Palestine | the cradle of civilizations and the home of the sacred
Palestine is a Middle Eastern Arab country. It is considered one of the five countries of the Levant. It is located in the Asian part of the Arab world. It has a religiously sacred status due to the presence of the Al-Aqsa Mosque there, in addition to the grave of Abraham, peace be upon him, and the fact that it is the cradle of Christ, peace be upon him.
Palestine was dominated by empires and civilizations, and witnessed wars and conflicts over control of its distinguished geographical location and the resources it contains, the most recent of which was the British Mandate, which resulted in the Israeli occupation and settlement of the Palestinian lands, and a massive migration of Jews to it, especially from Europe.
basic information
Name: State of Palestine
Abbreviated name: Palestine
Capital:Jerusalem
Official Language: Arabic
Political system: multi-party semi-presidential republic
Currency: Shekel
Location and space
The State of Palestine is located in the southwest of the continent of Asia, in the heart of the ancient world, specifically in the southern part of the Mediterranean coast, and is located in the southwest of the Levant, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River to the east.
Its geographical location made it a land link between the continents of Asia and Africa, and between the Mediterranean and the Red Seas.
The Mediterranean Sea borders Palestine to the west on a coast extending 240 km long, and to the north-eastern side it is bordered by Syria, with a border area of 76 km, and to the north, Lebanon, with an area of 79 km. It is also bordered by Jordan to the east, with a border area of 360 km long.
Its borders with Jordan were drawn by the British High Commissioner in Palestine and Transjordan in 1922, while its borders with Egypt were drawn according to an agreement concluded between the Khedive of Egypt and the Ottoman government in 1906.
It is bordered by the Lebanese Republic to the north with an area of 79 km long, and to the south by the Egyptian Sinai, and the border area between them is 240 km.
Space
The area of historical Palestine is 27,027 square kilometers, including Lakes Tiberias and Hula and half the area of the Dead Sea.
The area of the West Bank - including its part of the Dead Sea - is 5,842 square kilometers, while the Gaza Strip occupies an area of 365 square kilometers.
Due to its astronomical location, Palestine has a locally varying climate between its northern and southern parts. The climate in the southern and southeastern parts is warm, and in the northern and central parts it is less warm.
The importance of the location of Palestine
Palestine's geographical location is important on several levels, as it is a corridor for trade caravans coming from Asia, India, and the Arabian Peninsula, which reach the ports of Palestine on the Mediterranean Sea and from there to Europe.
During periods of peace that Palestine witnessed, it was commercially and economically prosperous, aided by its geographical location linking Asia and Africa via Egypt.
During the period of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the ports of Haifa, Jaffa, and Gaza still played a major role in trade, especially the port of Haifa, through which Iraqi oil is exported to Europe.
On the religious level, the importance of Palestine lies in the sanctity of its land, which includes Al-Aqsa Mosque, the first of the two qiblahs and the third of the Two Holy Mosques, in addition to the Dome of the Rock Mosque.
On the strategic and civilizational level, Palestine has throughout history been coveted by invaders and colonizers for its location linking Europe, Africa and Asia.
In the twentieth century, European colonialism, especially Britain and France, confirmed that maintaining colonial interests in the Arab region could only be achieved through controlling Palestine, and this was achieved by establishing a national homeland for the Jews there.
Population
The number of Palestinians around the world was estimated at the end of 2020 at 13.7 million Palestinians around the world, 37.2% of whom are residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and 12% of the population of the occupied territories, with an estimate of 1.6 million people.
The number of Palestinians in the Arab countries reached about 6.2 million, or 44.9% of the total number of Palestinians.
Data from the General Census of Population, Housing, and Establishments for 2017 indicated that 42.2% of the Palestinian population in the State of Palestine are refugees.
Their number was estimated at about 1.98 million refugees at that time, as their number in the West Bank reached about 741 thousand refugees, representing 26.3% of the total population of the West Bank, while in the Gaza Strip, they reached about 1.24 million refugees, representing 66.1% of the total population of the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian society is characterized by the young age of its members, as it is considered a young society, because the percentage of those under the age of 15 reaches 38%.
Data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics indicate that Hebron Governorate recorded the highest percentage of population, as its population percentage reached 15% of the total population in the State of Palestine.
It is followed in population density by Gaza Governorate, in which the agency recorded a rate of 13.6%, while the population density in Jerusalem Governorate reached 9%.
The data also indicates that Jericho and Al-Aghwar Governorate recorded the lowest percentage of population at the end of 2020, amounting to only 1% of the total population in the State of Palestine.
The Bedouin population is mainly concentrated in the Negev Desert, then in the West Bank and in the Jordan Valley specifically, and they constitute a separate group numbering about 150 thousand people, and their Bedouin life is threatened due to the strict Israeli restrictions on their movement and travel.
About half of the population in Palestine are Jewish refugees, who constitute 44% of the population, and the hostile campaigns against the Palestinians led to their displacement either to other Palestinian areas such as Gaza and the West Bank, or outside the Palestinian territories.
The Jewish attacks and massacres that displaced the Palestinians did not exclude any sect except the Druze, who constitute a small sect in northern Palestine.
Religion
Muslims constitute 96.5% of the total population of Palestine, and according to a census conducted in 2017, their number was more than 4 million people at that time, and they are followers of Sunni sects.
Palestine is also inhabited by sects of Christianity, which was a belief held by most of the inhabitants of the Palestinian territories before the Islamic conquests. They have a variety of churches in Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem, and they are considered a minority whose population is estimated at 46,850 people.
The Christian population reached 46,850 in 2017, including 45,712 people in the West Bank and 1,138 in the Gaza Strip. Christians in the West Bank constitute 1.6% of its population, and in the Gaza Strip 0.06% of its total population.
There are 15 recognized churches in Palestine, the largest of which is the Greek Orthodox Church, followed by the Roman Catholic Church, the “Melkite” Roman Catholics, the “Lutheran and Anglican” Protestant churches, and then the Armenian Church.
the language
The official language in Palestine is Arabic, as stated in the third paragraph of Article Four of the Amended Basic Law of 2005.
The Hebrew language witnessed the spread of the mountainous regions - the West Bank and Jerusalem - and the northern coastal regions, in addition to the northern western coast of Palestine. In the region of southern Palestine, the Edomite language, derived from the Phoenician language, spread.
Historically, the Aramaic language was the official language in all countries of the ancient Near East, and it replaced Hebrew and Canaanite in Palestine.
During the era of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish language was widespread in all the lands it annexed, including Palestine.
During the period of the British Mandate, the three languages “English, Arabic, and Hebrew” spread, and Britain adopted them as official languages. The Hebrew language had seeped into Palestine through the intense migration of Jews in the last century, and the establishment of settlements by Jews on Palestinian lands.
In addition to the Arabic language, Palestinians speak different dialects depending on geographical locations, including the northern countryside dialect, in which the Qaf is generally pronounced as Kafa.
The dialect of the southern countryside is very close to the dialect of the northern countryside, except that some areas of the southern countryside pronounce the Egyptian qāf-jima.
The coast, Galilee, and cities have a dialect similar to the Shakan dialect, in which the Qaf is pronounced as a hamza. The Bedouin dialect is used throughout the Gaza Strip and among residents of the Negev and some rural areas in the north, center and south.
The History
Palestine was historically known as the land of Canaan, because the Canaanites were its most famous inhabitants. Some accounts say that the name Palestine is derived from the word “Philistia,” in reference to the “Philisto” forces of the Assyrian king Adizari III, and those forces forced the people of Palestine at the time to pay taxes.
In the Roman era, the name Palestine came to be used to refer to all the Holy Lands, and the use of the name became widespread in the Christian Church.
Archaeological discoveries in the Levant and Iraq indicate that the Semitic peoples were among the oldest peoples to know life on the land of Palestine, and they also indicate that the inhabitants of Palestine were Arabs from ancient times.
These Arabs had emigrated from the Arabian Peninsula following the drought that befell it, and they lived in their new homeland, “Canaan,” for more than two thousand years before the appearance of the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him.
The history of the Canaanite migration from the Arabian Peninsula goes back to the middle of the third millennium BC, and other researchers go further than that, as they point to the presence of the Canaanites 7 thousand years ago, by tracing traces in their ancient cities, the oldest of which is the city of Jericho that remains to this day, which says Some accounts say it is the oldest city in the world.
Palestine was ruled by successive countries and empires. It was ruled by the Persian Empire for a period, then the Roman Empire, followed by the era of Islamic conquest, under which Palestine was subject to all its emirates from the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphate until the Ottoman era .
During that period, it faced wars, most notably the Crusades, and the campaigns launched by the Crusaders brought Palestine under their control for a period. One of the most prominent events of that period was the fall of the Crusader army led by Richard the Lionheart at the hands of the army of the Muslim leader Saladin Al-Ayyubi in the famous Battle of Hattin.
Mandate and occupation
During the Ottoman era, Jews were allowed to reside in Palestine as citizens by decree of the Sublime Porte, because the Ottoman Empire rejected Jewish settlement immigration to the land of Palestine.
Despite this, Zionist political forces grew in Palestine following the “second immigration” of Jews, which took place between 1904 and 1914, and this was helped by the corruption of some of the Ottoman state agencies at that time and the collusion of some of its employees with the Zionist movement.
These migrations began at the end of the 19th century among the Jews of Europe, and they belonged to Zionism, derived verbally from the Hebrew word “Zion,” which is the name of a mountain west of Jerusalem to which Jews make pilgrimages, because they believe that King David was buried there.
After 1870, the Zionist idea emerged to establish a national homeland for the Jews in Palestine, and this was done after the famous contract between the Zionists and European colonialism through the Balfour Declaration, signed on November 2, 1917, in light of the First World War and the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire.
The Balfour Declaration made it clear that the British government at the time was committed to supporting Jewish settlement in Palestine, against the will of the Arab Palestinian owners of the land.
In the period from 1923 to 1948, the British Mandate was over Palestine, as Britain obtained the Mandate instrument in accordance with the Charter of the League of Nations, and had practically exercised its authority over Palestine before receiving the instrument.
In 1924, the then British High Commissioner Herbert Samuel issued a new Palestinian monetary project, and a law was issued granting Palestinian citizenship to Jews residing in Palestine, before he was succeeded and completed his Zionist project by Lord Herbert Charles Plumer.
During the first ten years of the British Mandate, approximately 76,400 Jewish immigrants entered Palestine, the majority of whom were from Eastern European countries. With the increasing immigration activity to Palestine, the Arabs realized the necessity of resisting Zionism and the authorities’ bias towards it.
From that stage, the resistance began, and the beginning of the revolution and its spark was the Buraq Revolution in 1929, where the Jews tried to seize the western wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was owned by Muslims, which resulted in mobilizing Arab support for the Palestinian cause.
Governance in Palestine
The system of government in Palestine is considered a representative democracy, based on political and party pluralism, and institutional development began in Palestine after the Oslo Accords in 1993, under which the Palestinian Authority was established.
The president is elected by popular vote and rules for a period of 4 years. The Palestinian National Authority consists of a president elected by the citizens of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, then a prime minister named directly by the president. The Legislative Council, consisting of 132 members, is also elected by the people.
Landmarks
Palestine was one of the most important centers of ancient civilization, which means that its richness in antiquities and landmarks would not be strange, especially given its religious sanctity.
Its sanctity stems from it being the cradle of Christ, peace be upon him, the landing site of the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, and the first qibla for Muslims.
Among its most prominent landmarks are Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Historical sources say that Al-Aqsa Mosque was built forty years after it was built, and it was called Al-Aqsa because of its distance from the Grand Mosque.
Another of its religious landmarks is the Ibrahimi Mosque, located in the city of Hebron. It was named the Ibrahimi because it contains the tomb of the Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him. The mosque is surrounded by an ancient wall built nearly two thousand years ago.
In Palestine, there is a landmark from the Umayyad era, which is the palace of Caliph Hisham bin Abdul Malik, and it displays engineering innovations, including decorations with mosaics and decorations, and ancient halls and columns.
One of the most famous landmarks in Palestine is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the city of Jerusalem, which is one of the most important churches in the world. Christians believe that it contains the tomb of Jesus, peace be upon him, and that he was crucified above it.
It also has other important churches, such as the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, which was built in 427 AD, and the Church of Mary Magdalene, located on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, which has a distinctive golden dome in addition to its beautiful design.
A distinct feature of Palestinian culture is the esteemed tatreez, or Palestinian embroidery. A centuries-old folk art, Palestinian embroidery is a key symbol of identity and culture. Palestinian women begin learning embroidery at a very young age and stitch various patterns, colors, and designs on their thobes (gowns), as well as their headdresses. Each region throughout Palestine specializes in a distinct form of embroidery, fabric, and headdress. In this way, each woman became a walking embodiment of her land.
Palestinian food and fashion
Palestine has well-known fashions that have special symbolism, especially after the diaspora in 1948.
One of the most famous of these costumes is the Palestinian qambaz, which is a long robe similar to a jalabiya, narrow at the top and widening from the waist to the feet. It is tied with a satin and a leather belt is placed on it.
The trousers or shorts are also considered one of the Palestinian men’s fashions. They are loose and narrow at the legs, and are made of white and black cotton velvet fabric.
The women's Al-Mardan thobe is considered one of the traditional Palestinian costumes. It is a thobe with wide embroidered sleeves, in addition to the king's thobe. Each region has a thobe with specifications that differ slightly from other regions. The women's king's thobe in Bethlehem is different from the king's thobe in Jerusalem.
Clothes are distinguished and their regions are identified through the type and pattern of the embroidery. Bethlehem, for example, has star-shaped embroidery, and it is considered one of the oldest patterns of Palestinian embroidery.
As for foods, Palestinian cuisine is famous for its many dishes, and each region or city is distinguished by a specific type of meal.
The city of Nablus is famous for its kunafa, which is a type of sweet, while Jerusalem is known for its sesame cakes and hameem eggs, and the city of Nazareth is famous for its mujaddara with bulgur, and the green carob drink called “makiqa.”
The villages of Tulkarm district are famous for their musakhan meal, which is a dish consisting of chicken, taboon bread, and fried onions in local olive oil and sumac.
During holidays and celebrations, a wide variety of main meals are served, most notably Palestinian mansaf, maqluba, waraq al-dawali, and various stuffed vegetables, in addition to appetizers that Palestine shares with the rest of the Levant countries in serving, the most important and famous of which are falafel and hummus.
Source : Al Jazeera + websites
