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Thank you for visiting All About Palestine. Today is Friday, May 18, 2012 |
Palestine, now occupied and named
Israel, lies on the western edge of Asia. Lebanon and Syria borders
Palestine on the north, the
Mediterranean sea to the west, to the south by the Gulf of Aqaba and the
Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, and to the east by the Kingdom of Jordan. A
Mediterranean climate prevails in Palestine. Summers are hot and dry.
Winters are rainy and cold. The weather in Gaza is fair and warm in
winter, and hot and dry in the summer. The average temperature in the
West Bank in the summer is 29 degrees Celsius, in winter it is 12
degrees Celsius.
Click here for more details about the geography of
Palestine.
Three
currencies are used in Palestine, The Jordanian Dinar, the American
dollar and the Israeli shekel. The official language is Arabic, but the
majority speak English and many speak Hebrew, French and some Latin.
Here are some
more cultural aspects in Palestine.
Historically, the
land of Palestine was populated by a people known as the Palestinians.
Palestinians have always been religiously diverse, with the Muslim
majority maintaining friendly relations with their Christian, Jewish,
and Druze neighbors. At the turn of the 20th Century, a new Jewish
nationalist ideology called Zionism was developing. Zionism called for
the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. During this time,
increasing numbers of Jewish Europeans immigrated to Palestine, causing
the Jewish population to grow from a tiny minority to 35% of the
population.***
As of January, 2003, the number of
Palestinians worldwide is 9.3 million,
of them, 3.6 million reside in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and
eastern Jerusalem, and 4.6 million in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and
other countries. 2.3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, 1.3
million in the Gaza Strip and 1 million in Israel. 2.7 million
Palestinians live in Jordan, 423,000 in Syria, 403,000 in Lebanon,
578,000 in other Arab states, 223,000 in the US and 295,000 in the rest
of the world. It is predicted that the
number of Palestinians worldwide will double in 22 years to 18.6 million.**
In 1920, following the
collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, Palestine fell under
western occupation, political boundaries were forced upon the region for
the first time in nearly 2,000 years under the British occupation,
conveniently named "Mandate".
Today this
geographical area is divided into Israel (established in May 1948 over
land carved out of historic Palestine by western powers using the UN all
without consulting with the local Palestinian population), the West Bank
(including eastern Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip (on the south western
corner of the country bordering Egypt) both of which Israel
occupied in 1967. The struggle between the Israelis and the Palestinians
is one of the longest and most enduring and explosive of all the world's
conflicts. For the Palestinians the last 100 years have brought
colonization, expulsion and military occupation, followed by a long and
difficult search for self-determination. For the Jewish Israelis, they
believe to be the land of their forefathers, after centuries of
persecution around the world, the return to this self proclaimed "home
land" has not brought peace or security. After decades of living under
occupation, a popular Palestinian uprising (Intifada 1987 - 1992)
against Israeli rule, brought about various peace negotiations the first
of which was the
Oslo
(Madrid) peace process. Palestinian cities, villages, and most of
the 19 official refugee camps were transferred to a self-governing
Palestinian Authority under the Oslo 'peace process.' The area, however,
remained under Israeli occupation with full Israeli military control.*
The Palestinian Israeli conflict is the single issue that has generated
the largest number of United Nations resolutions, the Palestinian
problem has loomed large on the international scene, even though
Palestine can be described as a small territory, and the
Palestinians—the indigenous Arab people of Palestine— a relatively small
population. In 1967, the former Soviet bloc countries cut diplomatic
ties with Israel as a consequence of the June War of that year. Indeed,
many Third World governments expelled the Israeli diplomatic missions
from their capitals and offered their premises to the
Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO), internationally recognized in 1974 as the
legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Since the end of
the cold war, most countries have restored diplomatic relations with
Israel. New nations born out of the collapse of the Soviet Union
fostered relations with Israel and the PLO alike.*
Only Israel, the United States, and a few U.S. allies, clients, and
dependencies continued to deny recognition of the Palestinians as a
people with the PLO as their legitimate representative. Prior to the
collapse of the Soviet Union, the long-held position of the United
States and Israel, combined with the rise in international influence of
the Palestinians since 1967, often placed the U.S. government in an
untenable position. Combine that with the
Palestinian
Intifada against Israeli occupation that exploded in December 1987,
and the Gulf War of 1991, the USA found itself in a position where it
had to do some serious work towards peace between Israel and the
Palestinians.*
Hence, the United States, as the remaining superpower, launched a more
sustained ‘peace process’ in 1991, after the Gulf War. This effort,
spearheaded by then Secretary of State James Baker, culminated in the
1991 Madrid peace conference, which brought to the negotiating table
Israel, the surrounding Arab states, and representatives of the
Palestinians under occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (but
not the PLO, because of both Israeli and U.S. objections). The Madrid
peace conference, followed by eleven rounds of bilateral and
multilateral negotiations in Washington, DC, and elsewhere, reached an
impasse that lasted until September 13, 1993, when the
Israel-PLO
Declaration of Principles (the Oslo Accords) were signed. The
handshake between Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Executive Committee of
the PLO, and Yitzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel, following the
signing initiated a new reality that would change the nature of the
Arab-Israeli conflict and the future of the Palestinians and the Middle
East for generations to come.*
Many
people and forces in the US and abroad, cashed in on the
unfortunate and tragic events that touched the hearts of the
entire planet on
September 11, 2001, to declare an unofficial war on
Islam
and Muslims all over the world. Portraying this religion as
one that encourages terrorism and the killing of innocent
people, Which left a wide spread confusion on what really is
the truth about Islam, and where exactly does it stand . At
allaboutpalestine.com, we felt it was necessary to add
a new section about this great
religion which remains mysterious to many
people, in an attempt to shed a little light, and explain
what Islam is all about.
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Palestine was host to numerous prophets
and the home of many great civilizations. Palestine's location at the
centre of various routes linking three continents made a very hot spot,
an important central location for many religious and cultural
influences, from Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor.
The exact point in history when Palestine
was first inhabited is yet to be uncovered, however, archaeological
discoveries found at south of Lake Tiberius human remains that are dated
as far back as 600,000 B.C.! One of the earliest communities to be
unearthed was in the ancient city of Jericho, comprising several hundred
villagers forming part of what is known as
Natufian culture.
Alas, not much is known of Palestine
during those ancient times, so the next best thing to begin talking
about the history of Palestine, is to start the journey in a land once
known as the land of
Canaan.
Find out more about the region and take a look at some
facts and events that has a big impact on the area and the current
explosive situation, where one may wonder how, if it was called
Palestine, the name has almost vanished? And how that name has become
Israel. Perhaps by browsing this web site, you will find out how
PALESTINE BECAME
ISRAELand what obstacles the Palestinian struggle
for freedom is facing.
* Source:
Salaam.
** Source: Palestine central bureau of statistics.
*** Source:
If Americans knew
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