Palestine The Promise Land
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Palestine has been Arab since it was settled by the Canaanites
The definite nature of life in the region that later became known as Palestine remains uncertain. However, some of the earliest archaeological discoveries found in Mount Karfa, south of Nazareth, and in the Tiberias area, dating back to 7500-3100 BC, indicate the existence of a simple form of life in the area. One significant event witnessed was the founding of the city of Jericho, considered by historians as one of the oldest towns in history, with remnants discovered near Ain Sultan village.
By the late fourth millennium BC, the inhabitants of the area began to become acquainted with copper and used it in some primitive industries, hence historians termed this period the Chalcolithic age.
The Canaanite Migration
The first significant human migration to Palestine started at the beginning of the third millennium BC, known as the Canaanite migration. They were recognized by the names of the places where they settled, and over time, three languages emerged: Canaanite, Aramaic – the language of the prophet Jesus (peace be upon him), and Arabic. Palestine continued to be called the land of Canaan until around 1200 BC when it was invaded by Philistine tribes.
The Egyptian Empire
During this period, Palestine was a part of the Egyptian Empire, and there was active trade between them, evidenced by the letters of Tel el-Amarna found in Upper Egypt.
The Migration of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham)
In the third millennium BC, Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) migrated from the city of Ur in Iraq to Palestine. There, he bore Isaac, the father of Jacob, also known as Israel, from whom the Israelites trace their lineage.
The Name "Palestine"
Palestine saw a series of invasions by the Philistine tribes who settled in the coastal regions of Jaffa and Gaza. The area was named “Palestine” after the Philistine tribe, which integrated with the Canaanite residents of the land, and the name “Palestine” was used for all the coastal and inland territories inhabited by the Canaanites. Over time, the Canaanite element dominated, and all the inhabitants of the land became Canaanite Arabs.
The Israelites
Due to the famine that struck Palestine, Prophet Jacob (peace be upon him) and his sons migrated to Egypt, where his son, Prophet Joseph (peace be upon him), managed the country’s treasuries. This story is told in the Quran in the story of Prophet Joseph. The Israelites settled in Egypt and their numbers increased, but they began facing persecution during the reign of Ramses II. Moses (peace be upon him) decided to lead them out to the land of Canaan, and this story is also recounted in the Quran.
The Israelites remained in the desert for forty years before entering Palestine after the death of Moses. It was during the time of Prophet Joshua that they were able to enter. David (peace be upon him) established a kingdom for the Children of Israel in Jerusalem after they defeated Goliath.
Dawood (peace be upon him) became king and successfully reunited the Israelites, eliminating internal disputes and wars. He defeated the Jebusites and established the kingdom of Israel, making Jerusalem its capital.
After Solomon’s death around 935 BC, the kingdom split into two: Judah in Jerusalem and Israel in Samaria. Conflicts and wars erupted between the two kingdoms. Both sought support from the kings of Egypt or Assyria against each other, which weakened both of them and their authority over the population, leading to further disturbances.
In 920 BC, Pharaoh Sheshonk I invaded Judah, making it a part of the Egyptian state. In 721 BC, the Assyrians invaded Israel and Judah, occupying and imposing tribute on them. They tried to rebel, but the Assyrians crushed their rebellion, taking many of their people as captives to Iraq.
Nebuchadnezzar II, the Chaldean, attacked Palestine in 597 BC, capturing Jerusalem, taking the king, his family, and many leaders as captives to Iraq. He established a new king in Jerusalem. In 586 BC, the remaining Jews attempted to rebel, and Nebuchadnezzar attacked again, destroying Jerusalem, and the land returned to being Arab Canaanite, now a part of Iraq, receiving Arab migrations from Syria and the Arabian Peninsula.
The Invasion of the Assyrians and Chaldeans led to the disappearance of the Jewish state in Palestine after four centuries (1000–586 BC), a period filled with disputes, wars, and unrest.
This period is one of the most significant in Palestinian history and forms the basis for the Jewish claim to their right to return to Palestine, which they call the Promised Land.
Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 1900 (Getty)"
Palestine Under Persian Occupation
The Persians invaded Palestine in 539 BC following their conquest of Babylon. Palestine remained subject to the Persian Empire for two centuries. During their rule, remnants of the Judean tribe returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonians.
Palestine Under Greek Occupation
Alexander the Great’s victory over the Persians in 332 BC was a significant event, capturing Syria, Gaza, and Jerusalem, annexing them into the Greek Empire. After his death, his empire divided among his generals. Palestine came under the control of Antigonus, defeated by the Ptolemies in Gaza in 321 BC, bringing it under the reign of Antiochus III in Syria by 198 BC.
Since that period, Palestine was in a state of turmoil under various powers like the Maccabees and the Nabatean Arabs in 90 BC, being subject to their capital, Petra, until the Roman occupation.
The Romans occupied Palestine, initially as part of Rome and later Byzantium, until the mid-7th century when it was conquered by Arab Muslims. During the Roman rule, Jesus Christ was born, yet the Jews turned him over to the Roman ruler in 37, accusing him of heresy, leading to the story of the crucifixion with differing details in Islamic and Christian beliefs.
Attempting to establish a separate state in Jerusalem, the Jews faced Roman opposition in 71. With the assistance of the local Arab population, the Roman governor attacked, resulting in many Jewish deaths before their escape to Syria, Egypt, and other Arab lands.
The last attempt to form a Jewish state in Palestine in 135 was met with suppression by the Roman ruler Hadrian, who destroyed the Jewish region in Jerusalem and erected a new city, prohibiting Jews from entering. After that, the Jews refrained from causing any disturbances in Palestine until the 20th century, which saw the establishment of the state of Israel, over two thousand years after their state fell in 586 BC under Nebuchadnezzar.
In 633, the Caliph Abu Bakr sent multiple armies led by Amr ibn al-As, Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, Sharhabeel ibn Hasana, and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah to conquer the Levant. They defeated the Romans in Wadi al-Arabah south of the Dead Sea and chased them to Gaza in 634.
Amr ibn al-As achieved significant victories over the Romans at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 634, capturing Fahl, Beisan, and Jaffa. When Theodorus, brother of the Roman Emperor Heraclius, took command, Caliph Abu Bakr instructed Khalid ibn al-Walid to move from Iraq to Palestine.”
Following the death of Caliph Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, Umar ibn Al-Khattab succeeded him. He commanded the Islamic armies in Palestine to continue fighting to complete the conquest. Khalid ibn Al-Walid was ordered to unify the Islamic armies into one, and he clashed with the Romans in the Battle of Yarmouk. This battle marked a decisive moment in Palestine’s history, as it resulted in the Muslims expelling the Romans.
The Patriarch Sophronius demanded that Caliph Umar ibn Al-Khattab personally receive the city of Jerusalem, then known as “Iliya.” Umar visited Palestine and granted Christians a covenant securing their churches and crosses. He stipulated that no Jew should reside in that sacred city. Since then, Arab tribes from Syria, the Hijaz, Najd, and Yemen began to settle in Palestinian territories, where the majority converted to Islam, and Arabic became the predominant language.
During the Umayyad era, Palestine was under the rule of Damascus, governed by Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik. One of the significant legacies of this period was the Dome of the Rock, built by Abd al-Malik at the site from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to the heavens on the Night Journey. Also, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was completed by Walid ibn Abd al-Malik and remains standing to this day, and the city of Ramla, where Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik constructed his famous palace and the White Mosque.
Following the end of Umayyad rule, Palestine became part of the Abbasid state. The Caliph Al-Ma’mun and his son Al-Mahdi visited the region. Under the Abbasid rule, the Arabization process increased, and a new generation emerged due to intermarriage between the conquering Arabs and the local populace.
In the 3rd century Hijri (9th century CE), due to the weakening grip of the Abbasid state over many parts of Palestine, the Tulunids managed to gain control over Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Palestine. Among their famous effects during their rule was fortifying the port of Acre.
Historians consider the 4th century Hijri (10th century CE) as a time of political turmoil. The Qarmatians, flowing from the Arabian Gulf, raided the Levant and occupied Palestine, causing considerable destruction and devastation. Following them, Palestine witnessed various ruling systems from the Ikshidids, Seljuks, and Fatimids, truly marking a chaotic century.
Foreign occupation returned to Palestine at the end of the 11th century CE. Europe was facing several political, social, and economic problems, including poverty in raw materials, population growth, disputes between kings and knights, and between the Pope and kings. Raiding the East seemed a convenient solution for all parties involved. Moral shipping operations began with a sermon by Pope Urban II in 1095, urging the public to free the Holy Sepulchre from Muslim hands and cleanse Jerusalem from their presence.
Peter the Hermit led the first military campaigns that lasted for two centuries, known as the Crusades because they took the cross as their emblem. He captured Ramla, destroyed Jaffa, and besieged Jerusalem with an estimated forty thousand soldiers. After a month of the siege, the small Egyptian garrison surrendered, leading to the Crusaders’ entry into Jerusalem in 1099, where they immediately killed a large number of its Arab inhabitants, as recorded in many historical accounts, amounting to about seventy thousand.
The Crusaders declared the establishment of a Latin Kingdom in Jerusalem and extended their influence to Acre, Beisan, Nablus, and Acre, settling in Tiberias.
After fierce fighting with the Crusader garrisons, Nur ad-Din Zangi succeeded in recapturing some towns and emirates. Salah ad-Din Al-Ayyubi continued these victories, culminating in the famous Battle of Hattin in 1187, leading to the recapture of Jerusalem.
During the Mamluk period, Saif al-Din Qutuz and Al-Zahir Baybars managed to repel the Mongol invasion that had ravaged vast parts of the Islamic world in the Battle of Ain Jalut near Nazareth in 1259. This battle was one of the most significant and renowned in Islamic history.
Under Khalil ibn Qalawun, the liberation of the remaining Palestinian cities, which had remained under Crusader control, continued until the country was entirely purged of them in 1291. Some Mamluk structures and schools remained in Palestine. Among their works were the restoration of the Dome of the Rock and the Ibrahimi Mosque
The Ottomans triumphed over the Mamluks in the Battle of Marj Dabiq near Aleppo in 1516 and subsequently gained control over Palestine, which remained under Ottoman rule for four centuries.
France, led by Napoleon, attempted to invade Palestine after the occupation of Egypt. However, the campaign was defeated after reaching Acre, where it failed to breach the city’s defenses due to its fortifications and the courage of its leader, Ahmad Pasha.
The Palestinian Electricity Company, founded by Pinhas Rutenberg in 1909 (Getty). Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali, the ruler of Egypt in 1838, decided to expand his rule by annexing the Levant. His son, Ibrahim Pasha, succeeded in capturing El-Arish, Gaza, Jaffa, then Nablus and Jerusalem. Popular uprisings occurred in Nablus and Hebron in protest of Ibrahim Pasha’s severe treatment of the locals and his imposition of heavy taxes. However, Muhammad Ali’s rule over the Levant lasted no more than ten years before it returned to Ottoman rule.
British Occupation in 1917. After the British forces, led by General Allenby, defeated Turkey in World War I, Palestine fell under British mandate in 1917 until 1948. This withdrawal provided space for the Jews to establish their state in Palestine, later named Israel. With the assistance of Britain and the United States, Zionist gangs succeeded in defeating the Arabs in the 1948 war, announcing the establishment of the state of Israel after an absence from the Palestinian scene for more than two thousand years.
Partition of Palestine. Britain sent a royal commission to Palestine to determine the primary causes of unrest, evaluate how the mandate was being carried out. The committee’s report confirmed that the main reason for the Arab revolution was the Palestinians’ desire to achieve their national independence and their refusal to establish a national homeland for the Jews. The committee proposed ending the mandate over Palestine based on partition, similar to the arrangement in Iraq and Syria. It recommended the establishment of two states: an Arab state, including the east of the Jordan River and the Arab part of Palestine as determined by the committee, and a Jewish state in the part of Palestine the committee deemed appropriate for the Jews, provided that the agreements include strict guarantees to protect minorities in the two states. These agreements would also involve military pacts for the establishment of naval, land, and air forces, and the safeguarding of ports, roads, railways, and oil pipelines. Outside the borders of these two states, the committee suggested a third area including Jerusalem and Bethlehem, with easy access to the sea through a corridor extending from Jerusalem to Jaffa in the north and the cities of Lydda and Ramla. The committee stipulated that this area would remain under mandate, without the Balfour Declaration being applied, and English would be the only language there.
In exchange for losing their land, the Arab state proposed receiving financial aid from the Jewish state after the partition was implemented. Naturally, the Arabs rejected the committee’s proposal. Although the Jews were offered a Jewish state by the committee, they refused to accept the report because it contradicted the Balfour Declaration, which pledged to grant the whole of Palestine to the Jews.”
1937 to 1947
On September 13, 1937, British Foreign Secretary Eden presented Britain’s policy towards the partition plan before the League of Nations and proposed sending a technical committee to outline a detailed plan for the partition. Faced with Arab and Jewish rejection to delay the implementation of the partition plan, British and American efforts were intensified in 1945 to persuade the Arabs again through the Joint Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, and through the Morrison-Bevin Plan in 1946 and 1947.
The stage shifted from the League of Nations in the 1930s to the corridors of the United Nations in the 1940s. Britain announced its historic decision to relinquish its mandate in early April 1947 and requested the Secretary-General to present the Palestinian issue in a special session.
The United Nations General Assembly held a special session on April 28, 1947, regarding the Palestinian issue, and decided to form an international committee for investigation. After four months of the committee’s mission to Palestine, its report was similar to the Peel Commission’s report, recommending the retention of the religious character of all the holy places and the adoption of peaceful means to enforce any resolution.
The third recommendation in this proposal was the division of Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state. The borders of the Arab state would include Western Galilee, Nablus, and the coastal plain extending from Ashdod to the Egyptian borders, including the Hebron area, the Jerusalem Mountains, and the southern Jordan Valley, covering an area of 12,000 square kilometers. The Jewish area would consist of Eastern Galilee, the majority of the coastal plain, the Beersheba area, and the Negev, with an area of 14,200 square kilometers, considered the most fertile lands of Palestine.
The holy places, including the city of Jerusalem and its vicinity, would be placed under international supervision. The United Nations Trusteeship Council would appoint a non-Arab and non-Jewish governor for this area.
In a session held by the United Nations on September 23, 1947, the project was transferred to a special committee composed of representatives from all member states, including a Jewish and Palestinian representative. The Palestinian delegate rejected the proposal after reviewing the historical roots of the Palestinian issue, while the Jewish delegate agreed to the proposal but demanded the inclusion of Western Galilee and the Jerusalem area in the Jewish state.
On November 29, 1947, the partition plan was put to a vote and was approved by a majority of 33 votes against 13 opposed votes, with ten countries abstaining. On March 15, 1948, Britain declared the end of the mandate over Palestine and announced evacuation in August of the same year, confirming that it would not exercise any administrative or military authority.”