Palestinians threaten to quit talks and U.S. scrambles to save Mideast talks as Clinton criticized for 'harsh language' toward Israel!
Troubled galaxy destroyed dreams, Chapter 458
Palash Biswas
Intention to disrupt Indo-Israeli relations, says prosecution
`Aim of liberating Kashmir and the choice of Mumbai as the target, all amounted to the waging of "a proxy war" with India'
Presenting his arguments for the charge of waging war under section 121 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam on Wednesday contended that the intention of the handlers to kill Israeli nationals in the 26/11 attacks was to disrupt the friendly ties between India and Israel. The aim of liberating Kashmir and the choice of Mumbai as the target, all amounted to the waging of "a proxy war" with India.
Mr. Nikam said, according to Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab's judicial confession, "All attackers were told to selectively kill American, British and Israeli nationals for the injustice done [by their respective countries] to Muslims. Agar yeh log [the Holtzberg family] mare jate hai to unke desh ke talukat kharab ho sakte hai [If the Holtzbergs are killed, relations between the countries can sour]."
The prosecutor argued: "The reason given was to arouse communal sentiments, but the hidden intention was to wage war. Handlers gave Imran Babar [one of the two terrorists at Nariman House] clear instructions to kill Israelis to spoil the friendly relations between India and Israel. So that they [Israel] start a fight against India."
However, judge M.L. Tahaliyani asked Mr. Nikam if the intention could really be taken as inciting a war between the two countries instead of being related to the "so-called atrocities by Israel on Palestine as we know it."
"We are concerned with the idea [behind the acts of the 26/11 accused] and not with their [attackers'] sense of right and wrong or their cause," Mr. Tahaliyani pointed out.
Through telephonic conversations, the handlers instructed the Nariman House attackers to put forth a set of demands, namely "asking for the release of prisoners, handing over Muslim states to the Muslims and withdrawing troops from Kashmir," Mr. Nikam said.
Found napping
Throughout the proceedings, Kasab was found napping and at one point had to be roused out of his slumber.
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Alan Hart – Please, Mr. President, Stop Talking Nonsense
By Alan Hart • Feb 7th, 2010 at 17:25 • Category: Features, Israel, Newswire, Palestine, ZionismBy Alan Hart
At a town hall meeting in Tampa, Florida on 28 January, President Obama explained what in his view had to happen if there is to be a two-state solution which would see Israel and the Palestinians living side by side in peace and security. He said, "Both sides are going to have to make concessions".
My own view is that Israel's still on-going colonization of the occupied West Bank has destroyed the prospect of a two-state solution on any basis the Palestinians could accept. But for the sake of discussion I'll pretend that is not necessarily so.
Israel is not required to make concessions. Israel is required to accept and implement UN Security Council resolutions which call for an end to its occupation and, more generally, to cease regarding itself as being above and beyond international law.
The Palestinians made the concession necessary from their side long ago.
There were three related reasons why Yasser Arafat and his mainstream PLO leadership colleagues decided that they had got to compromise with Israel if their people were ever to obtain a minimum but just about acceptable amount of justice.
- The first was the reality of the existence of the nuclear-armed Zionist state – not a legitimate existence (as the true story of its creation proves) but a fact of life.
- The second was the knowledge that the Arab regimes were never going to fight Israel to liberate Palestine, and, would collude with Zionism-and-America to prevent the PLO becoming an effective resistance movement in terms of guerrilla activities.
- The third was the realisation that all the major powers of the world were committed to Israel's existence inside its borders as they were on the eve of the 1967 war.
It took the pragmatic Arafat six long years, from 1973 to 1979, to sell the idea of compromise with Israel first to his Fatah leadership colleagues and then to the Palestine National Council (PNC), the highest decision-making body on the Palestinian side. And it was a mission that Arafat knew from the start could cost him his credibility with his own people and perhaps even his life. Why? Because he was asking them to accept what most thought was "unthinkable" – recognizing and thus legitimizing Israel's existence inside its pre-1967 borders in return for only 22% of all the land the Palestinians were claiming.
In fact the full extent of the concessions Arafat persuaded his leadership colleagues to accept and be prepared to make went even further than that. Though they could not say so in public until they had something concrete to show for their policy of politics and compromise, they accepted, and Israel was informed, that the Palestinian right of return would have to be limited to the territory of the Palestinian mini-state on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem its capital or the whole of Jerusalem an open, undivided city and the capital of two states.
At the end of 1979, shortly after Arafat had persuaded the PNC to endorse his policy of politics and compromise with Israel, I had the first of many meetings with him. His comment on the PNC vote – 296 for his policy and only four against – was this: "How far we have travelled in six years. No more this silly talk of driving the Jews into the sea. (A statement Arafat and his Fatah colleagues never made). Now we are prepared to live side by side with them in a mini-state of our own. It is a miracle."
It was the miracle of Arafat's leadership. What he needed thereafter was an Israeli partner for peace. At a point it seemed that Israeli Prime Minister Rabin might be the partner, but he was assassinated by a Zionist zealot. The assassin was not de-ranged. He knew exactly what he was doing. Killing the peace process Arafat's policy of politics and compromise had set in motion.
There are no more concessions the Palestinians can make for peace. President Obama's statement that they must is absurd and obscene. Unclear is whether he was speaking out of ignorance of real history or from Zionism's script.
Alan Hart is is a former ITN and BBC Panorama foreign correspondent who covered wars and conflicts wherever they were taking place in the world and specialized in the Middle East. Author of Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews. He blogs on www.alanhart.net and tweets on www.twitter.com/alanauthor
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Alan Hart – President Obama's opportunity to speak truth to power, Part 2 – Rahm Emanuel does it for him
By Alan Hart • Nov 14th, 2009 • Category: Israel, Middle East Issues, Newswire, Palestine, Religion, ZionismWhen I wrote and posted Part 1 of this article, I was, of course, aware that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of President Obama speaking truth to the power of Jewish America as it was represented at the General Assembly of The Jewish Federations of North America. The words I put into his [...]
Alan Hart – How Zionist lobby stooges in Congress brought shame to their institution
By Alan Hart • Nov 6th, 2009 • Category: Analysis, Features, Haitham's Choice, Israel, Newswire, Palestine, ZionismBy Alan Hart *
As expected, the U.S. House of Representatives voted, on Tuesday 3 November, by 344 votes to 36, to urge the Obama administration to oppose endorsement of the Goldstone Report. But for those who are interested in truth and justice, not to mention democracy, the highlight of what passed for debate was the [...]
Alan Hart – What is it, really, that most endangers Israel's future?
By Alan Hart • Oct 20th, 2009 • Category: Analysis, Israel, Middle East Issues, Newswire, War, ZionismBy Alan Hart *
A nuclear armed Iran? No.
For the sake of discussion, let's assume that some in Iran's current leadership do want their country to possess nuclear weapons and that they do succeed in developing them. What then?
Is it conceivable that Iran would launch a first strike on Israel?
The answer has to be no. Absolutely [...]
Alan Hart – Israel's right or not to exist – The facts and truth
By Alan Hart • Oct 16th, 2009 • Category: Analysis, Features, Israel, Newswire, Palestine, Zionism By Alan Hart*On Monday 12 October, Prime Minister Netanyahu opened the Knesset's winter session by blasting the Goldstone Report that accuses Israel of committing war crimes and vowing that he would never allow Israelis be tried for them. But that was not his main message. It was an appeal, delivered I thought with a measu
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036029/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia
Thousands of red-shirted demonstrators converge on the Thai capital, vowing to oust the government in a mass display of muscle in support of ousted premier Thaksin. Full story
Israel seals off West Bank
Clashes reported in Jerusalem's Old City
 | A Palestinian man scuffles with Israeli border police during clashes before Friday prayers in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday. |
Muammar Awad / AP |
JERUSALEM - Israeli forces sealed off the West Bank and massed riot squads around Jerusalem's Old City and Arab neighborhoods during Muslim weekly prayers on Friday, facing down Palestinian anger over Jewish settlement expansion.
After a week in which visiting Vice President Joe Biden condemned Israel for approving new building just as Washington was pushing its key Middle East ally to relaunch peace talks with the Palestinians, police said a plan to avert a repeat of clashes in which dozens were wounded last Friday had worked.
Four Palestinians were detained on suspicion of throwing stones and two officers were slightly injured in Jerusalem, a police spokesman said. Reuters journalists saw one protester treated by medics.
Israel barred Palestinians from crossing from the West Bank into Israel and Jerusalem, and barred men under 50 from al-Aqsa mosque, the flashpoint holy site in the walled Old City.
As hundreds of youths streamed away from noon prayers at a mosque in the district of Ras al-Amud, a Reuters journalist saw men hurl stones at a car carrying Orthodox Jewish children. One rock smashed a side window, but there were no obvious injuries.
Islamists in the blockaded Gaza Strip rallied supporters to protest at Israel's policies in Jerusalem: "We will redeem al-Aqsa mosque with our souls and our blood," the crowd chanted.
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"These direct and indirect negotiations provide a cover to the Zionist aggression against our people and our lands," Hayya told the crowd. "Our angry people now are calling on the Palestinian negotiator to back off from these negotiations which encourage more settlements and the Judaisation of Jerusalem."
U.S. presses Abbas
Before he left Israel on Thursday, Biden made clear he did not want Abbas to hold back from talks. These have been cast in doubt by calls from Palestinian officials and the Arab League for Israel to reverse its latest settlement expansion -- at Ramat Shlomo in the Jerusalem area -- before talks start.
The U.S. State Department said it was not aware of any refusal to hold indirect talks when President Barack Obama's envoy George Mitchell returns to Jerusalem next week.
The Israeli government agreed a measure to try to avoid a repeat of this week's diplomatic debacle, when a low-level ministry committee approved plans to build 1,600 new homes, embarrassing Biden and sparking outrage among Arab leaders who had just endorsed a resumption of U.S.-mediated negotiations.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the coalition cabinet would discuss at its weekly meeting on Sunday a measure that would ensure the premier's team was aware of any sensitive planning decisions before they became public.
Netanyahu did not disavow Tuesday's decision by a committee at the Interior Ministry -- a move that did not breach a partial, temporary settlement freeze he has imposed.
But he did criticize the minister, who is from a right-wing religious party in the coalition, for the timing of the announcement, which roiled relations with Obama.
Palestinians threaten to quit talks!
Israel's East Jerusalem building plan jeopardizes effort!
The Palestinians threatened Thursday to pull out of U.S.-mediated peace talks with Israel before negotiations have even started.The two sides agreed this week to resume indirect talks through a U.S. mediator.
But the Palestinians said Israel's plan to build 1,600 new homes in disputed East Jerusalem made it difficult to return to the negotiating table.
Israel's relationship with the United States, a defining feature of the troubled Middle East, was under severe strain as diplomats scrambled on Saturday to save newborn U.S.-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians.President Barack Obama is seeking better U.S. relations with the Arab world, which backs the Palestinians, as he seeks to bolster alliances in the oil-producing hub, notably against Iran as it develops nuclear technology and against Islamist enemies like al-Qaida.
Breaking the stalemate on a Palestinian state after 20 years of talking might help challenge Arab perceptions that Washington is in thrall to Israel, some analysts believe, although Israel's strong support in Congress tends to limit U.S. pressure on it.
Aides to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was waiting to meet Obama's peace envoy George Mitchell when he returns to the region in the coming days before deciding whether to maintain his week-old commitment to starting "proximity talks" with Netanyahu via U.S. mediators.
A senior U.S. official predicted "a dicey period here in the next couple days to a couple of weeks" as Palestinians demanded the reversal of a new Israeli settlement plan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, which includes pro-settler parties, reacts to unusually blunt criticism from Washington.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Israel's behaviour "insulting" after it approved 1,600 new homes last week at a settlement in the Jerusalem area on the very day Vice President Joe Biden was there to set a seal on relaunched negotiations.
Biden told Reuters on Friday he believed Netanyahu was sincere in seeking a deal to give the Palestinians a state and that the premier understood that Israel had "no alternative."
Though Clinton stressed that Washington's ties with the Jewish state were "durable and strong", she had told Netanyahu in a telephone call on Friday that he must act to repair the relationship and show his commitment to an alliance which, she reminded him, was key to Israel's security in a hostile region.
While accepting that Netanyahu was taken by surprise by the settlement housing approval granted on Tuesday by his interior ministry, which is run by the pro-settler religious Shas party, Clinton said the prime minister was still responsible for it.
Clinton called "to make clear that the United States considered the announcement to be a deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral relationship and counter to the spirit of the vice president's trip," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters.
'Gross over-reaction'
There was no reaction from Israeli officialdom during the Jewish sabbath but in Washington, the Anti-Defamation League, which lobbies for Israel with U.S. lawmakers, called Clinton's remarks on the diplomatic debacle a "gross over-reaction."
"We are shocked and stunned at the administration's tone and public dressing down of Israel," the ADL's Abraham Foxman said.
"We cannot remember an instance when such harsh language was directed at a friend and ally of the United States.
"One can only wonder how far the U.S. is prepared to go in distancing itself from Israel in order to placate the Palestinians."
Clinton rebukes Israel over East Jerusalem homes
 Tensions are high in East Jerusalem after the Israeli announcement |
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has sharply rebuked Israel over its recent decision to build new settlements in East Jerusalem.
She told Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu by telephone that the move was "deeply negative" for US-Israeli relations.
The BBC's Washington correspondent, Kim Ghattas, says it was a rare and sharp rebuke from Washington.
Israel's announcement overshadowed a visit by US Vice-President Joe Biden aimed at restarting peace talks.
Since then the Palestinians have indicated they will not return to the negotiating table unless the Israeli decision is revoked.
Apology
America's top diplomat delivered her rebuke during a 43-minute telephone conversation with Mr Netanyahu, the US state department said.
US state department spokesman PJ Crowley said Mrs Clinton called "to make clear that the United States considered the announcement to be a deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral relationship and contrary to the spirit of the vice-president's trip".
 Hillary Clinton called on Israel to show commitment to the peace process |
"The secretary said she could not understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States's strong commitment to Israel's security," he added.
"She made clear that the Israeli government needed to demonstrate not just through words but through specific actions that they are committed to this relationship and to the peace process."
The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators - the US, Russia, the EU and the UN - also condemned the Israeli housing announcement and said it would review the situation at its ministerial meeting scheduled for 19 March in Moscow.
Mr Netanyahu earlier apologised for the timing of the settlement announcement, which was made as Mr Biden was holding a day of talks in Jerusalem.
He said he had summoned Interior Minister Eli Yishai to reprimand him.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders had agreed to hold indirect, "proximity talks" in a bid to restart the peace process, which has been stalled for more than a year.
But after the announcement, the Palestinian Authority said talks would be "very difficult" if the plans for the homes were not rescinded.
Close to 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
The latest announcement by the Jerusalem municipality approves 1,600 new housing units in the East Jerusalem settlement of Ramat Shlomo.
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Alan Hart – ZIONISM UNMASKED: A fairy tale that's become a terrifying nightmare
By Alan Hart • Feb 13th, 2010 at 9:09 • Category: Features, Israel, Newswire, Opinions and Letters, Palestine, War, Zionism
By Alan Hart*
Most Jews of the world (and probably many Gentiles) believe that Zionism is the return of Jews to the land promised to them by God. At the risk of offending some readers of all faiths for saying so, I must confess, and do so cheerfully, that I don't buy this concept because the Gentile me does not believe in the God of organized, institutional religions. So, I say to myself, no God, no promise to Jews (or anybody else). In my perception of the scheme of things, God is the potential for good inside each and every one of us. God so defined is a prisoner within each of us and our prime task is to liberate this prisoner. But let's put that to one side.
The Jews who "returned" in answer to Zionism's call had no biological connection to the ancient Hebrews. They were converts to Judaism long after the end of the Hebrew conquest and short-lived domination of much of Canaan, the name as in the Bible by which Palestine was first known to the world. They therefore had no legitimate claim on the land.
The Jews who did have a legitimate claim, probably not more than about 10,000 at the time of Zionism's first dishonest mission statement in 1897, were the direct descendants of the Israelites who stayed in place on the land through time. They regarded themselves as Palestinians, and they were fiercely opposed to Zionism's colonial enterprise because they feared it would make them as well as the incoming alien Jews enemies of the Palestinian Arabs.
Also true is that prior to the obscenity of the Nazi holocaust, most Jews of the world were not at all interested in Zionism's colonial enterprise and many were opposed to it. The most informed and thoughtful of those who did express their opposition believed that Zionism was morally wrong. They also feared that Zionism's colonial enterprise would lead to unending conflict. But most of all they feared that Zionism, if it was allowed by the major powers to have its way, would one day provoke anti-Semitism. Which is precisely what is happening today. (Hence the title of my book, ZIONISM: THE REAL ENEMY OF THE JEWS).
In reality it is how the Zionists created their state – a Zionist not a Jewish state – that best defines what Zionism actually is.
Israel was created, mainly, by Zionist terrorism and ethnic cleansing – a pre-planned process that saw three-quarters of the indigenous Arab inhabitants of Palestine dispossessed of their homes, their land and their rights.
Zionism asserts that its state was given its birth certificate and thus legitimacy by the UN Partition Resolution of 29 November 1947. That is propaganda nonsense. The truth can be summarized as follows.
- In the first place the UN without the consent of the majority of the people of Palestine did not have the right to decide to partition Palestine or assign any part of its territory to a minority of alien immigrants in order for them to establish a state of their own.
- By the narrowest of margins, and only after a rigged vote, the UN General Assembly did pass a resolution to partition Palestine and create two states, one Arab, one Jewish, with Jerusalem not part of either. But the General Assembly resolution was only a recommendation – meaning that it could have no effect, would not become policy, unless approved by the Security Council.
- The General Assembly's recommendation never went to the Security Council for consideration because the U.S. knew that, if approved, it could only be implemented by force given the extent of Arab and other Muslim opposition to it; and President Truman was not prepared to use force to partition Palestine.
- So the partition plan was vitiated (became invalid) and the question of what the hell to do about Palestine – after Britain had made a mess of it and walked away, effectively surrendering to Zionist terrorism – was taken back to the General Assembly for more discussion. The option favoured and proposed by the U.S. was temporary UN Trusteeship. It was while the General Assembly was debating what do that Israel unilaterally declared itself to be in existence – actually in defiance of the will of the organised international community, including the Truman administration.
The truth of the time was that the Zionist state had no right to exist and, more to the point, could have no right to exist UNLESS … Unless it was recognised and legitimized by those Zionism had dispossessed of their land and their rights. In international law only the Palestinians could give Israel the legitimacy it craved.
What is a Zionist today?
Short answer: One, not necessarily a Jew, who (to quote Balfour) supports the Zionist state of Israel "right or wrong" and who cannot or will not admit that a terrible wrong was done to the Palestinians by Zionism – a wrong that must be acknowledged and then corrected on terms acceptable to the Palestinians if there is ever to be peace and the countdown to catastrophe for all is to be stopped. The Arab word for the catastrophe of the original dispossession of the Palestinians is Nakba. In my view, Zionism's Nakba denial is as obscene and as evil as denial of the Nazi holocaust.
One thing nobody can deny is the effectiveness of Zionism's propaganda machine. Zionism's spin doctors probably learned from the Nazis that the bigger the lies and the more frequently they are told, the more likely it is that they will be believed in the mainly Gentile, Judeo-Christian or Western world; and all the more so when the mainstream media is terrified of offending Zionism either too much or at all.
The biggest of all of Zionism's propaganda lies is the one which asserts that Israel has lived in constant danger of annihilation, the "driving into the sea" of its Jews. As I document in detail in my book, Israel's existence has never, ever, been in danger from any combination of Arab force. Not in 1948. Not in 1967. And not even in 1973. Zionism's assertion to the contrary was the cover which allowed Israel to get away where it mattered most, in North America and Western Europe, with presenting its aggression (often state terrorism) as self-defense, and itself as the victim when actually it was, and is, the oppressor.
The companion propaganda lie is that Israel never had Arab partners for peace.
Zionism has two hallmarks.
One is self-righteousness of a most extraordinary kind. In 1986 this self-righteousness was described by Yehoshafat Harkabi, a former Director of Israeli Military Intelligence, as "the biggest real danger" to the Jewish state.
The other hallmark is a shocking and awesome arrogance of military and economic power and the influence the latter buys, most critically in the U.S. Congress where what passes for democracy is for sale to the highest bidders.
On the matter of truth as it relates to the making and sustaining of conflict in and over Palestine that became Israel, I hope the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) is right: "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." If that's true, Zionism not only can be defeated but will be.
* Alan Hart is a former ITN and BBC Panorama foreign correspondent who covered wars and conflicts wherever they were taking place in the world and specialized in the Middle East. Author of Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews. He blogs on www.alanhart.net and tweets on www.twitter.com/alanauthor
Alan Hart is is a former ITN and BBC Panorama foreign correspondent who covered wars and conflicts wherever they were taking place in the world and specialized in the Middle East. Author of Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews. He blogs on www.alanhart.net and tweets on www.twitter.com/alanauthor
Email this author | All posts by Alan Hart
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US soldier in Afghanistan has a dream
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BADULA QULP, Afghanistan - He proposed to her on Oct. 6, and she made him say "Will you marry me?" over and over because she liked the sound of it. He proposed again on her birthday four days later, and this time he got down on one knee with a diamond ring. His mother was on the phone, listening in as a witness.
It all happened in Mount Holly, North Carolina. Now, U.S. Army Pvt. Mark Goodwin is in Afghanistan and his fiancee, Jillian De Voe, is waiting back home. They have spent a month of their lives together, and they say they plan to marry on July 4, a year after they met. They are young — he is 21, she is 23 — but their tale of lovers separated by war is an old one, known by many across generations.
Goodwin is the lowest-ranking soldier in Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment of the 5th Stryker Brigade, but he doesn't worry about status. He missed a promotion because he missed a plane — "I slept in" — while heading back to his unit from leave after he proposed. It was a "nice little fiasco," he said, but it meant more time with De Voe.
"People thought I went AWOL," said Goodwin. "Honestly, looking back on it, it was worth it."
Goodwin's company rolled out of the Tombstone military base in Stryker infantry vehicles on Feb. 8 and fought its way into Taliban-held villages near the southern town of Marjah as part of a NATO offensive. Many days, Goodwin wrote in pencil to De Voe in a spiral notebook that he planned to mail to her. The field mission is over now, he is marking time until the end of his deployment, and they are back in telephone contact.
"It's hard for me, but I also realize that he said he wanted to do this," his fiancee said in a telephone interview last week. "I pray for him every night and every day."
Goodwin's notebook is half-full — some pages include musings and doodlings for his best friend, Johnny Miller II.
They contain almost nothing about his experiences in Afghanistan, where danger is a part of his life. A hidden bomb exploded near Goodwin's vehicle in the Marjah area; last year, he and others rushed to rescue comrades whose Stryker hit a bomb and during the hunt for the bombers, an American aircraft fired a missile into a building close to Goodwin.
"Whenever I write, my mind's not really here," said Goodwin. During the offensive, he wrote on his cot in a mud-walled compound occupied by American soldiers. Explosions and gunfire occasionally jarred the silence.
He shared an excerpt from his notebook with a reporter:
"I know I've been harping a lot on this but just think, three months to go after this little deal we've got going on here. Just think, when I come home not only will we be getting married but we'll also own our own home, get to hang out with everybody, and we can forget about being apart from each other ever again.
"I've been thinking of some things we could do when I get home. Some of these include of course going to the drive-in, hanging out in the old camper in Johnny's yard, maybe even camping out in the woods behind the house. I can't wait for our honeymoon. I'm still not sure where exactly in the mountains we'll stay at for it but I'm not really too concerned over it, I'm just happy I'll be home with you...
"Oh yeah, have you talked to my mom lately? She's probably bought you some more Stryker memorabilia. If she ever got to actually ride one she'd probably have a siezure. Maybe if I painted my car OD (olive drab) green and taped a pipe on top I could convince her it was some sort of new high-speed combat vehicle. I don't know how convincing a 95 Oldsmobile would be though.
"Lately I've been thinking about investing in a hot tub. Why? I dunno. Maybe it's because I'd love nothing more right now than to sit with you in a tub relaxing in the sunset. Well, not that we can see the sunset from the backyard but you know what I mean.
"You know, there's something I want to tell you that I probably don't say enough. Jill, I appreciate you so much. Yeah, I can tell you how much I love you but saying this too actually expresses my gratitude and how proud I am of you. There's been a lot of failed relationships lately from this deployment but you've only continued to express your hard-set faith."
In his left shirt pocket, Goodwin carries a tattered letter that De Voe, a beautician, wrote to him soon after they parted.
"It's part of my uniform," he said.
She wrote: "As you sit on this plane on your way back to base I want you to know that I will wait for you and be missing you so much. I already know that as your on the plane I will be dreaming of having you in my arms and holding and kissing you. When I told you that I loved you I was so happy to know that you loved me too. I was scared that you didn't feel the same way. But know that you do makes my heart soar to new heights."
Goodwin worked in grocery stores before joining the military to "stabilize" his life. He met De Voe online when he was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington.
"She's got a bit of an attitude, but we all love it," he said. "We hit it off instantly. Things were great. I took her to meet my family and friends. They absolutely adored her."
He bought a house from Johnny's grandfather, a Vietnam veteran, and she's living in it now. She jokes that it's haunted.
He knows it's not easy being engaged to a man risking his life in a war.
"I told her, 'Are you sure you want to have a relationship with me?'" Goodwin said. "She's like, 'You know what? I don't care. A year is nothing. Just go over there and do what you've got to do. Just make sure you don't die.'"
Palestine hails US response to IsraelNews24 - 1 hour ago This up-to-date guide to Israel and the Palestinian territories includes a history chapter by... Was R245.95 Now R228.73 Ramallah - The Palestinian ... Goldblog Splutters I Atlantic Online (blog) This Week In Palestine -week 10 2010 International Middle East Media Center Breaking the Gaza deadlockThe Guardian - 3 hours ago I returned last week from a visit to Gaza as part of a parliamentary delegation from the Britain-Palestine All-Party Group. Knowing that no political ... Powerful look at Gaza's history Winnipeg Free Press The Conquest and Occupation of Palestine Macalester College The Mac Weekly Israeli-Palestinian conflict has vast impact New Haven Register (subscription) Israel, Palestine agree to indirect talks: MitchellThe Hindu - - Mar 8, 2010 The United States has begun discussing the structure and scope of indirect talks between Israel and Palestine, according to George Mitchell, ... Video: Biden in Israel  Al Jazeera Palestine Today 03 10 2010 International Middle East Media Center Palestine's top body allows Abbas to begin indirect talksTimes of India - Mar 7, 2010 The executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) approved a proposal allowing Abbas to start the negotiation process, a development ... TIMELINE - Path to new Israel-Palestinian talks Reuters India Al Rahma Charity to undertake charitable projects in Palestine,Sierra Leone ...WAM - Emirates News Agency - 2 hours ago WAM Ras Al Khaimah,13th March, 2010 (WAM) --Al Rahma Charity in Ras Al Khaimah has signed an agreement with ''Life for Relief and Development Organization'' ... Turkey supports Palestine as Arab world comatose, says Druze leaderHurriyet Daily News - - 19 hours ago A powerful Druze leader in Lebanon has underlined the increasing influence of Turkey in the Middle East as the Arab world has been undergoing turmoil over ... Is Palestine Dead? The Slow Methodical Ethnic Cleansing Continues!Veterans Today Network - - 22 hours ago Look, like the American Indian, I am afraid that Palestine and it's cultural identity is on it's final leg to extinction unless something dramatic arises; ... Greater Manchester Labour Party supports PalestineThe Asian News - Mar 12, 2010 Greater Manchester's Labour Friends of Palestine held its inaugural dinner to raise money and awareness of the plight of the Palestinians. ... Israel detains journalists during protest against apartheid wallThe Palestine Telegraph - 4 hours ago Violent clashes erupted between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers after the soldiers suppressed the march, which was organized by the Palestine ... US to add $55 mn for UN programme for PalestiniansZee News - 13 hours ago Assistant Secretary of State Eric Schwartz said the funds would go through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). ... United States to Assist Palestinian Refugees US Department of State Stay up to date on these results: |
BE PART OF THE SOLUTION
Help animals suffering from abuse and neglect.
At the center of the large arena a black bear is standing, shaking in fear.
Although she knows what is about to happen she can do nothing to stop it - a rope attached to a metal ring in her nose is tied to a post in the ground, holding her in place. All she can do is wait and watch as the crowd around her cheers in anticipation.
Suddenly, two dogs are released into the arena - bred and trained to attack, the dogs lunge at the bear, sinking their sharp teeth into her sensitive muzzle and ears. The bear tries desperately to defend herself but her teeth and claws have been removed and all she can do is tuck her head behind her paws and lash out blindly. The attack goes on for several minutes until finally the bear is brought to the ground and the dogs are declared the winners...
This is the cruel and illegal bloodsport of "bear baiting" in Pakistan. At these horrific events, crowds gather and pay to watch as defenseless bears are attacked by specially-trained dogs. Shockingly, bears endure this savage contest up to 10 times at one event.
WSPA believes that there is no excuse for this cruelty, and we are working to end bear baiting once and for all. Please keep reading and make your gift now to help us stop this appalling practice for good.
Fighting for their lives
An estimated 70 bears are still being used as part of the bear baiting industry in Pakistan today. Many of these bears were captured from the wild as cubs and have never known anything else other than this pathetic life. Most are permanently scarred and do not live past the age of eight, less than half the life expectancy for a bear in the wild.
Between events bears are also kept in atrocious conditions, often left tied up in the scorching sun for days. They are given barely enough food and water to survive and receive no medical attention for wounds that never heal.
Together, we are fighting for these bears
WSPA's campaign to end bear baiting encompasses nearly a decade of work, and thanks to the support of our members and partners around the world, including our partner organization in Pakistan, Bioresource Research Center, an end is clearly in sight for this cruel sport - in 2009 our teams stopped 71 of 94 planned events and rescued several bears who now live in our local sanctuary. In 2010, we are building a brand new sanctuary so we can house even more bears. As part of our holistic approach to end bear baiting, we work with local people and with the government to stop fights occurring, encourage religious leaders to include animal welfare messages in their programs, and run various education initiatives for adults and children.
But we still have a lot of work to do before the last bear is free from this terrible industry. Please make your gift now to help us end bear baiting and other forms of cruelty.
Please help stop the cruel "bloodsport" of bear baiting
Right now, the situation for far too many bears is absolutely desperate. That's why we need additional resources urgently. By donating $14 a month to WSPA you will make a real and lasting difference in the lives of bears and other animals who are suffering from cruelty.
WSPA's monthly giving program is the most effective and efficient way to support our animal protection programs around the world. Your monthly gifts will allow us to plan, maintain and develop our projects, whether we're building a sanctuary to rehabilitate the animals you help rescue, changing attitudes towards animals through the education of children and communities, or working with governments to achieve legislation that outlaws cruelty to animals.
As a member of the WSPA monthly giving program, you will receive regular, exclusive updates throughout the year on how your vital donations are improving the lives of animals around the world. Please join us today with your gift of just $14 a month.
Because you love animals, you can help free bears from lives of suffering. By joining WSPA and making an urgent donation today, you can also help ensure bears are no longer forced to take part in these brutal fights.
Thank you for your generosity and for your compassion for animals across the globe. Together we can do more good for more animals.
Sincerely,
Cecily West
Executive Director, USA
World Society for the Protection of Animals
Kissinger hospitalized in South Korea
Former secretary of state suffers stomach pains, NBC News reports
 Lee Jin-man / AP Henry Kissinger delivers a speech in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday. |
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SEOUL, South Korea - Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was hospitalized on Saturday after he complained of stomach pains, NBC News reported.
Officials at Yonsei Severance Hospital in the South Korean capital told the Korea Herald newspaper that Kissinger, 86, was recovering. NBC News reported that his ailment was "not serious."
"He will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow (Sunday) and fly to China," a source told the Herald.
Hospital staff said Kissinger, who was in Seoul to deliver a lecture on North Korea's nuclear program, was taken to there at around 11:00 a.m. local time on Saturday, after suddenly feeling abdominal pain.
Kissinger helped open formal relations between China and the U.S. and arms-control agreements with the Soviet Union under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Le Duc Tho for the 1973 cease-fire which led to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam.
Abuse claims sweep Catholic Church in Europe
Lawsuits alleging cover-up of pedophile priests could bankrupt dioceses
 | Pope Benedict XVI, left, meets Archbishop Robert Zollitsch in his private library at the Vatican on Friday. Germany's top bishop says the pope encouraged him to pursue the truth about cases of clerical sex abuse in the pontiff's native Germany. |
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DUBLIN, Ireland - It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons.
Ireland was the first in Europe to confront the church's worldwide custom of shielding pedophile priests from the law and public scandal. Now that legacy of suppressed childhood horror is being confronted in other parts of the continent — nowhere more poignantly than in Germany, the homeland of Pope Benedict XVI.
The recent spread of claims into the Netherlands, Austria and Italy has analysts and churchmen wondering how deep the scandal runs, which nation will be touched next, and whether a tide of lawsuits will force European dioceses to declare bankruptcy like join their American cousins.
"You have to presume that the cover-up of abuse exists everywhere, to one extent or another. A new case could appear in a new country tomorrow," said David Quinn, director of a Christian think tank, the Iona Institute, that seeks to promote family values in an Ireland increasingly cool to Catholicism.
Quinn noted that stories of systemic physical, sexual and emotional abuse circulated privately in Irish society for decades, but only moved aboveground in the mid-1990s when former altar boy Andrew Madden and orphanage survivor Christine Buckley went public with lawsuits and exposes of how priests and nuns tormented them with impunity.
Floodgates opened for Irish complaints that have topped 15,000 in this country of 4 million. Three government-ordered investigations have shocked and disgusted the nation, which has footed most of the bill to settle legal claims totaling nearly $1.5 billion.
"A lot comes down to: When does that first victim gather the courage to come forward into the spotlight?" Quinn said. "It seems to take that trigger event, the lone voice who says what so many kept silent so long. That's basically happening now in Germany. It could happen next in Spain, Poland, anywhere."
Vatican defends pope
In January, an elite Jesuit school in Berlin declared it was aware of seven child-abuse cases in its past and appointed an outside investigator, Ursula Raue, to seek testimony. Within weeks, she had gathered stories of long-suppressed woe from more than 100 ex-students abused by their Jesuit masters, and from 60 molested by parish priests.
"I always thought that at some point the wave would reach us," said Petra Dorsch-Jungsberger, a commentator on Catholic affairs and retired University of Munich communications professor.
She credited heavy German media coverage of the latest Irish abuse scandal — a November report into decades of cover-up in the Dublin Archdiocese involving approximately 170 priests — with inspiring similar soul-searching in Germany.
"Once the door had been opened, then many others felt they were able to step up and say: That happened to us too," she said.
In recent weeks, new German abuse claims have surfaced on a near-daily basis and spread to Pope Benedict's Bavarian heartland and the Regensberg boys' choir long directed by the pope's brother. Benedict was Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger of Munich from 1977 to 1982, and questions now focus on what role, if any, the pontiff, played in handing pedophile priests to new parishes rather than to the law.
The Vatican on Saturday denounced what it called aggressive attempts to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the spreading scandals of pedophile priests in his German homeland, and contended he has long confronted abuse cases with courage.
In separate interviews, both the Holy See's spokesman and its prosecutor for sex abuse of minors by clergy sought to defend the pope.
"It's rather clear that in the last days, there have been those who have tried, with a certain aggressive persistence, in Regensburg and Munich, to look for elements to personally involve the Holy Father in the matter of abuses," Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio.
It's inevitable that all bishops of the day, including Ratzinger, handled abuse complaints against priests in-house, said the Rev. Fergus O'Donoghue, editor of the Irish Jesuit journal Studies.
"The pope was no different to any other bishop at time. The church policy was to keep it all quiet — to help people, but to avoid scandal. Avoiding scandal was a huge issue for the church," he said. "Of course there was cover-up," he added. But worse was "the systematic lack of concern for the victims."
'Typical Vatican cover-up'
In the Netherlands, a former Catholic boarding-school abuse victim is leading a campaign for accountability. Bert Smeets, 58, has formed Mea Culpa, a victims group that has collected testimony from hundreds of abuse victims and is mulling a class-action lawsuit against the Dutch church.
The church has apologized to the victims and set up an inquiry headed by a former government minister, a Protestant. Smeets dismisses that effort as "a typical Vatican cover-up." He said the pressure on the church came from aggressive investigations into abuse in Ireland and the U.S.
In other predominantly Catholic areas of Europe, child-abuse scandals have tarnished individual priests and even a Polish archbishop, but have not mushroomed into a mass movement. In Spain, more than a dozen priests have been convicted of child abuse in recent decades and two potentially larger-scale cases are attracting attention.
Ireland was until relatively recently the most enthusiastically Catholic country in Europe. Its half-dozen seminaries exported priests worldwide. All but one of those seminaries is closed now, illustrating the rapid falloff in Mass attendance as the economy has advanced and secularism has spread.
Quinn, the Dublin think-tank director, noted that a few Irish dioceses are openly warning that they're struggling to pay bills stemming from abuse claims. In the southeast diocese of Kells, the archbishop's house has had to be remortgaged.
"The church is asset-rich but cash-poor," Quinn said, noting that it's the biggest property owner in Ireland but has comparatively little cash in the bank. He said the Vatican, too, has less money on tap than resides in the endowment fund of a typical top-tier U.S. university.
Vatican defends Pope Benedict in German abuse scandal
 Pope Benedict has had to deal with sex abuse scandals in various countries |
The Vatican has denounced attempts to link Pope Benedict to a child abuse scandal in his native Germany.
A Vatican spokesman said there had been "aggressive" efforts to involve the Pope, but added: "It's clear that these attempts have failed."
The Holy See's prosecutor told Avvenire newspaper that "to accuse the current pope of hiding (abuse cases) is false".
The Pope's former diocese earlier said he once unwittingly approved housing for a priest accused of child abuse.
The episode dates back to 1980 when he was archbishop of Germany's Munich and Freising diocese, and known as Joseph Ratzinger.
However a former deputy said he - not the future pope - made the decision to re-house the priest, who later abused other children and was convicted.
'Defamation'
The Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, told Vatican Radio: "There have been those who have tried, with a certain aggressive persistence, in Regensburg and Munich, to look for elements to personally involve the Holy Father in the matter of abuses."
|  The repeated employment of H in priestly spiritual duties was a bad mistake  Gerhard Gruber Former vicar-general in Munich and Freising |
Monsignor Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's prosecutor, told Avvenire - a newspaper affiliated with the Church - that accusations that the pontiff had helped cover up abuse were "defamatory".
He added that the future Pope "showed wisdom and firmness in handling these cases".
Following a report in the Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the diocese of Munich and Freising confirmed earlier this week that then-Archbishop Ratzinger had let the priest, known only as H, stay at a vicarage in Munich for "therapy".
H had been suspected of forcing an 11-year-old boy to perform a sex act upon him in the northern city of Essen.
While he was in Munich, between February 1980 and August 1982, no wrongdoing was reported.
He was then transferred to the town of Grafing, where he was relieved of his duties in 1985 after allegations of child sex abuse, the diocese said.
In 1986, he was given an 18-month suspended jail sentence and a fine for sexually abusing minors, details of which were not given by the diocese.
Archbishop Ratzinger's former deputy, Gerhard Gruber, has taken responsibility for initially allowing H to remain within the Church, saying this had been "a bad mistake".
Speaking to the Associated Press news agency, he added that there had been about 1,000 priests in the diocese at the time and that the archbishop "could not deal with everything".
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French navy hands over suspected pirates to Somalia
French navy officers handed over 22 suspected Somali pirates to semi-autonomous Puntland's authorities and they will be arraigned in local courts, officials said on Saturday.
- At least 27 arrested in Egypt Christian-Muslim clash Reuters - 09:50 PM
- New clashes in Jerusalem, West Bank IANS - 09:49 PM
- Delegates gather in Qatar to save elephants, tuna IANS - 09:48 PM
- Karzai ready for foreign monitors in election watchdog IANS - 09:43 PM
- Iraq PM Maliki leads Baghdad, a big election prize Reuters - 09:30 PM
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General
- Gloom engulfs Lahore following twin suicide attacksANI - 08:00 PM
A wave of gloom engulfed Lahore on Saturday;a day after two suicide bombers targeting the Pakistani military killed at least 45 people in the city.
- ANALYSIS - Rift threatens South Africa's ruling allianceReuters - Fri, Mar 12
Deep divisions between South Africa's ruling ANC and its labour and communist allies are threatening a decades-old alliance as rival factions battle for power and influence to shape policy.
- Angry China blasts Dalai Lama's latest speechANI - Fri, Mar 12
China on Thursday lashed out at the Dalai Lama after the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader gave a speech in which he said Buddhists were living in prison-like conditions and expressed sympathy with the people of Xinjiang.
- Nigeria arrests 200 after clashes around JosReuters - Thu, Mar 11
Police in Nigeria said on Thursday they had arrested around 200 people following weekend attacks on three Christian villages in which hundreds of people are feared to have been killed.
- Congo calls for full U.N. troop pull-out in 2011Reuters - Thu, Mar 11
Democratic Republic of Congo called on Thursday for all U.N. troops to pull out in 2011, a move which human rights groups say would spell disaster for civilians caught up in conflict there.
US
- Former US secretary of state Kissinger falls illIANS - 09:23 PM
Seoul, March 13 (IANS) Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was taken to a hospital in Seoul Saturday after complaining of a stomach ache, hospital officials said, adding that he was recovering.
- Obama not to be accompanied by wife, daughters on Asian trip: GibbsANI - 06:30 PM
Washington, Mar. 13 (ANI): White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has confirmed that President Barack Obama will delay his visit to Asia, and he won't be accompanied by wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha.
- Another Jihad Jane arrested for conspiring to kill Swedish cartoonistANI - 06:30 PM
Washington, Mar. 13 (ANI): A 31-year-old Colorado woman has been arrested by Irish authorities for allegedly plotting a conspiracy to murder a Swedish cartoonist who made fun of the Prophet Mohammed.
- NATO accused of 'covering up' night raid that killed two pregnant womenANI - 06:30 PM
Washington, Mar. 13 (ANI): NATO forces reportedly tried to "cover up" a night raid conducted in Afghanistan's Paktia province which killed two pregnant women, a teenage girl and two local officials.n a statement after the March 12 raid titled, NATO said: "Several insurgents engaged the joint force in a firefight and were killed.
- Calm returns to Egyptian town after riotsIANS - 05:46 PM
Cairo, March 13 (DPA) The northern Egyptian town of Marsa Matruh was quiet Saturday, following violent clashes between Muslims and Christians that left 30 people injured the night before, police said.
Europe
- Prominent Caribbean Hindu community leader deadIANS - 08:46 PM
Port-of-Spain, March 13 (IANS) Pundit Jankie Persad Sharma, a pioneer of the Hindu religion and culture in Trinidad and Tobago and Canada, has died. He had begun the practice of celebrating Diwali on the Caribbean island, apart from constructing several temples, conducting weddings and organising trips to India for the diaspora.
- Irish police release three over cartoonist plotReuters - 08:37 PM
Irish police have released three of the seven people arrested on Tuesday in connection with an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist over a drawing depicting the Prophet Mohammad with the body of a dog.
- Zardari still biggest threat to democracy: SharifANI - 04:15 PM
London, Mar.13 (ANI): Notwithstanding the reconciliatory policies of President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif has said he still considers the President as the biggest threat to democracy.
- Kissing in Dubai restaurant lands Brit couple in jailANI - 04:15 PM
London, Mar 13 (ANI): A British couple has landed in Dubai jail just because they dared to exchange a kiss in a restaurant.
- Nearly three-quarters of halal poultry falsely labeled in UKANI - 03:45 PM
London, Mar 13 (ANI): Nearly three-quarters of poultry and a small amount of beef and lamb meat sold as halal in the United Kingdom is labeled falsely, according to Naved Syed of the English Beef and Lamb Executive Halal Steering Group.
Middle-East
- Iraq releases, then withdraws, early Baghdad poll resultsIANS - 08:54 PM
Baghdad, March 13 (DPA) Iraq's electoral commission Saturday released, then quickly withdrew, early results from Baghdad that showed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition leading in the capital.
- Afghanistan, Pakistan to jointly fight terrorIANS - 06:47 PM
Kabul, March 13 (IANS) Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to jointly fight against terrorism and extremism in the region and emphasised that terror is a common threat for both countries, the Afghan president's chief spokesman, Waheed Omar, said Saturday.
- Christian-Muslim clash in Egypt injures 24Reuters - 05:26 PM
At least 24 people were injured in northern Egypt in fighting between Christians and Muslims over land, officials told state media on Saturday.
- Early Iraq poll results show tight raceIANS - 04:56 PM
Baghdad, March 13 (DPA) As early results from Iraq's parliamentary elections trickled in, leading politicians Saturday began what promised to be complicated negotiations on forming a government.
- Roadside bomb kills six civilians in AfghanistanIANS - 02:49 PM
Kabul, March 13 (IANS) Six civilians were killed and one injured as a roadside bomb went off in Afghanistan's southern Uruzgan province Saturday, a statement from the interior ministry said.
International
- "Say G'Day to the Lucky Country" 'to be used to sell Australia to the world'ANI - 06:30 PM
Sydney, Mar 13(ANI): Authorities plan to advertise brand Australia with the slogan "Say G'Day to the Lucky Country."
- Sydney is world's most hostile city for cyclingANI - 04:15 PM
Sydney, Mar 13 (ANI): Sydney, Australia has earned itself the name of being the developed world's most hostile city for cycling.
- Adelaide Indian-origin woman who set husband's penis on fire to be tried for murderANI - 02:05 PM
Adelaide, Mar. 13 (ANI): An Indian-origin woman, who allegedly set fire to her husband's penis, will stand trial for the man's murder.ajini Narayan, 44, has been committed to stand trial in the South Australian Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to murder, arson and three counts of endangering life in an Adelaide court, the Herald Sun reports.
- Tearful memorial service for Gurshan held in Melbourne, body to be flown back to IndiaANI - 11:15 AM
Melbourne, Mar 13(ANI): Three-year-old Indian toddler Gurshan Singh's memorial service was held on Saturday at a funeral chapel in Thomastown, Melbourne.
- China plans bullet trains to 17 nationsHT - 10:45 AM
Beijing, March 12 -- The new Silk Route from China will be made of steel. China is in global negotiations to spread its high-speed railway network to reach 17 nations and possibly India. By 2013, China will have the world's biggest high-speed railway network and 800 bullet trains, compared to none until 2008.
Asia
- Vatican says bid to link pope to abuse issue failedReuters - 08:43 PM
The Vatican rallied around Pope Benedict on Saturday, dismissing suggestions he had tried to cover up priestly child abuse in Germany.
- Sri Lankan Tamil party bats for federal structureIANS - 07:00 PM
Colombo, March 13 (IANS) Sri Lanka's main ethnic Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has, in its manifesto for the upcoming parliamentary elections, called for a federal structure as the solution to the country's ethnic problem.
- HINDRAF's divorce from Pakatan Rakyat likely to divide Malaysian Indian votesANI - 06:30 PM
Kuala Lumpur, Mar. 13 (ANI): The parting of ways between the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) and Pakatan Rakyat, the allies of the 2008 general election, is set to divide the Malaysian Indian community's votes in the next general elections.
- Death toll in Kazakhstan flood rises to 35Reuters - 06:25 PM
The death toll from a flood that destroyed a village in southern Kazakhstan has risen to 35, the country's president said on Saturday.
- Postpone national games, say Pakistan's security agenciesIANS - 05:43 PM
Islamabad, March 13 (IANS) Shaken by a rash of suicide bombings across Pakistan, the country's security agencies have asked the federal and provincial governments to postpone the March 25-31 National Games at Peshawar. Adequate security cannot be ensured for the games, the agencies have said.
Business News
Euro finmins to agree on Greek aid, no sums -source
Euro zone finance ministers are likely to agree on Monday on a mechanism for aiding Greece financially, if it is required, but will leave out any sums until Athens asks for them, an EU source said on Saturday.
- ICSI releases uniform secretarial standards PTI - 09:23 PM
- Indian IT companies eye Latin American, African markets for business expansion ANI - 09:20 PM
- All villages to get banking services by 2015: RBI PTI - 09:10 PM
- Mamata Banerjee inaugurates auto hub in West Bengal IANS - 09:08 PM
- Investment in IMF is good: RBI PTI - 07:23 PM
BUSINESS
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BMW launches limited edition of Gran Turismo
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BUSINESS
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General
- - 07:04 PM
Kochi, Mar 13 (PTI):Amidst the mounting recall troubles its parent is facing globally, Toyota has set an ambitious target of cornering 10 per cent share of the domestic market in the next six-seven years, up from the present 3 per cent, Toyota Kirloskar Motor MD Hiroshi Nakagawa said here today. Nakagawa said new compact car, the Etios, is a good quality product and will be affordably priced.
- IT Dept conducts search operations at oil companyPTI - 06:49 PM
Bhopal, Mar 13 (PTI) The Income Tax department has detected unaccounted wealth worth Rs 4 crore in a search and survey operation conducted at an oil company here.
- Free rail travel for Indian senior citizens in IrelandPTI - 06:06 PM
London, Mar 13 (PTI) Senior citizens travelling from India to Ireland will now be able to travel free of cost on the Irish rail.
- Sensex surges by 172 pointsIE - 05:51 PM
The market looked in a consolidation mode on lack of buying by foreign funds in select counters pushing up the benchmark Sensex by another 172 points to close at 17,166.62. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) injected Rs 4,346.01 crore during the week, as per the provisional data issued by the NSE. The 30-share BSE benchmark resumed higher at 17,034.92 and hovered in a range of 17,244.
- Inflation not linked to commodity futures: NCDEXPTI - 05:07 PM
Kolkata, Mar 13 (PTI) There was no link between commodity futures and the double-digit food inflation, National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) Chief Business Officer Vijay Kumar said today.
India
- Bangalore International Automotive Expo 2010 a major drawANI - 07:00 PM
Bangalore, March 13 (ANI): The second edition of the Bangalore International Automotive Expo (BIAE) 2010, which commenced here this week, is proving to be major draw for thousands of automobile lovers here.
- Maharashtra still favoured industrial destination, claims Ashok ChavanANI - 07:00 PM
Pune, Mar 13 (ANI): Maharashtra Chief Minster Ashok Chavan claimed on Saturday that the State is still a favoured destination of industries.
- Era of affordable business ahead: ISB DeanIANS - 06:41 PM
Hyderabad, March 13 (IANS) The next phase of globalisation is going to be affordable business as it offers enormous economic opportunities in India and other developing countries and ensures inclusive growth, Ajit Rangnekar, the dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB), said here Saturday.
- SMEs in Guj not allocated KG basin gas: Guj govtIE - 05:51 PM
The Gujarat government today said that despite representation by the state, the Centre has not allocated gas for small and medium enterprises of the state from D-6 block of KG basin.
- Bentley unveils Rs 2.9 cr 'Mulsanne'IE - 05:51 PM
British super luxury car brand Bentley said it will launch two models priced well above Rs one crore in the Indian market, as it looks to grow in the high-end segment.
International
- Investment destinations: India in top 3IE - 05:51 PM
India is among the world's top three preferred investment destination, but equity caps limit the size of potential inflows, according to a Columbia University report.
- India 2nd fastest growing investor in USIE - 05:51 PM
India has emerged as the second fastest growing investor in the United States after the UAE between 2004 and 2008, a top Obama Administration official has said.
- Google "99.9 pct" sure to shut China search engine - FTReuters - 04:16 PM
Talks with China over censorship have reached an apparent impasse and Google, the world's largest search engine, is now "99.9 percent" certain to shut its Chinese search engine, the Financial Times said on Saturday.
- Chile will take years to recover from quake impact: presidentIANS - 01:53 PM
Santiago, March 13 (IANS) Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has said the Feb 27 earthquake and the following tsunami had cost the nation tens of billions of dollars and left an impact that would be felt for years.
- 'Oil mafia siphoned Rs.90 bn annually during Musharraf regime'IANS - 11:19 AM
Islamabad, March 13 (IANS) Pakistan's oil mafia is alleged to have siphoned Rs.90 billion annually during former president Pervez Musharraf's tenure by supplying substandard diesel at the rates of the high quality premium variety, a media report said Saturday.
Personal-Finance
- Sensex up 66 points in early tradeIANS - Fri, Mar 12
Mumbai, March 12 (IANS) A benchmark index for Indian equities Friday opened in the green and was ruling about 66 points higher than its previous close, about half an hour into trade.
- Sensex starts off weakIANS - Thu, Mar 11
Mumbai, March 11 (IANS) A benchmark index for Indian equities Thursday made a weak start and was ruling 36 points lower, about 28 minutes after the opening bell.
- US stocks gain on financial firmsIANS - Thu, Mar 11
New York, March 11 (DPA) Major stock indices closed higher Wednesday amid gathering optimism about the US economy, with shares of financial firms leading the stock market.
- Sensex closes flatIANS - Wed, Mar 10
Mumbai, March 10 (IANS) A benchmark index for Indian equities shut shop on a flat note Wednesday, giving up its intra-day gains.
- Spring at LFW: Buyers, designers welcome seasonal shiftIANS - Wed, Mar 10
Mumbai, March 10 (IANS) Spring collections were the focus of the just concluded Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) instead of autumn-winter. Designers as well as buyers welcomed the seasonal shift, saying it suited their business and also complemented the Indian weather.
Markets
- Germany unaware of Greek bailout, EU says no deal doneReuters - 04:58 PM
Germany's Finance Ministry said on Saturday it was not aware of any agreement by euro zone members to bail out heavily indebted Greece, and the European Union's executive said no such deal had been concluded.
- EU Commission says no deal concluded on GreeceReuters - 03:19 PM
The euro zone has not agreed a deal on financial support for heavily indebted Greece, but technical work is continuing and the Commission stands ready to act if need be, a spokesman for the European Union executive said on Saturday.
- Six imperatives for financial regulation - SummersReuters - 12:01 PM
The United States should rethink domestic and global financial regulation, Lawrence Summers, director of the White House's National Economic Council, said on Friday, outlining six "imperatives."
- U.S. needs tighter financial regulation - SummersReuters - 11:20 AM
The United States should rethink domestic and global financial regulation, Lawrence Summers, director of the White House's National Economic Council, said on Friday.
- Wall St Week Ahead: Data, Fed to test if rally has legsReuters - 10:10 AM
Investors will try to tack another leg on to the year-long U.S. stock rally, looking to next week's economic data and statement from the central bank for evidence the recovery is still on track.
National News
Finance co robbed of Rs five lakh
New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) A finance company in northwest Delhi was today robbed of Rs five lakh by five men armed with country-made pistols with police arresting two of them.
- No difference between Maoists and Marxists : Mamata PTI - 10:40 PM
- James Cameron wants to work with Aamir Khan PTI - 10:23 PM
- East Zone basketball Win for UP men, Bengal women PTI - 10:20 PM
- BJP to corner Delhi govt in assembly over prise rise PTI - 10:12 PM
- Seventy four bulls, 14 cows rescued in Alwar PTI - 10:09 PM
NATIONAL
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NATIONAL
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NATIONAL
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General
- Charlesworth gives words of advice to IndiaPTI - 10:43 PM
New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) After becoming the only player to have won the World Cup both as a player and coach, Australian hockey legend Ric Charlesworth today gave some words of advice to the Indian team to regain their lost glory.
- - 10:32 PM
New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) After snapping their two summit clash loss against the Germans in 2002 and 2006, Australian captain Jamie Dwyer today said his side deserved to win the hockey World Cup here as they were the best side in the tournament. "We are the best side in the tournament and we were the better side against Germany in the final today.
- Photo Advisory third update Photo issuedPTI - 10:30 PM
after 8 P.M. New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) EDITORS : Photos with captions released today. To view thumbnails of these photographs, visit PTI website at...http://www.ptinews.com.
- Talks fail between protesting farmers, administrationPTI - 10:05 PM
Greater Noida, Mar 13 (PTI) Talks between protesting farmers opposed to "forcible" land acquisition and demanding hike in compensation and the administration failed today as the Kisan Sangarsh Samiti decided to hold a 'maha panchayat' on March 21 on the issue.
- J-K government employees' strike enters fifth dayANI - 10:00 PM
Srinagar, Mar 13 (ANI): The work in government offices remained affected in Jammu and Kashmir, as State Government employees continued their agitation for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday.
Politics
- CD row: Virbhadra questions Dhumal over clean chitIANS - 08:53 PM
Shimla, March 13 (IANS) Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh Saturday questioned the authenticity of a Gujarat-based government forensic laboratory's report that he said helped 'exonerate' Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in the audio CD controversy.
- 31 in fray in Pennagaram bypollIANS - 08:29 PM
Chennai, March 13 (IANS) Thirty-one candidates, 24 of them independents, are in the fray for the bypoll to the Pennagaram assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu slated for March 27.
- Badal seeks day-to-day trial of 1984 anti-Sikh riots casesIANS - 08:16 PM
Chandigarh, March 13 (IANS) Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal Saturday sought day-to-day hearing of the over 25-year-old 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases.
- Sonia visits Tamil Nadu Congress headquartersIANS - 08:08 PM
Chennai, March 13 (IANS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi Saturday visited Satyamurthy Bhavan, the party's state headquarters here.
- Deal sternly with corruption: PMIANS - 08:08 PM
Chennai, March 13 (IANS) Urging legislators to sternly deal with corruption and inefficiency in governance, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said that power needed to be regarded as a 'societal trust' and used for public good.
Features
- - 03:10 PM
Mumbai, March 13 -- In an Indian household, a homecoming is a reason for celebration. Relatives, friends and well-wishers queue up for the welcome party. So, in keeping with tradition, the Indian Premier League opener for the third edition was nothing short of a homecoming for the cash rich event after its South Africa sojourn.
- Give in to IPL 3!Y! India News - Fri, Mar 12
You know the feeling you get when you see that pastry, say 'The hell with it' to the world and your gym instructor and just dig in.
- World's mega-rich adding wealth, Carlos Slim No. 1Reuters - Thu, Mar 11
Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person, knocking Microsoft founder Bill Gates into second spot, as the wealth of the world's billionaires grew by 50 percent over the last year, Forbes magazine said on Wednesday.
- Bigelow makes Oscar history as war drama triumphsReuters - Mon, Mar 8
Hollywood finally entrusted a female director with an Oscar on Sunday.Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman in the 82-year history of the Academy Awards to take the prize as her gritty Iraq War movie "The Hurt Locker" outshone "Avatar" after a nail-biting campaign season.
- What women say on Women's DayY! India News - Mon, Mar 8
What do women think of Women's Day? March 8th, now quite a known date in the Indian calendar, has different sections of people talking very differently about it. While some feminists feel this is just another date, some on the other hand, like to celebrate "being a woman."
Crime
- CBI gets medical history of TalwarsHT - 02:55 PM
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the Aarushi Talwar (13)-Hemraj Banjade (45) murders, has acquired medical records dentists Rajesh and Nupur Talwar. The agency, said a CBI source, had recently asked the Talwars details of their past ailments, if any.
- Malegaon blast case: Bombay High Court rejects Sadhvi Thakur's bail pleaANI - Fri, Mar 12
Mumbai, Mar 12 (ANI): The Bombay High Court on Friday turned down the bail plea of 2008 Malegaon blast prime accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.
- Nimbalkar murder accused heldHT - Fri, Mar 12
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday arrested a key accused in the murder of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar.
- 25 yrs on, cop gets jail for molestationHT - Fri, Mar 12
A local court in Churu district handed out an 18-month jail sentence to retired police officer Rohitash Kumar for misbehaving with a fellow officer?s wife 25 years ago.
- Enough evidence to nail child rapist, say policeHT - Fri, Mar 12
The Nehru Nagar police claim they have enough circumstantial evidence to nail Mohammed Ajmeri Sheikh (29), arrested on Monday in connection with the rape and murder of a nine-year-old schoolgirl on Sunday.
Palestine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Palestine (Greek: Παλαιστίνη, Palaistinē; Latin: Palaestina; Hebrew: ארץ־ישראל, Eretẓ Yisra'el; formerly ארץ–כנען, Eretẓ Kena'an; also פלשׂתינה, Palestina; Arabic: فلسطين Filasṭīn, Falasṭīn, Filisṭīn) is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.[1]
As a geographic term, Palestine can refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area that today includes Israel and the Israeli-occupied [2] Palestinian territories, as well as part of Jordan, and some of both Lebanon and Syria.[1] In classical or contemporary terms, it is also the common name for the area west of the Jordan River. The boundaries of two new states were laid down within the territory of the British Mandate, Palestine and Transjordan.[3][4][5][6] The term Land of Israel is used to refer to the same geographic region, both narrowly or broadly defined, by Israelis, Jews, and Christian Zionists, among others. Other terms for the same area include Canaan, Zion, and the Holy Land.
Origin of name
The name "Palestine" is the cognate of an ancient word meaning "Philistines" or "Land of the Philistines".[7][8][9] The earliest known mention is thought to be in Ancient Egyptian texts of the temple at Medinet Habu which record a people called the P-r-s-t (conventionally Peleset) among the Sea Peoples who invaded Egypt in Ramesses III's reign.[10] The Hebrew name Peleshet (פלשת Pəléshseth)- usually translated as Philistia in English, is used in the Bible to denote the southern coastal region that was inhabited by the Philistines to the west of the ancient Kingdom of Judah.[11]
The Assyrian emperor Sargon II called the same region Palashtu or Pilistu in his Annals.[7][8][8][12] In the 5th century BCE, Herodotus wrote in Ancient Greek of a 'district of Syria, called Palaistinê" (whence Palaestina, whence Palestine).[7][13][14][15]
According to Moshe Sharon, Palaestina was commonly used to refer to the coastal region, and shortly thereafter, the whole of the area inland to the west of the Jordan River.[7] The latter extension occurred when the Roman authorities, following the suppression of the Bar Kokhba rebellion in the 2nd century CE, renamed "Provincia Judea" (Iudaea Province; originally derived from the name "Judah") to "Syria Palaestina" (Syria Palaestina), in order to complete the dissociation with Judaea.[16][17]
During the Byzantine period, the entire region (Syria Palestine, Samaria, and the Galilee) was named Palaestina, subdivided into provinces Palaestina I and II.[18] The Byzantines also renamed an area of land including the Negev, Sinai, and the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula as Palaestina Salutaris, sometimes called Palaestina III.[18]
The Arabic word for Palestine is Philistine (commonly transcribed in English as Filistin, Filastin, or Falastin).[19] Moshe Sharon writes that when the Arabs took over Greater Syria in the 7th century, place names that were in use by the Byzantine administration before them, generally continued to be used. Hence, he traces the emergence of the Arabic form Filastin to this adoption, with Arabic inflection, of Roman and Hebrew (Semitic) names.[7] Jacob Lassner and Selwyn Ilan Troen offer a different view, writing that Jund Filastin, the full name for the administrative province under the rule of the Arab caliphates, was traced by Muslim geographers back to the Philistines of the Bible.[20]
The use of the name "Palestine" in English became more common after the European renaissance.[21] The name was officially revived and used after the fall of the Ottoman Empire (1517–1917) and applied to the territory in this region that was placed under the British Mandate for Palestine.
Some other terms that have been used to refer to all or part of this land include Canaan, Greater Israel, Greater Syria, the Holy Land, Iudaea Province, Judea,[22] Israel, "Israel HaShlema", Kingdom of Israel, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael or Ha'aretz), Zion, Retenu (Ancient Egyptian), Southern Syria, and Syria Palestina.
Boundaries
The boundaries of Palestine have varied throughout history.[23][24] Prior to its being named Palestine, Ancient Egyptian texts (c. 14 century BCE) called the entire coastal area along the Mediterranean Sea between modern Egypt and Turkey R-t-n-u (conventionally Retjenu). Retjenu was subdivided into three regions and the southern region, Djahy, shared approximately the same boundaries as Canaan, or modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories, though including also Syria.[25]
Scholars disagree as to whether the archaeological evidence supports the biblical story of there having been a Kingdom of Israel of the United Monarchy that reigned from Jerusalem, as the archaeological evidence is both rare and disputed.[26][27] For those who do interpret the archaeological evidence positively in this regard, it is thought to have ruled some time during Iron Age I (1200 - 1000 BCE) over an area approximating modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories, extending farther westward and northward to cover much (but not all) of the greater Land of Israel.[26][27]
Philistia, the Philistine confederation, emerged circa 1185 BCE and comprised five city states: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod on the coast and Ekron, and Gath inland.[12] Its northern border was the Yarkon River, the southern border extending to Wadi Gaza, its western border the Mediterranean Sea, with no fixed border to the east.[10]
By 722 BCE, Philistia had been subsumed by the Assyrian Empire, with the Philistines becoming 'part and parcel of the local population,' prospering under Assyrian rule during the 7th century despite occasional rebellions against their overlords.[12][28][29] In 604 BCE, when Assyrian troops commanded by the Babylonian empire carried off significant numbers of the population into slavery, the distinctly Philistine character of the coastal cities dwindled away, and the history of the Philistines as a distinct people effectively ended.[12][28][30]
The boundaries of the area and the ethnic nature of the people referred to by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE as Palaestina vary according to context. Sometimes, he uses it to refer to the coast north of Mount Carmel. Elsewhere, distinguishing the Syrians in Palestine from the Phoenicians, he refers to their land as extending down all the coast from Phoenicia to Egypt.[31] Josephus used the name Παλαιστινη only for the smaller coastal area, Philistia.[32] Pliny, writing in Latin in the 1st century CE, describes a region of Syria that was "formerly called Palaestina" among the areas of the Eastern Mediterranean.[33]
Since the Byzantine Period, the Byzantine borders of Palaestina (I and II, also known as Palaestina Prima, "First Palestine", and Palaestina Secunda, "Second Palestine"), have served as a name for the geographic area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Under Arab rule, Filastin (or Jund Filastin) was used administratively to refer to what was under the Byzantines Palaestina Secunda (comprising Judaea and Samaria), while Palaestina Prima (comprising the Galilee region) was renamed Urdunn ("Jordan" or Jund al-Urdunn).[7]
The Zionist Organization provided their definition concerning the boundaries of Palestine in a statement to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; it also includes a statement about the importance of water resources that the designated area includes.[34][35] On the basis of a League of Nations mandate, the British administered Palestine after World War I, promising to establish a Jewish homeland therein.[36] The original British Mandate included what is now Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan), and trans-Jordan (the present kingdom of Jordan),although the latter was disattached by an administrative decision of the British in 1922.[37] To the Palestinian people who view Palestine as their homeland, its boundaries are those of the British Mandate excluding the Transjordan, as described in the Palestinian National Charter.[38]
Additional extrabiblical references
An archaeological textual reference concerning the territory of Palestine is thought to have been made in the Merneptah Stele, dated c. 1200 BCE, containing a recount of Egyptian king Merneptah's victories in the land of Canaan, mentioning place-names such as Gezer, Ashkelon and Yanoam, along with Israel, which is mentioned using a hieroglyphic determinative that indicates a nomad people, rather than a state.[39]
Another famous inscription is that of the Mesha Stele, bearing an inscription by the 9th century BC Moabite King Mesha, discovered in 1868 at Dhiban (biblical "Dibon," capital of Moab) now in Jordan. The Stele is notable because it is thought to be the earliest known reference to the sacred Hebrew name of God – YHWH. It also notable as the most extensive inscription ever recovered that refers to ancient Israel.
Biblical texts
In the Biblical account, the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah ruled from Jerusalem a vast territory extending far west and north of Palestine for some 120 years. Archaeological evidence for this period is very rare, however, and its implications much disputed.[26][27]
The Hebrew Bible calls the region Canaan (כּנען) (Numbers 34:1–12), while the part of it occupied by Israelites is designated Israel (Yisrael). The name "Land of the Hebrews" (ארץ העברים, Eretz Ha-Ivrim) is also found, as well as several poetical names: "land flowing with milk and honey", "land that [God] swore to your fathers to assign to you", "Land of the Lord", and the "Promised Land".
The Land of Canaan is given a precise description in (Numbers 34:1) as including all of Lebanon, as well (Joshua 13:5). The wide area appears to have been the home of several small nations such as the Canaanites, Hebrews, Hittites, Amorrhites, Pherezites, Hevites and Jebusites. According to Hebrew tradition, the land of Canaan is part of the land given to the descendants of Abraham, which extends from the "river of Egypt" to the Euphrates River (Genesis 15:18) – some identify the river of Egypt with the Nile, others believe it to be a wadi in northern Sinai, cf. Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:3-4; Joshua 15:47; 1 Kings 8:65; 2 Kings 24:7.
In Exodus 13:17, "And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt."
The events of the Four Gospels of the Christian Bible take place almost entirely in this country, which in Christian tradition thereafter became known as The Holy Land.
In the Qur'an, the term الأرض المقدسة (Al-Ard Al-Muqaddasah, English: "Holy Land") is mentioned at least seven times, once when Moses proclaims to the Children of Israel: "O my people! Enter the holy land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin." (Surah 5:21)
History
Paleolithic and Neolithic periods (1 mya–5000 BCE)
The earliest human remains in Palestine were found in Ubeidiya, some 3 km south of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias), in the Jordan Rift Valley. The remains are dated to the Pleistocene, ca. 1.5 million years ago. It is traces of the earliest migration of Homo erectus out of Africa. The site yielded hand axes of the Acheulean type.[40]
Wadi El Amud between Safed and the Sea of Galilee was the site of the first prehistoric digging in Palestine, in 1925. The discovery of the Palestine Man in the Zuttiyeh Cave in Wadi Al-Amud near Safad in 1925 provided some clues to human development in the area.[41][42]
Qafzeh, is a paleoanthropological site south of Nazareth where eleven significant fossilised Homo sapiens skeletons have been found at the main rock shelter. These anatomically modern humans, both adult and infant, are now dated to circa 90–100,000 years old, and many of the bones are stained with red ochre which is conjectured to have been used in the burial process, a significant indicator of ritual behavior and thereby symbolic thought and intelligence. 71 pieces of unused red ochre also littered the site.
Mount Carmel has yielded several important findings, among them Kebara Cave that was inhabited between 60,000 – 48,000 BP and where the most complete Neanderthal skeleton found to date. The Tabun cave was occupied intermittently during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic ages (500,000 to around 40,000 years ago). Excavation suggests that it features one of the longest sequences of human occupation in the Levant. In the nearby Es Skhul cave excavations revealed the first evidence of the late Epipalaeolithic Natufian culture, characterized by the presence of abundant microliths, human burials and ground stone tools. This also represents one area where Neanderthals – present in the region from 200,000 to 45,000 years ago – lived alongside modern humans dating to 100,000 years ago.[43]
In the caves of Shuqba in Ramallah and Wadi Khareitun in Bethlehem, stone, wood and animal bone tools were found and attributed to the Natufian culture (c. 12800–10300 BCE). Other remains from this era have been found at Tel Abu Hureura, Ein Mallaha, Beidha and Jericho.[44]
Between 10000 and 5000 BCE, agricultural communities were established. Evidence of such settlements were found at Tel es-Sultan in Jericho and consisted of a number of walls, a religious shrine, and a 23-foot (7.0 m) tower with an internal staircase[45][46] Jericho is believed to be one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world, with evidence of settlement dating back to 9000 BC, providing important information about early human habitation in the Near East.[47]
Chalcolithic period (4500–3000 BCE) and Bronze Age (3000–1200 BCE)
Along the Jericho–Dead Sea–Bir es-Saba–Gaza–Sinai route, a culture originating in Syria, marked by the use of copper and stone tools, brought new migrant groups to the region contributing to an increasingly urban fabric.[48][49][50]
By the early Bronze Age (3000–2200 BCE) independent Canaanite city-states situated in plains and coastal regions and surrounded by mud-brick defensive walls were established and most of these cities relied on nearby agricultural hamlets for their food needs.[48][51]
Archaeological finds from the early Canaanite era have been found at Tel Megiddo, Jericho, Tel al-Far'a (Gaza), Bisan, and Ai (Deir Dibwan/Ramallah District), Tel an Nasbe (al-Bireh) and Jib (Jerusalem).
The Canaanite city-states held trade and diplomatic relations with Egypt and Syria. Parts of the Canaanite urban civilization were destroyed around 2300 BCE, though there is no consensus as to why. Incursions by nomads from the east of the Jordan River who settled in the hills followed soon thereafter.[48][52]
In the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1500 BCE), Canaan was influenced by the surrounding civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Minoan Crete, and Syria. Diverse commercial ties and an agriculturally based economy led to the development of new pottery forms, the cultivation of grapes, and the extensive use of bronze.[48][53] Burial customs from this time seemed to be influenced by a belief in the afterlife.[48][54]
Political, commercial and military events during the Late Bronze Age period (1450–1350 BCE) were recorded by ambassadors and Canaanite proxy rulers for Egypt in 379 cuneiform tablets known as the Amarna Letters.[55] The Minoan influence is apparent at Tel Kabri.[56]
By c. 1190 BCE, the Philistines arrived and mingled with the local population, losing their separate identity over several generations.[28][57]
Iron Age (1200–330 BCE)
Pottery remains found in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath (city), Ekron and Gaza decorated with stylized birds provided the first archaeological evidence for Philistine settlement in the region. The Philistines are credited with introducing iron weapons and chariots to the local population.[58] Excavations have established that the late 13th, the 12th and the early 11th centuries BCE witnessed the foundation of perhaps hundreds of insignificant, unprotected village settlements, many in the mountains of Palestine.[59] From around the 11th century BCE, there was a reduction in the number of villages, though this was counterbalanced by the rise of certain settlements to the status of fortified townships.[59]
Developments in Palestine between 1250 and 900 BCE have been the focus of debate between those who accept the Old Testament version on the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes, and those who reject it.[60] Niels Peter Lemche, of the Copenhagen School of Biblical Studies, submits that the picture of ancient Israel "is contrary to any image of ancient Palestinian society that can be established on the basis of ancient sources from Palestine or referring to Palestine and that there is no way this image in the Bible can be reconciled with the historical past of the region."[59]
Sites and artifacts, including the Large Stone Structure, Mount Ebal, the Menertaph, and Mesha stelae, among others, are subject to widely varying historical interpretations: the "conservative camp" reconstructs the history of Israel according to the biblical text and views archaeological evidence in that context, whilst scholars in the minimalist or deconstructionist school hold that there is no archaeological evidence supporting the idea of a United Monarchy (or Israelite nation) and the biblical account is a religious mythology created by Judean scribes in the Persian and Hellenistic periods; a third camp of centrist scholars acknowledges the value of some isolated elements of the Pentateuch and of Deuteronomonistic accounts as potentially valid history of monarchic times that can be in accord with the archaeological evidence, but argue that nevertheless the biblical narrative should be understood as highly ideological and adapted to the needs of the community at the time of its compilation.[61][62][63][64][65][66]
Hebrew Bible/Old Testament period
According to Biblical tradition, the United Kingdom of Israel was established by the Israelite tribes with Saul as its first king in 1020 BCE.[67] In 1000 BCE, Jerusalem was made the capital of King David's kingdom and it is believed that the First Temple was constructed in this period by King Solomon.[67] By 930 BCE, the united kingdom split to form the northern Kingdom of Israel, and the southern Kingdom of Judah.[67] These kingdoms co-existed with several more kingdoms in the greater Palestine area, including Philistine town states on the Southwestern Mediterranean coast, Edom, to the South of Judah, and Moab and Ammon to the East of the river Jordan.[68] According to Jon Schiller and Hermann Austel, among others, while in the past, the Bible story was seen historical truth, "a growing number of archaeological scholars, particularly those of the minimalist school, are now insisting that Kings David and Solomon are 'no more real than King Arthur,' citing the lack of archaeological evidence attesting to the existence of the United Kingdom of Israel, and the unreliability of biblical texts, due to their being composed in a much later period."[69][70]
There was an at least partial Egyptian withdrawal from Palestine in this period, though it is likely that Bet Shean was an Egyptian garrison as late as the beginning of the 10th century BCE.[59] The socio-political system was characterized by local patrons fighting other local patrons, lasting until around the mid-9th century BCE when some local chieftains were able to create large political structures that exceeded the boundaries of those present in the Late Bronze Age Levant.[59]
Archaeological findings from this era include, among others, the Mesha Stele, from c. 850 BCE, which recounts the conquering of Moab, located East of the Dead Sea, by king Omri, and the successful revolt of Moabian king Mesha against Omri's son, presumably King Ahab (and French scholar André Lemaire reported that line 31 of the Stele bears the phrase "the house of David" (in Biblical Archaeology Review [May/June 1994], pp. 30–37).[71]); and the Kurkh Monolith, dated c. 835 BCE, describing King Shalmaneser III of Assyria's Battle of Qarqar, where he fought alongside the contingents of several kings, among them King Ahab and King Gindibu.
Between 722 and 720 BCE, the northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrian Empire and the Israelite tribes – thereafter known as the Lost Tribes – were exiled.[67] The most important finding from the southern Kingdom of Judah is the Siloam Inscription, dated c. 700 BCE, which celebrates the successful encounter of diggers, digging from both sides of the Jerusalem wall to create the Hezekiah water tunnel and water pool, mentioned in the Bible, in 2Kings 20:20.[citation needed] In 586 BCE, Judah was conquered by the Babylonians and Jerusalem and the First Temple destroyed.[67] Most of the surviving Jews, and much of the other local population, were deported to Babylonia.[28][72]
Persian rule (538 BCE)
After the Persian Empire was established, Jews were allowed to return to what their holy books had termed the Land of Israel, and having been granted some autonomy by the Persian administration, it was during this period that the Second Temple in Jerusalem was built.[28][73] Sebastia, near Nablus, was the northernmost province of the Persian administration in Palestine, and its southern borders were drawn at Hebron.[28][74] Some of the local population served as soldiers and lay people in the Persian administration, while others continued to agriculture. In 400 BCE, the Nabataeans made inroads into southern Palestine and built a separate civilization in the Negev that lasted until 160 BCE.[28][75]
Classical antiquity
Hellenistic rule (333 BCE)
The Persian Empire fell to Greek forces of the Macedonian general Alexander the Great.[76][77] After his death, with the absence of heirs, his conquests were divided amongst his generals, while the region of the Jews ("Judah" or Judea as it became known) was first part of the Ptolemaic dynasty and then part of the Seleucid Empire.[78]
The landscape during this period was markedly changed by extensive growth and development that included urban planning and the establishment of well-built fortified cities.[74][76] Hellenistic pottery was produced that absorbed Philistine traditions. Trade and commerce flourished, particularly in the most Hellenized areas, such as Ascalon, Jaffa,[79] Jerusalem,[80] Gaza,[81] and ancient Nablus (Tell Balatah).[76][82]
The Jewish population in Judea was allowed limited autonomy in religion and administration.[83]
Hasmonean dynasty (140 BCE)
An independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmonean Dynasty existed from 140–37 BCE. In the second century BCE fascination in Jerusalem for Greek culture resulted in a movement to break down the separation of Jew and Gentile and some people even tried to disguise the marks of their circumcision.[84] Disputes between the leaders of the reform movement, Jason and Menelaus, eventually led to civil war and the intervention of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.[84] Subsequent persecution of the Jews led to the Maccabean Revolt under the leadership of the Hasmoneans, and the construction of a native Jewish kingship under the Hasmonean Dynasty.[84] After approximately a century of independence disputes between the Hasmonean rivals Aristobulus and Hyrcanus led to control of the kingdom by the Roman army of Pompey. The territory then became first a Roman client kingdom under Hyrcanus and then, in 70CE, a Roman Province administered by the governor of Syria.[85]
Roman rule (63 BCE)
Though General Pompey arrived in 63 BCE, Roman rule was solidified when Herod, whose dynasty was of Idumean ancestry, was appointed as king.[76][86] Urban planning under the Romans was characterized by cities designed around the Forum – the central intersection of two main streets – the Cardo, running north-south and the Decumanus running east-west.[87] Cities were connected by an extensive road network developed for economic and military purposes. Among the most notable archaeological remnants from this era are Herodium (Tel al-Fureidis) to the south of Bethlehem,[88] Masada and Caesarea Maritima.[76][89] Herod arranged a renovation of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, with a massive expansion of the Temple Mount platform and major expansion of the Jewish Temple around 19 BCE. The Temple Mount's natural plateau was extended by enclosing the area with four massive retaining walls and filling the voids. This artificial expansion resulted in a large flat expanse which today forms the eastern section of the Old City of Jerusalem.
Around the time associated with the birth of Jesus, Roman Palestine was in a state of disarray and direct Roman rule was re-established.[76][90] The early Christians were oppressed and while most inhabitants became Romanized, others, particularly Jews, found Roman rule to be unbearable.[76][90]
As a result of the First Jewish-Roman War (66–73), Titus sacked Jerusalem destroying the Second Temple, leaving only supporting walls, including the Western Wall.
In 135, following the fall of a Jewish revolt led by Bar Kokhba in 132–135, the Roman emperor Hadrian attempted the expulsion of Jews from Judea. His attempt was as unsuccessful as were most of Rome's many attempts to alter the demography of the Empire; this is demonstrated by the continued existence of the rabbinical academy of Lydda in Judea, and in any case large Jewish populations remained in Samaria and the Galilee.[16] Tiberias became the headquarters of exiled Jewish patriarchs. The Romans joined the province of Judea (which already included Samaria) together with Galilee to form a new province, called Syria Palaestina, to complete the disassociation with Judaea.[16] Notwithstanding the oppression, some two hundred Jewish communities remained. Gradually, certain religious freedoms were restored to the Jewish population, such as exemption from the imperial cult and internal self-administration. The Romans made no such concession to the Samaritans, to whom religious liberties were denied, while their sanctuary on Mt.Gerizim was defiled by a pagan temple, as part of measures were taken to suppress the resurgence of Samaritan nationalism.[16]
In 132 CE, the Emperor Hadrian changed the name of the province from Iudaea to Syria Palaestina and renamed Jerusalem "Aelia Capitolina" and built temples there to honor Jupiter. Christianity was practiced in secret and the Hellenization of Palestine continued under Septimius Severus (193–211 CE).[76] New pagan cities were founded in Judea at Eleutheropolis (Bayt Jibrin), Diopolis (Lydd), and Nicopolis (Emmaus).[74][76]
Byzantine (Eastern Roman) rule (330–640 CE)
Emperor Constantine I's conversion to Christianity around 330 CE made Christianity the official religion of Palaestina.[91][92] After his mother Empress Helena identified the spot she believed to be where Christ was crucified, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built in Jerusalem.[91] The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Ascension in Jerusalem were also built during Constantine's reign.[91] This was the period of its greatest prosperity in antiquity. Urbanization increased, large new areas were put under cultivation, monasteries proliferated, synagogues were restored, and the population West of the Jordan may have reached as many as one million.[16]
Palestine thus became a center for pilgrims and ascetic life for men and women from all over the world.[74][91] Many monasteries were built including the St. George's Monastery in Wadi al-Qelt, the Monastery of the Temptation and Deir Hajla near Jericho, and Deir Mar Saba and Deir Theodosius east of Bethlehem.[91]
In 351-352, a Jews revolted against Byzantine rule in Tiberias and other parts of the Galilee was brutally suppressed. Imperial patronage for Christian cults and immigration was strong, and a significant wave of immigration from Rome, especially to the area about Aelia Capitolina and Bethlehem, took place after that city was sacked in 410.[16]
In approximately 390 CE, Palaestina was further organised into three units: Palaestina Prima, Secunda, and Tertia (First, Second, and Third Palestine), part of the Diocese of the East.[93][91] Palaestina Prima consisted of Judea, Samaria, the coast, and Peraea with the governor residing in Caesarea. Palaestina Secunda consisted of the Galilee, the lower Jezreel Valley, the regions east of Galilee, and the western part of the former Decapolis with the seat of government at Scythopolis. Palaestina Tertia included the Negev, southern Jordan—once part of Arabia—and most of Sinai with Petra as the usual residence of the governor. Palestina Tertia was also known as Palaestina Salutaris.[91][94]
In 536 CE, Justinian I promoted the governor at Caesarea to proconsul (anthypatos), giving him authority over the two remaining consulars. Justinian believed that the elevation of the governor was appropriate because he was responsible for "the province in which our Lord Jesus Christ... appeared on earth".[95] This was also the principal factor explaining why Palestine prospered under the Christian Empire. The cities of Palestine, such as Caesarea Maritima, Jerusalem, Scythopolis, Neapolis, and Gaza reached their peak population in the late Roman period and produced notable Christian scholars in the disciplines of rhetoric, historiography, Eusebian ecclesiastical history, classicizing history and hagiography.[95]
Byzantine administration of Palestine was temporarily suspended during the Persian occupation of 614–28, and then permanently after the Muslims arrived in 634 CE, defeating the empire's forces decisively at the Battle of Yarmouk in 636 CE. Jerusalem capitulated in 638 CE and Caesarea between 640 CE and 642 CE.[95]
Islamic period (630–1918 CE)
The Islamic prophet Muhammad established a new unified political polity in the Arabian peninsula at the beginning of the seventh century. The subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Arab power well beyond the Arabian peninsula in the form of a vast Muslim Arab Empire. In the 630s this empire conquered Palestine and it remained under the control of Islamic Empires for most of the next 1300 years.
Arab Caliphate rule (638–1099 CE)
In 638 CE, following the Siege of Jerusalem, the Caliph Omar Ibn al-Khattab and Safforonius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, signed Al-Uhda al-'Omariyya (The Umariyya Covenant), an agreement that stipulated the rights and obligations of all non-Muslims in Palestine.[91] Christians and Jews where considered People of the Book, enjoyed some protection but had to pay a special poll tax called jizyah ("tribute"). During the early years of Muslim control of the city, a small permanent Jewish population returned to Jerusalem after a 500-year absence.[96]
Omar Ibn al-Khattab was the first conqueror of Jerusalem to enter the city on foot, and when visiting the site that now houses the Haram al-Sharif, he declared it a sacred place of prayer.[97][98] Cities that accepted the new rulers, as recorded in registrars from the time, were: Jerusalem, Nablus, Jenin, Acre, Tiberias, Bisan, Caesarea, Lajjun, Lydd, Jaffa, Imwas, Beit Jibrin, Gaza, Rafah, Hebron, Yubna, Haifa, Safad and Ashkelon.[99]
Umayyad rule (661–750 CE)
Under Umayyad rule, the Byzantine province of Palaestina Prima became the administrative and military sub-province (jund) of Filastin – the Arabic name for Palestine from that point forward.[100] It formed part of the larger province of ash-Sham (Arabic for Greater Syria).[101] Jund Filastin (Arabic جند فلسطين, literally "the army of Palestine") was a region extending from the Sinai to the plain of Acre. Major towns included Rafah, Caesarea, Gaza, Jaffa, Nablus and Jericho.[102] Lod served served as the headquarters of the province of Filastin and the capital later moved to Ramla. Jund al-Urdunn (literally "the army of Jordan") was a region to the north and east of Filastin which included the cities of Acre, Bisan and Tiberias.[102]
In 691, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ordered that the Dome of the Rock be built on the site where the Islamic prophet Muhammad is believed by Muslims to have begun his nocturnal journey to heaven, on the Temple Mount. About a decade afterward, Caliph Al-Walid I had the Al-Aqsa Mosque built.[103]
It was under Umayyad rule that Christians and Jews were granted the official title of "Peoples of the Book" to underline the common monotheistic roots they shared with Islam.[99][104]
Abbasid rule (750–969 CE)
The Baghdad-based Abbasid Caliphs renovated and visited the holy shrines and sanctuaries in Jerusalem[105] and continued to build up Ramle.[99][106] Coastal areas were fortified and developed and port cities like Acre, Haifa, Caesarea, Arsuf, Jaffa and Ashkelon received monies from the state treasury.[107]
A trade fair took place in Jerusalem every year on September 15 where merchants from Pisa, Genoa, Venice and Marseilles converged to acquire spices, soaps, silks, olive oil, sugar and glassware in exchange for European products.[107] European Christian pilgrims visited and made generous donations to Christian holy places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.[107] During Harun al-Rashid's (786–809) reign the first contacts with the Frankish Kingdom of Charlemagne occurred, though the actual extent of these contacts is not known. As a result, Charlemagne sent money for construction of churches and a Latin Pilgrims' Inn in Jerusalem.[108] The establishment of the Pilgrims' Inn in Jerusalem is seen as a fulfillment of Umar's pledge to Bishop Sophronious to allow freedom of religion and access to Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims.[109]
The influence of the Arab tribes declined and the only context where they are reported is in uprising against the central authority.[110] I 796, a civil war between the Mudhar and Yamani tribes occurred, resulting in widespread destruction in Palestine.[111] The Abbasids visited the country less frequently than the Ummayads, but ordered some significant constructions in Jerusalem. Thus, Al-Mansur Ordered in 758 the renovation of the Dome of the Rock that had collapsed in an earthquake.[112]
During that time a dress code was instituted, requiring Christians and Jews to wear a Yellow dress.[citation needed] It is not known how much the code was enforced in Palestine.
Fatimid rule (969–1099 CE)
From their base in Tunisia, the Shi'ite Fatimids, who claimed to be descendants of Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah, conquered Palestine by way of Egypt in 969 CE.[113] Their capital was Cairo. Jerusalem, Nablus, and Askalan were expanded and renovated under their rule.[107]
After the 10th century, the division into Junds began to break down.[107] In the second half of the 11th Century the Fatimids empire suffered setback from fighting with the Seljuk Turks. Warfare between the Fatimids and Seljuks caused great disruption for the local Christians and for western pilgrims. The Fatimids had lost Jerusalem to the Seljuks in 1073,[114] but recaptured it from the Ortoqids, a smaller Turkic tribe associated with the Seljuks, in 1098, just before the arrival of the crusaders.[115]
See also the Mideastweb map of "Palestine Under the Caliphs", showing Jund boundaries (external link).Crusader rule (1099–1187 CE)
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks.
At first the kingdom was little more than a loose collection of towns and cities captured during the crusade. At its height, the kingdom roughly encompassed the territory of modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories. It extended from modern Lebanon in the north to the Sinai Desert in the south, and into modern Jordan and Syria in the east. There were also attempts to expand the kingdom into Fatimid Egypt. Its kings also held a certain amount of authority over the other crusader states, Tripoli, Antioch, and Edessa.
Many customs and institutions were imported from the territories of Western Europe from which the crusaders came, and there were close familial and political connections with the West throughout the kingdom's existence. It was, however, a relatively minor kingdom in comparison and often lacked financial and military support from Europe. The kingdom had closer ties to the neighbouring Kingdom of Armenia and the Byzantine Empire, from which it inherited "oriental" qualities, and the kingdom was also influenced by pre-existing Muslim institutions. Socially, however, the "Latin" inhabitants from Western Europe had almost no contact with the Muslims and native Christians whom they ruled.
Under the European rule, fortifications, castles, towers and fortified villages were built, rebuilt and renovated across Palestine largely in rural areas.[107][116] A notable urban remnant of the Crusader architecture of this era is found in Acre's old city.[107][117]
During the period of Crusader control, it has been estimated that Palestine had only 1,000 poor Jewish families.[118] Jews fought alongside the Muslims in Jerusalem in 1099 and Haifa in 1100 against the Crusaders. They were not allowed to live in Jerusalem and initially most of cities saw the destruction of the Jewish communities, but communities did continue in the rural areas. For instance, it is known about at least 24 villages in the Galilee were Jews lived.[citation needed] Later in the history of the Crusaders state Jews settled in the Coastal cities. Unlike the treatment of Jews by the Crusaders Europe, where many Massacres occurred, in Palestine no distinction was made between Jews and other non Christians and there were no laws specifically against Jews.[clarification needed] Some Jews from Europe visited the country, like Benjamin of Tudela who wrote about it.[119] Maimonides escaped to Palestine from the Almohads in 1165 and visited Acre, Jerusalem and Hebron, finally settling in Fostat in Egypt.[120]
In July 1187, the Cairo-based Kurdish General Saladin commanded his troops to victory in the Battle of Hattin.[121][122] Saladin went on to take Jerusalem. An agreement granting special status to the Crusaders allowed them to continue to stay in Palestine and In 1229, Frederick II negotiated a 10-year treaty that placed Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem once again under Crusader rule.[121]
In 1270, Sultan Baibars expelled the Crusaders from most of the country, though they maintained a base at Acre until 1291.[121] Thereafter, any remaining Europeans either went home or merged with the local population.[122]
Mamluk rule (1270–1516 CE)
Palestine formed a part of the Damascus Wilayah (district) under the rule of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and was divided into three smaller Sanjaks (subdivisions) with capitals in Jerusalem, Gaza, and Safad.[122] Celebrated by Arab and Muslim writers of the time as the "blessed land of the Prophets and Islam's revered leaders,"[122] Muslim sanctuaries were "rediscovered" and received many pilgrims.[123]
During the end of the 13th century the Mamluks fought against the Mongols, and a decisive battle took place in Ain Jalut in the Jezreel Valley on 3 September 1260. The Mamluks achieved a decisive victory, and the battle established a highwater mark for the Mongol conquests.
The Mamluks, continuing the policy of the Ayyubids, made the strategic decision to destroy the coastal area and to bring desolation to many of its cities, from Tyre in the north to Gaza in the south. Ports were destroyed and various materials were dumped to make them inoperable. The goal was to prevent attacks from the sea, given the fear of the return of the crusaders. This had a long term affect on those areas, that remained sparsely populated for centuries. In Jerusalem, the walls, gates and fortifications were destroyed as well, for similar reasons. The activity in that time concentrated more inland.[124] The Mamluks constructed a "postal road" from Cairo to Damascus, that included lodgings for travelers (khans) and bridges, some of which survive to this day (Jisr Jindas, near Lod). The also saw the construction of many schools and the renovation of mosques neglected or destroyed during the Crusader period.[123]
In 1267 the Catalan Rabbi Nahmanides left Europe, seeking refuge in Muslim lands from Christian persecution,[125] he made aliyah to Jerusalem. There he established a synagogue in the Old City that exists until present day, known as the Ramban Synagogue and re-established Jewish communal life in Jerusalem.
In 1486, hostilities broke out between the Mamluks and the Ottoman Turks in a battle for control over western Asia. The Mamluk armies were eventually defeated by the forces of the Ottoman Sultan, Selim I, and lost control of Palestine after the 1516 battle of Marj Dabiq.[122][126]
Ottoman rule (1516–1831 CE)
After the Ottoman conquest, the name "Palestine" disappeared as the official name of an administrative unit, as the Turks often called their (sub)provinces after the capital. Following its 1516 incorporation in the Ottoman Empire, it was part of the vilayet (province) of Damascus-Syria until 1660. It then became part of the vilayet of Saida (Sidon), briefly interrupted by the 7 March 1799 – July 1799 French occupation of Jaffa, Haifa, and Caesarea. During the Siege of Acre in 1799, Napoleon prepared a proclamation declaring a Jewish state in Palestine.
Egyptian rule (1831–1841)
On 10 May 1832 the territories of Bilad ash-Sham, which include modern Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine were conquered and annexed by Muhammad Ali's expansionist Egypt (nominally still Ottoman) in the 1831 Egyptian-Ottoman War. Britain sent the navy to shell Beirut and an Anglo-Ottoman expeditionary force landed, causing local uprisings against the Egyptian occupiers. A British naval squadron anchored off Alexandria. The Egyptian army retreated to Egypt. Muhammad Ali signed the Treaty of 1841. Britain returned control of the Levant to the Ottomans.
Ottoman rule (1841–1917)
In the reorganisation of 1873, which established the administrative boundaries that remained in place until 1914, Palestine was split between three major administrative units. The northern part, above a line connecting Jaffa to north Jericho and the Jordan, was assigned to the vilayet of Beirut, subdivided into the sanjaks (districts) of Acre, Beirut and Nablus. The southern part, from Jaffa downwards, was part of the special district of Jerusalem. Its southern boundaries were unclear but petered out in the eastern Sinai Peninsula and northern Negev Desert. Most of the central and southern Negev was assigned to the wilayet of Hijaz, which also included the Sinai Peninsula and the western part of Arabia.[127]
Nonetheless, the old name remained in popular and semi-official use. Many examples of its usage in the 16th and 17th centuries have survived.[128] During the 19th century, the Ottoman Government employed the term Ardh-u Filistin (the 'Land of Palestine') in official correspondence, meaning for all intents and purposes the area to the west of the River Jordan which became 'Palestine' under the British in 1922".[129] However, the Ottomans regarded "Palestine" as an abstract description of a general region but not as a specific administrative unit with clearly defined borders. This meant that they did not consistently apply the name to a clearly defined area.[127] Ottoman court records, for instance, used the term to describe a geographical area that did not include the sanjaks of Jerusalem, Hebron and Nablus, although these had certainly been part of historical Palestine.[130][131] Amongst the educated Arab public, Filastin was a common concept, referring either to the whole of Palestine or to the Jerusalem sanjak alone[132] or just to the area around Ramle.[133]
The end of the 19th century saw the beginning of Zionist immigration. The "First Aliyah" was the first modern widespread wave of Zionist aliyah. Jews who migrated to Palestine in this wave came mostly from Eastern Europe and from Yemen. This wave of aliyah began in 1881–82 and lasted until 1903.[134] An estimated 25,000[135]–35,000[136] Jews immigrated during the First Aliyah. The First Aliyah laid the cornerstone for Jewish settlement in Israel and created several settlements such as Rishon LeZion, Rosh Pina, Zikhron Ya'aqov and Gedera.
The "Second Aliyah" took place between 1904 and 1914, during which approximately 40,000 Jews immigrated, mostly from Russia and Poland,[137] and some from Yemen. The Second Aliyah immigrants were primarily idealists, inspired by the revolutionary ideals then sweeping the Russian Empire who sought to create a communal agricultural settlement system in Palestine. They thus founded the kibbutz movement. The first kibbutz, Degania, was founded in 1909. Tel Aviv was founded at that time, though its founders were not necessarily from the new immigrants. The Second Aliyah is largely credited with the Revival of the Hebrew language and establishing it as the standard language for Jews in Israel. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda contributed to the creation of the first modern Hebrew dictionary. Although he was an immigrant of the First Aliyah, his work mostly bore fruit during the second.
Ottoman rule over the eastern Mediterranean lasted until World War I when the Ottomans sided with the German Empire and the Central Powers. During World War I, the Ottomans were driven from much of the region by the British Empire during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
20th century
In common usage up to World War I, "Palestine" was used either to describe the Consular jurisdictions of the Western Powers[138] or for a region that extended in the north-south direction typically from Rafah (south-east of Gaza) to the Litani River (now in Lebanon). The western boundary was the sea, and the eastern boundary was the poorly-defined place where the Syrian desert began. In various European sources, the eastern boundary was placed anywhere from the Jordan River to slightly east of Amman. The Negev Desert was not included.[139]
For 400 years foreigners enjoyed extraterritorial rights under the terms of the Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire. One American diplomat wrote that "Extraordinary privileges and immunities had become so embodied in successive treaties between the great Christian Powers and the Sublime Porte that for most intents and purposes many nationalities in the Ottoman empire formed a state within the state".[140]
The Consuls were originally magistrates who tried cases involving their own citizens in foreign territories. While the jurisdictions in the secular states of Europe had become territorial, the Ottomans perpetuated the legal system they inherited from the Byzantine Empire. The law in many matters was personal, not territorial, and the individual citizen carried his nation's law with him wherever he went.[141] Capitulatory law applied to foreigners in Palestine. Only Consular Courts of the State of the foreigners concerned were competent to try them. That was true, not only in cases involving personal status, but also in criminal and commercial matters.[142]
According to American Ambassador Morgenthau, Turkey had never been an independent sovereignty.[143] The Western Powers had their own courts, marshals, colonies, schools, postal systems, religious institutions, and prisons. The Consuls also extended protections to large communities of Jewish protégés who had settled in Palestine.[144]
The Moslem, Christian, and Jewish communities of Palestine were allowed to exercise jurisdiction over their own members according to charters granted to them. For centuries the Jews and Christians had enjoyed a large degree of communal autonomy in matters of worship, jurisdiction over personal status, taxes, and in managing their schools and charitable institutions. In the 19th century those rights were formally recognized as part of the Tanzimat reforms and when the communities were placed under the protection of European public law.[145][146]
Under the Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916, it was envisioned that most of Palestine, when freed from Ottoman control, would become an international zone not under direct French or British colonial control. Shortly thereafter, British foreign minister Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which promised to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine.[147]
The British-led Egyptian Expeditionary Force, commanded by Edmund Allenby, captured Jerusalem on 9 December 1917 and occupied the whole of the Levant following the defeat of Turkish forces in Palestine at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918 and the capitulation of Turkey on 31 October.[148]
British Mandate (1920–1948)
Following the First World War and the occupation of the region by the British, the principal Allied and associated powers drafted the Mandate which was formally approved by the League of Nations in 1922. Great Britain administered Palestine on behalf of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1948, a period referred to as the "British Mandate." Two states were established within the boundaries of the Mandate territory, Palestine and Transjordan.[149][150] - The preamble of the mandate declared:
"Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."[151]
Not all were satisfied with the mandate. Some of the Arabs felt that Britain was violating the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence and the understanding of the Arab Revolt. Some wanted a unification with Syria: In February 1919 several Moslem and Christian groups from Jaffa and Jerusalem met and adopted a platform which endorsed unity with Syria and opposition to Zionism (this is sometime called the First Palestinian National Congress). A letter was sent to Damascus authorizing Faisal to represent the Arabs of Palestine at the Paris Peace Conference. In May 1919 a Syrian National Congress was held in Damascus, and a Palestinian delegation attended its sessions.[152] In April 1920 violent Arab disturbances against the Jews in Jerusalem occurred which became to be known as the 1920 Palestine riots. The riots followed rising tensions in Arab-Jewish relations over the implications of Zionist immigration. The British military administration's erratic response failed to contain the rioting, which continued for four days. As a result of the events, trust between the British, Jews, and Arabs eroded. One consequence was that the Jewish community increased moves towards an autonomous infrastructure and security apparatus parallel to that of the British administration.
In April 1920 the Allied Supreme Council (the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan) met at Sanremo and formal decisions were taken on the allocation of mandate territories. The United Kingdom obtained a mandate for Palestine and France obtained a mandate for Syria. The boundaries of the mandates and the conditions under which they were to be held were not decided. The Zionist Organization's representative at Sanremo, Chaim Weizmann, subsequently reported to his colleagues in London:
There are still important details outstanding, such as the actual terms of the mandate and the question of the boundaries in Palestine. There is the delimitation of the boundary between French Syria and Palestine, which will constitute the northern frontier and the eastern line of demarcation, adjoining Arab Syria. The latter is not likely to be fixed until the Emir Feisal attends the Peace Conference, probably in Paris.[153]
The purported objective of the League of Nations Mandate system was to administer parts of the defunct Ottoman Empire, which had been in control of the Middle East since the 16th century, "until such time as they are able to stand alone."[154]
In July 1920, the French drove Faisal bin Husayn from Damascus ending his already negligible control over the region of Transjordan, where local chiefs traditionally resisted any central authority. The sheikhs, who had earlier pledged their loyalty to the Sharif of Mecca, asked the British to undertake the region's administration. Herbert Samuel asked for the extension of the Palestine government's authority to Transjordan, but at meetings in Cairo and Jerusalem between Winston Churchill and Emir Abdullah in March 1921 it was agreed that Abdullah would administer the territory (initially for six months only) on behalf of the Palestine administration. In the summer of 1921 Transjordan was included within the Mandate, but excluded from the provisions for a Jewish National Home.[155] On 24 July 1922 the League of Nations approved the terms of the British Mandate over Palestine and Transjordan. On 16 September the League formally approved a memorandum from Lord Balfour confirming the exemption of Transjordan from the clauses of the mandate concerning the creation of a Jewish national home and from the mandate's responsibility to facilitate Jewish immigration and land settlement.[156] With Transjordan coming under the administration of the British Mandate, the mandate's collective territory became constituted of 23% Palestine and 77% Transjordan. The Mandate for Palestine, while specifying actions in support of Jewish immigration and political status, stated, in Article 25, that in the territory to the east of the Jordan River, Britain could 'postpone or withhold' those articles of the Mandate concerning a Jewish National Home. Transjordan was a very sparsely populated region (especially in comparison with Palestine proper) due to its relatively limited resources and largely desert environment.
In 1923 an agreement between the United Kingdom and France established the border between the British Mandate of Palestine and the French Mandate of Syria. The British handed over the southern Golan Heights to the French in return for the northern Jordan Valley. The border was re-drawn so that both sides of the Jordan River and the whole of the Sea of Galilee, including a 10-metre wide strip along the northeastern shore, were made a part of Palestine[157] with the provisons that Syria have fishing and navigation rights in the Lake.[158]
The Palestine Exploration Fund published surveys and maps of Western Palestine (aka Cisjordan) starting in the mid-19th century. Even before the Mandate came into legal effect in 1923 (text), British terminology sometimes used '"Palestine" for the part west of the Jordan River and "Trans-Jordan" (or Transjordania) for the part east of the Jordan River.[159][160]
The first reference to the Palestinians, without qualifying them as Arabs, is to be found in a document of the Permanent Executive Committee, composed of Muslims and Christians, presenting a series of formal complaints to the British authorities on 26 July 1928.[161]
Infrastructure and development
Between 1922 and 1947, the annual growth rate of the Jewish sector of the economy was 13.2%, mainly due to immigration and foreign capital, while that of the Arab was 6.5%. Per capita, these figures were 4.8% and 3.6% respectively. By 1936, the Jewish sector had eclipsed the Arab one, and Jewish individuals earned 2.6 times as much as Arabs. In terms of human capital, there was a huge difference. For instance, the literacy rates in 1932 were 86% for the Jews against 22% for the Arabs, but Arab literacy was steadily increasing.[162]
Under the British Mandate, the country developed economically and culturally. In 1919 the Jewish community founded a centralized Hebrew school system, and the following year established the Assembly of Representatives, the Jewish National Council and the Histadrut labor federation. The Technion university was founded in 1924, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1925.[163]
As for Arab institutions, the office of "Mufti of Jerusalem", traditionally limited in authority and geographical scope, was refashioned by the British into that of "Grand Mufti of Palestine". Furthermore, a Supreme Muslim Council (SMC) was established and given various duties, such as the administration of religious endowments and the appointment of religious judges and local muftis. During the revolt (see below) the Arab Higher Committee was established as the central political organ of the Arab community of Palestine.
During the Mandate period, Many factories were established and roads and railroads were built throughout the country. The Jordan River was harnessed for production of electric power and the Dead Sea was tapped for minerals – potash and bromine.
1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine
Sparked off by the death of Shaykh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam at the hands of the British police near Jenin in November 1935, in the years 1936–1939 the Arabs participated in an uprising and protest against British rule and against mass Jewish Immigration. The revolt manifested in a strike and armed insurrection started sporadically, becoming more organized with time. Attacks were mainly directed at British strategic installation such as the Trans Arabian Pipeline (TAP) and railways, and to a lesser extent against Jewish settlements, secluded Jewish neighborhoods in the mixed cities, and Jews, both individually and in groups.
Violence abated for about a year while the Peel Commission deliberated and eventually recommended partition of Palestine. With the rejection of this proposal, the revolt resumed during the autumn of 1937. Violence continued throughout 1938 and eventually petered out in 1939.
The British responded to the violence by greatly expanding their military forces and clamping down on Arab dissent. "Administrative detention" (imprisonment without charges or trial), curfews, and house demolitions were among British practices during this period. More than 120 Arabs were sentenced to death and about 40 hanged. The main Arab leaders were arrested or expelled.
The Haganah (Hebrew for "defense"), an illegal Jewish paramilitary organization, actively supported British efforts to quell the insurgency, which reached 10,000 Arab fighters at their peak during the summer and fall of 1938. Although the British administration didn't officially recognize the Haganah, the British security forces cooperated with it by forming the Jewish Settlement Police and Special Night Squads.[164] A terrorist splinter group of the Haganah, called the Irgun (or Etzel)[165] adopted a policy of violent retaliation against Arabs for attacks on Jews.[166] At a meeting in Alexandria in July 1937 between Jabotinsky and Irgun commander Col. Robert Bitker and chief-of-staff Moshe Rosenberg, the need for indiscriminate retaliation due to the difficulty of limiting operations to only the "guilty" was explained. The Irgun launched attacks against public gathering places such as markets and cafes.[167]
The revolt did not achieve its goals, although it is "credited with signifying the birth of the Arab Palestinian identity.".[168] It is generally credited with forcing the issuance of the White Paper of 1939 which renounced Britain's intent of creating a Jewish National Home in Palestine, as proclaimed in the 1917 Balfour Declaration.
Another outcome of the hostilities was the partial disengagement of the Jewish and Arab economies in Palestine, which were more or less intertwined until that time. For example, whereas the Jewish city of Tel Aviv previously relied on the nearby Arab seaport of Jaffa, hostilities dictated the construction of a separate Jewish-run seaport for Tel-Aviv.
World War II and Palestine
When the Second World War broke out, the Jewish population sided with Britain. David Ben Gurion, head of the Jewish Agency, defined the policy with what became a famous motto: "We will fight the war as if there were no White Paper, and we will fight the White Paper as if there were no war." While this represented the Jewish population as a whole, there were exceptions (see below).
As in most of the Arab world, there was no unanimity amongst the Palestinian Arabs as to their position regarding the combatants in World War II. A number of leaders and public figures saw an Axis victory as the likely outcome and a way of securing Palestine back from the Zionists and the British. Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, spent the rest of the war in Nazi Germany and the occupied areas, in particular encouraging Muslim Bosniaks to join the Waffen SS in German-conquered Bosnia. About 6,000 Palestinian Arabs and 30,000 Palestinian Jews joined the British forces.
On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on the British Commonwealth and sided with Germany. Within a month, the Italians attacked Palestine from the air, bombing Tel Aviv and Haifa.[169]
In 1942, there was a period of anxiety for the Yishuv, when the forces of German General Erwin Rommel advanced east in North Africa towards the Suez Canal and there was fear that they would conquer Palestine. This period was referred to as the two hundred days of anxiety. This event was the direct cause for the founding, with British support, of the Palmach[170]—a highly-trained regular unit belonging to Haganah (which was mostly made up of reserve troops).
On 3 July 1944, the British government consented to the establishment of a Jewish Brigade with hand-picked Jewish and also non-Jewish senior officers. The brigade fought in Europe, most notably against the Germans in Italy from March 1945 until the end of the war in May 1945. Members of the Brigade played a key role in the Berihah's efforts to help Jews escape Europe for Palestine. Later, veterans of the Jewish Brigade became key participants of the new State of Israel's Israel Defense Force.
Starting in 1939 and throughout the war and the Holocaust, the British reduced the number of immigrants allowed into Palestine, following the publication of the MacDonald White Paper. Once the 15,000 annual quota was exceeded, Jews fleeing Nazi persecution were placed in detention camps or deported to places such as Mauritius.[171]
In 1944 Menachem Begin assumed the Irgun's leadership, determined to force the British government to remove its troops entirely from Palestine. Citing that the British had reneged on their original promise of the Balfour Declaration, and that the White Paper of 1939 restricting Jewish immigration was an escalation of their pro-Arab policy, he decided to break with the Haganah. Soon after he assumed command, a formal 'Declaration of Revolt' was publicized, and armed attacks against British forces were initiated. Lehi, another splinter group, opposed cessation of operations against the British authorities all along. The Jewish Agency which opposed those actions and the challenge to its role as government in preparation responded with "The Hunting Season" – severe actions against supporters of the Irgun and Lehi, including turning them over to the British.
The country developed economically during the war, with increased industrial and agricultural outputs and the period was considered an `economic Boom'. In terms of Arab-Jewish relations, these were relatively quiet times.[172]
End of the British Mandate 1945–1948
In the years following World War II, Britain's control over Palestine became increasingly tenuous. This was caused by a combination of factors, including:
- World public opinion turned against Britain as a result of the British policy of preventing Holocaust survivors from reaching Palestine, sending them instead to Cyprus internment camps, or even back to Germany, as in the case of Exodus 1947.
- The costs of maintaining an army of over 100,000 men in Palestine weighed heavily on a British economy suffering from post-war depression, and was another cause for British public opinion to demand an end to the Mandate.[173]
- Rapid deterioration due to the actions of the Jewish paramilitary organizations (Hagana, Irgun and Lehi), involving attacks on strategic installations (by all three) as well as on British forces and officials (by the Irgun and Lehi). This caused severe damage to British morale and prestige, as well as increasing opposition to the mandate in Britain itself, public opinion demanding to "bring the boys home".[174]
- US Congress was delaying a loan necessary to prevent British bankruptcy. The delays were in response to the British refusal to fulfill a promise given to Truman that 100,000 Holocaust survivors would be allowed to emigrate to Palestine.
In early 1947 the British Government announced their desire to terminate the Mandate, and asked the United Nations General Assembly to make recommendations regarding the future of the country.[175] The British Administration declined to accept the responsibility for implementing any solution that wasn't acceptable to both the Jewish and the Arab communities, or to allow other authorities to take over responsibility for public security prior to the termination of its mandate on 15 May 1948.[176]
UN partition and the 1948 Palestine War
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On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted 33 to 13 with 10 abstentions, in favour of a plan to partition the territory into separate Jewish and Arab states, under economic union, with the Greater Jerusalem area (encompassing Bethlehem) coming under international control. Zionist leaders (including the Jewish Agency), accepted the plan, while Palestinian Arab leaders rejected it and all independent Muslim and Arab states voted against it.[177][178][179] Almost immediately, sectarian violence erupted and spread, killing over the ensuing months hundreds of Arabs, Jews and British.
The rapid evolution of events precipitated into a Civil War. Arab volunteers of the Arab Liberation Army entered Palestine to fight with the Palestinians, but the April-May offensive of Yishuv's forces crushed the Arabs and Palestinian society collapsed. Some 300,000 to 350,000 Palestinians caught up in the turmoil fled or were driven from their homes.
On 14 May, the Jewish Agency declared the independence of the state of Israel. The neighbouring Arab state intervened to prevent the partition and support the Palestinian Arab population. While Transjordan took control of territory designated for the future Arab State, Syrian, Iraqi and Egyptian expeditionary forces attacked Israel without success. The most intensive battles were waged between the Jordanian and Israeli forces over the control of Jerusalem.
On June 11, a truce was accepted by all parties. Israel used the lull to undertake a large-scale reinforcement of its army. In a series of military operations, it then conquered the whole of the Galilee region, both the Lydda and Ramle areas, and the Negev. It also managed to secure, in the Battles of Latrun, a road linking Jerusalem to Israel. In this phase, 350,000 more Arab Palestinians fled or were expelled from the conquered areas.
During the first 6 months of 1949, negotiations between the belligerents came to terms over armistice lines that delimited Israel's borders. On the other side, no Palestinian Arab state was founded: Jordan annexed the Arab territories of the Mandatory regions of Samaria and Judea (today known as the West Bank), as well as East Jerusalem, while the Gaza strip came under Egyptian administration.
The New Historians, like Avi Shlaim, hold that there was an unwritten secret agreement between King Abdullah of Transjordan and Israeli authorities to partition the territory between themselves, and that this translated into each side limiting their objectives and exercising mutual restraint during the 1948 war.[180]
1948 to current times
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On the same day that the State of Israel was announced, the Arab League announced that it would set up a single Arab civil administration throughout Palestine,[181][182] and launched an attack on the new Israeli state. The All-Palestine government was declared in Gaza on 1 October 1948,[183] partly as an Arab League move to limit the influence of Transjordan over the Palestinian issue. The former mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, was appointed as president. The government was recognised by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, but not by Transjordan (later known as Jordan) or any non-Arab country. It was little more than an Egyptian protectorate and had negligible influence or funding. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the area allocated to the Palestinian Arabs and the international zone of Jerusalem were occupied by Israel and the neighboring Arab states in accordance with the terms of the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Palestinian Arabs living in the Gaza Strip or Egypt were issued with All-Palestine passports until 1959, when Gamal Abdul Nasser, president of Egypt, issued a decree that annulled the All-Palestine government.
In addition to the UN-partitioned area allotted to the Jewish state, Israel captured and incorporated[citation needed]a further 26% of the Mandate territory (namely of the territory to the west of the Jordan river). Jordan captured and annexed about 21% of the Mandate territory, which it referred to as the West Bank (to differentiate it from the newly-named East Bank – the original Transjordan). Jerusalem was divided, with Jordan taking the eastern parts, including the Old City, and Israel taking the western parts. The Gaza Strip was captured by Egypt. In addition, Syria held on to small slivers of Mandate territory to the south and east of the Sea of Galilee, which had been allocated in the UN partition plan to the Jewish state.
For a description of the massive population movements, Arab and Jewish, at the time of the 1948 war and over the following decades, see Palestinian exodus and Jewish exodus from Arab lands.
In the course of the Six Day War in June 1967, Israel captured the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt.
From the 1960s onward, the term "Palestine" was regularly used in political contexts. The Palestine Liberation Organization has enjoyed status as a non-member observer at the United Nations since 1974, and continues to represent "Palestine" there.[184] According to the CIA World Factbook,[185][186][187] of the ten million people living between Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, about five million (49%) identify as Palestinian, Arab, Bedouin and/or Druze. One million of those are citizens of Israel. The other four million are residents of the West Bank and Gaza, which are under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority, which was formed in 1994, pursuant to the Oslo Accords.
In the West Bank, 360,000[citation needed] Israelis have settled in a hundred scattered new towns and settlements with connecting corridors. The 2.5 million[citation needed] West Bank Palestinians live primarily in four blocs centered in Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, and Jericho. In 2005, Israel withdrew its army and all the Israeli settlers were evacuated from the Gaza Strip, in keeping with Ariel Sharon's plan for unilateral disengagement, and control over the area was transferred to the Palestinian Authority. However, due to the Hamas-Fatah conflict, the Gaza Strip has been in control of Hamas since 2006.
Demographics
Early demographics
Estimating the population of Palestine in antiquity relies on two methods – censuses and writings made at the times, and the scientific method based on excavations and statistical methods that consider the number of settlements at the particular age, area of each settlement, density factor for each settlement.
According to Magen Broshi, an Israeli archaeologist "... the population of Palestine in antiquity did not exceed a million persons. It can also be shown, moreover, that this was more or less the size of the population in the peak period—the late Byzantine period, around AD 600"[188] Similarly, a study by Yigal Shiloh of The Hebrew University suggests that the population of Palestine in the Iron Age could have never exceeded a million. He writes: "... the population of the country in the Roman-Byzantine period greatly exceeded that in the Iron Age...If we accept Broshi's population estimates, which appear to be confirmed by the results of recent research, it follows that the estimates for the population during the Iron Age must be set at a lower figure."[189]
Demographics in the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods
In the middle of the first century of the Ottoman rule, i.e. 1550 CE, Bernard Lewis in a study of Ottoman registers of the early Ottoman Rule of Palestine reports:[190]
From the mass of detail in the registers, it is possible to extract something like a general picture of the economic life of the country in that period. Out of a total population of about 300,000 souls, between a fifth and a quarter lived in the six towns of Jerusalem, Gaza, Safed, Nablus, Ramle, and Hebron. The remainder consisted mainly of peasants, living in villages of varying size, and engaged in agriculture. Their main food-crops were wheat and barley in that order, supplemented by leguminous pulses, olives, fruit, and vegetables. In and around most of the towns there was a considerable number of vineyards, orchards, and vegetable gardens.
By Volney's estimates in 1785, there were no more than 200,000 people in the country.[191] According to Alexander Scholch, the population of Palestine in 1850 had about 350,000 inhabitants, 30% of whom lived in 13 towns; roughly 85% were Muslims, 11% were Christians and 4% Jews[192]
According to Ottoman statistics studied by Justin McCarthy,[193] the population of Palestine in the early 19th century was 350,000, in 1860 it was 411,000 and in 1900 about 600,000 of which 94% were Arabs. In 1914 Palestine had a population of 657,000 Muslim Arabs, 81,000 Christian Arabs, and 59,000 Jews.[194] McCarthy estimates the non-Jewish population of Palestine at 452,789 in 1882, 737,389 in 1914, 725,507 in 1922, 880,746 in 1931 and 1,339,763 in 1946.[195]
Official reports
In 1920, the League of Nations' Interim Report on the Civil Administration of Palestine stated that there were 700,000 people living in Palestine:
Of these 235,000 live in the larger towns, 465,000 in the smaller towns and villages. Four-fifths of the whole population are Moslems. A small proportion of these are Bedouin Arabs; the remainder, although they speak Arabic and are termed Arabs, are largely of mixed race. Some 77,000 of the population are Christians, in large majority belonging to the Orthodox Church, and speaking Arabic. The minority are members of the Latin or of the Uniate Greek Catholic Church, or—a small number—are Protestants. The Jewish element of the population numbers 76,000. Almost all have entered Palestine during the last 40 years. Prior to 1850 there were in the country only a handful of Jews. In the following 30 years a few hundreds came to Palestine. Most of them were animated by religious motives; they came to pray and to die in the Holy Land, and to be buried in its soil. After the persecutions in Russia forty years ago, the movement of the Jews to Palestine assumed larger proportions.[196]
By 1948, the population had risen to 1,900,000, of whom 68% were Arabs, and 32% were Jews (UNSCOP report, including bedouin).
Current demographics
According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, as of May 2006, of Israel's 7 million people, 77% were Jews, 18.5% Arabs, and 4.3% "others".[197] Among Jews, 68% were Sabras (Israeli-born), mostly second- or third-generation Israelis, and the rest are olim — 22% from Europe and the Americas, and 10% from Asia and Africa, including the Arab countries.[198]
According to Palestinian evaluations, The West Bank is inhabited by approximately 2.4 million Palestinians and the Gaza Strip by another 1.4 million. According to a study presented at The Sixth Herzliya Conference on The Balance of Israel's National Security[199] there are 1.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank. This study was criticised by demographer Sergio DellaPergola, who estimated 3.33 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip combined at the end of 2005.[200]
According to these Israeli and Palestinian estimates, the population in Israel and the Palestinian Territories stands at 9.8–10.8 million.
Jordan has a population of around 6,000,000 (2007 estimate).[201][202] Palestinians constitute approximately half of this number.[203]
See also
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Maps of the history of the Middle East |
 | Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Palestine |
- History of Palestine
- British Mandate of Palestine
- Land of Israel
- Greater Israel
- Greater Syria
- History of ancient Israel and Judah
- Province of Judah ("Yehud Medinata")
- Iudaea Province
- Jewish people
- State of Israel
- Arab-Israeli conflict
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- Names of the Levant
- Palestinian Authority
- Palestinian people
- Place names in Palestine
- Outline of Palestine
- State of Palestine
- Jund Filastin
References
Notes- ^ a b "The Palestine Exploration Fund". The Palestine Exploration Fund. http://www.pef.org.uk/oldsite/Paldef.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
- ^ "Legal Consequence of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory"
- ^ Boundaries Delimitation: Palestine and Trans-Jordan, Yitzhak Gil-Har, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Jan., 2000), pp. 68-81: "Palestine and Transjordan emerged as states; This was in consequence of British War commitments to its allies during the First World War.
- ^ Marjorie M. Whiteman, Digest of International Law, vol. 1, US State Department (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963) pp 650-652
- ^ Forji Amin George (June 2004). "Is Palestine a State?". Expert Law. http://www.expertlaw.com/library/international_law/palestine.html. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
- ^ Fahlbasch and Bromiley, 2005, p. 14.
- ^ a b c d e f Sharon, 1988, p. 4.
- ^ a b c Room, 1997, p. 285.
- ^ Greek Παλαιστινη from Φυλιστινος/Φυλιστιειμ, see e.g. Josephus, Antiquities I.136; cf. First Book of Moses (Genesis) X.13.
- ^ a b Fahlbusch et al., 2005, p. 185.
- ^ Lewis, 1993, p. 153.
- ^ a b c d Carl S. Ehrlich "Philistines" The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible. Ed. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan. Oxford University Press, 2001.
- ^ Palestine and Israel David M. Jacobson Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 313 (Feb., 1999), pp. 65–74
- ^ The Southern and Eastern Borders of Abar-Nahara Steven S. Tuell Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 284 (Nov., 1991), pp. 51–57
- ^ Herodotus' Description of the East Mediterranean Coast Anson F. Rainey Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 321 (Feb., 2001), pp. 57–63
- ^ a b c d e f Lehmann, Clayton Miles (Summer 1998). "Palestine: History: 135–337: Syria Palaestina and the Tetrarchy". The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces. University of South Dakota. http://www.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/history.htm#135-337. Retrieved 2008-07-06.
- ^ Sharon, 1998, p. 4. According to Moshe Sharon: "Eager to obliterate the name of the rebellious Judaea", the Roman authorities renamed it Palaestina or Syria Palaestina.
- ^ a b Kaegi, 1995, p. 41.
- ^ Marshall Cavendish, 2007, p. 559.
- ^ Lassner and Troen, 2007, pp. 54–55.
- ^ Gudrun Krämer (2008) A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel Translated by Gudrun Krämer and Graham Harman Princeton University Press, ISBN 0691118973 p 16
- ^ Judea
- ^ According to the Jewish Encyclopedia published between 1901 and 1906: "Palestine extends, from 31° to 33° 20′ N. latitude. Its southwest point (at Raphia = Tell Rifaḥ, southwest of Gaza) is about 34° 15′ E. longitude, and its northwest point (mouth of the Liṭani) is at 35° 15′ E. longitude, while the course of the Jordan reaches 35° 35′ to the east. The west-Jordan country has, consequently, a length of about 150 English miles from north to south, and a breadth of about 23 miles at the north and 80 miles at the south. The area of this region, as measured by the surveyors of the English Palestine Exploration Fund, is about 6,040 square miles. The east-Jordan district is now being surveyed by the German Palästina-Verein, and although the work is not yet completed, its area may be estimated at 4,000 square miles. This entire region, as stated above, was not occupied exclusively by the Israelites, for the plain along the coast in the south belonged to the Philistines, and that in the north to the Phoenicians, while in the east-Jordan country the Israelitic possessions never extended farther than the Arnon (Wadi al-Mujib) in the south, nor did the Israelites ever settle in the most northerly and easterly portions of the plain of Bashan. To-day the number of inhabitants does not exceed 650,000. Palestine, and especially the Israelitic state, covered, therefore, a very small area, approximating that of the state of Vermont." From the Jewish Encyclopedia Boundaries and Extent
- ^ According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911), [1] Palestine is: "[A] geographical name of rather loose application. Etymological strictness would require it to denote exclusively the narrow strip of coast-land once occupied by the Philistines, from whose name it is derived. It is, however, conventionally used as a name for the territory which, in the Old Testament, is claimed as the inheritance of the pre-exilic Hebrews; thus it may be said generally to denote the southern third of the province of Syria.Except in the west, where the country is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, the limit of this territory cannot be laid down on the map as a definite line. The modern subdivisions under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire are in no sense conterminous with those of antiquity, and hence do not afford a boundary by which Palestine can be separated exactly from the rest of Syria in the north, or from the Sinaitic and Arabian deserts in the south and east; nor are the records of ancient boundaries sufficiently full and definite to make possible the complete demarcation of the country. Even the convention above referred to is inexact: it includes the Philistine territory, claimed but never settled by the Hebrews, and excludes the outlying parts of the large area claimed in Num. xxxiv. as the Hebrew possession (from the " River of Egypt " to Hamath). However, the Hebrews themselves have preserved, in the proverbial expression " from Dan to Beersheba " (Judg. xx.i, &c.), an indication of the normal north-and-south limits of their land; and in defining the area of the country under discussion it is this indication which is generally followed.Taking as a guide the natural features most nearly corresponding to these outlying points, we may describe Palestine as the strip of land extending along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea from the mouth of the Litany or Kasimiya River (33° 20' N.) southward to the mouth of the Wadi Ghuzza; the latter joins the sea in 31° 28' N., a short distance south of Gaza, and runs thence in a south-easterly direction so as to include on its northern side the site of Beersheba. Eastward there is no such definite border. The River Jordan, it is true, marks a line of delimitation between Western and Eastern Palestine; but it is practically impossible to say where the latter ends and the Arabian desert begins. Perhaps the line of the pilgrim road from Damascus to Mecca is the most convenient possible boundary. The total length of the region is about 140 m (459.32 ft); its breadth west of the Jordan ranges from about 23 m (75.46 ft) in the north to about 80 m (262.47 ft) in the south."
- ^ Sir Alan Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, Clarendon Press, Oxford (1961) 1964 pp.131, 199, 285, n.1.
- ^ a b c Thomas L. Thompson (1999). The Mythic Past: How Writers Create the Past. Basic Books. ISBN 0465006493. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=QzOJ9nMlUJcC&oi=fnd&pg=RA1-PR11&dq=archaeological+evidence+israel+kingdom&ots=_oKqm0jKLs&sig=YC3ODVfVBBI2A4J69_l6wp4iy2g.
- ^ a b c Israel Finkelstein and Neil Ascher Silberman (2000). "The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts". Bible and Interpretation. http://www.bibleinterp.om/commentary/Finkelstein_Silberman022001.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
- ^ a b c d e f g Shahin (2005), page 6
- ^ "The Philistines". Jewish Virtual Library. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Philistines.html. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- ^ "Philistines" A Dictionary of the Bible. W. R. F. Browning. Oxford University Press, 1997. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Herodotus, The Histories Bk.7.89
- ^ e.g. Antiquities 1.136.
- ^ cf. Pliny, Natural History V.66 and 68.
- ^ Zionist Organization Statement on Palestine, Paris Peace Conference, (February 3, 1919) The Boundaries of Palestine
- ^ Statement of the Zionist Organization Regarding Palestine Presented to the Paris Peace Conference (with proposed map of Zionist borders) February 3, 1919
- ^ "Middle East Documents Balfour Declaration". Mideastweb.org. http://www.mideastweb.org/mebalfour.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
- ^ "The British Mandate for Palestine". Mideastweb.org. http://www.mideastweb.org/mandate.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
- ^ Said and Hitchens, 2001, p. 199.
- ^ Carol A. Redmount, 'Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of Egypt' in The Oxford History of the Biblical Word, ed: Michael D. Coogan, (Oxford University Press: 1999), p. 97
- ^ Galilee, Sea of. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 12, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online
- ^ "Human Evolution and Neanderthal Man" (PDF). Antiquity Journal. http://antiquity.ac.uk/Ant/034/0090/Ant0340090.pdf.
- ^ Amud. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 12, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online
- ^ Olson, S. Mapping Human History. Houghton Mifflin, New York (2003). p.74–75.
- ^ Belfer-Cohen and Bar-Yosef, 2000, pp. 19–38.
- ^ Stearns, 2001, p. 13.
- ^ Harris, 1996, p. 253.
- ^ Gates, 2003, p. 18.
- ^ a b c d e Shahin (2005), page 4
- ^ Rosen, 1997, pp. 159–161.
- ^ Neil Asher Silberman, Thomas E. Levy, Bonnie L. Wisthoff, Ron E. Tappy, John L. Meloy "Near East" The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Brian M. Fagan, ed., Oxford University Press 1996.
- ^ Canaan. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 12, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
- ^ Mills, 1990, p. 439.
- ^ "Palestine: Middle Bronze Age". Encyclopedia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-45048/Palestine. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- ^ Ember & Peregrine, 2002, p. 103.
- ^ William H. Propp "Amarna Letters" The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, eds. Oxford University Press Inc. 1993. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Remains Of Minoan-Style Painting Discovered During Excavations Of Canaanite Palace, ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2009) [2]
- ^ Carl S. Ehrlich "Philistines" The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible. Ed. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan. Oxford University Press, 2001. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Philistine. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 12, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online
- ^ a b c d e Niels Peter Lemche. "On the Problems of Reconstructing Pre-Hellenistic Israelite (Palestinian) History". Journal of Hebrew Scriptures. http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_13.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- ^ Gyémánt, Ladislau (2003). Historiographic Views on the Settlement of the Jewish Tribes in Canaan. 1/2003. Sacra Scripta. pp. 26–30. http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/issuedetails.aspx?issueid=ed58f96d-8032-41bb-8d65-f34a8b8f2a36&articleId=835a199a-72a0-4b2d-ba9c-32b1347129f5.
- ^ Finkelstein, Mazar and Schmidt, 2007, pp. 10–20
- ^ Erlanger, Steven (2005-08-05). "King David's Palace Is Found, Archaeologist Says". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/05/international/middleeast/05jerusalem.html?ex=1280894400&en=3c435bc7bd0cd531&ei=5088. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
- ^ Matthew Sturgis, It ain't necessarily so, ISBN 0-7472-4510-X
- ^ Carol A. Redmount, 'Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of Egypt' in The Oxford History of the Biblical Word, ed: Michael D. Coogan, (Oxford University Press: 1999)
- ^ Stager, Lawrence E., "Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel" in Michael Coogan ed. The Oxford History of the Biblical World, Oxford University Press, 2001. p.92
- ^ M. G. Hasel, "Israel in the Merneptah Stela", BASOR 296, 1994, pp.54 & 56, n.12.
- ^ a b c d e "Facts about Israel:History". Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affaits. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/History+of+Israel/Facts%20About%20Israel-%20History. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- ^ Bienkowski, op.cit.
- ^ Austel in Grisanti and Howard, 2003, p. 160.
- ^ Schiller, 2009, p. 98.
- ^ "House of David" Restored in Moabite Inscription: A new restoration of a famous inscription reveals another mention of the "House of David" in the ninth century B.C.E.
- ^ "Babylon" A Dictionary of the Bible. W. R. F. Browning. Oxford University Press, 1997. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Diana Edelman (November 2005). "Redating the Building of the Second Temple". http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/Edelman_Redating_Second_Temple.htm.
- ^ a b c d Palestine. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 12, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
- ^ "Avdat: A Nabatean City in the Negev". Jewish Virtual Library. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/Avdat.html. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Shahin (2005), p. 7
- ^ "Hellenistic Greece:Alexander the Great". Washington State University. 1996. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/ALEX.HTM. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- ^ Pastor, 1997, p. 41.
- ^ "Palestine". Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=108522&fullArticle=true&tocId=45078. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ Julie Galambush (2006). "The Reluctant Parting: How the New Testament's Jewish Writers Created a Christian Book". HarperCollins.ca. http://www.harpercollins.ca/global_scripts/product_catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0060872012&tc=cx. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
- ^ Dick Doughty (September-October 1994). "Gaza:Contested Crossroads". SaudiAramcoWorld. http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199405/gaza-contested.crossroads.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
- ^ "Tell Balatah (Shechem or Ancient Nablus)". World Monuments Watch:100 Most Endangered Sites 2006. http://wmf.org/resources/sitepages/palestinian_territories_tell_balatah.html. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
- ^ Hayes & Mandell, 1998, p. 41.
- ^ a b c Johnston, 2004, p. 186.
- ^ Chancey, 2005, p. 44.
- ^ "Herod". Concise Encyclopedia Britannica. http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9040191/Herod. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- ^ "Introducing Young People to the Protection of Heritage Sites and Historic Cities" (PDF). UNESCO. 2003. http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:2NfvwatBy4oJ:www.iccrom.org/eng/02info_en/02_04pdf-pubs_en/ICCROM_doc09_ManualSchoolTeachers_en.pdf. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ "HERODIUM (Jebel Fureidis) Jordan/Israel". The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. http://icarus.umkc.edu/sandbox/perseus/pecs/page.1979.a.php. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- ^ "publisher=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites". http://icarus.umkc.edu/sandbox/perseus/pecs/page.887.a.php. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- ^ a b "Judaea-Palestine". UNRV History: Roman Empire. http://www.unrv.com/provinces/judaea.php. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Shahin (2005), page 8
- ^ Shaye I.D. Cohen. "Legitimization Under Constantine". PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/why/legitimization.html. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- ^ Thomas A. Idniopulos (1998). "Weathered by Miracles: A History of Palestine From Bonaparte and Muhammad Ali to Ben-Gurion and the Mufti". http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/i/idinopulos-miracles.html. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- ^ "Roman Arabia". Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-439113/Palaestina-Salutaris. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- ^ a b c Kenneth G. Holum "Palestine" The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Ed. Alexander P. Kazhdan. Oxford University Press 1991.
- ^ Gil, Moshe (February 1997). A History of Palestine, 634-1099. Cambridge University Press. pp. 68–71. ISBN 0521599849.
- ^ CALIPH UMAR'S ADDRESS AFTER JERUSALEM
- ^ The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City By Dore Gold, pg. 97
- ^ a b c Shahin, 2005, p. 10.
- ^ Walid Khalidi (1984). Before Their Diaspora. Institute for Palestine Studies, Washington DC. pp. 27–28.
- ^ Haim Gerber (Fall 2003). ""Zionism, Orientalism, and the Palestinians"". Journal of Palestine Studies (Journal of Palestine Studies) 33 (1): 23–41. doi:10.1525/jps.2003.33.1.23. http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/jps.2003.33.1.23?cookieSet=1&journalCode=jps.
- ^ a b James Parkes. "Palestine Under the Caliphs". MidEastWeb. http://www.mideastweb.org/palcaliph1.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
- ^ Rizwi Faizer (1998). "The Shape of the Holy: Early Islamic Jerusalem". Rizwi's Bibliography for Medieval Islam. http://us.geocities.com/rfaizer/reviews/book9.html. Retrieved 2007-07-14.
- ^ Ahl al-Kitab. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 12, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online
- ^ Ghada Hashem Talhami (February 2000). The Modern History of Islamic Jerusalem: Academic Myths and Propaganda. VII. Middle East Policy Council. http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol7/0002_talhami.asp. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
- ^ Yaacov Lev (2007). The Ethics and Practice of Islamic Medieval Charity. 5. History Compass. pp. 603–618.
- ^ a b c d e f g Shahin (2005), p. 11
- ^ Gil, Moshe (February 1997). A History of Palestine, 634-1099. Cambridge University Press. pp. 159 and 285–289. ISBN 0521599849.
- ^ M. Cherif Bassiouni (2004). "Islamic Civilization: An Overview". Middle East Institute: The George Camp Keiser Library. http://www.mideasti.org/indepth/islam/civilization.html. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ Gil, Moshe (February 1997). A History of Palestine, 634-1099. Cambridge University Press. pp. 279–281. ISBN 0521599849.
- ^ Gil, Moshe (February 1997). A History of Palestine, 634-1099. Cambridge University Press. 283–284. ISBN 0521599849.
- ^ Gil, Moshe (February 1997). A History of Palestine, 634-1099. Cambridge University Press. pp. 297–298. ISBN 0521599849.
- ^ "Egypt: The Fatimid Period 969 - 1771". Arab Net. 2002. http://www.arab.net/egypt/et_fatimid.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ Moshe Gil, A History of Palestine (Cambridge, 1992) p. 410; p. 411 n. 61
- ^ Holt, pp. 11–14.
- ^ David Nicolle (July 2005). Crusader Castles in the Holy Land 1192-1302. Osprey. ISBN 9781841768274. http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S8278~per=41.
- ^ "Projects:The Old City of Akko (Acre)". Israeli Antiquities Authority. http://www.iaa-conservation.org.il/Projects_Item_eng.asp?subject_id=11&site_id=5&id=22. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ Frank Heynick, Jews and medicine, An Epic Saga, KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 2002 p.103, commenting on Maimonidies' decision not to settle there a century later.
- ^ A History of the Crusades: The Impact of the Crusades on the Near East (vol 5), By Kenneth M. Setton, Norman P. Zacour, Harry W. Hazard, Marshall Whithed Baldwin, Robert Lee Wolff, Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1985, ISBN 0299091449, 9780299091446, pp. 96.
- ^ Sefer HaCharedim Mitzvat Tshuva Chapter 3
- ^ a b c Kenneth Setton, ed. A History of the Crusades, vol. I. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1958
- ^ a b c d e Shahin (2005), page 12.
- ^ a b Walid Khalidi (1984). Before Their Diaspora. Institute for Palestine Studies, Washington DC. pp. 28–29.
- ^ Myriam Rosen-Ayalon, ``Between Cairo and Damascus: Rural Life and Urban Economics in the Holy Land During the Ayyuid, Maluk and Ottoman Periods in The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land edited Thomas Evan Levy, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1998
- ^ p. 73 in Jonathan Sachs (2005) To heal a fractured world: the ethics of responsibility. London: Continuum (ISBN 9780826480392)
- ^ Chase, 2003, pp. 104–105.
- ^ a b Gideon Biger, The Boundaries of Modern Palestine, 1840-1947, pp. 13–15. Routledge, 2004. ISBN 0714656542
- ^ Gerber, 1998.
- ^ Mandel, 1976, p. xx.
- ^ Judith Mendelsohn Rood, Sacred Law in the Holy City, p. 46. Brill Publishers, 2004.
- ^ Bernard Lewis, "Palestine: On the History and Geography of a Name", International History Review 11 (1980): 1–12
- ^ Porath, 1974, pp. 8–9.
- ^ Haim Gerber (1998) referring to fatwas by two Hanafite Syrian jurists.
- ^ Scharfstein, Sol, Chronicle of Jewish History: From the Patriarchs to the 21st Century, p.231, KTAV Publishing House (1997), ISBN 0-88125-545-9
- ^ "New Aliyah - Modern Zionist Aliyot (1882 - 1948)". Jewish Agency for Israel. http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/concepts/aliyah3.html. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
- ^ "The First Aliyah". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Immigration/First_Aliyah.html. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
- ^ Israeli government site on the Second Aliyah
- ^ e.g. American Consuls in the Holy Land, 1832-1914 By Ruth Kark, Hebrew University Magnes Press, 1994, ISBN 0814325238, page 139 [3]
- ^ Biger, Gideon (1981). Where was Palestine? Pre-World War I perception, AREA (Journal of the Institute of British Geographers) Vol 13, No. 2, pp. 153–160.
- ^ The Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire and the Question of their Abrogation as it Affects the United States, Lucius Ellsworth Thayer, The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Apr., 1923), pp. 207-233[4]
- ^ The Abrogation of the Turkish Capitulations, Norman Bentwich, Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law, Third Series, Vol. 5, No. 4 (1923), pp. 182-188[5]
- ^ From Occupation to Interim Accords, Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Raja Shehadeh, Kluwer Law International, 1997, ISBN 9041106189, page 75
- ^ Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, Henry Morgenthau, Cornell University Library 2009, ISBN 1112306382, Chapter 10, page 70 [6]
- ^ The Habsburgs and the Jewish Philanthropy in Jerusalem during the Crimean War (1853-6), Yochai Ben-Ghedalia, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2009 [huji.ac.il/publications/BenGhedalia.pdf
- ^ See Jews, Turks, Ottomans, Avigdor Levy (Editor) Syracuse University Press, 2003, ISBN 0815629419, page 109; Christian communities in Jerusalem and the West Bank since 1948, By Daphne Tsimhoni, Praeger, 1993, ISBN 0275939219, Page xv
- ^ See International law: achievements and prospects, UNESCO, editor Mohammed Bedjaoui, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1991, ISBN 9231027166, page 7
- ^ Baylis Thomas,How Israel was Won (1999) p.19
- ^ Hughes, 1999, p. 17; p. 97.
- ^ Boundaries Delimitation: Palestine and Trans-Jordan, Yitzhak Gil-Har, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Jan., 2000), pp. 68-81
- ^ See Marjorie M. Whiteman, Digest of International Law, vol. 1, US State Department (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963) pp 650-652
- ^ The Palestine Mandate
- ^ see A History of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, By Mark A. Tessler, Indiana University Press, 1994, ISBN 0253208734, pages 155–156
- ^ 'Zionist Aspirations: Dr Weizmann on the Future of Palestine', The Times, Saturday, 8 May 1920; p. 15.
- ^ Article 22, The Covenant of the League of Nations and "Mandate for Palestine," Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 11, p. 862, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972
- ^ Gelber, 1997, pp. 6–15.
- ^ Sicker, 1999, p. 164.
- ^ "The Council for Arab-British Understanding". CAABU. http://www.caabu.org/press/focus/gee.html. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
- ^ No. 565. — EXCHANGE OF NOTES * CONSTITUTING AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND FRENCH GOVERNMENTS RESPECTING THE BOUNDARY LINE BETWEEN SYRIA AND PALESTINE FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN TO EL HAMMÉ, PARIS MARCH 7, 1923, Page 7 Border Treaty
- ^ Ingrams, 1972
- ^ "Mandate for Palestine - Interim report of the Mandatory to the LoN/Balfour Declaration text". League of Nations. 1921-07-30. http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/349b02280a930813052565e90048ed1c. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
- ^ Henry Laurens, La Question de Palestine, Fayard, Paris 2002 vol.2 p.101
- ^ Rashid Khalidi, The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood, 2006. Beacon Press. [7].
- ^ The Jewish Community under the Mandate
- ^ see see Uniform and History of the Palestine Police
- ^ Etzel - The Establishment of Irgun.
- ^ Etzel - Restraint and Retaliation
- ^ see for example the incident on 14 March 1937 when Arieh Yitzhaki and Benjamin Zeroni tossed a bomb into the Azur coffee house outside Tel Aviv in Terror Out of Zion, by J. Bowyer Bell, Transaction Publishers, , 1996, ISBN 1560008709, pages 35–36.
- ^ Aljazeera: The history of Palestinian revolts
- ^ Why Italian Planes Bombed Tel-Aviv?
- ^ How the Palmach was formed (History Central)
- ^ Karl Lenk, The Mauritius Affair, The Boat People of 1940/41, London 1991
- ^ James L. Gelvin, The Israel-Palestine conflict, Cambridge University Press, 2007, page 120.
- ^ The Rise and fall of the British Empire, By Lawrence James, Macmillan, 1997, ISBN 031216985X, page 562
- ^ For instance, in his memoir The Revolt, Menachem Begin cites Colonel Archer-Cust, Chief Secretary of the British Government in Palestine, as saying in a lecture to the Royal Empire Society that "The hanging of the two British Sergeants [an Irgun retaliation to British executions] did more than anything to get us out [of Palestine]".
- ^ see Request for a Special Session of the General Assembly on Palestine
- ^ see Rabbi Silver's request regarding the formation of a Jewish militia and the dissolution of the mandate in S/PV.262, Minutes 262nd Meeting of the UN Security Council,5 March 1948
- ^ Plascov, Avi (2008). The Palestinian refugees in Jordan 1948-1957. Routledge. p. 2. ISBN 978-0714631202. http://books.google.com/books?id=daLPXTYcoewC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
- ^ Bovis, H. Eugene (1971). The Jerusalem question, 1917-1968. Hoover Institution Press,U.S.. p. 40. ISBN 978-0817932916. http://books.google.com/books?id=1L49R1xKA6QC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
- ^ 6 Arab states, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen: 4 Moslem states, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey: Greece, Cuba and India also voted against. See Henry Cattan, The Palestine question, Routledge, London 1988 p.36
- ^ Avi Shlaim in Pappe's The Israel/Palestine question, p. 187.
- ^ Truman, the Jewish Vote, and the Creation of Israel, John Snetsinger, Hoover Press, 1974, ISBN 0817933913, page 107
- ^ see The Middle East Journal, Middle East Institute (Washington, D.C.), 1949 – Page 78, October 1): Robert A. Lovett, Acting Secretary of State, announced the US would not recognize the new Arab Government in Palestine, and Foreign relations of the United States, 1948. The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V, Part 2, page 1448
- ^ First Declaration of Independence of the State of Palestine
- ^ Rupert Cornwell (July 8, 1998). "UN upgrades Palestine status". Independent, The (London). http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19980708/ai_n14176782.
- ^ [8][dead link]
- ^ [9][dead link]
- ^ [10][dead link]
- ^ Magen Broshi, The Population of Western Palestine in the Roman-Byzantine Period, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 236, p.7, 1979.
- ^ Yigal Shiloh, The Population of Iron Age Palestine in the Light of a Sample Analysis of Urban Plans, Areas, and Population Density, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 239, p.33, 1980.
- ^ Bernard Lewis, Studies in the Ottoman Archives—I, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 469–501, 1954
- ^ Katz, 115 citing C.F.C Conte de Volney: Travels through Syria & Egypt in the years 1783, 1784, 1785 (London, 1798). Vol II p. 219
- ^ Scholch, 1985, p. 503.
- ^ McCarthy, 1990, p.26.
- ^ McCarthy, 1990.
- ^ McCarthy, 1990, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Interim Report on the Civil Administration of Palestine
- ^ Central Bureau of Statistics, Government of Israel. "Population, by religion and population group" (PDF). http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/st02_01.pdf. Retrieved 2006-04-08.
- ^ Central Bureau of Statistics, Government of Israel. "Jews and others, by origin, continent of birth and period of immigration" (PDF). http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/st02_24.pdf. Retrieved 2006-04-08.
- ^ Bennett Zimmerman & Roberta Seid (January 23, 2006). "Arab Population in the West Bank & Gaza: The Million Person Gap". American-Israel Demographic Research Group. http://web.archive.org/web/20080416015924/www.thefourthwayisrael.com/demographicadvantage.html. Retrieved 2006-09-27.
- ^ Sergio DellaPergola (Winter 2007, No. 27). "Letter to the Editor". Azure. http://www.azure.org.il/magazine/magazine.asp?id=356. Retrieved 2007-01-11. [dead link]
- ^ Jordan: Facts & Figures, accessed 22 May 2007.
- ^ CIA World Factbook, accessed 22 May 2007.
- ^ Assessment for Palestinians in Jordan, Minorities at Risk, accessed 22 May 2007.
External links
- www.palestinecenter.org - A website with current and historical information about Palestine
- The Hope Simpson Report (London, 1930) [11]
- Palestine Royal Commission Report (the Peel Report) (London, 1937) [12]
- Report to the Council of the League of Nations (1928) [13]
- Report to the Council of the League of Nations (1929) [14]
- Report to the Council of the League of Nations (1934) [15]
- Report to the Council of the League of Nations (1935) [16]
- www.mideastweb.org - A website with a wealth of statistics regarding population in Palestine
- Coins and Banknotes of Palestine under the British Mandate
- WorldStatesmen- Maps, flags, chronology, see Israel and Palestinian National Authority
- hWeb - Israel-Palestine in Maps
- Palestine Fact Sheet from the Common Language Project
- 1911 Encyclopedia description of Palestine
- Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine
- History of the Palestine Problem, UN website
- Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916
- 1947 UN Partition Plan
- 1949 Armisitice Lines
- Israel After 1949 Armistice Agreements
- Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine[dead link]
- A documentary about the Palestine war in 1948
Bibliography
Works written or compiled since 1945
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In short
The Zionists won not only by massive arms and propaganda but also by the ineffective power of anti Zionist and their lack of organisation and gratuitous apathy.
In order to resist the evil power of Zionism we need to be organised. Apply scientific and psychological tools into media, culture and arts to infiltrate through every aspect of life not only to debunk any Zionist propaganda but to initiate or own offensive and to have our own discourse.
The Palestinians the fate being refugees by choose the path to violence to try undermine Zionist cause with it. Before the Arab revolt the Jews depend on Arabs and no real interest in splitting. From them however after the Arab relovt they found way get themselves independent no longer need of the economy. This fate mistake was the reason Palestinians get expels do. Do the Palestinians ever learn from history as for Nakba the Palestinians aiming to make another one that will happen soon if the Palestinians get state of their own. Remember last time the Palestinains arab turn violence and try kick ZIonist out they kick themselves.
Re: Zionism – 'The devil in Judaism.'
The good news is that Zionism has out lived its usefullnest. for the atheist Zionist Jews and now Zionist Israel is on its way to the bottom of the world's sewer system in the eyes of the world. As bad as the invasion and subsequent massacres and war crimes were in Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and again in 2006 – the unpardonable invasion and massive massacres that were committed in Gaza last winter has set the wheels of retribution rolling. BDS (Boycott, Divesture and Sanctions) against Israel has taken hold in places like South Africa, Canada, and (under the radar) in the Holocaust Industries, Inc., 'hen pecked' EU countries like Britain, Germany and France – In the US the influence of the Jews is so great that no one admits that BDS will work, but each attempt that has been made by the Israeli war criminals like Ehud Barak (UofChicago and UC-Santa Barbara, Chile and Argentina); US Israel ambassador Oren (UC – Irvine and UC-San Diego) and other Jewish politicians that have spoken (or attempted to speak) at other US universities have found their rethoric that tries to undermine the judge Goldstone report and make israel a 'victim' of the Muslim world once more has been drowned (failed) out by young American and foreign Muslim students in a sea of boo's and anti-Israel demonstrations.
It will be interesting to see if president Obama exhibits the capacity of keeping the Judge Richard Goldstones' UN report on the war crimes committed by Israel's IDF in Gaza last winter – out of the UN Security Council's hands in the coming weeks.
While Obama has a thousand Zio/Jewish swords at his throat trying to 'motivate' him to shit can the Goldstone report, there are too many forces at work at this moment to make this an easy task for the president, considering the Natanyahu LIKUDNIK mafia has flashed him, George Mictchell and Sec/State Hillary Clinton, a stiff middle finger' in the freezing of West Bank settlements and the cessation of demoliations and confiscation of Palestinian homes and properties in Jerusalem – all while 'demanding' that the US 'immediately' remove the Iranian threat of an Islamic nuke at the front door of the apartheid state and 'Light unto the nations.'
TheAZCowBoy
Tombstone, AZ.
The terrifying nightmare will soon end. The world is tired of Zionist Israel and its total disregard for anything decent.
Sooner rather than later the US will wake up from its slumber, then Zionism & its siblings will be dead!