Palestine Background Information

Palestine Background Information

Palestine is known today as a region, not a country. The region mainly consists of modern day Israel, Jordan, parts of Egypt, and the West Bank and Gaza. The Mediterranean Sea surrounds the west side of Palestine. Some parts of Palestine have very fertile land. In fact one of the world's first civilizations was located by the Tigris River. The southern area, however, is mostly dessert. Fresh water is scarce, and there are scattered patches of cultivatable land.

Recently the part of the Palestinian region has been under constant debate and violence between the Jews and the Palestinians. The Palestinians claim the land, because they have been living there for over two millennia. However, the Jews claim this land as there holy land, and that God has given it to them. The land of course, is Israel. Due to this, there has never been an accurate census in Palestine since 1918.

Map of Israel, the Palestinian territories (West B...

Map showing the West Bank and Gaza Strip in relati...

British Mandate of Palestine, 1920s. Created by mo...

The Canaanites were the first know inhabitants of Palestine. They lived and thrived there for 2000 years before mass invaders from all over began to weaken the city-states. Hebrews moved into the land next, however, they were quickly dominated by the Persians. There, the Persians built great cities, and had technological feats that were at the top of the Ancient world. The Persian dominance of Palestine ended when Pompey the Great conquered the land for Rome and established it as part of the Roman Empire.

The Islamic religion spread, and soon Palestine became the central hearth of the religion. With that, when the Roman Empire fell, Palestine became known as the Ottoman Empire, which was mainly Muslim. It collapsed into many different countries after World War II.