History of Palestine

Redirect to: History of the Southern Levant

Second Temple period Timeline Rabbinic period and the Middle Ages Modern era Timeline 1517–1948: Ottoman rule Old Yishuv Zionism Yishuv OETA British Mandate Balfour Declaration 1948–present : State of Israel years Independence Arab–Israeli conflict Iran–Israel proxy conflict By topic Demographics Judaism Leaders Warfare Zionism Jerusalem Related Jewish history Hebrew calendar Archaeology Museums Maps Travelogues Israel portal v t e The history of Palestine is the study of the past in the region of Palestine , generally defined as a geographic region in the Southern Levant between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River (where Israel and Palestine are today), and various adjoining lands. Situated at a strategic point between Europe , Asia , and Africa , and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity , the region has a long and tumultuous history as a crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics. In ancient times, Palestine was intermittently controlled by several independent kingdoms and numerous great powers, including Ancient Egypt , Persia , Alexander the Great and his successors , the Roman Empire , several Muslim dynasties, and the Crusaders . In modern times, the area was ruled by the Ottoman Empire , then the United Kingdom . Since 1948, Palestine has been divided into Israel , the West Bank and the Gaza Strip . Other terms for approximately the same geographic area include Canaan , Zion , the Land of Israel , Southern Syria , Outremer and the Holy Land . The region was among the earliest in the world to see human habitation, agricultural communities and civilization . During the Early and Middle Bronze Age , independent Canaanite city-states were established, and were influenced by the surrounding civilizations of Mesopotamia , Phoenicia , Minoan Crete, Syria, and ancient Egypt, which ruled the area in the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BCE ). The following period saw the emergence of the Israelites, who—according to the disputed Biblical tradition—established the United Kingdom of Israel in 1020 BCE, which split between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah . The Neo-Assyrian Empire conquered the region c. 740 BCE, then the Neo-Babylonian Empire in c. 627 BCE. The latter destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem in 586 BCE and deported Jewish leaders to Babylonia . They were only allowed to return by the Achaemenid Emperor Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE. In the 330s BCE, Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire, including Palestine, which changed hands numerous times during the wars of his successors , until the Seleucid Empire gained its control between 219 and 200 BCE. In 116 BCE, the Jewish Hasmoneans took their independence from the Seleucids, but their kingdom progressively became a vassal of Rome, which finally annexed Palestine, and created the province of Judea in 6 BCE. Roman rule was nevertheless troubled by several Jewish revolts, to which Rome answered with the Sack of Jerusalem , the second destruction of the Temple, and the deportation of the Jews. After the final Bar Kokhba revolt Hadrian joined the provinces of Judaea and Syria to form Syria Palaestina . Later, with the Christianization of the Roman Empire Palestine became a center of Christianity , attracting numerous monks and religious scholars. The region of Palestine was conquered by the Umayyads following the 636 CE Battle of Yarmouk during the Muslim conquest of Syria , and incorporated into the Bilad al-Sham province as the military districts of Urdunn and Filastin . In 661 CE, Muawiyah I founded the Umayyad Caliphate in Jerusalem . His successors notably built there the Dome of the Rock —the world's first great work of Islamic architecture—and the al-Aqsa Mosque . The Abbasids replaced them in 750, but from 878 Palestine was ruled from Egypt by semi-autonomous rulers: the Tulunids , then the Ikhshidids . The Fatimids conquered the region in 969, but lost it to the Great Seljuq Empire in 1073, and recaptured in 1098. However, the next year the Crusaders established the Kingdom of Jerusalem in Palestine, which lasted almost a century until its conquest in 1187 by Saladin , the founder of the Ayyubid Sultanate . Despite seven further Crusades , the Crusaders could not recover their power in the region. The Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate took Palestine from the Mongols (who had conquered the Ayyubid Sultanate) after the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. Ottoman rule of the country lasted without interruption for three centuries, until its conquest by Muhammad Ali 's Egypt in 1832. Eight years later, the United Kingdom intervened and returned control of the Levant to the Ottomans in return for extraterritorial rights for Europeans living in Palestine. Considerable demographic changes happened during the 19th century, and with the regional migrations of Druze , Circassians and Bedouin tribes. The emergence of Zionism also brought many Jewish immigrants from Europe, and the revival of the Hebrew language . During World War I the British government issued the Balfour Declaration of 1917 , which favored the establishment of national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. The British captured Jerusalem from the Ottomans a month later. The League of Nations formally awarded Britain a mandate over Palestine in 1922. Continuous Jewish immigration and British colonial rule led to the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine , the first nationalist movement among Palestinian Arabs. After the Nazi Holocaust , pressure grew for the international recognition of a Jewish state in Palestine, and in 1947 the British Government announced its intention to terminate the Mandate. The United Nations General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into independent Arab and Jewish states. However, the situation in Palestine had deteriorated into a civil war between Arabs and Jews. The former rejected the Partition Plan, the latter ostensibly accepted , declaring the independence of the State of Israel in May 1948 upon the termination of the British mandate in May 1948 . Nearby Arab countries immediately attacked Israel, which nevertheless prevailed in the First Israeli-Arab War . At the drawing of the armistice borders, Israel encompassed far more territory than what the Partition Plan had envisioned. In what is known as the Nakba ("Catastrophe"), 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven out of their homes, while a comparable number of Jewish refugees from Arab countries arrived in Israel starting in the late 1940s and early 1950s and for many years thereafter. Only two regions of Palestine remained in Arab control: the West Bank (and East-Jerusalem ), annexed by Jordan , and the Gaza Strip ( occupied by Egypt ), which were finally conquered by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. Despite international objections, Israel started to establish settlements in these occupied territories. Meanwhile, the Palestinian national movement gradually gained international recognition, largely thanks to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO, founded in 1965) under the leadership of Yasser Arafat . In 1993, the Oslo Peace Accords between Israel and the PLO established a Palestinian National Authority (PNA) as an interim body to run parts of Gaza and the West Bank (but not East Jerusalem) pending an agreed solution to the conflict. Further peace developments were not ratified and/or implemented, and in recent history, relations between Israel and Palestinians have been marked by repeated military conflicts, especially with the Islamist group Hamas , which also rejects the PNA. In 2007, Hamas has even won control of Gaza from the PNA, now limited to the West Bank. In November 2012, the State of Palestine (the name used by the PNA) was upgraded in the UN to non-member observer state status, a move that allows it to take part in General Assembly debates and improves its chances of joining other UN agencies. van Seters, John (1997), Abraham in History and Tradition (Yale University Press) Parfitt, Tudor (1987) "The Jews in Palestine, 1800–1882." Royal Historical Society Studies in History (52).

The history of Palestine is the study of the past in the region of Palestine , also known as the Land of Israel and the Holy Land , defined as the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River (where Israel and Palestine are today). Strategically situated between three continents, Palestine has a tumultuous history as a crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics. Palestine is the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity , and has been controlled by many kingdoms and powers, including Ancient Egypt , Ancient Israel and Judah , the Persian Empire , Alexander the Great and his successors , the Hasmoneans , the Roman Empire , several Muslim Caliphates , and the Crusaders . In modern times, the area was ruled by the Ottoman Empire , then the United Kingdom and since 1948 it has been divided into Israel , the West Bank , and the Gaza Strip .

"Historic Palestine" and "Historical Palestine" redirect here. Maps of Ottoman Palestine showing the Kaza subdivisions. The region of Palestine is part of the wider region of the Levant , which represents the land bridge between Africa and Eurasia . The areas of the Levant traditionally serve as the "crossroads of Western Asia , the Eastern Mediterranean , and Northeast Africa ", and in tectonic terms are located in the "northwest of the Arabian Plate ". Palestine itself was among the earliest regions to see human habitation, agricultural communities and civilization . Because of its location, it has historically been seen as a crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics. In the Bronze Age , the Canaanites established city-states influenced by surrounding civilizations, among them Egypt, which ruled the area in the Late Bronze Age. During the Iron Age , two related Israelite kingdoms, Israel and Judah , controlled much of Palestine, while the Philistines occupied its southern coast. The Assyrians conquered the region in the 8th century BCE, then the Babylonians c. 601 BCE , followed by the Persian Achaemenid Empire that conquered the Babylonian Empire in 539 BCE. Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire in the late 330s BCE, beginning Hellenization . In the late 2nd-century BCE Maccabean Revolt , the Jewish Hasmonean Kingdom conquered most of Palestine; the kingdom subsequently became a vassal of Rome , which annexed it in 63 BCE. Roman Judea was troubled by Jewish revolts in 66 CE, so Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Jewish Temple in 70 CE. In the 4th century, as the Roman Empire adopted Christianity , Palestine became a center for the religion, attracting pilgrims, monks and scholars. Following Muslim conquest of the Levant in 636–641, ruling dynasties succeeded each other: the Rashiduns ; Umayyads , Abbasids ; the semi-independent Tulunids and Ikhshidids ; Fatimids ; and the Seljuks . In 1099, the First Crusade resulted in Crusaders establishing of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , which was reconquered by the Ayyubid Sultanate in 1187. Following the invasion of the Mongol Empire in the late 1250s, the Egyptian Mamluks reunified Palestine under its control, before the region was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1516, being ruled as Ottoman Syria until the 20th century largely without dispute. During World War I , the British government issued the Balfour Declaration , favoring the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine, and captured it from the Ottomans. The League of Nations gave Britain mandatory power over Palestine in 1922. British rule and Arab efforts to prevent Jewish migration led to growing violence between Arabs and Jews , causing the British to announce its intention to terminate the Mandate in 1947. The UN General Assembly recommended partitioning Palestine into two states : Arab and Jewish. However, the situation deteriorated into a civil war . The Arabs rejected the Partition Plan, the Jews ostensibly accepted it, declaring the independence of the State of Israel in May 1948 upon the end of the British mandate . Nearby Arab countries invaded Palestine, Israel not only prevailed, but conquered more territory than envisioned by the Partition Plan. During the war, 700,000, or about 80% of all Palestinians fled or were driven out of territory Israel conquered and were not allowed to return, an event known as the Nakba (Arabic for 'catastrophe') to Palestinians. Starting in the late 1940s and continuing for decades, about 850,000 Jews from the Arab world immigrated ("made Aliyah ") to Israel. After the war, only two parts of Palestine remained in Arab control: the West Bank and East Jerusalem were annexed by Jordan , and the Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt , which were conquered by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. Despite international objections, Israel started to establish settlements in these occupied territories. Meanwhile, the Palestinian national movement gained international recognition, thanks to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), under Yasser Arafat . In 1993, the Oslo Peace Accords between Israel and the PLO established the Palestinian Authority (PA), an interim body to run Gaza and the West Bank (but not East Jerusalem), pending a permanent solution. Further peace developments were not ratified and/or implemented, and relations between Israel and Palestinians has been marked by conflict, especially with Islamist Hamas , which rejects the PA. In 2007, Hamas won control of Gaza from the PA, now limited to the West Bank. In 2012, the State of Palestine (the name used by the PA) became a non-member observer state in the UN , allowing it to take part in General Assembly debates and improving its chances of joining other UN agencies. The western coastline and the eastern deserts set the boundaries for the Levant ... The Euphrates and the area around Jebel el-Bishrī mark the eastern boundary of the northern Levant, as does the Syrian Desert beyond the Anti-Lebanon range's eastern hinterland and Mount Hermon.