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http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Palestine
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History of Palestine
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
See Also: Palestine, History of Levant, History of ancient Israel and Judah, History
of Israel
Historical overview
The term Palestine originates with the Philistines, who inhabited the southern coast
of the
region in biblical times. It went into disuse with the disappearance of the
Philistines c.1000
B.C., but was reintroduced by the Romans following the Second Jewish Revolt ("Great
Revolt") of Bar Kochba of 132-135 A.D in the province of Judea. Historically, there
was a
clear distinction between Philistine and Judean territories, however, the Romans
adopted
the name for the province in an effort to erase any memories of the Judean rebels they
defeated: similarly, Jerusalem, Palestine's historic capital, was renamed Aelia
Capitolina.
For nineteen hundred years since that time, the region was subject to successive waves
of
invaders, each of which left some mark on its people and landscape. This can be
attributed
to Palestine's strategic location at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and
its unique
religious status as a Holy Land" to the three great monotheistic religions: Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam.
In 1917, the British captured the region from the Ottoman Empire and called it
Palestine,
after the longstanding Roman name for the area. This came at a time of renewed interest
in the country among the European powers, Arab nationalists, and Jewish Zionists, who
sought to reestablish their ancient homeland there. Competition between the latter two
groups came to a head immediately after World War II, when Zionist claims gained
greater
urgency after the murder of almost six million Jews in the Holocaust. The Zionists
demanded an independent homeland to absorb the Jewish refugees from Europe; the local
Arab population, by now called Palestinians, argued that they played no role in the
Holocaust, so the refugee problem should not be resolved at their expense.
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted to partition what remained of the
British
Mandate of Palestine into two states: one Jewish, and one Arab. The proposal was
rejected
by the Palestinian Arabs and the surrounding Arab states but accepted by the Jews. Less
than five months later, the Jewish population declared its independence as the state of
Israel, and the first of a series of wars rocked the region. Large numbers of
Palestinian
Arabs fled, while others were expelled from their homes during the fighting in what is
called in Arabic the Naqba, or "Tragedy." Israel managed to maintain its independence
and
even expand its borders, but a new refugee problem, this one of Palestinian Arabs, was
created.
What remained of the territories allotted to the Arab state in Palestine was occupied
by
Jordan (the West Bank) and Egypt (the Gaza Strip) from 1948 to 1967, when Israel
occupied those areas in the Six Day War. Since that time, the Palestinians have
struggled to
assert their own independence, either in all the territories of Palestine or in the
West Bank
and Gaza. To date, efforts to resolve the conflict have ended in deadlock, and the
people of
Palestine, Jews and Arabs, are engaged in a bloody conflict.
In current usage, then, the term Palestine describes the geographical area, the
geopolitical
unit in its colonial boundaries, or, most frequently, the proposed state of the
Palestinian
people.
The disputes of the last half century in Israel and Palestine have their immediate
origins in
the Zionist movement of the 19th century in Europe, and the rise of Arab nationalism
in the
second half of the 20th century, but the roots of the conflict go back millennia
because of
the religious beliefs related to this land.
Historical population of Palestine
Over the last thousands years the population of Palestine was comprised of various
ethnic
groups, including Syrian Arabs, Egyptian Arabs, Arab immigrants from the Arabian
peninsula, Bedouin Arabs, Druze (who are not Arabs), Jews, Turks, as well as smaller
number of people from other areas.
Today, many Arabs, especially Palestinians, look back at the peoples in this land over
the
last millennium and hold them to be an indigenous Palestinian people. Most historians
would disagree with such a romantic attitude, saying that this view is a historical
anachronism. There's little historical evidence that the various Arab ethnicities ever
saw
themselves as a united people or nationality. It was only with the creation of modern
Arab
nationalism in the beginning of the 20th century that this perception began to change.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir claimed that
"There was no such thing as Palestinians... It was not as though there was a
Palestinian
people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw
them
out and took their country away from them. They did not exist."
While obviously inconsiderate of the Arab nationalism, that had had a long history even
prior to Israel's establishment, the statement was not meant to imply the absence of
Arabs
in the land before 1948, but rather that they lacked a single national agenda.
Ironically, the
original Arab position, including the position of the PLO was the same as that of Prime
Minister Meir. For example, in March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an
interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir
Muhsein. He claimed that
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a
means
for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality
today
there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for
political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian
people,
since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct
'Palestinian
people' to oppose Zionism. For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state
with
defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can
undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we
reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite
Palestine and
Jordan."
Palestinians today take great exception to any such former view. They interpret such
views
to mean that Israelis deny the existence of various Arab peoples in the land before
1948.
The former position is often rejected, or (more often) its existence ever is denied.
While
the historical situation is often argued about, there's no party in the Middle East
conflict that
would deny the existence of a Palestinian nation today - which, as many believe, is
entitled
to a state.
There are now somewhere between 5 - 6 million people who consider themselves
Palestinians worldwide. Some live as a minority in Israel proper, some live in the
West Bank
and Gaza, and most are refugees in many parts of the world (mainly the Middle East,
Europe, and North and South America). Many still live a life of diaspora, as displaced
persons.
Few Palestinians have assimilated to their host countries; most Arab nations forbade
Palestinian Arabs from becoming citizens in Arab nations. Most Palestinians still seel
a
sense of identity, with their Palestinian nationalism. Palestinians are working for
their
political and national rights in both the West Bank and in Arab nations, where they
are still
discriminated against.
Jews have been been living in Palestine almost at all times as a minority. Being
always a
major center for Jewish religious life (for instance it was where the Mishnah and the
Palestinian Talmud were written), it was the aim of numerous Jewish travellers from all
over the Jewish world. At times, the Jews would deal in various crafts; in other cases
they
would be supported by contributions from communities abroad. Mentions of Jerusalem and
the Holy Land were a major part of everyday Jewish rite; they were therefore never
fully
forgotten by the Jews.
Early Political History of Palestine, and Decline of Jewish Population
The earliest known people in Palestine was the Canaanites. It is most probable that the
Jews began as a part of them. Later, other (now mostly extinct) peoples appeared, such
as
the Samaritans and the Phoenicians. However the Jewish population over the centuries
declined, due to several reasons. In 722 B.C., the northern Kingdom of Israel was
destroyed
by the Assyrians, its inhabitants ("10 Lost Tribes") deported, and replaced by
settlers from
elsewhere in the Assyrian Empire.
Then he Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Kingdom of Judah in 597-
586 B.C., and deported the middle and upper classes of the Jews to Babylonia, where
they
flourished. Decades later, the Jews in Babylon were permitted to return to Israel.
However,
a large proportion decided to stay in Babylon for economic reasons. This was the
beginning
of the Jewish diaspora.
The Jews who had returned to Judea met the lower-class Jews that remained, surrounded
by pagans. One curious group (that exists up until this day) were the Samaritans, who
adhered to most features of the Jewish rite and claimed to be descendants of the
Assyrian
Jews; they were not recognized as Jews by the returning exiles for various reasons (of
them at least some seem to be political). The return of the exiles from Babylon
reinforced
the Jewish population, which gradually became more dominant and expanded significantly.
In 539 B.C. the Babylonians were annexed by the Persian Empire, which held Palestine
until
the time of Alexander the Great, who conquered Gaza and the surrounding areas in the
early 330s B.C. After Alexander's death in 323, his empire was partitioned, and the
competing Ptolemaic and Seleucid Empires occupied various portions of the eastern
Mediterranean, including different parts of Palestine, until the Roman Empire swept
through
in 63 B.C. Under the Romans the territory of Palestine was in nearly constant revolt,
and a
number of events with far-reaching consequences took place, including the founding of
Christianity, the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem by the Roman army and
mass suicide of Zealots in A.D. 66-70, and the sacking of the entire city of Jerusalem
by the
Romans in A.D. 132. (Some sources mark the failed Jewish revolts as the beginning of
the
Diaspora).
Over several centuries, the diaspora grew even further. In addition to the large Jewish
community in Babylon, large numbers of Jews settled in Egypt, and in other parts of the
Hellenistic world and in the Roman Empire. This migration was primarily driven by
economic opportunities, though the situation in Israel also contributed. Israel
experienced a
large amount of conflict, principally over Hellenistic and then Roman rule.
The Jews were divided between those who were Hellenists, and supported the adoption of
Greek culture, and those who believed in keeping to the traditions of the past. This
conflict
caused frequent disputes, which resulted in political and military upheveal -- such as
the
Maccabean revolt of the 2nd century B.C., the war of the 70s A.D. and the revolt led
by Bar
Kokhba in the 130s. The frequent conflict contributed to Jewish emigration, both as
refugees, through deportation, and by reducing economic opportunities in the region
compared to elsewhere. It also led to many deaths among the Jewish population of
Palestine, both deaths in battles with the Romans and others, deaths due to massacres,
and deaths due to the famine and disease that so often accompanies armed conflict.
Palestine changed hands several more times in the post-Biblical period, becoming at
first
part of the Byzantine Empire after the division of the Roman Empire into east and west
(a
fitful process that was not finalized until A.D. 395), then an early acqisition of the
first
Islamic Caliphate in A.D. 638. The marked the beginning of the longest contigious
period in
Palestine, which lasted until 1948, when it was an integrated part of the Arab world.
The
Umayyad dynasty controlled the Caliphate until they were overthrown by the Abbasids in
661. Over time the monolithic Caliphate fragmented, and the Fatimid Caliphate assumed
control of Palestine in the 900s.
In the next century, Seljuk Turks invaded large portions of West Asia, including Asia
Minor
and Palestine, which was the proximate cause of the Crusades by the Christian European
powers. Jerusalem and the surrounding lands were the object of these military
expeditions.
Christian forces held Jerusalem from 1099 to 1187, when Saladin defeated them.
The Ayyubid Sultanate, founded by Saladin, controlled the region until 1250, when the
Mamluks invaded. The Mamluk Sultanate ultimately became a vassal state of the Ottoman
Empire, in the wake of campaigns waged by Selim I in the 16th century.
By the end of the first millennium A.D. almost all the Jewish population lived in the
diaspora,
in the Arab world and in Europe.
Over time the Jewish population in Palestine declined, due to several causes: Jewish
emigration, deaths due to the multiple rebellions against the Romans, the deportation
of
Jews and the settlement of pagans by the Romans in response to these revolts, and the
conversion of some Jews to Christianity (and later Islam). This conversion was driven
both
by the attractiveness of these religions to some Jews, and the taxation applied to
Jews by
Christian and then Muslim rulers (see Dhimmi). These special taxes on Jews especially
affected agriculture, in which the majority of the Jewish population in Palestine was
involved (the diaspora by contrast was primarily urban). As a result, the Jewish
population
in their original homeland dwindled over the centuries to a tiny percentage, both of
the local
population and of Jews as a whole.
During this period Israel continued as a constant topic of Jewish thought and liturgy,
though
its Jewish population was by then minimal -- for many of the Jews of the period "Eretz
Israel" was a mythical place of redemption, since few of them ever stepped foot in it,
and
those who did found it changed dramatically from what it once was.
Most Jews during this period believed that the Jewish people would would return to
Israel
with the coming of the Messiah; some proposed that Jews attempt to return earlier, by
their own devices, but until the rise of Zionism in the 19th century they were in a
minority.
While up until the end of the 19th century, most of the Jewry did not have aspirations
to
come to the land of Israel, there were always Jews in it; they settled mainly in the "4
sacred cities" (Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias and Hebron). Jews of European origin lived
mostly of donations from off-country, while many Sefardic Jews found themselves a
trade.
By the end of the 19th century, the Jewish population of Palestine numbered 60,000,
about
15% of the land's population.
Rise of Zionism
Zionism, a political movement seeking to have Jews return to their ancient homeland in
Palestine, arose in Europe and Russian in the 19th century. It arose as a result of the
liberation of European Jews from the many legal restrictions placed upon them in
Medieval
times, and the ideals of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Due to
anti-Semitism
Jews were not accepted as part of the wider society, but by leaving the ghetto they
were no
longer accepted by the Jewish community either. Zionism was also heavily influenced by
the
rise of nationalism, a major trend in 19th-century European politics. Zionists held
that an
independent Jewish homeland was necessary to ensure Jewish survival as a nation and to
protect Jews from anti- Semitism. They began to settle in Palestine, though intially
the
numbers were small. The British government, who after World War I administered
Palestine under a League of Nations mandate, supported this aspiration of the Zionists
by
the Balfour Declaration in 1917.
The entries on Zionism and History of Israel provide more information on this topic.
For the history of Palestine as a British Mandate, see British Mandate of Palestine.
Retrieved from "http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=History_of_Palestine";
The page was last modified 09:50 Oct 26, 2002.
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