִין Fālasṭīn is used in the context of Arab national aspirations in Palestine, predominantly referring to the contemporary State of Palestine. Its use in secular historiographical contexts for periods of Arab and/or Muslim rule is, however, quite rare.

History

For a broader narrative, consult the Main article: History of Palestine. For a granular, chronological overview, see Timeline of the Palestine region.

Overview

For a more comprehensive categorization, refer to Time periods in the Palestine region.

Nestled in a precarious, yet strategically vital location, a land bridge between Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, and revered as the very cradle of both Judaism and Christianity, this region has, with a certain grim inevitability, endured a long and relentlessly tumultuous history. It has been an unceasing crossroads, a stage upon which the dramas of religion, culture, commerce, and politics have played out with often devastating consequences. Its soil has been trod and claimed by an astonishing parade of peoples: the ancient Egyptians, the Canaanites, the Israelites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Achaemenids, the ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Parthians, the Sasanians, the Byzantines, and then, in rapid succession, the Arab Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphates. The Crusaders carved out their ephemeral kingdom, only to be supplanted by the Ayyubids, the Mamluks, the Mongols, and the Ottomans. The 20th century then ushered in the British, and finally, the modern-day Israelis and Palestinians. One might be forgiven for thinking this land has seen more empires rise and fall than any other, each leaving its indelible, often bloody, mark.

Ancient period

For further details, see also: Canaan, History of ancient Israel and Judah, and Philistines.

This region holds the rather dubious distinction of being among the earliest in the world to witness sustained human habitation, the emergence of agricultural communities, and the dawn of what we optimistically call civilization. In the twilight of the 4th millennium BCE, during the Early Bronze Age, there were established areas of permanent Egyptian settlement in the southern Levant. Lands beyond these core areas were often inhabited by Egyptians on a seasonal basis. A notable example of this early Egyptian presence was Tell es-Sakan on the Mediterranean coast, which stands as the oldest known fortified Egyptian settlement and likely functioned as the administrative nexus for the entire region. The Bronze Age saw the rise of independent Canaanite city-states, sophisticated entities that absorbed influences from the surrounding, more dominant civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Minoan Crete, and Syria. Between 1550 and 1400 BCE, these Canaanite cities became vassals to the formidable Egyptian New Kingdom, a suzerainty that persisted until the decisive 1178 BCE Battle of Djahy (Canaan), a localized conflict within the broader, cataclysmic Bronze Age collapse.

The Israelites themselves did not appear fully formed from some distant land, but rather emerged from a profound social transformation that took root among the people of the central hill country of Canaan around 1200 BCE. Notably, there are no discernible signs of a violent invasion or even a peaceful infiltration by a clearly defined, ethnically distinct group from elsewhere. During the ensuing Iron Age, these Israelites established two closely related kingdoms, those of Israel and Judah. The Kingdom of Israel rose to become a significant local power by the 10th century BCE, a trajectory abruptly curtailed when it succumbed to the might of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE. Israel's southern counterpart, the Kingdom of Judah, which solidified its presence in the 8th or 9th century BCE, later became a client state, first to the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then to the Neo-Babylonian Empire. A subsequent rebellion against the latter led to its utter destruction in 586 BCE. The region as a whole was integrated into the Neo-Assyrian Empire from approximately 740 BCE, an empire that was, in turn, replaced by the Neo-Babylonian Empire around 627 BCE.

In 587 or 586 BCE, the city of Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed by the second Babylonian king, the infamous Nebuchadnezzar II. This conquest was followed by the exile of the Judeans to Babylon, a traumatic event that reshaped Jewish history. The Kingdom of Judah was subsequently annexed as a Babylonian province. The Philistines, too, suffered a similar fate, facing exile from their lands. The comprehensive defeat of Judah was meticulously recorded by the Babylonians, a testament to its significance.

However, empires, like all things, are impermanent. In 539 BCE, the Babylonian empire was conquered by the ascendant Achaemenid Empire. According to the Hebrew Bible and inferences drawn from the Cyrus Cylinder, the exiled Jews were eventually granted permission to return to Jerusalem. The returning population in Judah was permitted a degree of self-rule under Persian oversight, with parts of the former kingdom being reformed into a Persian province known as Yehud. Beyond Yehud, at least four other Persian provinces existed within the region: Samaria, Gaza, Ashdod, and Ascalon, alongside the independent Phoenician city-states to the north and the Arabian tribes controlling the southern reaches. During this same period, the Edomites migrated from Transjordan into the southern parts of Judea, an area that consequently became known as Idumaea. The Qedarites emerged as the dominant Arab tribe, their vast territory stretching from the Hejaz in the south to the Negev in the north, a significant presence that endured throughout both the Persian and Hellenistic periods of dominion.

Classical antiquity

Caesarea Maritima, also known as Caesarea Palestinae, a city built with ambitious grandeur under Herod the Great on the site of a much older Phoenician naval station, rose to prominence, becoming the capital city first of Roman Judea, then of Roman Syria Palaestina, and finally of Byzantine Palaestina Prima province. A rather impressive career for a coastal town.

In the 330s BCE, the legendary Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great swept through and conquered the region. Following his untimely death, the territory became a contested prize, changing hands repeatedly during the tumultuous wars of the Diadochi and the subsequent Syrian Wars. It eventually fell under the control of the Seleucid Empire between 219 and 200 BCE. This Hellenistic period saw the region become profoundly hellenized, a process that inevitably fueled growing tensions between the Greek overlords and the local populations, a familiar pattern throughout history.

The simmering discontent finally erupted in 167 BCE with the Maccabean Revolt, a successful uprising that led to the establishment of an independent Hasmonean Kingdom in Judea. From 110 BCE, the Hasmoneans expanded their authority considerably, bringing much of Palestine under their sway, including territories like Samaria, Galilee, Iturea, Perea, and Idumea. This significant expansion of Jewish control over the wider region led to it also becoming known as Judaea, a term that had previously been restricted to the smaller, original region of the Judaean Mountains. During this same period, the Edomites, now fully integrated into the Hasmonean realm, assimilated completely into the Jewish population.

Between 73 and 63 BCE, the burgeoning Roman Republic began to exert its formidable influence over the region during the Third Mithridatic War. Pompey's conquest of Judea in 63 BCE effectively dismantled the Hasmonean Kingdom, fragmenting it into five distinct districts. Around 40 BCE, the Parthians briefly seized control of Palestine, deposing the Roman-backed ally Hyrcanus II and installing their own puppet ruler from the Hasmonean line, Antigonus II. However, by 37 BCE, the Parthians had withdrawn from Palestine, leaving the Romans to reassert their dominance.

Palestine is, with good reason, generally regarded as the "Cradle of Christianity." This transformative religion, founded upon the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, originated as a messianic sect within the broader framework of Second Temple Judaism. The three-year Ministry of Jesus, culminating in his crucifixion, is historically estimated to have occurred between 28 and 30 CE, though the precise historicity of Jesus remains a point of scholarly discussion among a minority.

The first and second centuries CE witnessed two monumental Jewish revolts against Rome within the province of Judea. The First Jewish-Roman War, a protracted and brutal conflict lasting from 66 to 73 CE, culminated in the Romans' razing of Jerusalem and the catastrophic destruction of the Second Temple. A stark testament to the desperation of the era, Jewish zealots at Masada reportedly chose mass suicide over Roman captivity. Then, in 132 CE, another Jewish rebellion erupted. The Bar Kokhba revolt was a grueling three-year struggle that exacted immense costs on both the Romans and the Jewish populace, leaving much of Judea utterly desolated. Following this, the center of Jewish life within Palestine irrevocably shifted northward to the Galilee. In the wake of the revolt, the Romans implemented a series of punitive measures, including stringent restrictions on Jewish religious practices and a decree forbidding Jews from residing in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem. The city itself was rebuilt as a Roman colony and renamed Aelia Capitolina. It was around this time that the Roman authorities formally renamed the province of Judaea as Syria Palaestina. Many scholars argue that this act was a deliberate attempt to sever the profound symbolic and historical connection between the Jewish people and their ancestral land. While other interpretations have been proposed, the prevailing view highlights this as a calculated move of imperial dominance.

Between 259 and 272 CE, the region experienced a brief, yet significant, period under the rule of Odaenathus, who established the powerful Palmyrene Empire. Following the decisive victory of the Christian emperor Constantine in the Civil wars of the Tetrarchy, the process of the Christianization of the Roman Empire began in earnest. In 326 CE, Constantine's mother, Saint Helena, undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, initiating the construction of numerous churches and shrines across the Holy Land. Palestine subsequently flourished as a central hub of Christianity, attracting a multitude of monks and religious scholars. However, this period also saw the devastating Samaritan Revolts, which brought the Samaritan community to the brink of extinction. In 614 CE, Palestine was briefly annexed by another Persian dynasty, the Sassanids, before reverting to Byzantine control in 628 CE. A land, it seems, forever caught between empires.

Early Muslim period

Palestine was irrevocably altered by the swift and decisive conquest by the Rashidun Caliphate, commencing in 634 CE. The pivotal Battle of Yarmouk in 636 CE, a key engagement during the broader Muslim conquest of the Levant, heralded the beginning of Muslim hegemony over the region. It was subsequently organized as the military district of Jund Filastin, an administrative subdivision within the larger province of Bilâd al-Shâm (Greater Syria). In 661 CE, following the tragic Assassination of Ali, Muawiyah I was crowned Caliph of the Islamic world in Jerusalem, a symbolically potent act. The iconic Dome of the Rock, completed in 691 CE, stands as the world's first truly great masterpiece of Islamic architecture, a testament to this new era.

For several decades following the Muslim conquest, the majority of the population remained Christian, a demographic reality that would persist until Saladin's conquest in 1187. The initial Muslim takeover appears to have had a surprisingly limited impact on the existing social and administrative structures. At this time, the term 'Arab' primarily denoted Bedouin nomads, though evidence of Arab settlement in the Judean highlands and near Jerusalem dates back to the 5th century, with some tribes having already embraced Christianity. The local agrarian population, engaged in what was then considered the less prestigious occupation of farming, were often referred to as Nabaț, a term generally used for Aramaic-speaking villagers. A particular ḥadīth, attributed to a Muslim freedman who settled in Palestine, even contained a directive advising Muslim Arabs against settling in villages, declaring, "for he who abides in villages it is as if he abides in graves." A rather stark disincentive, one might say.

The Umayyads, whose rule spurred a significant economic resurgence throughout the area, were eventually overthrown and replaced by the Abbasids in 750 CE. Ramla then assumed the role of the administrative center for the subsequent centuries, while Tiberias flourished as a vibrant hub of Muslim scholarship. From 878 CE, Palestine found itself under the de facto rule of semi-autonomous leaders based in Egypt, a period spanning nearly a century. This era began with the Turkish freedman Ahmad ibn Tulun, a figure so respected that both Jews and Christians reportedly prayed for him on his deathbed. This period concluded with the Ikhshidid rulers. The reverence for Jerusalem intensified during this time, with many of these Egyptian rulers choosing the holy city as their final resting place. However, the later part of this period was marked by increasing persecution of Christians, exacerbated by the growing threat posed by the Byzantine Empire. The Fatimids, commanding a predominantly Berber army, seized control of the region in 970 CE. This date regrettably marks the beginning of an extended era of incessant warfare against numerous adversaries, a conflict that ultimately devastated Palestine and, in particular, inflicted severe hardship upon its Jewish population. Between 1071 and 1073 CE, Palestine was briefly captured by the formidable Great Seljuq Empire, only to be retaken by the Fatimids in 1098. It seems even empires were playing musical chairs with this land.

Crusader/Ayyubid period

The Fatimids, having only just reclaimed the region, once again lost it to the relentless onslaught of the Crusaders in 1099. With a mixture of religious fervor and political ambition, the Crusaders established the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which precariously endured from 1099 to 1291. Their direct control over Jerusalem and the majority of Palestine lasted for nearly a century, until their decisive defeat at the hands of Saladin's forces in 1187. Following this, most of Palestine came under the dominion of the Ayyubids. There was a brief interlude between 1229 and 1244 when Jerusalem and other areas were temporarily recaptured by the Second Kingdom of Jerusalem, which by then had shifted its capital to Acre (1191–1291). However, despite seven subsequent crusades, the Franks never managed to re-establish themselves as a significant power in the region. The Fourth Crusade, a rather spectacular misadventure that never even reached Palestine, inadvertently led directly to the precipitous decline of the Byzantine Empire, thereby dramatically diminishing Christian influence across the entire region. The best laid plans, and all that.

Mamluk period

The Mamluk Sultanate emerged in Egypt as a rather indirect consequence of the Seventh Crusade, a testament to the unpredictable nature of historical cause and effect. The vast and formidable Mongol Empire, in its relentless westward expansion, first reached Palestine in 1260 CE. This initial foray began with a series of Mongol raids into Palestine led by the Nestorian Christian general Kitbuqa. However, the Mongol advance reached its decisive apex and subsequent reversal at the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut, where they were decisively repelled by the Mamluks. This battle marked the effective westernmost limit of Mongol expansion in the Middle East.

Ottoman period

For further historical context, refer to: History of Palestine § Ottoman period.

In 1486, hostilities flared between the Mamluks and the rising Ottoman Empire as they vied for control over western Asia. The Ottomans ultimately conquered Palestine in 1516, integrating it into their vast dominion. Throughout the mid-16th and 17th centuries, a powerful and closely-knit alliance of three local dynasties—the Ridwans of Gaza, the Turabays of al-Lajjun, and the Farrukhs of Nablus—governed Palestine on behalf of the distant Porte, the imperial Ottoman government. A delicate balance of local power and imperial oversight, one might say.

The 18th century saw the Zaydani clan, under the charismatic leadership of Zahir al-Umar, rule extensive parts of Palestine with a considerable degree of autonomy. This semi-independent rule persisted until the Ottomans, with renewed effort, managed to defeat them in their Galilee strongholds during 1775–76. Zahir al-Umar had, in his time, transformed the port city of Acre into a formidable regional power, a feat partly achieved through his shrewd monopolization of the lucrative cotton and olive oil trade flowing from Palestine to Europe. Acre's regional preeminence was further cemented and elevated under Zahir's successor, Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar, often at the expense of the traditional regional center of Damascus.

In 1830, on the cusp of Muhammad Ali's impending invasion, the Porte made a strategic decision, transferring administrative control of the sanjaks of Jerusalem and Nablus to Abdullah Pasha ibn Ali, the governor of Acre. According to Silverburg, this move was culturally and regionally significant, contributing to the creation of an "Arab Palestine" distinct from greater Syria (bilad al-Sham). Pappe, however, offers a more pragmatic view, suggesting it was an attempt to fortify the Syrian front in anticipation of Muhammad Ali's advance. Just two years later, Palestine was indeed conquered by Muhammad Ali's Egypt. This Egyptian rule, however, was vehemently challenged in 1834 by a countrywide popular uprising against conscription and other measures that the population deemed intrusive and oppressive. The brutal suppression of this revolt left many of Palestine's villages and major towns utterly devastated.

By 1840, Britain, ever watchful of its imperial interests, intervened and restored control of the Levant to the Ottomans, in exchange for further capitulations that benefited European trade. The death of Aqil Agha marked the final significant local challenge to Ottoman centralization in Palestine. Beginning in the 1860s, Palestine experienced an accelerated phase of socio-economic development, driven by its increasing integration into the global, and particularly European, patterns of economic growth. The primary beneficiaries of this transformative process were the Arabic-speaking Muslims and Christians, who emerged as a new, influential layer within the existing Arab elite. In the southern coastal plain, Palestinian villagers innovated and developed distinctive methods of cultivating sandy dunefields (known as rimāl), employing ingenious sunken-garden systems called mawāṣī. These systems successfully supported vineyards, figs, olives, and various vegetables, and by the Late Ottoman period, they had remarkably transformed previously marginal landscapes into highly productive agricultural zones.

From 1880 onwards, a significant wave of Jewish immigration began, almost entirely originating from Europe and fueled by an explicitly Zionist ideology. This period also witnessed a remarkable revival of the Hebrew language and culture, transforming it from a liturgical language into a living, spoken tongue.

Interestingly, Christian Zionism in the United Kingdom predated its widespread adoption within the Jewish community. The British government, ever pragmatic in its imperial calculations, publicly endorsed this concept during World War I with the issuance of the Balfour Declaration in 1917. A document that, in retrospect, simply added another layer of complexity to an already impossibly layered region.

British Mandate period

For the comprehensive account, see Main article: Mandatory Palestine. For further information, consult: Zionism, Palestinian nationalism, and United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.

The British, with their customary imperial efficiency, launched their Sinai and Palestine Campaign in 1915. The conflict reached the southern parts of Palestine in 1917, pushing northward through Gaza and encircling Jerusalem by the close of the year. The British forces successfully secured Jerusalem in December 1917. They advanced into the Jordan valley in 1918, and a decisive campaign by the Entente powers into northern Palestine culminated in a resounding victory at Megiddo in September.

The British were formally granted the mandate to govern the region by the League of Nations in 1922. This period, however, was far from tranquil. The Arab Palestinians, increasingly frustrated and dispossessed, engaged in a series of significant riots: in 1920, 1921, 1929, and culminating in the widespread revolt of 1936. In 1947, in the aftermath of World War II and the horrors of The Holocaust, the British Government, weary of the intractable conflict, announced its intention to terminate the Mandate. The United Nations General Assembly, in November 1947, subsequently adopted Resolution 181(II), recommending the partition of Palestine into an Arab state, a Jewish state, and a Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem. A civil war immediately erupted upon the Resolution's adoption, and the State of Israel was formally declared in May 1948.

Arab–Israeli conflict

For further details, refer to: History of Israel and History of the State of Palestine.

The 1948 Arab–Israeli War saw Israel expand its territory, capturing and incorporating an additional 26% of the Mandate land. Jordan simultaneously captured the regions historically known as Judea and Samaria, subsequently renaming this annexed territory the "West Bank." Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip was captured by Egypt. Following the tumultuous events of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight, also tragically known as the al-Nakba (the Catastrophe), approximately 700,000 Palestinians who either fled or were forcibly driven from their homes were not permitted to return in the aftermath of the Lausanne Conference of 1949.

In June 1967, during the swift and decisive Six-Day War, Israel captured the remaining territories of Mandate Palestine from Jordan and Egypt. This conquest initiated a policy of establishing Jewish settlements in these newly occupied territories. From 1987 to 1993, the First Palestinian Intifada, a widespread popular uprising against Israeli occupation, took place. This period included the symbolic Declaration of the State of Palestine in 1988 and concluded with the signing of the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords and the subsequent creation of the Palestinian National Authority, envisioned as an interim self-governing body.

The year 2000 marked the beginning of the Second Intifada, also known as the al-Aqsa Intifada. In response, Israel commenced the construction of a controversial separation barrier. In 2005, through the Israeli disengagement from Gaza, Israel unilaterally withdrew all settlers and military presence from the Gaza Strip. However, it maintained a pervasive military control over numerous critical aspects of the territory, including its borders, airspace, and coastline. Israel's ongoing military occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem remains, by many accounts, the world's longest military occupation in modern history. A testament, perhaps, to the enduring nature of unresolved conflict.

In 2008, Palestinian hikaye, a traditional storytelling art, was officially inscribed onto UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage. This was the first of four such listings, underscoring the global significance of Palestinian culture.

In November 2012, the status of the Palestinian delegation at the United Nations was elevated to that of a non-member observer state, formally recognizing the State of Palestine on the international stage.

Boundaries

Pre-modern period

The precise boundaries of Palestine, much like its name, have been remarkably fluid throughout its long and complicated history. The Jordan Rift Valley – encompassing the Wadi Arabah, the Dead Sea, and the River Jordan – has frequently functioned as a natural political and administrative frontier, even within empires that managed to control both territories. At other times, however, as exemplified by certain periods during the Hasmonean and Crusader states, and indeed during parts of the biblical period, territories on both sides of the river were integrated into the same administrative unit. During the Arab Caliphate era, parts of southern Lebanon and the northern highland areas of both Palestine and Jordan were administered as Jund al-Urdun. Conversely, the southern portions of the latter two regions fell under the jurisdiction of Jund Dimashq, which in the 9th century became attached to the administrative unit of Jund Filastin. It seems the lines on the map were always more suggestions than rigid decrees.

The geographical scope and the ethnic composition of the people referred to by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE as Palaestina varied according to the specific context of his writings. At times, he used the term to refer to the coastal strip lying north of Mount Carmel. Elsewhere, in drawing a distinction between the Syrians in Palestine and the Phoenicians, he described their land as extending continuously along the entire coast from Phoenicia down to Egypt. Pliny the Elder, writing in Latin in the 1st century CE, also described a region of Syria that was "formerly called Palaestina" among the various areas of the Eastern Mediterranean. It’s almost as if no one could quite agree on where to draw the line.

Since the Byzantine Period, the administrative borders of Byzantine Palaestina (I and II, also known as Palaestina Prima, "First Palestine," and Palaestina Secunda, "Second Palestine") have largely served as a defining geographical marker for the area situated between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Under subsequent Arab rule, Filastin (or Jund Filastin) was employed administratively to refer to what the Byzantines had designated as Palaestina Secunda (encompassing Judaea and Samaria). Meanwhile, Palaestina Prima (comprising the Galilee region) was notably renamed Urdunn ("Jordan" or Jund al-Urdunn). The names changed, the territories shifted, but the underlying land remained, stubbornly indifferent to human cartography.

Modern period

Nineteenth-century sources, with their often charmingly vague geographical descriptions, frequently referred to Palestine as stretching from the sea eastward to "the caravan route," presumably indicating the Hejaz-Damascus route situated east of the Jordan River valley. Other accounts, with equal imprecision, simply described it as extending from the sea to "the desert." Prior to the decisive victory of the Allied Powers in World War I and the subsequent, rather brutal, partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, which ultimately led to the creation of the British mandate in the Levant, most of the northern area of what is now Jordan constituted part of the Ottoman Vilayet of Damascus (Syria). The southern part of Jordan, conversely, was integrated into the Vilayet of Hejaz. What would later be formally designated as Mandatory Palestine was, in the twilight years of the Ottoman Empire, divided between the Vilayet of Beirut (Lebanon) and the autonomous Sanjak of Jerusalem. The Zionist Organization, with a clear vision for the future, presented its own detailed definition of Palestine's desired boundaries in a statement submitted to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

The British, having been granted the mandate, administered Mandatory Palestine following World War I, acting on their earlier pledge to facilitate the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people. The contemporary geographical definition of the region largely adheres to the boundaries of this British-administered entity. These boundaries were meticulously finalized in the North and East between 1920 and 1923 through a series of agreements, notably the British Mandate for Palestine (which included the significant Transjordan memorandum) and the Paulet–Newcombe Agreement. To the South, the boundary was established by following the terms of the 1906 Turco-Egyptian boundary agreement. A rather neat package of lines drawn on a map, which, as history would show, proved anything but neat in practice.

Current usage

For further details, refer to: Palestinian territories, State of Palestine, Palestinian National Authority, and Palestinian enclaves. See also: Borders of Israel.

The region of Palestine serves as the eponym for the Palestinian people and the vibrant culture of Palestine. Both are understood as intrinsically linked to the entire historical region, typically defined by the precise localities enclosed within the borders of Mandatory Palestine. The 1968 Palestinian National Covenant explicitly articulated this, describing Palestine as the "homeland of the Arab Palestinian people," with its boundaries precisely matching "the boundaries it had during the British Mandate." A clear statement, if perhaps a touch idealistic in its aspirations.

However, since the momentous 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence, the term State of Palestine has, in a pragmatic shift, been used to refer exclusively to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This notable discrepancy was candidly addressed by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in a September 2011 speech to the United Nations, where he characterized it as a negotiated concession: "...we agreed to establish the State of Palestine on only 22% of the territory of historical Palestine – on all the Palestinian Territory occupied by Israel in 1967." A rather stark acknowledgment of geopolitical realities.

Furthermore, the term "Palestine" is sometimes employed in an even more restricted sense, referring specifically to the parts of the Palestinian territories currently under the administrative control of the Palestinian National Authority. This quasi-governmental entity exercises self-governance over parts of the State of Palestine in accordance with the terms laid out in the Oslo Accords. It seems that even within a single region, names and definitions continue to fragment, reflecting the complex and often painful political landscape.

Administration

Demographics

For a comprehensive historical perspective, refer to the Main article: Demographic history of Palestine.

Early demographics

Estimating the population of Palestine in antiquity is a task fraught with difficulty, relying on two primary, often conflicting, methodologies. The first involves gleaning information from censuses and written records produced at the time, which, as anyone who has ever dealt with ancient bureaucracy can attest, are rarely complete or unbiased. The second, more scientific approach, is based on archaeological excavations and statistical modeling. This involves painstakingly counting the number of settlements identified from a particular age, estimating the area of each settlement, and then applying a density factor for each to arrive at an approximate population figure. It’s a delicate dance between hard evidence and educated guesswork.

The Bar Kokhba revolt in the 2nd century CE precipitated a monumental and devastating shift in the population of Palestine. The sheer scale and scope of the destruction wrought by the Roman war machine are vividly captured by Dio Cassius in his Roman History. He chillingly notes that Roman military operations in the country resulted in the deaths of some 580,000 Jews, with countless more succumbing to famine and disease. Furthermore, 50 of their most crucial outposts and 985 of their most renowned villages were razed to the ground. "Thus," Dio Cassius starkly records, "nearly the whole of Judaea was made desolate." A rather thorough job, if one considers the objective to be depopulation.

According to the respected Israeli archaeologists Magen Broshi and Yigal Shiloh, the population of ancient Palestine never exceeded one million people. By 300 CE, Christianity had expanded so significantly throughout the region that Jews constituted a mere quarter of the total population. The demographics, like the landscape, were in constant flux.

Late Ottoman and British Mandate periods

In a detailed study of Ottoman registers from the early period of Ottoman rule in Palestine, the esteemed historian Bernard Lewis reported:

"[T]he first half century of Ottoman rule brought a sharp increase in population. The towns grew rapidly, villages became larger and more numerous, and there was an extensive development of agriculture, industry, and trade. The two last were certainly helped to no small extent by the influx of Spanish and other Western Jews."

He further observed, "From the mass of detail in the registers, it is possible to extract something like a general picture of the economic life of the country in that period. Out of a total population of about 300,000 souls, between a fifth and a quarter lived in the six towns of Jerusalem, Gaza, Safed, Nablus, Ramle, and Hebron. The remainder consisted mainly of peasants, living in villages of varying size, and engaged in agriculture. Their main food-crops were wheat and barley in that order, supplemented by leguminous pulses, olives, fruit, and vegetables. In and around most of the towns there was a considerable number of vineyards, orchards, and vegetable gardens." A picture of quiet, agrarian prosperity, for a time.

According to Alexander Scholch, a scholar of the region, the population of Palestine in 1850 stood at approximately 350,000 inhabitants. Of these, a significant 30% resided in 13 towns. The demographic breakdown was roughly 85% Muslims, 11% Christians, and 4% Jews.

Further research by Justin McCarthy, based on Ottoman statistics, indicates that the non-Jewish population of Palestine was approximately 452,789 in 1882. This figure rose to 737,389 by 1914, then slightly decreased to 725,507 in 1922, before climbing again to 880,746 in 1931, and finally reaching 1,339,763 in 1946. He also estimated the total population of Palestine in the early 19th century at 350,000, growing to 411,000 in 1860, and approximately 600,000 by 1900, with a striking 94% being Arabs. In 1914, Palestine's population was composed of 657,000 Muslim Arabs, 81,000 Christian Arabs, and 59,000 Jews. The numbers tell a story, if one is willing to look.

In 1920, the League of Nations' Interim Report on the Civil Administration of Palestine offered a snapshot of the 700,000 people then inhabiting Palestine:

"Of these, 235,000 live in the larger towns, 465,000 in the smaller towns and villages. Four-fifths of the whole population are Moslems. A small proportion of these are Bedouin Arabs; the remainder, although they speak Arabic and are termed Arabs, are largely of mixed race. Some 77,000 of the population are Christians, in large majority belonging to the Orthodox Church, and speaking Arabic. The minority are members of the Latin or of the Uniate Greek Catholic Church, or—a small number—are Protestants. The Jewish element of the population numbers 76,000. Almost all have entered Palestine during the last 40 years. Prior to 1850, there were in the country only a handful of Jews. In the following 30 years, a few hundreds came to Palestine. Most of them were animated by religious motives; they came to pray and to die in the Holy Land, and to be buried in its soil. After the persecutions in Russia forty years ago, the movement of the Jews to Palestine assumed larger proportions." A rather clinical assessment, but one that highlights the shifting tides of migration and demography.

Current demographics

For a detailed analysis, see also: Demographics of Israel and Demographics of the Palestinian territories.

According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, as of the 2015 [update], the total population of Israel stood at 8.5 million people. The demographic composition was approximately 75% Jews, 21% Arabs, and 4% classified as "others." Within the Jewish demographic, 76% were Sabras (individuals born in Israel). The remainder were olim (immigrants), with 16% originating from Europe, the former Soviet republics, and the Americas, and 8% from Asia and Africa, including various Arab countries. It seems that even within a single identity, there are many layers.

Concurrently, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimated that in 2015, the Palestinian population of the West Bank was approximately 2.9 million, while that of the Gaza Strip was around 1.8 million. Both Israeli and Palestinian statistical agencies include Arab residents of East Jerusalem in their respective reports. Based on these estimates, the combined total population within the geographical region of Palestine, as defined by the current territories of Israel and the Palestinian territories, is approximately 12.8 million people.

Flora and fauna

For an extensive overview, see Main article: Biodiversity in Israel and Palestine.

Flora distribution

For detailed categorization, see also: Category:Flora of Palestine (region) and List of native plants of Flora Palaestina (A–B).

The World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, a rather dry but necessary system, is widely employed for cataloging the global distribution of plant species. Within this scheme, the code "PAL" is assigned to refer specifically to the region of Palestine, designating it as a Level 3 area. Notably, the WGSRPD's definition of Palestine is further subdivided to include Israel (PAL-IS), which encompasses the Palestinian territories, and Jordan (PAL-JO). This makes its geographical scope somewhat larger than certain other, more restrictive definitions of "Palestine." The comprehensive Flora Palaestina, a foundational botanical work, utilized essentially the same geographical area, with the inclusion of the Golan Heights. The plants, at least, seem to disregard the human squabbles over borders.

Birds

For a detailed ornithological record, see Main article: List of birds of Palestine.

See also

Notes

  • ^ a b אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל ʾEreṣ Yiśrāʾēl ("Land of Israel"), sometimes called simply הָאָרֶץ hāʾĀreṣ ("the Land") or abbreviated א״י, is the most common Hebrew name for Palestine as a geographic region (although anti-Zionists may avoid using the term in non-religious contexts, due to its perceived irrendentist connotations).

    The term פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה Pāleśtīnā is sometimes used in secular historical contexts to refer to the land when it was under European (chiefly Roman and especially British) control.

    The term פָלַסְטִין Fālasṭīn is used after 1948 in the context of Arab national aspirations in Palestine, and nowadays chiefly refers to the State of Palestine. Similarly to Pāleśtīnā , it may be used in secular historiographical context to refer to the land during periods of Arab and/or Muslim rule, but this is rare.

  • ^ Northwestern parts, according to some definitions.

  • ^ Ancient Greek: Παλαιστίνη, romanized: Palaistínē ; Latin: Palaestina ; Arabic: فِلَسْطِين, romanized: Filasṭīn ; Levantine Arabic: فَلَسْطِين, romanized: Falasṭīn , or فِلِسْطِين, Filisṭīn ; Hebrew: פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה, romanized: Pāleśtīnā , or more commonly Hebrew: אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל, romanized: ʾEreṣ Yiśrāʾēl . i

  • ^ Eberhard Schrader wrote in his seminal "Keilinschriften und Geschichtsforschung" ("KGF", in English "Cuneiform inscriptions and Historical Research") that the Assyrian tern "Palashtu" or "Pilistu" referred to the wider Palestine or "the East" in general, instead of "Philistia" (Schrader 1878, pp. 123–124; Anspacher 1912, p. 48).

  • ^ "The earliest occurrence of this name in a Greek text is in the mid-fifth century B.C., Histories of Herodotus, where it is applied to the area of the Levant between Phoenicia and Egypt." ... "The first known occurrence of the Greek word Palaistine is in the Histories of Herodotus, written near the mid-fifth century B.C. Palaistine Syria, or simply Palaistine, is applied to what may be identified as the southern part of Syria, comprising the region between Phoenicia and Egypt. Although some of Herodotus' references to Palestine are compatible with a narrow definition of the coastal strip of the Land of Israel, it is clear that Herodotus does call the whole land by the name of the coastal strip." ... "It is believed that Herodotus visited Palestine in the fifth decade of the fifth century B.C." ..."In the earliest Classical literature references to Palestine generally applied to the Land of Israel in the wider sense." (Jacobson 1999)

  • ^ "As early as the Histories of Herodotus, written in the second half of the fifth century BCE, the term Palaistinê is used to describe not just the geographical area where the Philistines lived, but the entire area between Phoenicia and Egypt—in other words, the Land of Israel. Herodotus, who had traveled through the area, would have had firsthand knowledge of the land and its people. Yet he used Palaistinê to refer not to the Land of the Philistines, but to the Land of Israel" (Jacobson 2001)

  • ^ In The Histories , Herodotus referred to the practice of male circumcision associated with the Hebrew people: "the Colchians, the Egyptians, and the Ethiopians, are the only nations who have practised circumcision from the earliest times. The Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine themselves confess that they learnt the custom of the Egyptians ... Now these are the only nations who use circumcision." (Herodotus 1858, pp. Bk ii, Ch 104)

  • ^ "Rabbinic sources insist that the Philistines of Judges and Samuel were different people altogether from the Philistines of Genesis. (Midrash Tehillim on Psalm 60 (Braude: vol. 1, 513); the issue here is precisely whether Israel should have been obliged, later, to keep the Genesis treaty.) This parallels a shift in the Septuagint's translation of Hebrew pelistim. Before Judges, it uses the neutral transliteration phulistiim, but beginning with Judges it switches to the pejorative allophuloi. [To be precise, Codex Alexandrinus starts using the new translation at the beginning of Judges and uses it invariably thereafter, Vaticanus likewise switches at the beginning of Judges, but reverts to phulistiim on six occasions later in Judges, the last of which is 14:2.]" (Jobling & Rose 1996, p. 404)

  • ^ For example, the 1915 Filastin Risalesi ("Palestine Document"), an Ottoman army (VIII Corps) country survey which formally identified Palestine as including the sanjaqs of Akka (the Galilee), the Sanjaq of Nablus, and the Sanjaq of Jerusalem (Kudus Sherif) 43

  • ^ The New Testament, taking up a term used once in the Tanakh (1 Samuel 13:19), 45 46 speaks of a larger theologically-defined area, of which Palestine is a part, as the "land of Israel" 47 (γῆ Ἰσραήλ) (Matthew 2:20–21), in a narrative paralleling that of the Book of Exodus.

  • ^ "The parallels between this narrative and that of Exodus continue to be drawn. Like Pharaoh before him, Herod, having been frustrated in his original efforts, now seeks to achieve his objectives by implementing a program of infanticide. As a result, here – as in Exodus – rescuing the hero's life from the clutches of the evil king necessitates a sudden flight to another country. And finally, in perhaps the most vivid parallel of all, the present narrative uses virtually the same words of the earlier one to provide the information that the coast is clear for the herds safe return: here, in Matthew 2:20, 'go [back]… for those who sought the child's life are dead; there, in Exodus 4:19, go back… for all the men who sought your life are dead'" (Goldberg 2001, p. 147).

  • ^ Other writers, such as Strabo, referred to the region as Coele-Syria ("all Syria") around 10–20 CE . 48

  • ^ "Several scholars hold the revisionist thesis that the Israelites did not move to the area as a distinct and foreign ethnic group at all, bringing with them their god Yahwe and forcibly evicting the indigenous population, but that they gradually evolved out of an amalgam of several ethnic groups, and that the Israelite cult developed on "Palestinian" soil amid the indigenous population. This would make the Israelites "Palestinians" not just in geographical and political terms (under the British Mandate, both Jews and Arabs living in the country were defined as Palestinians), but in ethnic and broader cultural terms as well. While this does not conform to the conventional view, or to the understanding of most Jews (and Arabs, for that matter), it is not easy to either prove or disprove. For although the Bible speaks at length about how the Israelites "took" the land, it is not a history book to draw reliable maps from. There is nothing in the extra-biblical sources, including the extensive Egyptian materials, to document the sojourn in Egypt or the exodus so vividly described in the Bible (and commonly dated to the thirteenth century). Biblical scholar Moshe Weinfeld sees the biblical account of the exodus, and of Moses and Joshua as founding heroes of the "national narration", as a later rendering of a lived experience that was subsequently either "forgotten" or consciously repressed – a textbook case of the "invented tradition" so familiar to modern students of ethnicity and nationalism." (Krämer 2011, p. 8)

  • ^ ( Temple of Jerusalem ): totally destroyed the building in 587/586

  • ^ "In both the Idumaean and the Ituraean alliances, and in the annexation of Samaria, the Judaeans had taken the leading role. They retained it. The whole political–military–religious league that now united the hill country of Palestine from Dan to Beersheba, whatever it called itself, was directed by, and soon came to be called by others, 'the Ioudaioi'" (Smith 1999, p. 210a)

  • ^ For example, in a 2011 review of the state of modern scholarship, Bart Ehrman (a secular agnostic) described the dispute, whilst concluding: "He certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees" (Ehrman 2011, p. 285)

  • ^ "The religious situation also evolved under the new masters. Christianity did remain the majority religion, but it lost the privileges it had enjoyed." (Flusin 2011, pp. 199–226, 215)

  • ^ The earlier view, exemplifed by the writings of Moshe Gil, argued for a Jewish-Samaritan majority at the time of conquest: "We may reasonably state that at the time if the Muslim conquest, a large Jewish population still lived in Palestine. We do not know whether they formed the majority but we may assume with some certainly that they did so when grouped together with the Samaritans." (Gil 1997, p. 3)

  • ^ "Under the Tulunids, Syro-Egyptian territory was deeply imbued with the concept of an extraordinary role devolving upon Jerusalem in Islam as al-Quds, Bayt al-Maqdis or Bayt al-Muqaddas, the "House of Holiness", the seat of the Last Judgment, the Gate to Paradise for Muslims as well as for Jews and Christians. In the popular conscience, this concept established a bond between the three monotheistic religions. If Ahmad ibn Tulun was interred on the slope of the Muqattam [near Cairo], Isa ibn Musa al-Nashari and Takin were laid to rest in Jerusalem in 910 and 933, as were their Ikhshidid successors and Kafir [for context see here]. To honor the great general and governor of Syria Anushtakin al-Dizbiri, who died in 433/1042, the Fatimid Dynasty had his remains solemnly conveyed from Aleppo to Jerusalem in 448/1056-57." (Bianquis 1998, p. 103)

  • ^ "In 1914 about 12,000 Jewish farmers and fieldworkers lived in approximately forty Jewish settlements –and to repeat it once again, they were by no means all Zionists. The dominant languages were still Yiddish, Russian, Polish, Rumanian, Hungarian, or German in the case of Ashkenazi immigrants from Europe, and Ladino (or 'Judeo-Spanish') and Arabic in the case of Sephardic and Oriental Jews. Biblical Hebrew served as the sacred language, while modern Hebrew (Ivrit) remained for the time being the language of a politically committed minority that had devoted itself to a revival of 'Hebrew culture'." (Krämer 2011, p. 120)

  • ^ "Transjordan, however, controlled large portions of Judea and Samaria, later known as the West Bank" (Tucker & Roberts 2008, pp. 248–249, 500, 522)

  • ^ The majority of the international community (including the UN General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, the International Criminal Court, and the vast majority of human rights organizations) considers Israel to be continuing to occupying Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The government of Israel and some supporters have, at times, disputed this position of the international community. In 2011, Andrew Sanger explained the situation as follows: "Israel claims it no longer occupies the Gaza Strip, maintaining that it is neither a Stale nor a territory occupied or controlled by Israel, but rather it has 'sui generis' status. Pursuant to the Disengagement Plan, Israel dismantled all military institutions and settlements in Gaza and there is no longer a permanent Israeli military or civilian presence in the territory. However the Plan also provided that Israel will guard and monitor the external land perimeter of the Gaza Strip, will continue to maintain exclusive authority in Gaza air space, and will continue to exercise security activity in the sea off the coast of the Gaza Strip as well as maintaining an Israeli military presence on the Egyptian-Gaza border. and reserving the right to reenter Gaza at will. Israel continues to control six of Gaza's seven land crossings, its maritime borders and airspace and the movement of goods and persons in and out of the territory. Egypt controls one of Gaza's land crossings. Troops from the Israeli Defence Force regularly enter pans of the territory and/or deploy missile attacks, drones and sonic bombs into Gaza. Israel has declared a no-go buffer zone that stretches deep into Gaza: if Gazans enter this zone they are shot on sight. Gaza is also dependent on Israel for inter alia electricity, currency, telephone networks, issuing IDs, and permits to enter and leave the territory. Israel also has sole control of the Palestinian Population Registry through which the Israeli Army regulates who is classified as a Palestinian and who is a Gazan or West Banker. Since 2000 aside from a limited number of exceptions Israel has refused to add people to the Palestinian Population Registry. It is this direct external control over Gaza and indirect control over life within Gaza that has led the United Nations, the UN General Assembly, the UN Fact Finding Mission to Gaza, International human rights organisations, US Government websites, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and a significant number of legal commentators, to reject the argument that Gaza is no longer occupied.", 133 and in 2012 Iain Scobbie explained: "Even after the accession to power of Hamas, Israel's claim that it no longer occupies Gaza has not been accepted by UN bodies, most States, nor the majority of academic commentators because of its exclusive control of its border with Gaza and crossing points including the effective control it exerted over the Rafah crossing until at least May 2011, its control of Gaza's maritime zones and airspace which constitute what Aronson terms the 'security envelope' around Gaza, as well as its ability to intervene forcibly at will in Gaza" 134 and Michelle Gawerc wrote in the same year: "While Israel withdrew from the immediate territory, Israel still controlled all access to and from Gaza through the border crossings, as well as through the coastline and the airspace. ln addition, Gaza was dependent upon Israel for water electricity sewage communication networks and for its trade (Gisha 2007. Dowty 2008). In other words, while Israel maintained that its occupation of Gaza ended with its unilateral disengagement Palestinians – as well as many human right organizations and international bodies – argued that Gaza was by all intents and purposes still occupied." 135 For more details of this terminology dispute, including with respect to the current status of the Gaza Strip, see International views on the Israeli-occupied territories and Status of territories captured by Israel.

  • ^ For an explanation of the differences between an annexed but disputed territory (e.g. Tibet) and a militarily occupied territory, please see the article Military occupation. The "longest military occupation" description has been described in a number of ways, including: "The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is the longest military occupation in modern times," 136 "...longest official military occupation of modern history—currently entering its thirty-fifth year," 137 "...longest-lasting military occupation of the modern age, " 138 "This is probably the longest occupation in modern international relations, and it holds a central place in all literature on the law of belligerent occupation since the early 1970s," 139 "These are settlements and a military occupation that is the longest in the twentieth and twenty-first century, the longest formerly being the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. So this is thirty-three years old [in 2000], pushing the record," 140 "Israel is the only modern state that has held territories under military occupation for over four decades." 141 In 2014 Sharon Weill provided further context, writing: "Although the basic philosophy behind the law of military occupation is that it is a temporary situation modem occupations have well demonstrated that rien ne dure comme le provisoire A significant number of post-1945 occupations have lasted more than two decades such as the occupations of Namibia by South Africa and of East Timor by Indonesia as well as the ongoing occupations of Northern Cyprus by Turkey and of Western Sahara by Morocco. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, which is the longest in all occupation's history has already entered its fifth decade." 142

  • ^ See United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19 for further details

  • ^ According to the Jewish Encyclopedia published between 1901 and 1906: 146 "Palestine extends, from 31° to 33° 20' N. latitude. Its southwest point (at Raphia, Tell Rifaḥ, southwest of Gaza) is about 34° 15' E. longitude, and its northwest point (mouth of the Liṭani) is at 35° 15' E. longitude, while the course of the Jordan reaches 35° 35' to the east. The west-Jordan country has, consequently, a length of about 150 English miles from north to south, and a breadth of about 23 miles (37 km) at the north and 80 miles (129 km) at the south. The area of this region, as measured by the surveyors of the English Palestine Exploration Fund, is about 6,040 square miles (15,644 km 2 ). The east-Jordan district is now being surveyed by the German Palästina-Verein, and although the work is not yet completed, its area may be estimated at 4,000 square miles (10,360 km 2 ). This entire region, as stated above, was not occupied exclusively by the Israelites, for the plain along the coast in the south belonged to the Philistines, and that in the north to the Phoenicians, while in the east-Jordan country, the Israelitic possessions never extended farther than the Arnon (Wadi al-Mujib) in the south, nor did the Israelites ever settle in the most northerly and easterly portions of the plain of Bashan. To-day the number of inhabitants does not exceed 650,000. Palestine, and especially the Israelitic state, covered, therefore, a very small area, approximating that of the state of Vermont." From the Jewish Encyclopedia

  • ^ According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911), Palestine is: 147 "[A] geographical name of rather loose application. Etymological strictness would require it to denote exclusively the narrow strip of coast-land once occupied by the Philistines, from whose name it is derived. It is, however, conventionally used as a name for the territory which, in the Old Testament, is claimed as the inheritance of the pre-exilic Hebrews; thus it may be said generally to denote the southern third of the province of Syria. Except in the west, where the country is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, the limit of this territory cannot be laid down on the map as a definite line. The modern subdivisions under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire are in no sense conterminous with those of antiquity, and hence do not afford a boundary by which Palestine can be separated exactly from the rest of Syria in the north, or from the Sinaitic and Arabian deserts in the south and east; nor are the records of ancient boundaries sufficiently full and definite to make possible the complete demarcation of the country. Even the convention above referred to is inexact: it includes the Philistine territory, claimed but never settled by the Hebrews, and excludes the outlying parts of the large area claimed in Num. xxxiv. as the Hebrew possession (from the " River of Egypt " to Hamath). However, the Hebrews themselves have preserved, in the proverbial expression " from Dan to Beersheba " (Judg. xx.i, &c.), an indication of the normal north-and-south limits of their land; and in defining the area of the country under discussion it is this indication which is generally followed. Taking as a guide the natural features most nearly corresponding to these outlying points, we may describe Palestine as the strip of land extending along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea from the mouth of the Litany or Kasimiya River (33° 20' N.) southward to the mouth of the Wadi Ghuzza; the latter joins the sea in 31° 28' N., a short distance south of Gaza, and runs thence in a south-easterly direction so as to include on its northern side the site of Beersheba. Eastward there is no such definite border. The River Jordan, it is true, marks a line of delimitation between Western and Eastern Palestine; but it is practically impossible to say where the latter ends and the Arabian desert begins. Perhaps the line of the pilgrim road from Damascus to Mecca is the most convenient possible boundary. The total length of the region is about 140 m (459.32 ft); its breadth west of the Jordan ranges from about 23 m (75.46 ft) in the north to about 80 m (262.47 ft) in the south."

  • ^ "The term Palestine in the textbooks refers to Palestinian National Authority." (Adwan 2006, p. 242)

  • ^ See for example, Palestinian school textbooks xxvii

  • ^ "... the population of Palestine in antiquity did not exceed a million persons. It can also be shown, moreover, that this was more or less the size of the population in the peak period—the late Byzantine period, around AD 600" (Broshi 1979, p. 7)

  • ^ "... the population of the country in the Roman-Byzantine period greatly exceeded that in the Iron Age... If we accept Broshi's population estimates, which appear to be confirmed by the results of recent research, it follows that the estimates for the population during the Iron Age must be set at a lower figure." (Shiloh 1980, p. 33)

  • ^ By A.D. 300, Jews made up a mere quarter of the total population of the province of Syria Palaestina (Krämer 2011, p. 15)

Citations

Bibliography