Download PDF Version
Printable Version
History
Excerpted from "Palestine and the United
Nations" website at www.palestine-un.org
The Canaanites were the earliest known inhabitants of Palestine. They became urbanized and lived in city-states, one of which was Jericho. Thus Jericho is considered to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth. While already inhabited by people before recorded history, Palestine was subjected to a large influx of Semites from the Arabian Peninsula in the beginning of the third millennium BCE. Palestine's location at the center of routes linking three continents made it the meeting place for religious and cultural influences from Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. It was also the natural battleground for the great powers of the region. Pharaonic Egypt controlled the area for much of the second millennium BCE, however, when Egyptian power began to weaken, new invaders appeared: the Hebrews, a group of Semitic tribes from Mesopotamia, and the Philistines, after whom the country (Philistia) was later named, an Aegean people of Indo-European stock. The Israelites, a confederation of Hebrew tribes, defeated the Canaanites, but found the struggle with the Philistines more difficult. The Philistines had established an independent state on the southern coast of Palestine and controlled the Canaanite town of Jerusalem. The Philistines were superior in military organization to the Israelites severely defeated them about 1050 BCE.
David, Israel's king, united the Hebrew tribes and eventually defeated the Philistines. The three groups assimilated with each other over the years. The unity of Israelite tribes enabled David to establish a large independent state, with its capital at Jerusalem. However, that did not last long as that state split into two: Israel in the north and Judea in the south. Jerusalem was overrun by Rome in 63 BCE. The Romans gave the country the name of Palestine, a distortion of the Greek term Philistia. Palestine later received special attention when the Roman emperor Constantine I legalized Christianity. His mother, Helena, visited Jerusalem, and Palestine, as the Holy Land, became a focus of Christian pilgrimage. A golden age of prosperity, security, and culture followed. Most of the population became Hellenized and Christianized. When Constantine moved the Roman capital to Constantinople and established the Byzantine Empire, Palestine came under the rule of Byzantium, a rule was that was interrupted by a brief Persian occupation and ended altogether when Muslim Arab armies invaded Palestine and captured Jerusalem in 638 ACE.
The Arab conquest began 1300 years of Muslim presence in what then became known as Filastin. Palestine was holy to Muslims because the Prophet Muhammad had designated Jerusalem as the first qibla (the direction Muslims face when praying) and because he was believed to have ascended on a night journey to heaven from the Old City of Jerusalem, the site upon which the Dome of the Rock was later built. Jerusalem became the third holiest city of Islam. The Muslim rulers did not force their religion on the Palestinians, and more than a century passed before the majority converted to Islam. The remaining Christians and Jews (Hebrews) were allowed autonomous control in their communities and guaranteed security and freedom of worship. Most Palestinians adopted the Arabic language and Islamic culture.
Palestine remained as a province of the two major Arab-Islamic empires: the Omayyad (based in Damascus) up to 750 ACE and the Abbasid (based in Baghdad) up to 1258. During the Abbasid period, Palestine was conquered and ruled for nearly two centuries by European Crusaders. In 1187, Saladin definitively defeated the Crusaders in the battle of Hittin in Palestine. This heralded the end of Crusader rule and the return of Palestine to Islamic and Arab rule. In the wake of the end of the Abbasid empire, Palestine came under the rule of the Mamelukes of Egypt. Like the rest of the empire, Palestine under the Mamelukes gradually stagnated and declined. The Ottoman Turks of Asia Minor defeated the Mamelukes in 1516, established their control of the region and ruled Palestine until the winter of 1917-1918.
In the last decades of Ottoman rule, Palestine was administratively divided into sub-districts. The Jerusalem province was made an administratively independent province directly linked with the Ministry of Interior in Istanbul, thus creating the foundation of modern Palestine.
Palestine dispatched deputies to the first Ottoman parliament in 1876, and during this period many Arabs called for political and administrative reforms and self-autonomy. They called for Arabic to be considered the official language. After the reinstatement of the constitution in 1908 and the policies of Turkization pursued by the Young Turks government, many Arab leaders, including the leaders of Palestine, began to seek independence.
The Arabs helped the British defeat the Ottoman armies and capture Palestine from the Ottoman Turks in 1917-1918. The Arab revolt against the Turks was part of an agreement with the British who had promised the Arab leaders an independent Arab kingdom in all the former Arab provinces of the defeated Ottoman Empire. However, Britain did not have any intentions of fulfilling its agreements with the Arab allies; instead, it had struck a secret deal with France to carve up among themselves the former Ottoman domains. Britain also promised the European Zionists to support the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine; pledges or agreements that were clearly at odds with each other. The modern map of the Middle East is a result of these three contradictory agreements that the British entered into during World War I.
The Canaanites were the earliest known inhabitants of Palestine. They became urbanized and lived in city-states, one of which was Jericho. Thus Jericho is considered to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth. While already inhabited by people before recorded history, Palestine was subjected to a large influx of Semites from the Arabian Peninsula in the beginning of the third millennium BCE. Palestine's location at the center of routes linking three continents made it the meeting place for religious and cultural influences from Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. It was also the natural battleground for the great powers of the region. Pharaonic Egypt controlled the area for much of the second millennium BCE, however, when Egyptian power began to weaken, new invaders appeared: the Hebrews, a group of Semitic tribes from Mesopotamia, and the Philistines, after whom the country (Philistia) was later named, an Aegean people of Indo-European stock. The Israelites, a confederation of Hebrew tribes, defeated the Canaanites, but found the struggle with the Philistines more difficult. The Philistines had established an independent state on the southern coast of Palestine and controlled the Canaanite town of Jerusalem. The Philistines were superior in military organization to the Israelites severely defeated them about 1050 BCE.
David, Israel's king, united the Hebrew tribes and eventually defeated the Philistines. The three groups assimilated with each other over the years. The unity of Israelite tribes enabled David to establish a large independent state, with its capital at Jerusalem. However, that did not last long as that state split into two: Israel in the north and Judea in the south. Jerusalem was overrun by Rome in 63 BCE. The Romans gave the country the name of Palestine, a distortion of the Greek term Philistia. Palestine later received special attention when the Roman emperor Constantine I legalized Christianity. His mother, Helena, visited Jerusalem, and Palestine, as the Holy Land, became a focus of Christian pilgrimage. A golden age of prosperity, security, and culture followed. Most of the population became Hellenized and Christianized. When Constantine moved the Roman capital to Constantinople and established the Byzantine Empire, Palestine came under the rule of Byzantium, a rule was that was interrupted by a brief Persian occupation and ended altogether when Muslim Arab armies invaded Palestine and captured Jerusalem in 638 ACE.
The Arab conquest began 1300 years of Muslim presence in what then became known as Filastin. Palestine was holy to Muslims because the Prophet Muhammad had designated Jerusalem as the first qibla (the direction Muslims face when praying) and because he was believed to have ascended on a night journey to heaven from the Old City of Jerusalem, the site upon which the Dome of the Rock was later built. Jerusalem became the third holiest city of Islam. The Muslim rulers did not force their religion on the Palestinians, and more than a century passed before the majority converted to Islam. The remaining Christians and Jews (Hebrews) were allowed autonomous control in their communities and guaranteed security and freedom of worship. Most Palestinians adopted the Arabic language and Islamic culture.
Palestine remained as a province of the two major Arab-Islamic empires: the Omayyad (based in Damascus) up to 750 ACE and the Abbasid (based in Baghdad) up to 1258. During the Abbasid period, Palestine was conquered and ruled for nearly two centuries by European Crusaders. In 1187, Saladin definitively defeated the Crusaders in the battle of Hittin in Palestine. This heralded the end of Crusader rule and the return of Palestine to Islamic and Arab rule. In the wake of the end of the Abbasid empire, Palestine came under the rule of the Mamelukes of Egypt. Like the rest of the empire, Palestine under the Mamelukes gradually stagnated and declined. The Ottoman Turks of Asia Minor defeated the Mamelukes in 1516, established their control of the region and ruled Palestine until the winter of 1917-1918.
In the last decades of Ottoman rule, Palestine was administratively divided into sub-districts. The Jerusalem province was made an administratively independent province directly linked with the Ministry of Interior in Istanbul, thus creating the foundation of modern Palestine.
Palestine dispatched deputies to the first Ottoman parliament in 1876, and during this period many Arabs called for political and administrative reforms and self-autonomy. They called for Arabic to be considered the official language. After the reinstatement of the constitution in 1908 and the policies of Turkization pursued by the Young Turks government, many Arab leaders, including the leaders of Palestine, began to seek independence.
The Arabs helped the British defeat the Ottoman armies and capture Palestine from the Ottoman Turks in 1917-1918. The Arab revolt against the Turks was part of an agreement with the British who had promised the Arab leaders an independent Arab kingdom in all the former Arab provinces of the defeated Ottoman Empire. However, Britain did not have any intentions of fulfilling its agreements with the Arab allies; instead, it had struck a secret deal with France to carve up among themselves the former Ottoman domains. Britain also promised the European Zionists to support the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine; pledges or agreements that were clearly at odds with each other. The modern map of the Middle East is a result of these three contradictory agreements that the British entered into during World War I.