Palestine Wikipedia

8/9/2019 Palestine Wikipedia

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Palestine

An 1890 map of Palestine as described by medieval Arab geographers, with Jund Filastinadministrative areaPalestine (Greek: , Palaistin; Latin: Palaestina; Hebrew: , EretYisra'el; formerly , Eret Kena'an; also , Palestina; Arabic: Filasn,Falasn, Filisn) is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic regionbetween the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands. [1]As a geographic term, Palestine can refer to "ancient Palestine," an area that today includes Israeland the Israeli-occupied [2] Palestinian territories, as well as part of Jordan, and some of bothLebanon and Syria.[1] In classical or contemporary terms, it is also the common name for the areawest of the Jordan River. The boundaries of Palestine were segmented into two new states withinthe territory of the British Mandate, Palestine, which became modern day Israel andTransjordan.[3][4][5][6] The term Land of Israel is used to refer to the same geographic region, bothnarrowly or broadly defined, by Israelis, Jews, and Christian Zionists, among others. Other termsfor the same area include Canaan, Zion, and the Holy Land.

Contents1 Origin of name2 Boundaries2.1 Additional extrabiblical references2.2 Biblical texts3 History3.1 Paleolithic and Neolithic periods (1 mya5000 BCE)3.2 Chalcolithic period (45003000 BCE) and Bronze Age (30001200 BCE)3.3 Iron Age (1200330 BCE)


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3.3.1 Hebrew Bible/Old Testament period3.3.2 Persian rule (538 BCE)3.4 Classical antiquity3.4.1 Hellenistic rule (333 BCE)3.4.2 Hasmonean dynasty (140 BCE)

3.4.3 Roman rule (63 BCE)3.4.4 Byzantine (Eastern Roman) rule (330640 CE)3.5 Islamic period (6301918 CE)3.5.1 Arab Caliphate rule (6381099 CE)3.5.1.1 Umayyad rule (661750 CE)3.5.1.2 Abbasid rule (750969 CE)3.5.1.3 Fatimid rule (9691099 CE)3.5.2 Crusader rule (10991187 CE)3.5.3 Mamluk rule (12701516 CE)3.5.4 Ottoman rule (15161831 CE)3.5.5 Egyptian rule (18311841)

3.5.6 Ottoman rule (18411917)3.6 20th century3.7 British Mandate (19201948)3.7.1 Infrastructure and development3.7.2 19361939 Arab revolt in Palestine3.7.3 World War II and Palestine3.7.4 End of the British Mandate 194519483.8 UN partition and the 1948 Palestine War3.9 1948 to current times4 Demographics4.1 Early demographics

4.2 Demographics in the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods4.2.1 Official reports4.3 Current demographics5 See also6 References7 External links8 Bibliography

Origin ofnameThe name "Palestine" is the cognate of an ancient word meaning "Philistines" or "Land of thePhilistines".[7][8][9] The earliest known mention is thought to be in Ancient Egyptian texts of thetemple at Medinet Habu which record a people called the P-r-s-t (conventionally Peleset) among

the Sea Peoples who invaded Egypt in Ramesses III's reign. [10] The Hebrew name Peleshet( Plshseth)- usually translated as Philistia in English, is used in the Bible to denote the southerncoastal region that was inhabited by the Philistines to the west of the ancient Kingdom ofJudah.[11]The Assyrian emperor Sargon II called the same region Palashtu or Pilistu in hisAnnals.[7][8][8][12] In the 5th century BCE, Herodotus wrote in Ancient Greek of a 'district ofSyria, called Palaistin" (whence Palaestina, whence Palestine).[7][13][14][15]


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According to Moshe Sharon, Palaestina was commonly used to refer to the coastal region andshortly thereafter, the whole of the area inland to the west of the Jordan River.[7] The latterextension occurred when the Roman authorities, following the suppression of the Bar Kokhbarebellion in the 2nd century CE, renamed "Provincia Judea" (Iudaea Province; originally derivedfrom the name "Judah") to "Syria Palaestina" (Syria Palaestina), in order to complete the

dissociation with Judaea.

[16][17]

During the Byzantine period, the entire region (Syria Palestine, Samaria, and the Galilee) wasnamed Palaestina, subdivided into provinces Palaestina I and II.[18] The Byzantines also renamedan area of land including the Negev, Sinai, and the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula asPalaestina Salutaris, sometimes called Palaestina III.[18]The Arabic word for Palestine is Philistine (commonly transcribed in English as Filistin,Filastin, orFalastin).[19] Moshe Sharon writes that when the Arabs took over Greater Syria in the7th century, place names that were in use by the Byzantine administration before them, generallycontinued to be used. Hence, he traces the emergence of the Arabic form Filastin to thisadoption, with Arabic inflection, of Roman and Hebrew (Semitic) names.[7] Jacob Lassner andSelwyn Ilan Troen offer a different view, writing that JundFilastin, the full name for the

administrative province under the rule of the Arab caliphates, was traced by Muslim geographersback to the Philistines of the Bible.[20]The use of the name "Palestine" in English became more common after the Europeanrenaissance.[21] The name was not used in Ottoman times (15171917). Most of Christian Europereferred to the area as the Holy Land. It was officially revived by the British after the fall of theOttoman Empire and applied to the territory that was placed under British Mandate.Some other terms that have been used to refer to all or part of this land include Canaan, GreaterIsrael, Greater Syria, the Holy Land, Iudaea Province, Judea, [22] Israel, "Israel HaShlema",Kingdom of Israel, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael or Ha'aretz), Zion,Retenu (Ancient Egyptian), Southern Syria, and Syria Palestina.

BoundariesThe boundaries of Palestine have varied throughout history.

[23][24]

Prior to its being namedPalestine, Ancient Egyptian texts (c. 14 century BCE) called the entire coastal area along theMediterranean Sea between modern Egypt and Turkey R-t-n-u (conventionally Retjenu). Retjenuwas subdivided into three regions and the southern region, Djahy, shared approximately the sameboundaries as Canaan, or modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories, though including alsoSyria.[25]Scholars disagree as to whether the archaeological evidence supports the biblical story of therehaving been a Kingdom of Israel of the United Monarchy that reigned from Jerusalem, as thearchaeological evidence is both rare and disputed.[26][27] For those who do interpret thearchaeological evidence positively in this regard, it is thought to have ruled some time duringIron Age I (1200 - 1000 BCE) over an area approximating modern-day Israel and the Palestinian

territories, extending farther westward and northward to cover much (but not all) of the greaterLand of Israel.[26][27]Philistia, the Philistine confederation, emerged circa 1185 BCE and comprised five city states:Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod on the coast and Ekron, and Gath inland.[12] Its northern border was theYarkon River, the southern border extending to Wadi Gaza, its western border the MediterraneanSea, with no fixed border to the east.[10]By 722 BCE, Philistia had been subsumed by the Assyrian Empire, with the Philistinesbecoming 'part and parcel of the local population,' prospering under Assyrian rule during the 7th


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century despite occasional rebellions against their overlords.[12][28][29] In 604 BCE, whenAssyrian troops commanded by the Babylonian empire carried off significant numbers of the population into slavery, the distinctly Philistine character of the coastal cities dwindled away,and the history of the Philistines as a distinct people effectively ended.[12][28][30]The boundaries of the area and the ethnic nature of the people referred to by Herodotus in the 5th

century BCE as Palaestina vary according to context. Sometimes, he uses it to refer to the coastnorth of Mount Carmel. Elsewhere, distinguishing the Syrians in Palestine from the Phoenicians,he refers to their land as extending down all the coast from Phoenicia to Egypt.[31] Josephus usedthe name only for the smaller coastal area, Philistia.[32] Pliny, writing in Latin in the1st century CE, describes a region of Syria that was "formerly called Palaestina" among theareas of the Eastern Mediterranean.[33]Since the Byzantine Period, the Byzantine borders of Palaestina (I and II, also known asPalaestinaPrima, "First Palestine", and Palaestina Secunda, "Second Palestine"), have served asa name for the geographic area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Under Arabrule, Filastin (or Jund Filastin) was used administratively to refer to what was under theByzantines Palaestina Secunda (comprising Judaea and Samaria), while Palaestina Prima

(comprising the Galilee region) was renamed Urdunn ("Jordan" orJundal-Urdunn).

[7]

The Zionist Organization provided their definition concerning the boundaries of Palestine in astatement to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; it also includes a statement about theimportance of water resources that the designated area includes.[34][35] On the basis of a Leagueof Nations mandate, the British administered Palestine after World War I, promising to establisha Jewish homeland therein.[36] The original British Mandate included what is now Israel, theWest Bank (of the Jordan), and trans-Jordan (the present kingdom of Jordan),although the latterwas disattached by an administrative decision of the British in 1922.[37] To the Palestinian peoplewho view Palestine as their homeland, its boundaries are those of the British Mandate excludingthe Transjordan, as described in the Palestinian National Charter. [38]Additional extrabiblical references

From the Merneptah Stele "Israel is wasted, its seed is no longer".An archaeological textual reference concerning the territory of Palestine is thought to have beenmade in the Merneptah Stele, dated c. 1200 BCE, containing a recount of Egyptian kingMerneptah's victories in the land of Canaan, mentioning place-names such as Gezer, Ashkelonand Yanoam, along with Israel, which is mentioned using a hieroglyphic determinative thatindicates a nomad people, rather than a state. [39]


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Mesha Stele

Another famous inscription is that of the Mesha Stele, bearing an inscription by the 9th centuryBC Moabite King Mesha, discovered in 1868 at Dhiban (biblical "Dibon," capital of Moab) nowin Jordan. The Stele is notable because it is thought to be the earliest known reference to thesacred Hebrew name of God YHWH. It also notable as the most extensive inscription everrecovered that refers to ancient Israel.Biblical texts

The Holy Land, orPalestine,showing not only the Ancient Kingdoms ofJudah and Israel in

which the 12 Tribes have been distinguished, but also their placement in different periods asindicatedinthe Holy Scriptures. Tobias Conrad Lotter, Geographer. Augsburg, Germany, 1759In the Biblical account, the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah ruled from Jerusalem a vastterritory extending far west and north of Palestine for some 120 years. Archaeological evidencefor this period is very rare, however, and its implications much disputed. [26][27]The Hebrew Bible calls the region Canaan () (Numbers 34:112), while the part of itoccupied by Israelites is designated Israel (Yisrael). The name "Land of the Hebrews" ( , Eretz Ha-Ivrim) is also found, as well as several poetical names: "land flowing with milkand honey", "land that [God] swore to your fathers to assign to you", "Land of the Lord", and the"Promised Land".


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The Land of Canaan is given a precise description in (Numbers 34:1) as including all ofLebanon, as well (Joshua 13:5). The wide area appears to have been the home of several smallnations such as the Canaanites, Hebrews, Hittites, Amorrhites, Pherezites, Hevites and Jebusites.According to Hebrew tradition, the land of Canaan is part of the land given to the descendants ofAbraham, which extends from the "river of Egypt" to the Euphrates River (Genesis 15:18 )

some identify the river of Egypt with the Nile, others believe it to be a wadi in northern Sinai, cf.Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:3-4; Joshua 15:47; 1 Kings 8:65; 2 Kings 24:7.In Exodus 13:17, "And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led themnot through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lestperadventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt."The events of the Four Gospels of the Christian Bible take place almost entirely in this country,which in Christian tradition thereafter became known as The Holy Land.In the Qur'an, the term (Al-Ard Al-Muqaddasah, English: "Holy Land") ismentioned at least seven times, once when Moses proclaims to the Children of Israel: "O my people! Enter the holy land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not backignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin." (Surah 5:21)

HistoryMainarticles: History ofPalestineandHistory of IsraelPaleolithic and Neolithic periods (1 mya5000 BCE)Seealso:PaleolithicandNeolithic

Double burial of homo sapiens at Qafzeh caveThe earliest human remains in Palestine were found in Ubeidiya, some 3 km south of the Sea ofGalilee (Lake Tiberias), in the Jordan Rift Valley. The remains are dated to the Pleistocene, ca.1.5 million years ago. It is traces of the earliest migration ofHomo erectus out of Africa. The siteyielded hand axes of the Acheulean type.[40]Wadi El Amud between Safed and the Sea of Galilee was the site of the first prehistoric diggingin Palestine, in 1925. The discovery of the Palestine Man in the Zuttiyeh Cave in Wadi Al-Amudnear Safad in 1925 provided some clues to human development in the area. [41][42]Qafzeh is a paleoanthropological site south of Nazareth where eleven significant fossilisedHomosapiens skeletons have been found at the main rock shelter. These anatomically modern humans,both adult and infant, are now dated to circa 90100,000 years old, and many of the bones arestained with red ochre which is conjectured to have been used in the burial process, a significantindicator of ritual behavior and thereby symbolic thought and intelligence. 71 pieces of unusedred ochre also littered the site.Mount Carmel has yielded several important findings, among them Kebara Cave that wasinhabited between 60,000 48,000 BP and where the most complete Neanderthal skeleton foundto date. The Tabun cave was occupied intermittently during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic


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ages (500,000 to around 40,000 years ago). Excavation suggests that it features one of thelongest sequences of human occupation in the Levant. In the nearby Es Skhul cave excavationsrevealed the first evidence of the late Epipalaeolithic Natufian culture, characterized by thepresence of abundant microliths, human burials and ground stone tools. This also represents onearea where Neanderthals present in the region from 200,000 to 45,000 years ago lived

alongside modern humans dating to 100,000 years ago.

[43]

In the caves of Shuqba in Ramallah and Wadi Khareitun in Bethlehem, stone, wood and animal bone tools were found and attributed to the Natufian culture (c. 1280010300 BCE). Otherremains from this era have been found at Tel Abu Hureura, Ein Mallaha, Beidha and Jericho. [44]

A dwelling unearthed at Tell es-Sultan.Between 10000 and 5000 BCE, agricultural communities were established. Evidence of suchsettlements were found at Tel es-Sultan in Jericho and consisted of a number of walls, a religiousshrine, and a 23-foot (7.0 m) tower with an internal staircase[45][46] Jericho is believed to be oneof the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world, with evidence of settlement dating backto 9000 BC, providing important information about early human habitation in the Near East. [47]Chalcolithic period (45003000 BCE) and Bronze Age (30001200 BCE)Seealso:ChalcolithicandBronze Age


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An 1882 rendering of Canaan, as divided among the Twelve Tribes, by the American Sunday-School Union of Philadelphia.Along the JerichoDead SeaBir es-SabaGazaSinai route, a culture originating in Syria,marked by the use of copper and stone tools, brought new migrant groups to the regioncontributing to an increasingly urban fabric.[48][49][50]By the early Bronze Age (30002200 BCE) independent Canaanite city-states situated in plainsand coastal regions and surrounded by mud-brick defensive walls were established and most ofthese cities relied on nearby agricultural hamlets for their food needs. [48][51]Archaeological finds from the early Canaanite era have been found at Tel Megiddo, Jericho, Telal-Far'a (Gaza), Bisan, and Ai (Deir Dibwan/Ramallah District), Tel an Nasbe (al-Bireh) and Jib(Jerusalem).The Canaanite city-states held trade and diplomatic relations with Egypt and Syria. Parts of theCanaanite urban civilization were destroyed around 2300 BCE, though there is no consensus asto why. Incursions by nomads from the east of the Jordan River who settled in the hills followedsoon thereafter.[48][52]In the Middle Bronze Age (22001500 BCE), Canaan was influenced by the surroundingcivilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Minoan Crete, and Syria. Diversecommercial ties and an agriculturally based economy led to the development of new potteryforms, the cultivation of grapes, and the extensive use of bronze. [48][53] Burial customs from thistime seemed to be influenced by a belief in the afterlife.[48][54]Political, commercial and military events during the Late Bronze Age period (14501350 BCE)were recorded by ambassadors and Canaanite proxy rulers for Egypt in 379 cuneiform tabletsknown as the Amarna Letters.[55] The Minoan influence is apparent at Tel Kabri.[56]By c. 1190 BCE, the Philistines arrived and mingled with the local population, losing theirseparate identity over several generations.[28][57]


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Iron Age (1200330 BCE)Pottery remains found in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath (city), Ekron and Gaza decorated with stylized birds provided the first archaeological evidence for Philistine settlement in the region. ThePhilistines are credited with introducing iron weapons and chariots to the local population. [58]Excavations have established that the late 13th, the 12th and the early 11th centuries BCE

witnessed the foundation of perhaps hundreds of insignificant, unprotected village settlements,many in the mountains of Palestine.[59] From around the 11th century BCE, there was a reductionin the number of villages, though this was counterbalanced by the rise of certain settlements tothe status of fortified townships.[59]Developments in Palestine between 1250 and 900 BCE have been the focus of debate betweenthose who accept the Old Testament version on the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes,and those who reject it.[60] Niels Peter Lemche, of the Copenhagen School of Biblical Studies,submits that the picture of ancient Israel "is contrary to any image of ancient Palestinian societythat can be established on the basis of ancient sources from Palestine or referring to Palestine andthat there is no way this image in the Bible can be reconciled with the historical past of theregion."[59]

Sites and artifacts, including the Large Stone Structure, Mount Ebal, the Menertaph, and Meshastelae, among others, are subject to widely varying historical interpretations: the "conservativecamp" reconstructs the history of Israel according to the biblical text and views archaeologicalevidence in that context, whilst scholars in the minimalist or deconstructionist school hold thatthere is no archaeological evidence supporting the idea of a United Monarchy (or Israelitenation) and the biblical account is a religious mythology created by Judean scribes in the Persianand Hellenistic periods; a third camp of centrist scholars acknowledges the value of someisolated elements of the Pentateuch and of Deuteronomonistic accounts as potentially validhistory of monarchic times that can be in accord with the archaeological evidence, but argue thatnevertheless the biblical narrative should be understood as highly ideological and adapted to theneeds of the community at the time of its compilation.[61][62][63][64][65][66]H

ebrew Bible/Old Testament period


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Map of the southern Levant, c.830s BCE. Kingdom of Judah Kingdom of Israel Philistinecity-states Phoenician states Kingdom of Ammon Kingdom of Edom Kingdom of Aram-Damascus Aramean tribes Arubu tribes Nabatu tribes Assyrian Empire Kingdom ofMoabSeealso: Archaeology of IsraelandHistory ofancientIsraelandJudahAccording to Biblical tradition, the United Kingdom of Israel was established by the Israelitetribes with Saul as its first king in 1020 BCE.[67] In 1000 BCE, Jerusalem was made the capital ofKing David's kingdom and it is believed that the First Temple was constructed in this period byKing Solomon.[67] By 930 BCE, the united kingdom split to form the northern Kingdom of Israel,and the southern Kingdom of Judah.[67] These kingdoms co-existed with several more kingdomsin the greater Palestine area, including Philistine town states on the Southwestern Mediterraneancoast, Edom, to the South of Judah, and Moab and Ammon to the East of the river Jordan.[68]According to Jon Schiller and Hermann Austel, among others, while in the past, the Bible storywas seen historical truth, "a growing number of archaeological scholars, particularly those of theminimalist school, are now insisting that Kings David and Solomon are 'no more real than KingArthur,' citing the lack of archaeological evidence attesting to the existence of the UnitedKingdom of Israel, and the unreliability of biblical texts, due to their being composed in a muchlater period."[69][70]There was an at least partial Egyptian withdrawal from Palestine in this period, though it is likelythat Bet Shean was an Egyptian garrison as late as the beginning of the 10th century BCE. [59] Thesocio-political system was characterized by local patrons fighting other local patrons, lastinguntil around the mid-9th century BCE when some local chieftains were able to create large political structures that exceeded the boundaries of those present in the Late Bronze AgeLevant.[59]Archaeological findings from this era include, among others, the Mesha Stele, from c. 850 BCE,which recounts the conquering of Moab, located East of the Dead Sea, by king Omri, and thesuccessful revolt of Moabian king Mesha against Omri's son, presumably King Ahab (andFrench scholar Andr Lemaire reported that line 31 of the Stele bears the phrase "the house of

David" (in Biblical Archaeology Review [May/June 1994], pp. 3037).[71]); and the KurkhMonolith, dated c. 835 BCE, describing King Shalmaneser III of Assyria's Battle of Qarqar,where he fought alongside the contingents of several kings, among them King Ahab and KingGindibu.Between 722 and 720 BCE, the northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the AssyrianEmpire and the Israelite tribes thereafter known as the Lost Tribes were exiled. [67] The mostimportant finding from the southern Kingdom of Judah is the Siloam Inscription, dated c. 700BCE, which celebrates the successful encounter of diggers, digging from both sides of theJerusalem wall to create the Hezekiah water tunnel and water pool, mentioned in the Bible, in2Kings 20:20.[citationneeded] In 586 BCE, Judah was conquered by the Babylonians and Jerusalemand the First Temple destroyed.[67] Most of the surviving Jews, and much of the other local

population, were deported to Babylonia.[28][72]Persian rule (538 BCE)After the Persian Empire was established, Jews were allowed to return to what their holy bookshad termed the Land of Israel, and having been granted some autonomy by the Persianadministration, it was during this period that the Second Temple in Jerusalem was built. [28][73]Sebastia, near Nablus, was the northernmost province of the Persian administration in Palestine,and its southern borders were drawn at Hebron. [28][74] Some of the local population served assoldiers and lay people in the Persian administration, while others continued to agriculture. In


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400 BCE, the Nabataeans made inroads into southern Palestine and built a separate civilizationin the Negev that lasted until 160 BCE.[28][75]Classical antiquityMainarticle:JudeaSeealso:Classicalantiquity

Hellenistic rule (333 BCE)The Persian Empire fell to Greek forces of the Macedonian general Alexander the Great. [76][77]After his death, with the absence of heirs, his conquests were divided amongst his generals,while the region of the Jews ("Judah" or Judea as it became known) was first part of thePtolemaic dynasty and then part of the Seleucid Empire.[78]The landscape during this period was markedly changed by extensive growth and developmentthat included urban planning and the establishment of well-built fortified cities. [74][76] Hellenistic pottery was produced that absorbed Philistine traditions. Trade and commerce flourished,particularly in the most Hellenized areas, such as Ascalon, Jaffa,[79] Jerusalem,[80] Gaza,[81] andancient Nablus (Tell Balatah).[76][82]The Jewish population in Judea was allowed limited autonomy in religion and administration.[83]

Hasmonean dynasty (140 BCE)

The extent of the Hasmonean kingdom.An independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmonean Dynasty existed from 14037 BCE. Inthe second century BCE fascination in Jerusalem for Greek culture resulted in a movement tobreak down the separation of Jew and Gentile and some people even tried to disguise the marksof their circumcision.[84] Disputes between the leaders of the reform movement, Jason andMenelaus, eventually led to civil war and the intervention of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. [84]Subsequent persecution of the Jews led to the Maccabean Revolt under the leadership of theHasmoneans, and the construction of a native Jewish kingship under the Hasmonean Dynasty.[84]


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After approximately a century of independence disputes between the Hasmonean rivalsAristobulus and Hyrcanus led to control of the kingdom by the Roman army of Pompey. Theterritory then became first a Roman client kingdom under Hyrcanus and then, in 70CE, a RomanProvince administered by the governor of Syria.[85]Roman rule (63 BCE)

Roman Iudaea Province in the 1st century CE as based on Robert W. Funk's The Acts ofJesus,

Michael Grant's's Jesus: An Historian'sReview of the Gospels and John P. Meier's A MarginalJew.Though General Pompey arrived in 63 BCE, Roman rule was solidified when Herod, whosedynasty was of Idumean ancestry, was appointed as king.[76][86] Urban planning under theRomans was characterized by cities designed around the Forum the central intersection of twomain streets the Cardo, running north-south and the Decumanus running east-west.[87] Citieswere connected by an extensive road network developed for economic and military purposes.Among the most notable archaeological remnants from this era are Herodium (Tel al-Fureidis) tothe south of Bethlehem,[88] Masada and Caesarea Maritima.[76][89] Herod arranged a renovation ofthe Second Temple in Jerusalem, with a massive expansion of the Temple Mount platform andmajor expansion of the Jewish Temple around 19 BCE. The Temple Mount's natural plateau was

extended by enclosing the area with four massive retaining walls and filling the voids. Thisartificial expansion resulted in a large flat expanse which today forms the eastern section of theOld City of Jerusalem.Around the time associated with the birth of Jesus, Roman Palestine was in a state of disarrayand direct Roman rule was re-established.[76][90] The early Christians were oppressed and whilemost inhabitants became Romanized, others, particularly Jews, found Roman rule to beunbearable.[76][90]


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First Jewish revolt shekel issued in 68. Obverse: "Shekel Israel, year 3". Reverse: "Jerusalem theHoly"As a result of the First Jewish-Roman War (6673), Titus sacked Jerusalem destroying theSecond Temple, leaving only supporting walls, including the Western Wall.

Bar Kochba revolt silver Shekel. Obverse: the Jewish Temple facade with the rising star,surrounded by "Shimon". Reverse: A lulav, the text reads: "To the freedom of Jerusalem"In 135, following the fall of a Jewish revolt led by Bar Kokhba in 132135, the Roman emperorHadrian attempted the expulsion of Jews from Judea. His attempt was as unsuccessful as weremost of Rome's many attempts to alter the demography of the Empire; this is demonstrated bythe continued existence of the rabbinical academy of Lydda in Judea, and in any case largeJewish populations remained in Samaria and the Galilee.[16] Tiberias became the headquarters ofexiled Jewish patriarchs. The Romans joined the province of Judea (which already includedSamaria) together with Galilee to form a new province, called Syria Palaestina, to complete thedisassociation with Judaea.[16] Notwithstanding the oppression, some two hundred Jewishcommunities remained. Gradually, certain religious freedoms were restored to the Jewish

population, such as exemption from the imperial cult and internal self-administration. TheRomans made no such concession to the Samaritans, to whom religious liberties were denied,while their sanctuary on Mt.Gerizim was defiled by a pagan temple, as part of measures weretaken to suppress the resurgence of Samaritan nationalism. [16]In 132 CE, the Emperor Hadrian changed the name of the province from Iudaea to SyriaPalaestina and renamed Jerusalem "Aelia Capitolina" and built temples there to honor Jupiter.Christianity was practiced in secret and the Hellenization of Palestine continued under SeptimiusSeverus (193211 CE).[76] New pagan cities were founded in Judea at Eleutheropolis (BaytJibrin), Diopolis (Lydd), and Nicopolis (Emmaus).[74][76]Byzantine (Eastern Roman)rule (330640 CE)


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5th century CE: Byzantine provinces of Palaestina I (Philistia, Judea and Samaria) andPalaestina II(Galilee and Perea).Emperor Constantine I's conversion to Christianity around 330 CE made Christianity the officialreligion of Palaestina.[91][92] After his mother Empress Helena identified the spot she believed tobe where Christ was crucified, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built in Jerusalem.[91] TheChurch of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Ascension in Jerusalem were also built during Constantine's reign.[91] This was the period of its greatest prosperity in antiquity.Urbanization increased, large new areas were put under cultivation, monasteries proliferated,synagogues were restored, and the population West of the Jordan may have reached as many as

one million.[16]Palestine thus became a center for pilgrims and ascetic life for men and women from all over theworld.[74][91] Many monasteries were built including the St. George's Monastery in Wadi al-Qelt,the Monastery of the Temptation and Deir Hajla near Jericho, and Deir Mar Saba and DeirTheodosius east of Bethlehem.[91]In 351-352, a Jews revolted against Byzantine rule in Tiberias and other parts of the Galilee was brutally suppressed. Imperial patronage for Christian cults and immigration was strong, and asignificant wave of immigration from Rome, especially to the area about Aelia Capitolina andBethlehem, took place after that city was sacked in 410. [16]In approximately 390 CE, Palaestina was further organised into three units: PalaestinaPrima,Secunda, and Tertia (First, Second, and Third Palestine), part of the Diocese of the East.[93][91]

PalaestinaPrima consisted of Judea, Samaria, the coast, and Peraea with the governor residingin Caesarea. Palaestina Secunda consisted of the Galilee, the lower Jezreel Valley, the regionseast of Galilee, and the western part of the former Decapolis with the seat of government atScythopolis. PalaestinaTertia included the Negev, southern Jordanonce part of Arabiaandmost of Sinai with Petra as the usual residence of the governor. Palestina Tertia was also knownas Palaestina Salutaris.[91][94]In 536 CE, Justinian I promoted the governor at Caesarea to proconsul (anthypatos), giving himauthority over the two remaining consulars. Justinian believed that the elevation of the governor


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was appropriate because he was responsible for "the province in which our Lord Jesus Christ...appeared on earth".[95] This was also the principal factor explaining why Palestine prosperedunder the Christian Empire. The cities of Palestine, such as Caesarea Maritima, Jerusalem,Scythopolis, Neapolis, and Gaza reached their peak population in the late Roman period and produced notable Christian scholars in the disciplines of rhetoric, historiography, Eusebian

ecclesiastical history, classicizing history and hagiography.

[95]

Byzantine administration of Palestine was temporarily suspended during the Persian occupationof 61428, and then permanently after the Muslims arrived in 634 CE, defeating the empire'sforces decisively at the Battle of Yarmouk in 636 CE. Jerusalem capitulated in 638 CE andCaesarea between 640 CE and 642 CE.[95]Islamic period (6301918 CE)The Islamic prophet Muhammad established a new unified political polity in the Arabian peninsula at the beginning of the seventh century. The subsequent Rashidun and UmayyadCaliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Arab power well beyond the Arabian peninsula inthe form of a vast Muslim Arab Empire. In the 630s this empire conquered Palestine and itremained under the control of Islamic Empires for most of the next 1300 years.

Arab Caliphate rule (6381099 CE)In 638 CE, following the Siege of Jerusalem, the Caliph Omar Ibn al-Khattab and Safforonius,the Patriarch of Jerusalem, signed Al-Uhda al-'Omariyya (The Umariyya Covenant), anagreement that stipulated the rights and obligations of all non-Muslims in Palestine. [91] Christiansand Jews where considered People of the Book, enjoyed some protection but had to pay a specialpoll tax called jizyah ("tribute"). During the early years of Muslim control of the city, a smallpermanent Jewish population returned to Jerusalem after a 500-year absence.[96]Omar Ibn al-Khattab was the first conqueror of Jerusalem to enter the city on foot, and whenvisiting the site that now houses the Haram al-Sharif, he declared it a sacred place ofprayer.[97][98] Cities that accepted the new rulers, as recorded in registrars from the time, were:Jerusalem, Nablus, Jenin, Acre, Tiberias, Bisan, Caesarea, Lajjun, Lydd, Jaffa, Imwas, Beit

Jibrin, Gaza, Rafah, Hebron, Yubna, Haifa, Safad and Ashkelon.

[99]

Umayyad rule (661750 CE)Under Umayyad rule, the Byzantine province of Palaestina Prima became the administrative andmilitary sub-province (jund) of Filastin the Arabic name for Palestine from that pointforward.[100] It formed part of the larger province of ash-Sham (Arabic for Greater Syria).[101]JundFilastin (Arabic , literally "the army of Palestine") was a region extendingfrom the Sinai to the plain of Acre. Major towns included Rafah, Caesarea, Gaza, Jaffa, Nablusand Jericho.[102] Lod served as the headquarters of the province of Filastin and the capital latermoved to Ramla. Jundal-Urdunn (literally "the army of Jordan") was a region to the north andeast of Filastin which included the cities of Acre, Bisan and Tiberias.[102]


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The Dome of the Rock on the Temple MountIn 691, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ordered that the Dome of the Rock be built on the sitewhere the Islamic prophet Muhammad is believed by Muslims to have begun his nocturnaljourney to heaven, on the Temple Mount. About a decade afterward, Caliph Al-Walid I had theAl-Aqsa Mosque built.[103]

It was under Umayyad rule that Christians and Jews were granted the official title of "Peoples ofthe Book" to underline the common monotheistic roots they shared with Islam.[99][104]Abbasid rule (750969 CE)The Baghdad-based Abbasid Caliphs renovated and visited the holy shrines and sanctuaries inJerusalem[105] and continued to build up Ramle.[99][106] Coastal areas were fortified and developedand port cities like Acre, Haifa, Caesarea, Arsuf, Jaffa and Ashkelon received monies from thestate treasury.[107]A trade fair took place in Jerusalem every year on September 15 where merchants from Pisa,Genoa, Venice and Marseilles converged to acquire spices, soaps, silks, olive oil, sugar andglassware in exchange for European products.[107] European Christian pilgrims visited and madegenerous donations to Christian holy places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. [107] During Harun al-

Rashid's (786809) reign the first contacts with the Frankish Kingdom of Charlemagne occurred,though the actual extent of these contacts is not known. As a result, Charlemagne sent money forconstruction of churches and a Latin Pilgrims' Inn in Jerusalem. [108] The establishment of thePilgrims' Inn in Jerusalem is seen as a fulfillment of Umar's pledge to Bishop Sophronious toallow freedom of religion and access to Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims. [109]The influence of the Arab tribes declined and the only context where they are reported is inuprising against the central authority.[110] I 796, a civil war between the Mudhar and Yamanitribes occurred, resulting in widespread destruction in Palestine. [111] The Abbasids visited thecountry less frequently than the Ummayads, but ordered some significant constructions inJerusalem. Thus, Al-Mansur Ordered in 758 the renovation of the Dome of the Rock that hadcollapsed in an earthquake.[112]During that time a dress code was instituted, requiring Christians and Jews to wear a Yellowdress.[citationneeded] It is not known how much the code was enforced in Palestine.Fatimid rule (9691099 CE)From their base in Tunisia, the Shi'ite Fatimids, who claimed to be descendants of Muhammadthrough his daughter Fatimah, conquered Palestine by way of Egypt in 969 CE. [113] Their capitalwas Cairo. Jerusalem, Nablus, and Askalan were expanded and renovated under their rule. [107]After the 10th century, the division into Junds began to break down.[107] In the second half of the11th Century the Fatimids empire suffered setback from fighting with the Seljuk Turks. Warfarebetween the Fatimids and Seljuks caused great disruption for the local Christians and for western


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pilgrims. The Fatimids had lost Jerusalem to the Seljuks in 1073,[114] but recaptured it from theOrtoqids, a smaller Turkic tribe associated with the Seljuks, in 1098, just before the arrival of thecrusaders.[115]See also the Mideastweb ma p of"Palestine Under the Caliphs", showing Jund boundaries

(externallink).

Crusaderrule (10991187 CE)

The kingdom of Jerusalem and the other Crusader states in 1135.The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after theFirst Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remainingpossession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks.At first the kingdom was little more than a loose collection of towns and cities captured duringthe crusade. At its height, the kingdom roughly encompassed the territory of modern-day Israeland the Palestinian territories. It extended from modern Lebanon in the north to the Sinai Desertin the south, and into modern Jordan and Syria in the east. There were also attempts to expandthe kingdom into Fatimid Egypt. Its kings also held a certain amount of authority over the othercrusader states, Tripoli, Antioch, and Edessa.Many customs and institutions were imported from the territories of Western Europe from whichthe crusaders came, and there were close familial and political connections with the Westthroughout the kingdom's existence. It was, however, a relatively minor kingdom in comparisonand often lacked financial and military support from Europe. The kingdom had closer ties to theneighbouring Kingdom of Armenia and the Byzantine Empire, from which it inherited "oriental"qualities, and the kingdom was also influenced by pre-existing Muslim institutions. Socially,however, the "Latin" inhabitants from Western Europe had almost no contact with the Muslimsand native Christians whom they ruled.


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Under the European rule, fortifications, castles, towers and fortified villages were built, rebuiltand renovated across Palestine largely in rural areas.[107][116] A notable urban remnant of theCrusader architecture of this era is found in Acre's old city. [107][117]During the period of Crusader control, it has been estimated that Palestine had only 1,000 poorJewish families.[118] Jews fought alongside the Muslims in Jerusalem in 1099 and Haifa in 1100

against the Crusaders. They were not allowed to live in Jerusalem and initially most of cities sawthe destruction of the Jewish communities, but communities did continue in the rural areas. Forinstance, it is known about at least 24 villages in the Galilee were Jews lived.[citationneeded] Later inthe history of the Crusaders state Jews settled in the Coastal cities. Unlike the treatment of Jewsby the Crusaders Europe, where many Massacres occurred, in Palestine no distinction was madebetween Jews and other non Christians and there were no laws specifically against Jews. [clarificationneeded] Some Jews from Europe visited the country, like Benjamin of Tudela who wrote aboutit.[119] Maimonides escaped to Palestine from the Almohads in 1165 and visited Acre, Jerusalemand Hebron, finally settling in Fostat in Egypt.[120]In July 1187, the Cairo-based Kurdish General Saladin commanded his troops to victory in theBattle of Hattin.[121][122] Saladin went on to take Jerusalem. An agreement granting special status

to the Crusaders allowed them to continue to stay in Palestine and In 1229, Frederick IInegotiated a 10-year treaty that placed Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem once again underCrusader rule.[121]In 1270, Sultan Baibars expelled the Crusaders from most of the country, though they maintaineda base at Acre until 1291.[121] Thereafter, any remaining Europeans either went home or mergedwith the local population.[122]Mamlukrule (12701516 CE)

Tower of Ramla, constructed in 1318Palestine formed a part of the Damascus Wilayah (district) under the rule of the MamlukSultanate of Egypt and was divided into three smaller Sanjaks (subdivisions) with capitals inJerusalem, Gaza, and Safad.[122] Celebrated by Arab and Muslim writers of the time as the"blessed land of the Prophets and Islam's revered leaders,"[122] Muslim sanctuaries were"rediscovered" and received many pilgrims.[123]


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The remains of Dhaher al-Omar's castle in Deir Hanna (18th Century)Egyptian rule (18311841)On 10 May 1832 the territories of Bilad ash-Sham, which include modern Syria, Jordan,Lebanon, and Palestine were conquered and annexed by Muhammad Ali's expansionist Egypt(nominally still Ottoman) in the 1831 Egyptian-Ottoman War. Britain sent the navy to shellBeirut and an Anglo-Ottoman expeditionary force landed, causing local uprisings against theEgyptian occupiers. A British naval squadron anchored off Alexandria. The Egyptian armyretreated to Egypt. Muhammad Ali signed the Treaty of 1841. Britain returned control of theLevant to the Ottomans.Ottoman rule (18411917)In the reorganisation of 1873, which established the administrative boundaries that remained inplace until 1914, Palestine was split between three major administrative units. The northern part,above a line connecting Jaffa to north Jericho and the Jordan, was assigned to the vilayet ofBeirut, subdivided into the sanjaks (districts) of Acre, Beirut and Nablus. The southern part,from Jaffa downwards, was part of the special district of Jerusalem. Its southern boundaries wereunclear but petered out in the eastern Sinai Peninsula and northern Negev Desert. Most of thecentral and southern Negev was assigned to the wilayet of Hijaz, which also included the SinaiPeninsula and the western part of Arabia.[127] Nonetheless, the old name remained in popular and semi-official use. Many examples of itsusage in the 16th and 17th centuries have survived.[128] During the 19th century, the OttomanGovernment employed the term Ardh-u Filistin (the 'Land of Palestine') in officialcorrespondence, meaning for all intents and purposes the area to the west of the River Jordanwhich became 'Palestine' under the British in 1922". [129] However, the Ottomans regarded"Palestine" as an abstract description of a general region but not as a specific administrative unitwith clearly defined borders. This meant that they did not consistently apply the name to aclearly defined area.[127] Ottoman court records, for instance, used the term to describe ageographical area that did not include the sanjaks of Jerusalem, Hebron and Nablus, althoughthese had certainly been part of historical Palestine.[130][131] Amongst the educated Arab public,Filastin was a common concept, referring either to the whole of Palestine or to the Jerusalemsanjakalone[132] or just to the area around Ramle.[133]


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The end of the 19th century saw the beginning of Zionist immigration. The "First Aliyah" wasthe first modern widespread wave of Zionist aliyah. Jews who migrated to Palestine in this wavecame mostly from Eastern Europe and from Yemen. This wave of aliyah began in 188182 andlasted until 1903.[134] An estimated 25,000[135]35,000[136] Jews immigrated during the FirstAliyah. The First Aliyah laid the cornerstone for Jewish settlement in Israel and created several

settlements such as Rishon LeZion, Rosh Pina, Zikhron Ya'aqov and Gedera.

Tel Aviv was founded on land purchased from Bedouins north of Jaffa. This is the 1909 auctionof the first lots

The "Second Aliyah" took place between 1904 and 1914, during which approximately 40,000Jews immigrated, mostly from Russia and Poland,[137] and some from Yemen. The SecondAliyah immigrants were primarily idealists, inspired by the revolutionary ideals then sweepingthe Russian Empire who sought to create a communal agricultural settlement system in Palestine.They thus founded the kibbutz movement. The first kibbutz, Degania, was founded in 1909. TelAviv was founded at that time, though its founders were not necessarily from the newimmigrants. The Second Aliyah is largely credited with the Revival of the Hebrew language andestablishing it as the standard language for Jews in Israel. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda contributed to thecreation of the first modern Hebrew dictionary. Although he was an immigrant of the FirstAliyah, his work mostly bore fruit during the second.Ottoman rule over the eastern Mediterranean lasted until World War I when the Ottomans sided

with the German Empire and the Central Powers. During World War I, the Ottomans weredriven from much of the region by the British Empire during the dissolution of the OttomanEmpire.20th century

Palestine in British map 1924 the map now in the National Library of Scotland


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In common usage up to World War I, "Palestine" was used either to describe the Consularjurisdictions of the Western Powers[138] or for a region that extended in the north-south directiontypically from Rafah (south-east of Gaza) to the Litani River (now in Lebanon). The westernboundary was the sea, and the eastern boundary was the poorly-defined place where the Syriandesert began. In various European sources, the eastern boundary was placed anywhere from the

Jordan River to slightly east of Amman. The Negev Desert was not included.

[139]

For 400 years foreigners enjoyed extraterritorial rights under the terms of the Capitulations of theOttoman Empire. One American diplomat wrote that "Extraordinary privileges and immunitieshad become so embodied in successive treaties between the great Christian Powers and theSublime Porte that for most intents and purposes many nationalities in the Ottoman empireformed a state within the state".[140]The Consuls were originally magistrates who tried cases involving their own citizens in foreignterritories. While the jurisdictions in the secular states of Europe had become territorial, theOttomans perpetuated the legal system they inherited from the Byzantine Empire. The law inmany matters was personal, not territorial, and the individual citizen carried his nation's law withhim wherever he went.[141] Capitulatory law applied to foreigners in Palestine. Only Consular

Courts of the State of the foreigners concerned were competent to try them. That was true, notonly in cases involving personal status, but also in criminal and commercial matters. [142]According to American Ambassador Morgenthau, Turkey had never been an independentsovereignty.[143] The Western Powers had their own courts, marshals, colonies, schools, postalsystems, religious institutions, and prisons. The Consuls also extended protections to largecommunities of Jewish protgs who had settled in Palestine.[144]The Moslem, Christian, and Jewish communities of Palestine were allowed to exercise jurisdiction over their own members according to charters granted to them. For centuries theJews and Christians had enjoyed a large degree of communal autonomy in matters of worship,jurisdiction over personal status, taxes, and in managing their schools and charitable institutions.In the 19th century those rights were formally recognized as part of the Tanzimat reforms andwhen the communities were placed under the protection of European public law.[145][146]Under the SykesPicot Agreement of 1916, it was envisioned that most of Palestine, when freedfrom Ottoman control, would become an international zone not under direct French or Britishcolonial control. Shortly thereafter, British foreign minister Arthur Balfour issued the BalfourDeclaration of 1917, which promised to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine.[147]The British-led Egyptian Expeditionary Force, commanded by Edmund Allenby, capturedJerusalem on 9 December 1917 and occupied the whole of the Levant following the defeat ofTurkish forces in Palestine at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918 and the capitulation ofTurkey on 31 October.[148]BritishMandate (19201948)Mainarticle:MandatePalestine


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Palestine and Transjordan were incorporated (under different legal and administrativearrangements) into the Mandate for Palestine issued by the League of Nations to Great Britain on29 September 1923

The new era in Palestine. The arrival of Sir Herbert Samuel, H.B.M. high commissioner, etc.with Col. Lawrence, Emir Abdullah, Air Marshal Salmond and Sir Wyndham Deedes.Following the First World War and the occupation of the region by the British, the principalAllied and associated powers drafted the Mandate which was formally approved by the Leagueof Nations in 1922. Great Britain administered Palestine on behalf of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1948, a period referred to as the "British Mandate." Two states wereestablished within the boundaries of the Mandate territory, Palestine and Transjordan.[149][150] -The preamble of the mandate declared:"Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsiblefor putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by theGovernment of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favor of theestablishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understoodthat nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any othercountry."[151]


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Not all were satisfied with the mandate. Some of the Arabs felt that Britain was violating theMcMahon-Hussein Correspondence and the understanding of the Arab Revolt. Some wanted aunification with Syria: In February 1919 several Moslem and Christian groups from Jaffa andJerusalem met and adopted a platform which endorsed unity with Syria and opposition toZionism (this is sometime called the First Palestinian National Congress). A letter was sent to

Damascus authorizing Faisal to represent the Arabs of Palestine at the Paris Peace Conference.In May 1919 a Syrian National Congress was held in Damascus, and a Palestinian delegationattended its sessions.[152] In April 1920 violent Arab disturbances against the Jews in Jerusalemoccurred which became to be known as the 1920 Palestine riots. The riots followed risingtensions in Arab-Jewish relations over the implications of Zionist immigration. The Britishmilitary administration's erratic response failed to contain the rioting, which continued for fourdays. As a result of the events, trust between the British, Jews, and Arabs eroded. Oneconsequence was that the Jewish community increased moves towards an autonomousinfrastructure and security apparatus parallel to that of the British administration.In April 1920 the Allied Supreme Council (the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy andJapan) met at Sanremo and formal decisions were taken on the allocation of mandate territories.

The United Kingdom obtained a mandate for Palestine and France obtained a mandate for Syria.The boundaries of the mandates and the conditions under which they were to be held were notdecided. The Zionist Organization's representative at Sanremo, Chaim Weizmann, subsequentlyreported to his colleagues in London:There are still important details outstanding, such as the actual terms of the mandate and thequestion of the boundaries in Palestine. There is the delimitation of the boundary between FrenchSyria and Palestine, which will constitute the northern frontier and the eastern line ofdemarcation, adjoining Arab Syria. The latter is not likely to be fixed until the Emir Feisalattends the Peace Conference, probably in Paris.[153]

Churchill and Abdullah (with Herbert Samuel) during their negotiations in Jerusalem, March1921.The purported objective of the League of Nations Mandate system was to administer parts of thedefunct Ottoman Empire, which had been in control of the Middle East since the 16th century,"until such time as they are able to stand alone."[154]In July 1920, the French drove Faisal bin Husayn from Damascus ending his already negligiblecontrol over the region of Transjordan, where local chiefs traditionally resisted any centralauthority. The sheikhs, who had earlier pledged their loyalty to the Sharif of Mecca, asked the


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British to undertake the region's administration. Herbert Samuel asked for the extension of thePalestine government's authority to Transjordan, but at meetings in Cairo and Jerusalem betweenWinston Churchill and Emir Abdullah in March 1921 it was agreed that Abdullah wouldadminister the territory (initially for six months only) on behalf of the Palestine administration.In the summer of 1921 Transjordan was included within the Mandate, but excluded from the

provisions for a Jewish National Home.

[155]

On 24 July 1922 the League of Nations approved theterms of the British Mandate over Palestine and Transjordan. On 16 September the Leagueformally approved a memorandum from Lord Balfour confirming the exemption of Transjordanfrom the clauses of the mandate concerning the creation of a Jewish national home and from themandate's responsibility to facilitate Jewish immigration and land settlement.[156] WithTransjordan coming under the administration of the British Mandate, the mandate's collectiveterritory became constituted of 23% Palestine and 77% Transjordan. The Mandate for Palestine,while specifying actions in support of Jewish immigration and political status, stated, in Article25, that in the territory to the east of the Jordan River, Britain could 'postpone or withhold' thosearticles of the Mandate concerning a Jewish National Home. Transjordan was a very sparsely populated region (especially in comparison with Palestine proper) due to its relatively limited

resources and largely desert environment.In 1923 an agreement between the United Kingdom and France established the border betweenthe British Mandate of Palestine and the French Mandate of Syria. The British handed over thesouthern Golan Heights to the French in return for the northern Jordan Valley. The border wasre-drawn so that both sides of the Jordan River and the whole of the Sea of Galilee, including a10-metre wide strip along the northeastern shore, were made a part of Palestine [157] with theprovisons that Syria have fishing and navigation rights in the Lake. [158]The Palestine Exploration Fund published surveys and maps of Western Palestine (akaCisjordan) starting in the mid-19th century. Even before the Mandate came into legal effect in1923 (text), British terminology sometimes used '"Palestine" for the part west of the Jordan Riverand "Trans-Jordan" (orTransjordania) for the part east of the Jordan River. [159][160]

Rachel's Tomb on a 1927 British Mandate stamp. "Palestine" is shown in English, Arabic andHebrew, the latter includes the acronym forEretz Yisrael


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The first reference to the Palestinians, without qualifying them as Arabs, is to be found in adocument of the Permanent Executive Committee, composed of Muslims and Christians,presenting a series of formal complaints to the British authorities on 26 July 1928. [161]Infrastructure and developmentBetween 1922 and 1947, the annual growth rate of the Jewish sector of the economy was 13.2%,

mainly due to immigration and foreign capital, while that of the Arab was 6.5%. Per capita, thesefigures were 4.8% and 3.6% respectively. By 1936, the Jewish sector had eclipsed the Arab one,and Jewish individuals earned 2.6 times as much as Arabs. In terms of human capital, there was ahuge difference. For instance, the literacy rates in 1932 were 86% for the Jews against 22% forthe Arabs, but Arab literacy was steadily increasing. [162]Under the British Mandate, the country developed economically and culturally. In 1919 theJewish community founded a centralized Hebrew school system, and the following yearestablished the Assembly of Representatives, the Jewish National Council and the Histadrutlabor federation. The Technion university was founded in 1924, and the Hebrew University ofJerusalem in 1925.[163]As for Arab institutions, the office of Mufti of Jerusalem, traditionally limited in authority and

geographical scope, was refashioned by the British into that of Grand Mufti of Palestine.Furthermore, a Supreme Muslim Council (SMC) was established and given various duties, suchas the administration of religious endowments and the appointment of religious judges and localmuftis. During the revolt (see below) the Arab Higher Committee was established as the centralpolitical organ of the Arab community of Palestine.During the Mandate period, Many factories were established and roads and railroads were builtthroughout the country. The Jordan River was harnessed for production of electric power and theDead Sea was tapped for minerals potash and bromine.19361939 Arab revolt in PalestineMainarticle: 19361939 ArabrevoltinPalestine

Sparked off by the death of Shaykh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam at the hands of the British police nearJenin in November 1935, in the years 19361939 the Arabs participated in an uprising and protest against British rule and against mass Jewish Immigration. The revolt manifested in astrike and armed insurrection started sporadically, becoming more organized with time. Attackswere mainly directed at British strategic installation such as the Trans Arabian Pipeline (TAP)and railways, and to a lesser extent against Jewish settlements, secluded Jewish neighborhoods inthe mixed cities, and Jews, both individually and in groups.Violence abated for about a year while the Peel Commission deliberated and eventuallyrecommended partition of Palestine. With the rejection of this proposal, the revolt resumedduring the autumn of 1937. Violence continued throughout 1938 and eventually petered out in1939.The British responded to the violence by greatly expanding their military forces and clampingdown on Arab dissent. "Administrative detention" (imprisonment without charges or trial),curfews, and house demolitions were among British practices during this period. More than 120Arabs were sentenced to death and about 40 hanged. The main Arab leaders were arrested orexpelled.The Haganah (Hebrew for "defense"), an illegal Jewish paramilitary organization, activelysupported British efforts to quell the insurgency, which reached 10,000 Arab fighters at their peak during the summer and fall of 1938. Although the British administration didn't officiallyrecognize the Haganah, the British security forces cooperated with it by forming the Jewish


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Settlement Police and Special Night Squads.[164] A terrorist splinter group of the Haganah, calledthe Irgun (or Etzel)[165] adopted a policy of violent retaliation against Arabs for attacks onJews.[166] At a meeting in Alexandria in July 1937 between Jabotinsky and Irgun commanderCol. Robert Bitker and chief-of-staff Moshe Rosenberg, the need for indiscriminate retaliationdue to the difficulty of limiting operations to only the "guilty" was explained. The Irgun

launched attacks against public gathering places such as markets and cafes.

[167]

The Arab revolt of 193639 in Palestine. A Jewish bus equipped with wire screens to protectcivilian riders against rocks and grenades[citationneeded] thrown by militants.The revolt did not achieve its goals, although it is "credited with signifying the birth of the ArabPalestinian identity.".[168] It is generally credited with forcing the issuance of the White Paper of1939 which renounced Britain's intent of creating a Jewish National Home in Palestine, asproclaimed in the 1917 Balfour Declaration.Another outcome of the hostilities was the partial disengagement of the Jewish and Arabeconomies in Palestine, which were more or less intertwined until that time. For example,whereas the Jewish city of Tel Aviv previously relied on the nearby Arab seaport of Jaffa,hostilities dictated the construction of a separate Jewish-run seaport for Tel-Aviv.World WarII and Palestine

When the Second World War broke out, the Jewish population sided with Britain. David BenGurion, head of the Jewish Agency, defined the policy with what became a famous motto: "Wewill fight the war as if there were no White Paper, and we will fight the White Paper as if therewere no war." While this represented the Jewish population as a whole, there were exceptions(see below).As in most of the Arab world, there was no unanimity amongst the Palestinian Arabs as to theirposition regarding the combatants in World War II. A number of leaders and public figures sawan Axis victory as the likely outcome and a way of securing Palestine back from the Zionists andthe British. Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, spent the rest of the war inNazi Germany and the occupied areas, in particular encouraging Muslim Bosniaks to join theWaffen SS in German-conquered Bosnia. About 6,000 Palestinian Arabs and 30,000 Palestinian

Jews joined the British forces.On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on the British Commonwealth and sided with Germany.Within a month, the Italians attacked Palestine from the air, bombing Tel Aviv and Haifa.[169]In 1942, there was a period of anxiety for the Yishuv, when the forces of German General ErwinRommel advanced east in North Africa towards the Suez Canal and there was fear that theywould conquer Palestine. This period was referred to as the two hundred days of anxiety. Thisevent was the direct cause for the founding, with British support, of the Palmach[170]a highly-trained regular unit belonging to Haganah (which was mostly made up of reserve troops ).


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Jewish Brigade headquarters under both Union Flag and Jewish flagOn 3 July 1944, the British government consented to the establishment of a Jewish Brigade withhand-picked Jewish and also non-Jewish senior officers. The brigade fought in Europe, mostnotably against the Germans in Italy from March 1945 until the end of the war in May 1945.Members of the Brigade played a key role in the Berihah's efforts to help Jews escape Europe forPalestine. Later, veterans of the Jewish Brigade became key participants of the new State ofIsrael's Israel Defense Force.

Starting in 1939 and throughout the war and the Holocaust, the British reduced the number ofimmigrants allowed into Palestine, following the publication of the MacDonald White Paper.Once the 15,000 annual quota was exceeded, Jews fleeing Nazi persecution were placed indetention camps or deported to places such as Mauritius. [171]In 1944 Menachem Begin assumed the Irgun's leadership, determined to force the Britishgovernment to remove its troops entirely from Palestine. Citing that the British had reneged ontheir original promise of the Balfour Declaration, and that the White Paper of 1939 restrictingJewish immigration was an escalation of their pro-Arab policy, he decided to break with theHaganah. Soon after he assumed command, a formal 'Declaration of Revolt' was publicized, andarmed attacks against British forces were initiated. Lehi, another splinter group, opposedcessation of operations against the British authorities all along. The Jewish Agency which

opposed those actions and the challenge to its role as government in preparation responded with"The Hunting Season" severe actions against supporters of the Irgun and Lehi, includingturning them over to the British.The country developed economically during the war, with increased industrial and agriculturaloutputs and the period was considered an `economic Boom'. In terms of Arab-Jewish relations,these were relatively quiet times.[172]End ofthe British Mandate 19451948Mainarticle: BritishZionistconflict

Arab autobus after an attack by Irgun, 29 December 1947


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In the years following World War II, Britain's control over Palestine became increasinglytenuous. This was caused by a combination of factors, including:

y World public opinion turned against Britain as a result of the British policy of preventingHolocaust survivors from reaching Palestine, sending them instead to Cyprus internment camps,or even back to Germany, as in the case of Exodus 1947.

yThe costs of maintaining an army of over 100,000 men in Palestine weighed heavily on a Britisheconomy suffering from post-war depression, and was another cause for British public opinion todemand an end to the Mandate.[173]

y Rapid deterioration due to the actions of the Jewish paramilitary organizations (Hagana, Irgunand Lehi), involving attacks on strategic installations (by all three) as well as on British forcesand officials (by the Irgun and Lehi). This caused severe damage to British morale and prestige,as well as increasing opposition to the mandate in Britain itself, public opinion demanding to"bring the boys home".[174]

y US Congress was delaying a loan necessary to prevent British bankruptcy. The delays were inresponse to the British refusal to fulfill a promise given to Truman that 100,000 Holocaustsurvivors would be allowed to emigrate to Palestine.

In early 1947 the British Government announced their desire to terminate the Mandate, andasked the United Nations General Assembly to make recommendations regarding the future ofthe country.[175] The British Administration declined to accept the responsibility forimplementing any solution that wasn't acceptable to both the Jewish and the Arab communities,or to allow other authorities to take over responsibility for public security prior to the terminationof its mandate on 15 May 1948.[176]UN partition and the 1948 Palestine War

1948 Palestinian exodus

Main articles1948 Palestinian exodus

1947-48 civil war1948 Arab-Israeli War1948 Palestine WarCauses of the exodusDepopulated areas

Nakba DayPalestine refugee campsPalestinian refugeePalestinian right of returnPresent absenteeTransfer CommitteeResolution 194BackgroundBritish Mandate of PalestineIsrael's declarationof independenceIsraeli-Palestinian conflict history

New HistoriansPalestine Plan Dalet1947 partition plan UNRWA


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Key incidentsBattle of HaifaDeir Yassin massacreExodus from LyddaNotable writersAref al-Aref Yoav GelberEfraim Karsh Walid Khalidi

Nur Masalha Benny MorrisIlan Pappe Tom SegevAvraham Sela Avi ShlaimRelated categories/listsVillages depopulated

before 1948 Arab-Israeli WarVillages depopulatedduring 1948 ArabIsraeli WarRelated templatesPalestinians

This box: view talk edit

Mainarticles:UnitedNationsPartitionPlan forPalestineand1948 Palestine War

UN partition plan, 1947On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted 33 to 13 with 10abstentions, in favour of a plan to partition the territory into separate Jewish and Arab states,under economic union, with the Greater Jerusalem area (encompassing Bethlehem) comingunder international control. Zionist leaders (including the Jewish Agency), accepted the plan,while Palestinian Arab leaders rejected it and all independent Muslim and Arab states votedagainst it.[177][178][179] Almost immediately, sectarian violence erupted and spread, killinghundreds of Arabs, Jews and British over the ensuing months.The rapid evolution of events precipitated into a Civil War. Arab volunteers of the Arab

Liberation Army entered Palestine to fight with the Palestinians, but the April-May offensive ofYishuv's forces crushed the Arabs and Palestinian society collapsed. Some 300,000 to 350,000Palestinians caught up in the turmoil fled or were driven from their homes.


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David Ben-Gurion proclaiming independence beneath a large portrait of Theodor Herzl, founderof modern ZionismOn 14 May, the Jewish Agency declared the independence of the state of Israel. Theneighbouring Arab state intervened to prevent the partition and support the Palestinian Arab population. While Transjordan took control of territory designated for the future Arab State,Syrian, Iraqi and Egyptian expeditionary forces attacked Israel without success. The mostintensive battles were waged between the Jordanian and Israeli forces over the control ofJerusalem.On June 11, a truce was accepted by all parties. Israel used the lull to undertake a large-scalereinforcement of its army. In a series of military operations, it then conquered the whole of theGalilee region, both the Lydda and Ramle areas, and the Negev. It also managed to secure, in theBattles of Latrun, a road linking Jerusalem to Israel. In this phase, 350,000 more ArabPalestinians fled or were expelled from the conquered areas.During the first 6 months of 1949, negotiations between the belligerents came to terms overarmistice lines that delimited Israel's borders. On the other side, no Palestinian Arab state wasfounded: Jordan annexed the Arab territories of the Mandatory regions of Samaria and Judea(today known as the West Bank), as well as East Jerusalem, while the Gaza strip came underEgyptian administration.The New Historians, like Avi Shlaim, hold that there was an unwritten secret agreement betweenKing Abdullah of Transjordan and Israeli authorities to partition the territory betweenthemselves, and that this translated into each side limiting their objectives and exercising mutualrestraint during the 1948 war.[180]1948 to current times

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Arab-Israeli conflict


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Israel and members of the Arab League

Date Early 20th century-presentLocation Middle East Result Ongoing

Belligerents

Arab nations Israel

Arab-Israeli conflict seriesHistory of the Arab-Israeli conflictViews of the Arab-Israeli conflictMedia coverage of the ArabIsraeli conflictInternational law and the Arab-Israeli conflict

ParticipantsIsraeli-Palestinian conflict Israel-Lebanonconflict Arab League Soviet Union / Russia Israel, Palestinians and the United Nations Iran-Israel relations Israel-United Statesrelations Boycott of IsraelPeace treaties and proposalsIsrael-Egypt Israel-Jordan

On the same day that the State of Israel was announced, the Arab League announced that itwould set up a single Arab civil administration throughout Palestine, [181][182] and launched an

attack on the new Israeli state. The All-Palestine government was declared in Gaza on 1 October1948,[183] partly as an Arab League move to limit the influence of Transjordan over thePalestinian issue. The former mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, was appointed as president. The government was recognised by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, andYemen, but not by Transjordan (later known as Jordan) or any non-Arab country. It was littlemore than an Egyptian protectorate and had negligible influence or funding. Following the 1948Arab-Israeli War, the area allocated to the Palestinian Arabs and the international zone ofJerusalem were occupied by Israel and the neighboring Arab states in accordance with the terms


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of the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Palestinian Arabs living in the Gaza Strip or Egypt wereissued with All-Palestine passports until 1959, when Gamal Abdul Nasser, president of Egypt,issued a decree that annulled the All-Palestine government.In addition to the UN-partitioned area allotted to the Jewish state, Israel captured andincorporated[citation needed]a further 26% of the Mandate territory (namely of the territory to the

west of the Jordan river). Jordan captured and annexed about 21% of the Mandate territory,which it referred to as the West Bank (to differentiate it from the newly-named East Bank theoriginal Transjordan). Jerusalem was divided, with Jordan taking the eastern parts, including theOld City, and Israel taking the western parts. The Gaza Strip was captured by Egypt. In addition,Syria held on to small slivers of Mandate territory to the south and east of the Sea of Galilee,which had been allocated in the UN partition plan to the Jewish state.For a description of the massive population movements, Arab and Jewish, at the time of the 1948war and over the following decades, see Palestinian exodus and Jewish exodus from Arab lands.In the course of the Six Day War in June 1967, Israel captured the West Bank (including EastJerusalem) from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt.

The region as of today: Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan HeightsFrom the 1960s onward, the term "Palestine" was regularly used in political contexts. ThePalestine Liberation Organization has enjoyed status as a non-member observer at the United Nations since 1974, and continues to represent "Palestine" there.[184] According to the CIAWorld Factbook,[185][186][187] of the ten million people living between Jordan and theMediterranean Sea, about five million (49%) identify as Palestinian, Arab, Bedouin and/orDruze. One million of those are citizens of Israel. The other four million are residents of theWest Bank and Gaza, which are under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority,which was formed in 1994, pursuant to the Oslo Accords.


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In the West Bank, 360,000[citationneeded] Israelis have settled in a hundred scattered new towns andsettlements with connecting corridors. The 2.5 million[citation needed] West Bank Palestinians live primarily in four blocs centered in Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, and Jericho. In 2005, Israelwithdrew its army and all the Israeli settlers were evacuated from the Gaza Strip, in keeping withAriel Sharon's plan for unilateral disengagement, and control over the area was transferred to the

Palestinian Authority. However, due to the Hamas-Fatah conflict, the Gaza Strip has been incontrol of Hamas since 2006.

[hide]vde

ArabIsraeli conflict

Jerusalem riots (1920) Jaffa riots (1921) Palestine riots (1929) Arab revolt (19361939) CivilWar(19471948) Arab-Israeli War(19481949) Retribution operations (1951-1966) Suez Crisis(1956) War over Water(19641967) Six-Day War(1967) War of Attrition (19671970) Wrathof God (19721979) Yom Kippur War (1973) South Lebanon conflict (1978) Lebanon War(1982) South Lebanon conflict (19822000) First Intifada (19871993) Second Intifada (20002005) Shebaa Farms conflict (2000-2006) Lebanon War(2006) Gaza War(20082009)

DemographicsMainarticle:Demographics ofPalestine

Early demographicsEstimating the population of Palestine in antiquity relies on two methods censuses and writingsmade at the times, and the scientific method based on excavations and statistical methods thatconsider the number of settlements at the particular age, area of each settlement, density factorfor each settlement.According to Magen Broshi, an Israeli archaeologist "... the population of Palestine in antiquitydid not exceed a million persons. It can also be shown, moreover, that this was more or less thesize of the population in the peak periodthe late Byzantine period, around AD 600"[188]

Similarly, a study by Yigal Shiloh of The Hebrew University suggests that the population ofPalestine in the Iron Age could have never exceeded a million. He writes: "... the population ofthe country in the Roman-Byzantine period greatly exceeded that in the Iron Age...If we acceptBroshi's population estimates, which appear to be confirmed by the results of recent research, itfollows that the estimates for the population during the Iron Age must be set at a lowerfigure."[189]Demographics in the late Ottoman and British Mandate periodsIn the middle of the first century of the Ottoman rule, i.e. 1550 CE, Bernard Lewis in a study ofOttoman registers of the early Ottoman Rule of Palestine reports: [190]From the mass of detail in the registers, it is possible to extract something like a general pictureof 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 varyingsize, 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 thetowns there was a considerable number of vineyards, orchards, and vegetable gardens.By Volney's estimates in 1785, there were no more than 200,000 people in the country. [191]According to Alexander Scholch, the population of Palestine in 1850 had about 350,000


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inhabitants, 30% of whom lived in 13 towns; roughly 85% were Muslims, 11% were Christiansand 4% Jews[192]According to Ottoman statistics studied by Justin McCarthy, [193] the population of Palestine inthe early 19th century was 350,000, in 1860 it was 411,000 and in 1900 about 600,000 of which94% were Arabs. In 1914 Palestine had a population of 657,000 Muslim Arabs, 81,000 Christian

Arabs, and 59,000 Jews.

[194]

McCarthy estimates the non-Jewish population of Palestine at452,789 in 1882, 737,389 in 1914, 725,507 in 1922, 880,746 in 1931 and 1,339,763 in 1946. [195]Official reportsIn 1920, the League of Nations' InterimReport on theCivil Administration ofPalestine statedthat there were 700,000 people living in Palestine:Of these 235,000 live in the larger towns, 465,000 in the smaller towns and villages. Four-fifthsof the whole population are Moslems. A small proportion of these are Bedouin Arabs; theremainder, although they speak Arabic and are termed Arabs, are largely of mixed race. Some77,000 of the population are Christians, in large majority belonging to the Orthodox Church, andspeaking Arabic. The minority are members of the Latin or of the Uniate Greek Catholic Church,ora small numberare 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 countryonly a handful of Jews. In the following 30 years a few hundreds came to Palestine. Most ofthem were animated by religious motives; they came to pray and to die in the Holy Land, and tobe buried in its soil. After the persecutions in Russia forty years ago, the movement of the Jewsto Palestine assumed larger proportions.[196]By 1948, the population had risen to 1,900,000, of whom 68% were Arabs, and 32% were Jews(UNSCOP report, including bedouin).Current demographicsSee also: Demographics of Israel, Demographics of the Palestinian territories,and

Demographics ofJordanAccording to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, as of May 2006, of Israel's 7 million people,

77% were Jews, 18.5% Arabs, and 4.3% "others".

[197]

Among Jews, 68% were Sabras (Israeli-born), mostly second- or third-generation Israelis, and the rest are olim 22% from Europe andthe Americas, and 10% from Asia and Africa, including the Arab countries. [198]According to Palestinian evaluations, The West Bank is inhabited by approximately 2.4 millionPalestinians and the Gaza Strip by another 1.4 million. According to a study presented at TheSixth Herzliya Conference on The Balance of Israel's National Security[199] there are 1.4 millionPalestinians in the West Bank. This study was criticised by demographer Sergio DellaPergola,who estimated 3.33 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip combined at the end of2005.[200]According to these Israeli and Palestinian estimates, the population in Israel and the PalestinianTerritories stands at 9.810.8 million.

Jordan has a population of around 6,000,000 (2007 estimate).

[201][202]

Palestinians constituteapproximately half of this number.[203]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:Maps of the history of the Middle East


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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Palestine

y History of Palestiney British Mandate of Palestiney

Land of Israely Greater Israely Greater Syriay History of ancient Israel and Judahy Province of Judah ("Yehud Medinata")y Iudaea Provincey Jewish peopley State of Israely Arab-Israeli conflicty Israeli-Palestinian conflicty Names of the Levanty Palestinian Authorityy Palestinian peopley Place names in Palestiney Outline of Palestiney State of Palestiney Jund FilastinReferencesNotes

1. ^ a b "The Palestine Exploration Fund". The Palestine Exploration Fund.http://www.pef.org.uk/oldsite/Paldef.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-04.

2. ^ "Legal Consequence of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory"3.

^Boundaries Delimitation: Palestine and Trans-Jordan, Yitzhak Gil-Har, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.36, No. 1 (Jan., 2000), pp. 68-81: "Palestine and Transjordan emerged as states; This was in consequence

of British War commitments to its allies during the First World War.4. ^ Marjorie M. Whiteman, Digest of International Law, vol. 1, US State Department (Washington, DC:

U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963) pp 650-6525. ^ Forji Amin George (June 2004). "Is Palestine a State?". Expert Law.

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/international_law/palestine.html. Retrieved 2008-04-04.6. ^ Fahlbasch and Bromiley, 2005, p. 14.7. âbcdefSharon, 1988, p. 4.8. âbc Room, 1997, p. 285.9. ^ Greek from /, see e.g. Josephus, Antiquities I.136; cf. First Book of

Moses (Genesis) X.13.10.âb Fahlbusch et al., 2005, p. 185.11.^ Lewis, 1993, p. 153.12.âbcd Carl S. Ehrlich "Philistines" TheOxfordGuideto PeopleandPlaces ofthe Bible. Ed. Bruce M.

Metzger and Michael D. Coogan. Oxford University Press, 2001.13.^ Palestine and Israel David M. Jacobson Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 313

(Feb., 1999), pp. 657414.^ The Southern and Eastern Borders of Abar-Nahara Steven S. Tuell Bulletin of the American Schools of

Oriental Research, No. 284 (Nov., 1991), pp. 5157


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15.^ Herodotus' Description of the East Mediterranean Coast Anson F. Rainey Bulletin of the AmericanSchools of Oriental Research, No. 321 (Feb., 2001), pp. 5763

16.^abcdef Lehmann, Clayton Miles (Summer 1998). "Palestine: History: 135337: Syria Palaestina andthe Tetrarchy". The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces. University of South Dakota.http://www.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/history.htm#135-337. Retrieved 2008-07-06.

17.^ Sharon, 1998, p. 4. According to Moshe Sharon: "Eager to obliterate the name of the rebelliousJudaea", the Roman authorities renamed it Palaestina orSyriaPalaestina.

18.^ab Kaegi, 1995, p. 41.19.^ Marshall Cavendish, 2007, p. 559.20.^ Lassner and Troen, 2007, pp. 5455.21.^ Gudrun Krmer (2008)A History ofPalestine:From the Ottoman Conquest to theFounding of the

State of Israel Translated by Gudrun Krmer and Graham Harman Princeton University Press, ISBN0691118973 p 16

22.^ Judea23.^ According to the Jewish Encyclopedia published between 1901 and 1906: "Palestine extends, from 31

to 33 20 N. latitude. Its southwest point (at Raphia = Tell Rifa, southwest of Gaza) is about 34 15 E.longitude, and its northwest point (mouth of the Liani) is at 35 15 E. longitude, while the course ofthe 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 at the north and 80 miles at the south.The area of this region, as measured by the surveyors of the English Palestine Exploration Fund, is about6,040 square miles. The east-Jordan district is now being surveyed by the German Palstina-Verein, andalthough the work is not yet completed, its area may be estimated at 4,000 square miles. This entireregion, as stated above, was not occupied exclusively by the Israelites, for the plain along the coast in thesouth belonged to the Philistines, and that in the north to the Phoenicians, while in the east-Jordan countrythe Israelitic possessions never extended farther than the Arnon (Wadi al-Mujib) in the south, nor did theIsraelites ever settle in the most northerly and easterly portions of the plain of Bashan. To-day the numberof inhabitants does not exceed 650,000. Palestine, and especially the Israelitic state, covered, therefore, avery small area, approximating that of the state of Vermont." From the Jewish Encyclopedia Boundariesand Extent

24.^ According to the Encyclopdia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911), [1] Palestine is:"[A] geographical name of rather loose application. Etymological strictness would require it to denoteexclusively the narrow strip of coast-land once occupied by the Philistines, from whose name it isderived. It is, however, conventionally used as a name for the territory which, in the Old Testament, isclaimed as the inheritance of the pre-exilic Hebrews; thus it may be said generally to denote the southernthird of the province of Syria.Except in the west, where the country is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, the limit of this territorycannot be laid down on the map as a definite line. The modern subdivisions under the jurisdiction of theOttoman Empire are in no sense conterminous with those of antiquity, and hence do not afford a boundaryby which Palestine can be separated exactly from the rest of Syria in the north, or from the Sinaitic andArabian deserts in the south and east; nor are the records of ancient boundaries sufficiently full anddefinite to make possible the complete demarcation of the country. Even the convention above referred tois 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 ofEgypt " to Hamath). However, the Hebrews themselves have preserved, in the proverbial expression "from Dan to Beersheba " (Judg

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