199-459: The Arab citizens of Israel form Israel’s largest ethnic minority. They are mostly former Palestinian citizens who have continued to live in what became Israel, and their descendants. The majority of Arabs in Israel now prefer to be identified as Palestinian citizens of Israel . Following the establishment of Israel in the wake of the 1948 Palestine war , it conferred its citizenship to
398-510: A Jewish state and the dispossession of the Arab majority crystallised among most editors, Christian and Muslim, of local newspapers. The term itself Filasṭīnī was first introduced by Khalīl Beidas in a translation of a Russian work on the Holy Land into Arabic in 1898. After that, its usage gradually spread so that, by 1908, with the loosening of censorship controls under late Ottoman rule,
597-747: A homeland for the Jewish people . The modern definition of the region follows the boundaries of that entity, which were fixed in the North and East in 1920–23 by the British Mandate for Palestine (including the Transjordan memorandum ) and the Paulet–Newcombe Agreement , and on the South by following the 1906 Turco-Egyptian boundary agreement. The region of Palestine is the eponym for
796-443: A number of Muslim, Christian and Jewish correspondents writing for newspapers began to use the term with great frequency in referring to the 'Palestinian people' ( ahl/ahālī Filasṭīn ), 'Palestinians' ( al-Filasṭīnīyūn ), the 'sons of Palestine' ( abnā’ Filasṭīn ) or to 'Palestinian society' ( al-mujtama' al-filasṭīnī ). Whatever the differing viewpoints over the timing, causal mechanisms, and orientation of Palestinian nationalism, by
995-706: A "district of Syria, called Palaistínē " ( Ancient Greek : Συρίη ἡ Παλαιστίνη καλεομένη ) in The Histories , which included the Judean mountains and the Jordan Rift Valley . Approximately a century later, Aristotle used a similar definition for the region in Meteorology , in which he included the Dead Sea . Later Greek writers such as Polemon and Pausanias also used the term to refer to
1194-635: A 2015 Foreign Affairs article that "based on hundreds of manuscripts, Islamic court records, books, magazines, and newspapers from the Ottoman period (1516–1918), it seems that the first Arab to use the term "Palestinian" was Farid Georges Kassab, a Beirut-based Orthodox Christian ." He explained further that Kassab's 1909 book Palestine, Hellenism, and Clericalism noted in passing that "the Orthodox Palestinian Ottomans call themselves Arabs, and are in fact Arabs," despite describing
1393-825: A British "colony of the lowest order." The Arabs tried to get the British to offer an Arab legal establishment again roughly ten years later, but to no avail. After the British general, Louis Bols, read out the Balfour Declaration in February 1920, some 1,500 Palestinians demonstrated in the streets of Jerusalem. A month later, during the 1920 Nebi Musa riots, the protests against British rule and Jewish immigration became violent and Bols banned all demonstrations. In May 1921 however, further anti-Jewish riots broke out in Jaffa and dozens of Arabs and Jews were killed in
1592-500: A Palestinian component ("Israeli", "Arab", "Arab in Israel", "Israeli Arab"), and 15% chose Palestinian identities without an Israeli component ("Palestinian", "Palestinian Arab"). When these two components are presented as competitors, 69% chose exclusive or primary Palestinian identity, compared with 30% who chose exclusive or primary Israeli Arab identity. 66% of the Arab population agreed that "the identity of 'Palestinian Arab in Israel'
1791-416: A Palestinian state would be able to move to Israel. All citizens of Israel, whether Jews or Arabs, would be required to pledge an oath of allegiance to retain citizenship. Those who refuse could remain in Israel as permanent residents. In January 2007 the first non-Druze Arab minister in Israel's history, Raleb Majadele , was appointed minister without portfolio ( Salah Tarif , a Druze , had been appointed
1990-581: A ban of the sale of land to Jews. By the end of 1936, the movement had become a national revolt, and resistance grew during 1937 and 1938. In response, the British declared martial law , dissolved the Arab High Committee and arrested officials from the Supreme Muslim Council who were behind the revolt. By 1939, 5,000 Arabs had been killed in British attempts to quash the revolt; more than 15,000 were wounded. In November 1947,
2189-609: A broad left-right-center government without consulting the Arab parties, disappointing the Arab community. Tensions between Arabs and the state rose in October 2000 when 12 Arab citizens and one man from Gaza were killed while protesting the government's response to the Second Intifada . In response to this incident, the government established the Or Commission . The events of October 2000 caused many Arabs to question
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#17327761749962388-581: A century, beginning with the Turkish freeman Ahmad ibn Tulun , for whom both Jews and Christians prayed when he lay dying and ending with the Ikhshidid rulers. Reverence for Jerusalem increased during this period, with many of the Egyptian rulers choosing to be buried there. However, the later period became characterized by persecution of Christians as the threat from Byzantium grew. The Fatimids , with
2587-599: A closed military zone, followed by the use of Ottoman legislation on abandoned land to take control of the land. Travel permits, curfews, administrative detentions , and expulsions were part of life until 1966. Arabs who held Israeli citizenship were entitled to vote for the Israeli Knesset . Arab Knesset members have served in office since the First Knesset . The first Arab Knesset members were Amin-Salim Jarjora and Seif el-Din el-Zoubi who were members of
2786-852: A crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics. In the Bronze Age , it was home to Canaanite city-states; and the later Iron Age saw the emergence of Israel and Judah . It has since come under the sway of various empires, including the Neo-Assyrian Empire , the Neo-Babylonian Empire , the Achaemenid Empire , the Macedonian Empire , and the Seleucid Empire . The brief Hasmonean dynasty ended with its gradual incorporation into
2985-697: A degree of continuity over a long historical period (much as 'the Israelites' of the Bible suggest a long historical continuity in the same region)." Baruch Kimmerling and Joel S. Migdal consider the 1834 Peasants' revolt in Palestine as constituting the first formative event of the Palestinian people. From 1516 to 1917, Palestine was ruled by the Ottoman Empire save a decade from the 1830s to
3184-506: A long and tumultuous history as a crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics. The region has been controlled by numerous peoples, including ancient Egyptians , Canaanites , Israelites , Assyrians , Babylonians , Achaemenids , ancient Greeks , Romans , Parthians , Sasanians , Byzantines , the Arab Rashidun , Umayyad , Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates , Crusaders , Ayyubids , Mamluks , Mongols , Ottomans ,
3383-483: A long history, destroyed by Israeli forces. In addition, Palestinians lost from 1.5 to 2 million acres of land, an estimated 150,000 urban and rural homes, and 23,000 commercial structures such as shops and offices. Recent estimates of the cost to Palestinians in property confiscations by Israel from 1948 onwards has concluded that Palestinians have suffered a net $ 300 billion loss in assets. Those parts of British Mandatory Palestine which did not become part of
3582-481: A main one is that they cannot continue to ignore the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Any solution should include full equality for all citizens as well as the respect and recognition of our rights as a national minority." Some media using the term "Palestinian citizens of Israel" or "Palestinians in Israel" have treated the terms as interchangeable with "Arab citizens of Israel" or "Israeli Arabs", and have not discussed whether Druze and Circassians are exceptions. such as
3781-532: A major regional power, partly fueled by his monopolization of the cotton and olive oil trade from Palestine to Europe. Acre's regional dominance was further elevated under Zahir's successor Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar at the expense of Damascus . In 1830, on the eve of Muhammad Ali 's invasion, the Porte transferred control of the sanjaks of Jerusalem and Nablus to Abdullah Pasha , the governor of Acre. According to Silverburg, in regional and cultural terms this move
3980-454: A majority of Israeli Arabs condemned the 7 October massacre , but also opposed the mass bombardment of Gaza. Many Israeli Arabs expressed a general resentment over the war, as other Palestinians regarded them as supporters of Israel, whereas Israeli Jews saw them as potential Hamas supporters. In 2006, the official number of Arab residents in Israel – including East Jerusalem and Golan Heights permanent residents many of whom are not citizens –
4179-554: A marked evolution in self-identification, reflecting a rising identification with Palestinian identity alongside Arab and Israeli signifiers. Many Palestinian citizens of Israel have family ties to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as to Palestinian refugees in Jordan , Syria and Lebanon . Between 1948 and 1967, very few Arab citizens of Israel identified openly as "Palestinian", and an "Israeli-Arab" identity,
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#17327761749964378-463: A member of the Palestinian people, a son of this Palestinian homeland. And whether we like it or not, the State of Israel, with its identity, was established inside the Palestinian homeland," Sami Abu Shehadeh of Balad is "an outspoken advocate of Palestinian identity". He says, referring to the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis , "... If the past weeks provided lessons for the international community, then
4577-585: A minister without portfolio in 2001). The appointment was criticized by the left, which felt it was an attempt to cover up the Labor Party's decision to sit with Yisrael Beiteinu in the government, and by the right, who saw it as a threat to Israel's status as a Jewish state . In 2021, Mansour Abbas , the leader of the United Arab List , made history by becoming the first Israeli Arab political leader to join an Israeli governing coalition . During
4776-701: 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 ). Nineteenth-century sources refer to Palestine as extending from
4975-574: A platform promising to improve personal security and oversees law enforcement. Prominent organized crime families among Israeli Arabs include Al-Hariri, Bakri, Jarushis, and the Druze Abu Latifs. Since the outbreak of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war , Israel has carried out mass arrests and detentions of Palestinian workers and Arab citizens of Israel. On 5 November 2023, CNN reported that "dozens" of Palestinian residents and Arab Israelis were arrested in Israel for expressions of solidarity with
5174-493: A political or national identification, obscuring their Palestinian identity and connection to Palestine . The term Israeli Arabs in particular is viewed as a construct of the Israeli authorities. It is nonetheless used by a significant minority of the Arab population, "reflecting its dominance in Israeli social discourse." Between 1920 and 1948, in what was then Mandatory Palestine , all citizens were known as Palestinians, and
5373-627: A predominantly Berber army, conquered the region in 970, a date that marks the beginning of a period of unceasing warfare between numerous enemies, which destroyed Palestine, and in particular, devastating its Jewish population. Between 1071 and 1073, Palestine was captured by the Great Seljuq Empire , only to be recaptured by the Fatimids in 1098. The Fatimids again lost the region to the Crusaders in 1099 . The Crusaders set up
5572-734: A protest against land expropriations and house demolitions. The date of the protest, 30 March, has since been commemorated annually as Land Day . The 1980s saw the birth of the Islamic Movement . As part of a larger trend in the Arab World , the Islamic Movement emphasized moving Islam into the political realm. The Islamic movement built schools, provided other essential social services, constructed mosques, and encouraged prayer and conservative Islamic dress. The Islamic Movement began to affect electoral politics particularly at
5771-594: A reflection of differences in perception of the purpose and outcomes of the war. In the aftermath of the 1947–49 war, the territory previously administered by the British Empire as Mandatory Palestine was de facto divided into three parts: the State of Israel, the Jordanian -held West Bank, and the Egyptian -held Gaza Strip. Of the estimated 950,000 Arabs that lived in the territory that became Israel before
5970-946: A result of the Oslo Accords , is an interim administrative body nominally responsible for governance in Palestinian population centres in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since 1978, the United Nations has observed an annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People . According to British historian Perry Anderson , it is estimated that half of the population in the Palestinian territories are refugees, and that they have collectively suffered approximately US$ 300 billion in property losses due to Israeli confiscations, at 2008–2009 prices. Despite various wars and exoduses , roughly one half of
6169-609: A revolt against the latter led to its destruction in 586 BCE. The region became part of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from c. 740 BCE, which was itself replaced by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in c. 627 BCE. In 587/6 BCE, Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed by the second Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II , who subsequently exiled the Judeans to Babylon . The Kingdom of Judah
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6368-610: A right-wing political party Yisrael Beiteinu , to join his coalition government. The party leader, Avigdor Lieberman , advocated an ethnicity based territory exchange, the Lieberman Plan , by transferring heavily populated Arab areas (mainly the Triangle ), to Palestinian Authority control and annexing major Jewish Israeli settlement blocs in the West Bank close to the green line as part of a peace proposal. Arabs who would prefer to remain in Israel instead of becoming citizens of
6567-410: A rigorous regime of military rule that dominated what remained of the Arab population in territory ruled by Israel, enabling the state to expropriate most Arab-owned land, severely limit its access to investment capital and employment opportunity, and eliminate virtually all opportunities to use citizenship as a vehicle for gaining political influence'. A variety of Israeli legislative measures facilitated
6766-528: A state. However, Palestinian sovereignty over the areas claimed as part of the Palestinian state remains limited, and the boundaries of the state remain a point of contestation between Palestinians and Israelis. The first Palestinian nationalist organizations emerged at the end of the World War I . Two political factions emerged. al-Muntada al-Adabi , dominated by the Nashashibi family, militated for
6965-659: A term that had previously only referred to the smaller region of the Judaean Mountains . During the same period, the Edomites were converted to Judaism. Between 73 and 63 BCE, the Roman Republic extended its influence into the region in the Third Mithridatic War . Pompey conquered Judea in 63 BCE, splitting the former Hasmonean Kingdom into five districts. In around 40 BCE,
7164-588: A tradition that emerged in the 1960s that argues Palestinian nationalism has deep historical roots, with extreme advocates reading a Palestinian nationalist consciousness and identity back into the history of Palestine over the past few centuries, and even millennia, when such a consciousness is in fact relatively modern. The Battle of Karameh and the events of Black September in Jordan contributed to growing Palestinian support for these groups, particularly among Palestinians in exile. Concurrently, among Palestinians in
7363-839: A wide variety of self-identification: as Israeli or "in Israel"; as Arabs, Palestinians, or Israelis; and as Muslims , Christians or Druze . The choice of terms to refer to Arab citizens of Israel is a highly politicized issue, and there is a broad range of labels that members of this community use to self-identity. Generally speaking, supporters of Israel tend to use Israeli Arab or Arab Israeli to refer to this population without mentioning Palestine, while critics of Israel (or supporters of Palestinians) tend to use Palestinian or Palestinian Arab without referencing Israel. According to The New York Times , most preferred to identify themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel rather than as Israeli Arabs, as of 2012. The New York Times uses both 'Palestinian Israelis' and 'Israeli Arabs' to refer to
7562-436: Is "an inclusive term used by Israel that describes a number of different and primarily Arabic-speaking groups, including Muslim Arabs", Christian Arabs, Druze and Circassians. They further stated that "considering the number of those defined as Muslim Arabs and Christian Arabs together, the population of Palestinian citizens of Israel amounted to around 1.8 million" in 2019. There are at least two terms which specifically exclude
7761-754: Is a geographical area in West Asia . It includes modern-day Israel and the State of Palestine , as well as parts of northwestern Jordan in some definitions. Other names for the region include Canaan , the Promised Land , the Land of Israel , or the Holy Land . The earliest written record referring to Palestine as a geographical region is in the Histories of Herodotus in the 5th century BCE, which calls
7960-493: Is also sometimes used in a limited sense to refer to the parts of the Palestinian territories currently under the administrative control of the Palestinian National Authority , a quasi-governmental entity which governs parts of the State of Palestine under the terms of the Oslo Accords . Estimating the population of Palestine in antiquity relies on two methods – censuses and writings made at
8159-452: Is appropriate to most Arabs in Israel." According to a 2020 survey by Camil Fuchs of Tel-Aviv University , 51% of Arabs identify as Arab-Israeli, 7% identify as Palestinian, 23% identify as Israeli, 15% identify as Arab, and 4% identify as "other." This significantly differs from their 2019 survey, in which 49% identified as Arab-Israeli, 18% as Palestinian, 27% as Arab, and 5% as Israeli. Common practice in contemporary academic literature
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8358-874: Is debated. Between 259 and 272, the region fell under the rule of Odaenathus as King of the Palmyrene Empire . Following the victory of Christian emperor Constantine in the Civil wars of the Tetrarchy , the Christianization of the Roman Empire began, and in 326, Constantine's mother Saint Helena visited Jerusalem and began the construction of churches and shrines. Palestine became a center of Christianity, attracting numerous monks and religious scholars. The Samaritan Revolts during this period caused their near extinction. In 614 CE, Palestine
8557-803: Is estimated to have occurred from 28 to 30 CE, although the historicity of Jesus is disputed by a minority of scholars. In the first and second centuries CE, the province of Judea became the site of two large-scale Jewish revolts against Rome . During the First Jewish-Roman War , which lasted from 66 to 73 CE, the Romans razed Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple . In Masada , Jewish zealots preferred to commit suicide than endure Roman captivity. In 132 CE, another Jewish rebellion erupted. The Bar Kokhba revolt took three years to put down, incurred massive costs on both
8756-579: Is found in five inscriptions referring to a neighboring people or land starting from c. 1150 BCE during the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt . The first known mention is at the temple at Medinet Habu which refers to the Peleset among those who fought with Egypt in Ramesses III 's reign, and the last known is 300 years later on Padiiset's Statue . Seven known Assyrian inscriptions refer to
8955-465: Is independent of the existence of any actual Arabian origins. Palestinians are sometimes described as indigenous. In a human rights context, the word indigenous may have different definitions; the UN Commission on Human Rights uses several criteria to define this term. Palestine has undergone many demographic and religious upheavals throughout history. During the 2nd millennium BCE , it
9154-483: Is mostly Levantine Arabic , including Lebanese Arabic in northern Israel, Palestinian Arabic in central Israel, and Bedouin Arabic across the Negev . Because the modern Arabic dialects of Israel's Arabs have absorbed many Hebrew loanwords and phrases, it is sometimes called the Israeli Arabic dialect . By religious affiliation, the majority of Arab Israelis are Muslims, but there are significant Christian and Druze minorities, among others. Arab citizens of Israel have
9353-461: Is scarce as only 5% of Palestinians in East Jerusalem were Israeli citizens in 2022. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , the Israeli Arab population stood at 2.1 million people in 2023, accounting for 21% of Israel's total population. The majority of these Arab citizens identify themselves as Arab or Palestinian by nationality and as Israeli by citizenship. They mostly live in Arab-majority towns and cities , some of which are among
9552-426: Is to identify this community as Palestinian as it is how the majority self-identify (See Self-Identification for more). Terms preferred by most Arab citizens to identify themselves include Palestinians , Palestinians in Israel , Israeli Palestinians , the Palestinians of 1948 , Palestinian Arabs , Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel or Palestinian citizens of Israel . There are, however, individuals from among
9751-407: The 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis widespread protests and riots intensified across Israel, particularly in cities with large Arab populations. In Lod, rocks were thrown at Jewish apartments and some Jewish residents were evacuated from their homes by the police. Synagogues and a Muslim cemetery were vandalized. Communal violence including "riots, stabbings, arson, attempted home invasions and shootings"
9950-517: The Al-Quds , Al-Munadi , Falastin , Al-Karmil and Al-Nafir newspapers, which used the term "Filastini" more than 170 times in 110 articles from 1908 to 1914. They also made references to a "Palestinian society", "Palestinian nation", and a "Palestinian diaspora". Article writers included Christian and Muslim Arab Palestinians, Palestinian emigrants, and non-Palestinian Arabs. The Palestinian Arab Christian Falastin newspaper had addressed its readers as Palestinians since its inception in 1911 during
10149-580: The Amnesty International 2022 report "Israel's Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity", the organization excludes the Israeli Arab Druze and non-Arab Circassians from the term Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel: The Washington Post included the Druze among the Palestinians. The Council of Foreign Relations stated:"The majority of Arab citizens are Sunni Muslims, though there are many Christians and also Druze, who more often embrace Israeli identity." The question of Palestinian identity extends to representation in
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#173277617499610348-457: The Assassination of Ali , Muawiyah I became the Caliph of the Islamic world after being crowned in Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock , completed in 691, was the world's first great work of Islamic architecture. The majority of the population was Christian and was to remain so until the conquest of Saladin in 1187. The Muslim conquest apparently had little impact on social and administrative continuities for several decades. The word 'Arab' at
10547-419: The British , and modern Israelis and Palestinians . The region was among the earliest in the world to see human habitation, agricultural communities and civilization . During the Bronze Age , independent Canaanite city-states were established, and were influenced by the surrounding civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia , Phoenicia , Minoan Crete, and Syria. Between 1550 and 1400 BCE,
10746-416: The Bronze-Age population of Canaan . Variations have been noted between Muslim and Christian Palestinians . Additionally, there are indications within Palestinian populations of maternal gene flow from Sub-Saharan Africa , possibly linked to historical migrations or the Arab slave trade . Genetic studies have also shown a genetic relationship between Palestinians and Jews . A 2023 study looking at
10945-482: The Crusades , the population of Palestine became predominantly Muslim . In the 13th century, it became part of the Mamluk Sultanate , and after 1516, spent four centuries as part of the Ottoman Empire . During World War I , Palestine was occupied by the United Kingdom as part of the Sinai and Palestine campaign . Between 1919 and 1922, the League of Nations created the Mandate for Palestine , which came under British administration as Mandatory Palestine through
11144-455: The Dead Sea and River Jordan ) has at times formed a political and administrative frontier, even within empires that have controlled both territories. At other times, such as during certain periods during the Hasmonean and Crusader states for example, as well as during the biblical period , territories on both sides of the river formed part of the same administrative unit. During the Arab Caliphate period, parts of southern Lebanon and
11343-435: The Democratic List of Nazareth party and Tawfik Toubi , member of the Maki party. In 1965 a radical independent Arab group called al-Ard forming the Arab Socialist List tried to run for Knesset elections. The list was banned by the Israeli Central Elections Committee . In 1966, martial law was lifted completely, and the government set about dismantling most of the discriminatory laws, while Arab citizens were granted
11542-441: The East Jerusalem Arab population and the Druze and other Arabs in the Golan Heights : the Arabs inside the Green Line , and the Arabs within (Arabic: عرب الداخل , romanized: ‘Arab al-Dākhil ). These terms clarify that While known officially by the Israeli government only as " Israeli Arabs " or "Arab Israelis", the development of Palestinian nationalism and identity in the 20th and 21st centuries has been met by
11741-505: The East Jerusalem Arab population or the Druze in the Golan Heights , as these territories were occupied by Israel in 1967: According to The New York Times , as of 2012, most Israeli Arabs preferred to identify themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel rather than as Israeli Arabs. The Council on Foreign Relations also states that most members of the Israeli Arab community prefer this term. The Washington Post asserted in 2021 that "surveys showed" that Israeli Arabs preferred
11940-421: The Iron Age , the Israelites established two related kingdoms, Israel and Judah . The Kingdom of Israel emerged as an important local power by the 10th century BCE before falling to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE. Israel's southern neighbor, the Kingdom of Judah , emerged in the 8th or 9th century BCE and later became a client state of first the Neo-Assyrian and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire before
12139-481: The Israeli Declaration of Independence , the 1948 Palestinian expulsion , and more so after the 1967 Palestinian exodus , the term "Palestinian" evolved into a sense of a shared future in the form of aspirations for a Palestinian state . Founded in 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization is an umbrella organization for groups that represent the Palestinian people before international states. The Palestinian National Authority , officially established in 1994 as
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#173277617499612338-421: The Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099–1291). Their control of Jerusalem and most of Palestine lasted almost a century until their defeat by Saladin 's forces in 1187, after which most of Palestine was controlled by the Ayyubids , except for the years 1229–1244 when Jerusalem and other areas were retaken by the Second Kingdom of Jerusalem , by then ruled from Acre (1191–1291), but, despite seven further crusades,
12537-495: The Middle East after World War I . Khalidi also states that although the challenge posed by Zionism played a role in shaping this identity, that "it is a serious mistake to suggest that Palestinian identity emerged mainly as a response to Zionism." Conversely, historian James L. Gelvin argues that Palestinian nationalism was a direct reaction to Zionism. In his book The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War he states that "Palestinian nationalism emerged during
12736-441: The Mongol raids into Palestine under Nestorian Christian general Kitbuqa , and reaching an apex at the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut , where they were pushed back by the Mamluks. In 1486, hostilities broke out between the Mamluks and the Ottoman Empire in a battle for control over western Asia, and the Ottomans conquered Palestine in 1516. Between the mid-16th and 17th centuries, a close-knit alliance of three local dynasties,
12935-501: The Muslim conquest , place names that were in use by the Byzantine administration generally continued to be used in Arabic. The use of the name "Palestine" became common in Early Modern English , was used in English and Arabic during the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem and was revived as an official place name with the British Mandate for Palestine . Some other terms that have been used to refer to all or part of this land include Canaan , Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael or Ha'aretz),
13134-510: The Muslim conquest of the Levant . Some Palestinian families, notably in the Hebron and Nablus regions, claim Jewish and Samaritan ancestry respectively, preserving associated cultural customs and traditions. Genetic studies indicate a genetic affinity between Palestinians and other Arab and Semitic groups in the Middle East and North Africa . Recent research suggests a genetic continuity between modern Palestinians and ancient Levantine populations, evidenced by their clustering with
13333-406: The New York Times . Surveys of Arab-Israeli self-identification are diverse, and have often presented differing if not contradictory results. In 2017 the Konrad Adenauer Foundation 's Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University conducted a telephone poll, in which the results were: The focus groups associated with
13532-447: The Palestinian fedayeen , sumud provided an important subtext to the narrative of the fighters, "in symbolizing continuity and connections with the land, with peasantry and a rural way of life." In 1974, the PLO was recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people by the Arab nation-states and was granted observer status as a national liberation movement by the United Nations that same year. Israel rejected
13731-442: The Palestinian people and the culture of Palestine , both of which are defined as relating to the whole historical region, usually defined as the localities within the border of Mandatory Palestine . The 1968 Palestinian National Covenant described Palestine as the "homeland of the Arab Palestinian people", with "the boundaries it had during the British Mandate". However, since the 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence ,
13930-497: The Parthians conquered Palestine, deposed the Roman ally Hyrcanus II , and installed a puppet ruler of the Hasmonean line known as Antigonus II . By 37 BCE, the Parthians withdrew from Palestine. Palestine is generally considered the "Cradle of Christianity ". Christianity, a religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth , arose as a messianic sect from within Second Temple Judaism . The three-year Ministry of Jesus , culminating in his crucifixion ,
14129-403: The Philistines . Among Semitic languages , Akkadian Palaštu (variant Pilištu ) is used of 7th-century Philistia and its, by then, four city states. Biblical Hebrew 's cognate word Plištim , is usually translated Philistines . When the Romans conquered the region in the first century BCE, they used the name Judaea for the province that covered most of the region. At the same time,
14328-408: The Promised Land , the region of Syria , the Holy Land , Iudaea Province , Judea , Coele-Syria , "Israel HaShlema", Kingdom of Israel , Kingdom of Jerusalem , Zion , Retenu (Ancient Egyptian), Southern Syria , Southern Levant and Syria Palaestina . Situated at a strategic location between Egypt , Syria and Arabia , and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity , the region has
14527-748: The Ridwans of Gaza , the Turabays of al-Lajjun and the Farrukhs of Nablus , governed Palestine on behalf of the Porte (imperial Ottoman government). In the 18th century, the Zaydani clan under the leadership of Zahir al-Umar ruled large parts of Palestine autonomously until the Ottomans were able to defeat them in their Galilee strongholds in 1775–76. Zahir had turned the port city of Acre into
14726-522: The San Remo conference , it was decided to accept the text of those articles, while inserting in the minutes of the conference an undertaking by the Mandatory Power that this would not involve the surrender of any of the rights hitherto enjoyed by the non-Jewish communities in Palestine. In 1922, the British authorities over Mandatory Palestine proposed a draft constitution that would have granted
14925-437: The Second Intifada (also called al-Aqsa Intifada) began, and Israel built a separation barrier . In the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza , Israel withdrew all settlers and military presence from the Gaza Strip, but maintained military control of numerous aspects of the territory including its borders, air space and coast. Israel's ongoing military occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem continues to be
15124-688: The Six-Day War in June 1967, Israel captured the rest of Mandate Palestine from Jordan and Egypt, and began a policy of establishing Jewish settlements in those territories . From 1987 to 1993, the First Palestinian Intifada against Israel took place, which included the Declaration of the State of Palestine in 1988 and ended with the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords and the creation of the Palestinian National Authority . In 2000,
15323-657: The Six-Day War . Historian Avi Shlaim states that the Palestinians' lack of sovereignty over the land has been used by Israelis to deny Palestinians their rights to self-determination. Today, the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination has been affirmed by the United Nations General Assembly , the International Court of Justice and several Israeli authorities. A total of 133 countries recognize Palestine as
15522-670: The Torah , with undefined boundaries, and almost 200 of the remaining references are in the Book of Judges and the Books of Samuel . The term is rarely used in the Septuagint , which used a transliteration Land of Phylistieim ( Γῆ τῶν Φυλιστιείμ ), different from the contemporary Greek place name Palaistínē ( Παλαιστίνη ). It is also theorized to be the portmanteau of the Greek word for
15721-706: The United Nations General Assembly adopted in November 1947 a Resolution 181(II) recommending partition into an Arab state, a Jewish state and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem. A civil war began immediately after the Resolution's adoption. The State of Israel was declared in May 1948. In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , Israel captured and incorporated a further 26% of
15920-464: The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Partition Plan , which divided the mandate of Palestine into two states: one majority Arab and one majority Jewish. The Palestinian Arabs rejected the plan and attacked Jewish civilian areas and paramilitary targets. Following Israel's declaration of independence in May 1948, five Arab armies (Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Transjordan) came to
16119-563: The boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit." Historical records and later genetic studies indicate that the Palestinian people descend mostly from Ancient Levantines extending back to Bronze Age inhabitants of Levant. According to Palestinian historian Nazmi Al-Ju'beh like in other Arab nations, the Arab identity of Palestinians, largely based on linguistic and cultural affiliation,
16318-419: The pan-Arabist ideology put forward by Gamal Abdel Nasser —popular among Palestinians for whom Arabism was already an important component of their identity —tended to obscure the identities of the separate Arab states it subsumed. Since 1967, Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have lived under military occupation, creating, according to Avram Bornstein, a carceralization of their society . In
16517-515: The peasants' revolt in Palestine in 1834 (or even as early as the 17th century), while others argue that it did not emerge until after the Mandatory Palestine period. Legal historian Assaf Likhovski states that the prevailing view is that Palestinian identity originated in the early decades of the 20th century, when an embryonic desire among Palestinians for self-government in the face of generalized fears that Zionism would lead to
16716-496: The whole genomes of world populations found that the Palestinian samples clustered in the "Middle Eastern genomic group", which included samples such as Samaritan , Bedouin , Jordanian , Iraqi Jew and Yemenite Jew samples. The timing and causes behind the emergence of a distinctively Palestinian national identity among the Arabs of Palestine are matters of scholarly disagreement. Some argue that it can be traced as far back as
16915-492: The "Syrians of Palestine" or "Palestinian-Syrians", an ethnically amorphous group he distinguishes from the Phoenicians. Herodotus makes no distinction between the inhabitants of Palestine. The Greek word reflects an ancient Eastern Mediterranean-Near Eastern word which was used either as a toponym or ethnonym . In Ancient Egyptian Peleset/Purusati has been conjectured to refer to the " Sea Peoples ", particularly
17114-417: The 1840s when an Egyptian vassal of the Ottomans, Muhammad Ali , and his son Ibrahim Pasha successfully broke away from Ottoman leadership and, conquering territory spreading from Egypt to as far north as Damascus, asserted their own rule over the area. The so-called Peasants' Revolt by Palestine's Arabs was precipitated by heavy demands for conscripts. The local leaders and urban notables were unhappy about
17313-692: The 1940s. Tensions between Jews and Arabs escalated into the 1947–1949 Palestine war , which ended with the establishment of Israel on most of the territory, and neighboring Jordan and Egypt controlling the West Bank and the Gaza Strip respectively. The 1967 Six Day War saw Israel's occupation of both territories , which has been among the core issues of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict . Modern archaeology has identified 12 ancient inscriptions from Egyptian and Assyrian records recording likely cognates of Hebrew Pelesheth . The term "Peleset" ( transliterated from hieroglyphs as P-r-s-t )
17512-482: The 1948 Nakba , the Palestinians that have remained within the 1949 Armistice borders have been colloquially known as "48 Arabs" (Arabic: عرب ٤٨ , romanized: ʿArab Thamāniya wa-ʾArbaʿīn ). With the end of military administrative rule in 1966 and following the 1967 war, national consciousness and its expression among Israel's Arab citizens spread. A majority then self-identified as Palestinian, preferring this descriptor to Israeli Arab in numerous surveys over
17711-716: The 1950s, a new generation of Palestinian nationalist groups and movements began to organize clandestinely, stepping out onto the public stage in the 1960s. The traditional Palestinian elite who had dominated negotiations with the British and the Zionists in the Mandate, and who were largely held responsible for the loss of Palestine, were replaced by these new movements whose recruits generally came from poor to middle-class backgrounds and were often students or recent graduates of universities in Cairo , Beirut and Damascus. The potency of
17910-494: The Arab citizenry who reject the term Palestinian altogether. A minority of Israel's Arab citizens include "Israeli" in some way in their self-identifying label; the majority identify as Palestinian by nationality and Israeli by citizenship . The Israeli establishment prefers Israeli Arabs or Arabs in Israel , and also uses the terms the minorities , the Arab sector , Arabs of Israel and Arab citizens of Israel . These labels have been criticized for denying this population
18109-456: The Arabic speakers of Palestine as Palestinians throughout the rest of the book." Bernard Lewis argues it was not as a Palestinian nation that the Arabs of Ottoman Palestine objected to Zionists, since the very concept of such a nation was unknown to the Arabs of the area at the time and did not come into being until very much later. Even the concept of Arab nationalism in the Arab provinces of
18308-693: The Arabic-speaking Muslims of Palestine but also the Arab Christians and other religious communities of Palestine who were at that time Arabic-speakers, such as the Samaritans and Druze . Thus, the Jews of Palestine were/are also included, although limited only to "the [Arabic-speaking] Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the [pre-state] Zionist invasion." The Charter also states that "Palestine with
18507-582: The Arabs of Palestine." Israeli historian Efraim Karsh takes the view that the Palestinian identity did not develop until after the 1967 war because the Palestinian exodus/expulsion had fractured society so greatly that it was impossible to piece together a national identity. Between 1948 and 1967, the Jordanians and other Arab countries hosting Arab refugees from Palestine/Israel silenced any expression of Palestinian identity and occupied their lands until Israel's conquests of 1967. The formal annexation of
18706-477: The Arabs who remained or were not expelled from its territory, but they were put under military law until 1966. After the 1967 Six-Day War , which resulted in an ongoing occupation of several territories, Israel annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in the early 1980s, thereby granting citizenship eligibility to the two territories' populace respectively. Acquisition of Israeli citizenship there
18905-517: The British, and Izz ad-Din al-Qassam . After the killing of sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam by the British in 1935, his followers initiated the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine , which began with a general strike in Jaffa and attacks on Jewish and British installations in Nablus . The Arab Higher Committee called for a nationwide general strike, non-payment of taxes, and the closure of municipal governments, and demanded an end to Jewish immigration and
19104-583: The Canaanite cities became vassals to the Egyptian New Kingdom who held power until the 1178 BCE Battle of Djahy (Canaan) during the wider Bronze Age collapse . The Israelites emerged from a dramatic social transformation that took place in the people of the central hill country of Canaan around 1200 BCE, with no signs of violent invasion or even of peaceful infiltration of a clearly defined ethnic group from elsewhere. During
19303-645: The Franks were no longer a significant power in the region. The Fourth Crusade , which did not reach Palestine, led directly to the decline of the Byzantine Empire, dramatically reducing Christian influence throughout the region. The Mamluk Sultanate was created in Egypt as an indirect result of the Seventh Crusade . The Mongol Empire reached Palestine for the first time in 1260, beginning with
19502-616: The Gaza Strip, over 870,000 in the West Bank, and around 250,000 in Israel proper. Of the Palestinian population who live abroad, known as the Palestinian diaspora , more than half are stateless , lacking legal citizenship in any country. 2.3 million of the diaspora population are registered as refugees in neighboring Jordan , most of whom hold Jordanian citizenship; over 1 million live between Syria and Lebanon , and about 750,000 live in Saudi Arabia , with Chile holding
19701-558: The Golan Heights , occupied and administered by Israel in 1967, are considered permanent residents under Israels Golan Heights Law of 1981. As of mid 2022, 4,303 Druze citizens of Syria have been granted Israeli citizenship, or, 20% of the total Druze residents in the Golan Heights. Most Jewish Israelis refer to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War as the War of Independence, while most Arab citizens refer to it as al-Nakba (the catastrophe),
19900-406: The Israeli Knesset . Journalist Ruth Margalit says of Mansour Abbas of the United Arab List , a member of the governing coalition , "The traditional term for this group, Arab Israelis, is increasingly controversial, but it's the one that Abbas prefers." Abbas gave an interview to Israeli media in November 2021 and said "My rights don't just come from my citizenship. My rights also come from being
20099-518: The Israeli government had invested time and effort to protect Jewish citizens from Hezbollah attacks, but had neglected Arab citizens. They pointed to a dearth of bomb shelters in Arab towns and villages and a lack of basic emergency information in Arabic. Many Israeli Jews viewed the Arab opposition to government policy and sympathy with the Lebanese as a sign of disloyalty. In October 2006, tensions rose when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert invited
20298-698: The Jewish population in Jerusalem and its surroundings in Judea , and Samaritan population in Samaria , never fully recovered as a result of the Jewish-Roman Wars and Samaritan revolts respectively. In the centuries that followed, the region experienced political and economic unrest , mass conversions to Christianity (and subsequent Christianization of the Roman Empire ), and the religious persecution of minorities. The immigration of Christians,
20497-594: The Jordan valley in 1918 and a campaign by the Entente into northern Palestine led to victory at Megiddo in September . The British were formally awarded the mandate to govern the region in 1922. The Arab Palestinians rioted in 1920 , 1921 , 1929 , and revolted in 1936 . In 1947, following World War II and The Holocaust , the British Government announced its desire to terminate the Mandate, and
20696-473: The Mandate territory, Jordan captured the regions of Judea and Samaria , renaming it the " West Bank ", while the Gaza Strip was captured by Egypt . Following the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight , also known as al-Nakba , the 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes were not allowed to return following the Lausanne Conference of 1949 . In the course of
20895-421: The Mandatory Power considered the Palestinian population to be composed of religious, not national, groups. Consequently, government censuses in 1922 and 1931 would categorize Palestinians confessionally as Muslims, Christians and Jews, with the category of Arab absent. The articles of the Mandate mentioned the civil and religious rights of the non-Jewish communities in Palestine, but not their political status. At
21094-558: The Muslim Arabs not to settle in the villages, "for he who abides in villages it is as if he abides in graves". The Umayyads , who had spurred a strong economic resurgence in the area, were replaced by the Abbasids in 750. Ramla became the administrative centre for the following centuries, while Tiberias became a thriving centre of Muslim scholarship. From 878, Palestine was ruled from Egypt by semi-autonomous rulers for almost
21293-526: The Ottoman Empire as part of a 'sacred trust of civilization'. Article 7 of the League of Nations Mandate required the establishment of a new, separate, Palestinian nationality for the inhabitants. This meant that Palestinians did not become British citizens, and that Palestine was not annexed into the British dominions. The Mandate document divided the population into Jewish and non-Jewish, and Britain,
21492-458: The Ottoman Empire, "had not reached significant proportions before the outbreak of World War I." Tamir Sorek, a sociologist , submits that, "Although a distinct Palestinian identity can be traced back at least to the middle of the nineteenth century (Kimmerling and Migdal 1993; Khalidi 1997b), or even to the seventeenth century (Gerber 1998), it was not until after World War I that a broad range of optional political affiliations became relevant for
21691-722: The Ottoman period. During the Mandatory Palestine period, the term "Palestinian" was used to refer to all people residing there, regardless of religion or ethnicity , and those granted citizenship by the British Mandatory authorities were granted "Palestinian citizenship". Other examples include the use of the term Palestine Regiment to refer to the Jewish Infantry Brigade Group of the British Army during World War II, and
21890-523: The PLO's Palestinian National Council in July 1968, defined "Palestinians" as "those Arab nationals who, until 1947, normally resided in Palestine regardless of whether they were evicted from it or stayed there. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father – whether in Palestine or outside it – is also a Palestinian." Note that "Arab nationals" is not religious-specific, and it includes not only
22089-607: The Palestinian Arabs representation in a Legislative Council on condition that they accept the terms of the mandate. The Palestine Arab delegation rejected the proposal as "wholly unsatisfactory", noting that "the People of Palestine" could not accept the inclusion of the Balfour Declaration in the constitution's preamble as the basis for discussions. They further took issue with the designation of Palestine as
22288-534: The Palestinian Arabs' aid against the newly founded State of Israel . The Palestinian Arabs suffered such a major defeat at the end of the war, that the term they use to describe the war is Nakba (the "catastrophe"). Israel took control of much of the territory that would have been allocated to the Arab state had the Palestinian Arabs accepted the UN partition plan. Along with a military defeat, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from what became
22487-454: The Palestinian national identity is a disputed issue amongst scholars. For some, the term " Palestinian " is used to refer to the nationalist concept of a Palestinian people by Palestinian Arabs from the late 19th century and in the pre-World War I period, while others assert the Palestinian identity encompasses the heritage of all eras from biblical times up to the Ottoman period . After
22686-593: The Palestinian people's right to form a sovereign independent state, "The right of self-determination gives the Palestinian people collectively the inalienable right freely to determine its political status, while Israel, having recognized the Palestinians as a separate people, is obliged to promote and respect this right in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations". Palestine (region) The region of Palestine , also known as historic Palestine ,
22885-521: The Philistines and palaistês , which means "wrestler/rival/adversary". This aligns with the Greek practice of punning place names since the latter is also the etymological meaning for Israel . The Septuagint instead used the term "allophuloi" ( άλλόφυλοι , "other nations") throughout the Books of Judges and Samuel, such that the term "Philistines" has been interpreted to mean "non-Israelites of
23084-652: The Promised Land" when used in the context of Samson, Saul and David, and Rabbinic sources explain that these peoples were different from the Philistines of the Book of Genesis . During the Byzantine period , the region of Palestine within Syria Palaestina was subdivided into Palaestina Prima and Secunda , and an area of land including the Negev and Sinai became Palaestina Salutaris . Following
23283-737: The Roman Empire, and later the Byzantine Empire, during which Palestine became a center of Christianity. In the 7th century, Palestine was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate , ending Byzantine rule in the region; Rashidun rule was succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate , the Abbasid Caliphate , and the Fatimid Caliphate . Following the collapse of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , which had been established through
23482-622: The Roman and Byzantine periods to about 300,000 by the early Ottoman period. Over time, the existing population adopted Arab culture and language and much converted to Islam . The settlement of Arabs before and after the Muslim conquest is thought to have played a role in accelerating the Islamization process. Some scholars suggest that by the arrival of the Crusaders , Palestine was already overwhelmingly Muslim, while others claim that it
23681-644: The Romans and the Jews, and desolated much of Judea. The center of Jewish life in Palestine moved to the Galilee. During or after the revolt, Hadrian joined the province of Iudaea with Galilee and the Paralia to form the new province of Syria Palaestina , and Jerusalem was renamed " Aelia Capitolina ". Some scholars view these actions as an attempt to disconnect the Jewish people from their homeland, but this theory
23880-470: The State of Israel. Israel did not allow the Palestinian refugees of the war to return to Israel. After the war, there was a hiatus in Palestinian political activity. Khalidi attributes this to the traumatic events of 1947–49, which included the depopulation of over 400 towns and villages and the creation of hundreds of thousands of refugees. 418 villages had been razed, 46,367 buildings, 123 schools, 1,233 mosques, 8 churches and 68 holy shrines, many with
24079-644: The State of Israel." In 1975, the United Nations established a subsidiary organ, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People , to recommend a program of implementation to enable the Palestinian people to exercise national independence and their rights to self-determination without external interference, national independence and sovereignty, and to return to their homes and property. The First Intifada (1987–93)
24278-433: The United Kingdom preceded its spread within the Jewish community. The government of Great Britain publicly supported it during World War I with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The British began their Sinai and Palestine Campaign in 1915. The war reached southern Palestine in 1917 , progressing to Gaza and around Jerusalem by the end of the year . The British secured Jerusalem in December 1917 . They moved into
24477-433: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, a new ideological theme, known as sumud , represented the Palestinian political strategy popularly adopted from 1967 onward. As a concept closely related to the land, agriculture and indigenousness , the ideal image of the Palestinian put forward at this time was that of the peasant (in Arabic, fellah ) who stayed put on his land, refusing to leave. A strategy more passive than that adopted by
24676-450: The West Bank by Jordan in 1950, and the subsequent granting of its Palestinian residents Jordanian citizenship, further stunted the growth of a Palestinian national identity by integrating them into Jordanian society. The idea of a unique Palestinian state distinct from its Arab neighbors was at first rejected by Palestinian representatives. The First Congress of Muslim-Christian Associations (in Jerusalem , February 1919), which met for
24875-410: The West Bank. As permanent residents, they are eligible to vote in Jerusalem 's municipal elections, although only a small percentage takes advantage of this right. The Golan Heights was not part of Mandatory Palestine or the Ottoman political units which preceded it, but rather was part of Syria, and the UN still recognizes it as such, and calls it the Syrian Golan. The remaining Druze population of
25074-549: The aftermath of the Second Intifada . Arabs who left their homes during the period of armed conflict, but remained in what had become Israeli territory, were considered to be " present absentees ". In some cases, they were refused permission to return to their homes, which were expropriated and turned over to state ownership, as was the property of other Palestinian refugees . Some 274,000, or 1 of every 4 Arab citizens of Israel are "present absentees" or internally displaced Palestinians . Notable cases of "present absentees" include
25273-407: The area Palaistine , referring to the territory previously held by Philistia , a state that existed in that area from the 12th to the 7th century BCE. The Roman Empire conquered the region and in 6 CE established the province known as Judaea , but then in 132 CE in the period of the Bar Kokhba revolt the province was expanded and renamed Syria Palaestina . In 390, during the Byzantine period,
25472-497: The civilian population of Gaza, sharing Quran verses, or expressing "any support for the Palestinian people". Haaretz described the widespread targeting of Arab Israelis by Israeli security forces. Referring to "hundreds" of interrogations, El País reported on 11 November that Israel increasingly treats its Arab minority as a "potential fifth column ". At the same time, the conflict saw an increased self-identification with Israel among Arab citizens. According to different polls,
25671-553: 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. 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. 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
25870-477: The community and pressuring the Israeli government. This was followed in 1975 by the formation of the Committee for the Defense of the Land, which sought to prevent continuing land expropriations. That same year, a political breakthrough took place with the election of Arab poet Tawfiq Ziad , a Maki member, as mayor of Nazareth, accompanied by a strong communist presence in the town council. In 1976, six Arab citizens of Israel were killed by Israeli security forces at
26069-485: The confrontations. After the 1920 Nebi Musa riots , the San Remo conference and the failure of Faisal to establish the Kingdom of Greater Syria , a distinctive form of Palestinian Arab nationalism took root between April and July 1920. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the French conquest of Syria , coupled with the British conquest and administration of Palestine, the formerly pan-Syrianist mayor of Jerusalem , Musa Qasim Pasha al-Husayni , said "Now, after
26268-399: The distinctiveness of Palestinian history ..." and "[a]lthough proud of their Arab heritage and ancestry, the Palestinians considered themselves to be descended not only from Arab conquerors of the seventh century but also from indigenous peoples who had lived in the country since time immemorial, including the ancient Hebrews and the Canaanites before them." Zachary J. Foster argued in
26467-425: The dominant Arab tribe; their territory ran from the Hejaz in the south to the Negev in the north through the period of Persian and Hellenistic dominion. In the 330s BCE, Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great conquered the region, which changed hands several times during the wars of the Diadochi and later Syrian Wars . It ultimately fell to the Seleucid Empire between 219 and 200 BCE. During that period,
26666-432: The early 20th century strong opposition to Zionism and evidence of a burgeoning nationalistic Palestinian identity is found in the content of Arabic-language newspapers in Palestine, such as Al-Karmil (est. 1908) and Filasteen (est. 1911). Filasteen initially focused its critique of Zionism around the failure of the Ottoman administration to control Jewish immigration and the large influx of foreigners, later exploring
26865-444: The efforts of some extreme advocates of Palestinian nationalism to "anachronistically" read back into history a nationalist consciousness that is in fact "relatively modern". Khalidi argues that the modern national identity of Palestinians has its roots in nationalist discourses that emerged among the peoples of the Ottoman empire in the late 19th century that sharpened following the demarcation of modern nation-state boundaries in
27064-472: The emigration of Jews, and the conversion of pagans, Jews and Samaritans, contributed to a Christian majority forming in Late Roman and Byzantine Palestine . In the 7th century, the Arab Rashiduns conquered the Levant ; they were later succeeded by other Arab Muslim dynasties, including the Umayyads , Abbasids and the Fatimids . Over the following several centuries, the population of Palestine drastically decreased, from an estimated 1 million during
27263-424: The fallen kingdom became a Persian province known as Yehud . Except Yehud, at least another four Persian provinces existed in the region: Samaria, Gaza, Ashdod, and Ascalon, in addition to the Phoenician city states in the north and the Arabian tribes in the south. During the same period, the Edomites migrated from Transjordan to the southern parts of Judea , which became known as Idumaea . The Qedarites were
27462-441: The first Israeli–Palestinian interim peace agreement, were signed in 1993. The process was envisioned to last five years, ending in June 1999, when the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the Jericho area began. The expiration of this term without the recognition by Israel of the Palestinian State and without the effective termination of the occupation was followed by the Second Intifada in 2000. The second intifada
27661-478: The focus group findings of strong Palestinian national identity, not conflicting with Israeli civic identity, match those seen in the public sphere. According to a 2019 survey by University of Haifa professor Sammy Smooha , conducted in Arabic among 718 Arab adults, 47% of the Arab population chose Palestinian identities with an Israeli component ("Israeli Palestinian", "Palestinian in Israel", "Palestinian Arab in Israel"), 36% prefers Israeli Arab identities without
27860-448: The following years, especially under the nationalistic orientation of the leadership of Yasser Arafat . Mainstream secular Palestinian nationalism was grouped together under the umbrella of the PLO whose constituent organizations include Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine , among other groups who at that time believed that political violence was the only way to "liberate" Palestine. These groups gave voice to
28059-400: The formation of a governing coalition. Increased participation of Arab citizens was also seen at the civil society level. However, tension continued to exist with many Arabs calling for Israel to become a " state of all its citizens ", thereby challenging the state's Jewish identity. In the 1999 elections for prime minister, 94% of the Arab electorate voted for Ehud Barak . However, Barak formed
28258-404: The global, and particularly European, economic pattern of growth. The beneficiaries of this process were Arabic-speaking Muslims and Christians who emerged as a new layer within the Arab elite. From 1880 large-scale Jewish immigration began, almost entirely from Europe, based on an explicitly Zionist ideology. There was also a revival of the Hebrew language and culture . Christian Zionism in
28457-465: The history of Palestine – encompassing the Biblical , Roman , Byzantine , Umayyad , Abbasid , Fatimid , Crusader , Ayyubid , Mamluk and Ottoman periods – form part of the identity of the modern-day Palestinian people, as they have come to understand it over the last century. Noting that Palestinian identity has never been an exclusive one, with "Arabism, religion, and local loyalties" playing an important role, Khalidi cautions against
28656-415: The impact of Zionist land-purchases on Palestinian peasants ( Arabic : فلاحين , fellahin ), expressing growing concern over land dispossession and its implications for the society at large. Historian Rashid Khalidi 's 1997 book Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness is considered a "foundational text" on the subject. He notes that the archaeological strata that denote
28855-445: The interwar period in response to Zionist immigration and settlement." Gelvin argues that this fact does not make the Palestinian identity any less legitimate: "The fact that Palestinian nationalism developed later than Zionism and indeed in response to it does not in any way diminish the legitimacy of Palestinian nationalism or make it less valid than Zionism. All nationalisms arise in opposition to some 'other.' Why else would there be
29054-460: The land as punishment for the Bar Kokhba revolt . Jacobson suggested the change to be rationalized by the fact that the new province was far larger. The name was thenceforth inscribed on coins, and beginning in the fifth century, mentioned in rabbinic texts . The Arabic word Filastin has been used to refer to the region since the time of the earliest medieval Arab geographers . It appears to have been used as an Arabic adjectival noun in
29253-451: The land in which the Palestinians have lived during the modern era. Palestine was administered by the Ottoman Empire until World War I, and then overseen by the British Mandatory authorities. Israel was established in parts of Palestine in 1948, and in the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , the West Bank was ruled by Jordan , and the Gaza Strip by Egypt , with both countries continuing to administer these areas until Israel occupied them in
29452-437: The largest Palestinian diaspora concentration (around half a million) outside of the Arab world . The Greek toponym Palaistínē (Παλαιστίνη), which is the origin of the Arabic Filasṭīn (فلسطين), first occurs in the work of the 5th century BCE Greek historian Herodotus , where it denotes generally the coastal land from Phoenicia down to Egypt . Herodotus also employs the term as an ethnonym , as when he speaks of
29651-455: The local level. Many Arab citizens supported the First Intifada and assisted Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, providing them with money, food, and clothes. A number of strikes were also held by Arab citizens in solidarity with Palestinians in the occupied territories. The years leading up to the Oslo Accords were a time of optimism for Arab citizens. During the administration of Yitzhak Rabin , Arab parties played an important role in
29850-568: The loss of traditional privileges, while the peasants were well aware that conscription was little more than a death sentence. Starting in May 1834 the rebels took many cities, among them Jerusalem , Hebron and Nablus and Ibrahim Pasha's army was deployed, defeating the last rebels on 4 August in Hebron. Benny Morris argues that the Arabs in Palestine nevertheless remained part of a larger national pan-Arab or, alternatively, pan-Islamist movement. Walid Khalidi argues otherwise, writing that Palestinians in Ottoman times were "[a]cutely aware of
30049-434: The meantime, pan-Arabism has waned as an aspect of Palestinian identity. The Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank triggered a second Palestinian exodus and fractured Palestinian political and militant groups, prompting them to give up residual hopes in pan-Arabism. They rallied increasingly around the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which had been formed in Cairo in 1964. The group grew in popularity in
30248-457: The most important "component in their personal identity" was to them; 33 percent answered "Israeli citizenship", 32 percent "Arab identity", 23 percent "religious affiliation", and 8 percent "Palestinian identity". University of Haifa professor Sammy Smooha commented in 2019, "The largest now and the most growing identity is a hybrid identity, which is 'Palestinian in Israel' or a similar combination. I think that’s what’s going to take over." In
30447-401: The name Syria Palestina continued to be used by historians and geographers to refer to the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River , as in the writings of Philo , Josephus and Pliny the Elder . During the early 2nd century CE, Syria Palaestina became the official administrative name in a move viewed by scholars as an attempt by emperor Hadrian to disassociate Jews from
30646-432: The nature of their Israeli citizenship. To a large extent, they boycotted the 2001 Israeli Elections as a means of protest. This boycott helped Ariel Sharon defeat Ehud Barak; as aforementioned, in the 1999 elections, 94 percent of Israel's Arab minority had voted for Ehud Barak. IDF enlistment by Bedouin citizens of Israel dropped significantly. During the 2006 Lebanon War , Arab advocacy organizations complained that
30845-417: The need to specify who you are? And all nationalisms are defined by what they oppose." David Seddon writes that "[t]he creation of Palestinian identity in its contemporary sense was formed essentially during the 1960s, with the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization." He adds, however, that "the existence of a population with a recognizably similar name ('the Philistines') in Biblical times suggests
31044-470: The newly declared Israeli state were occupied by Egypt or annexed by Jordan. At the Jericho Conference on 1 December 1948, 2,000 Palestinian delegates supported a resolution calling for "the unification of Palestine and Transjordan as a step toward full Arab unity". During what Khalidi terms the "lost years" that followed, Palestinians lacked a center of gravity, divided as they were between these countries and others such as Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere. In
31243-449: The northern highland areas of Palestine and Jordan were administered as Jund al-Urdun , while the southern parts of the latter two formed part of Jund Dimashq , which during the 9th century was attached to the administrative unit of Jund Filastin . 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
31442-430: The poll provided a different outcome, in which "there was consensus that Palestinian identity occupies a central place in their consciousness". reflecting "the strength of Palestinian-Arab identity", and that they do not see a contradiction between that and Israeli civic identity. The focus group revealed strong opposition to the term "Israeli-Arab" and to the concept of Israel's "Independence Day". The study concluded that
31641-544: The poorest in the country, and generally attend schools that are separated to some degree from those attended by Jewish Israelis . Arab political parties traditionally did not join governing coalitions until 2021, when the United Arab List became the first to do so. The Druze and the Bedouin in the Negev and the Galilee have historically expressed the strongest non-Jewish affinity to Israel and are more likely to identify as Israelis than other Arab citizens. Speakers of both Arabic and Hebrew , their traditional vernacular
31840-438: The population. Its suppression devastated many of Palestine's villages and major towns. In 1840, Britain intervened and returned control of the Levant to the Ottomans in return for further capitulations . The death of Aqil Agha marked the last local challenge to Ottoman centralization in Palestine, and beginning in the 1860s, Palestine underwent an acceleration in its socio-economic development, due to its incorporation into
32039-514: The preferred phrase of the Israeli establishment and public, was predominant. Public expressions of Palestinian identity, such as displays of the Palestinian flag or the singing and reciting of nationalist songs or poetry were illegal. With the end of military administrative rule in 1966 and following the 1967 war, national consciousness and its expression among Israel's Arab citizens spread. A majority then self-identified as Palestinian, preferring this descriptor to Israeli Arab in numerous surveys over
32238-401: The promotion of the Arabic language and culture, for the defense of Islamic values and for an independent Syria and Palestine. In Damascus , al-Nadi al-Arabi , dominated by the Husayni family, defended the same values. Article 22 of The Covenant of the League of Nations conferred an international legal status upon the territories and people which had ceased to be under the sovereignty of
32437-436: The province of Judaea " Syria Palaestina ". There is circumstantial evidence linking Hadrian with the name change, but the precise date is not certain. The term is generally accepted to be a cognate of the biblical name Peleshet ( פלשת Pəlésheth , usually transliterated as Philistia ). The term and its derivates are used more than 250 times in Masoretic -derived versions of the Hebrew Bible , of which 10 uses are in
32636-408: The purpose of selecting a Palestinian Arab representative for the Paris Peace Conference , adopted the following resolution: "We consider Palestine as part of Arab Syria, as it has never been separated from it at any time. We are connected with it by national, religious, linguistic , natural, economic and geographical bonds." An independent Palestinian state has not exercised full sovereignty over
32835-439: The recent events in Damascus , we have to effect a complete change in our plans here. Southern Syria no longer exists. We must defend Palestine". Conflict between Palestinian nationalists and various types of pan-Arabists continued during the British Mandate, but the latter became increasingly marginalized. Two prominent leaders of the Palestinian nationalists were Mohammad Amin al-Husayni , Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, appointed by
33034-449: The region became heavily hellenized , building tensions between Greeks and locals. In 167 BCE, the Maccabean Revolt erupted, leading to the establishment of an independent Hasmonean Kingdom in Judea. From 110 BCE, the Hasmoneans extended their authority over much of Palestine, including Samaria , Galilee , Iturea , Perea , and Idumea. The Jewish control over the wider region resulted in it also becoming known as Judaea ,
33233-488: The region of Palestine . In 1919, Palestinian Muslims and Palestinian Christians constituted 90 percent of the population of Palestine, just before the third wave of Jewish immigration and the setting up of British Mandatory Palestine after World War I . Opposition to Jewish immigration spurred the consolidation of a unified national identity , though Palestinian society was still fragmented by regional, class, religious, and family differences. The history of
33432-455: The region of "Palashtu" or "Pilistu", beginning with Adad-nirari III in the Nimrud Slab in c. 800 BCE through to a treaty made by Esarhaddon more than a century later. Neither the Egyptian nor the Assyrian sources provided clear regional boundaries for the term. The first clear use of the term Palestine to refer to the entire area between Phoenicia and Egypt was in 5th century BCE ancient Greece , when Herodotus wrote of
33631-442: The region since as early as the 7th century. In modern times, the first person to self-describe Palestine's Arabs as "Palestinians" was Khalil Beidas in 1898, followed by Salim Quba'in and Najib Nassar in 1902. After the 1908 Young Turk Revolution , which eased press censorship laws in the Ottoman Empire, dozens of newspapers and periodicals were founded in Palestine, and the term "Palestinian" expanded in usage. Among those were
33830-451: The region was split into the provinces of Palaestina Prima , Palaestina Secunda , and Palaestina Tertia . Following the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s, the military district of Jund Filastin was established. While Palestine's boundaries have changed throughout history, it has generally comprised the southern portion of regions such as Syria or the Levant. As the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity , Palestine has been
34029-519: The residents of Saffuriyya and the Galilee villages of Kafr Bir'im and Iqrit . Between Israel's declaration of independence on 14 May 1948 and the Israeli Nationality Law of 14 July 1952, there technically were no Israeli citizens. While most Arabs remaining in Israel were granted citizenship, they were subject to martial law in the early years of the state. Zionism had given little serious thought as to how to integrate Arabs, and according to Ian Lustick subsequent policies were 'implemented by
34228-415: The resolution, calling it "shameful". In a speech to the Knesset , Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Yigal Allon outlined the government's view that: "No one can expect us to recognize the terrorist organization called the PLO as representing the Palestinians—because it does not. No one can expect us to negotiate with the heads of terror-gangs, who through their ideology and actions, endeavor to liquidate
34427-400: The same population. The relationship of Arab citizens to the State of Israel is often fraught with tension and can be regarded in the context of relations between minority populations and state authorities elsewhere in the world. Arab citizens consider themselves to be an indigenous people . The tension between their Palestinian Arab national identity and their identity as citizens of Israel
34626-403: The same region, which was followed by Roman writers such as Ovid , Tibullus , Pomponius Mela , Pliny the Elder , Dio Chrysostom , Statius , Plutarch as well as Romano-Jewish writers Philo of Alexandria and Josephus . The term was first used to denote an official province in c. 135 CE, when the Roman authorities , following the suppression of the Bar Kokhba Revolt , renamed
34825-447: The same rights as Jewish citizens under law. After the 1967 Six-Day War , Arab citizens were able to contact Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the first time since the establishment of the state. This along with the lifting of military rule, led to increased political activism among Arab citizens. In 1974, a committee of Arab mayors and municipal councilmen was established which played an important role in representing
35024-429: The sea to the caravan route, presumably the Hejaz-Damascus route east of the Jordan River valley. Others refer to it as extending from the sea to the desert. Prior to the Allied Powers victory in World War I and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire , which created the British mandate in the Levant , most of the northern area of what is today Jordan formed part of the Ottoman Vilayet of Damascus ( Syria ), while
35223-451: The southern part of Jordan was part of the Vilayet of Hejaz . What later became Mandatory Palestine was in late Ottoman times divided between the Vilayet of Beirut ( Lebanon ) and the Sanjak of Jerusalem . The Zionist Organization provided its definition of the boundaries of Palestine in a statement to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 . The British administered Mandatory Palestine after World War I, having promised to establish
35422-420: The term State of Palestine refers only to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This discrepancy was described by the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas as a negotiated concession in a September 2011 speech to the United Nations: "... we agreed to establish the State of Palestine on only 22% of the territory of historical Palestine – on all the Palestinian Territory occupied by Israel in 1967." The term Palestine
35621-857: The term "Palestinian Talmud", which is an alternative name of the Jerusalem Talmud , used mainly in academic sources. Following the 1948 establishment of Israel , the use and application of the terms "Palestine" and "Palestinian" by and to Palestinian Jews largely dropped from use. For example, the English-language newspaper The Palestine Post , founded by Jews in 1932, changed its name in 1950 to The Jerusalem Post . The term Arab Jews can include Jews with Palestinian heritage and Israeli citizenship, although some Arab Jews prefer to be called Mizrahi Jews . Non-Jewish Arab citizens of Israel with Palestinian heritage identify themselves as Arabs or Palestinians. These non-Jewish Arab Israelis thus include those that are Palestinian by heritage but Israeli by citizenship. The Palestinian National Charter , as amended by
35820-551: The term "Palestinian citizen of Israel" and that "for people who often feel caught between two worlds, however, the contours of what it means to be a Palestinian citizen of Israel remain a work in progress." However, these findings conflict with a 2017 Tel Aviv University poll which showed most Israelis self-identify as either Arab-Israeli or simply Israeli. Similar terms that Israeli Arabs, media and other organizations may use are Palestinian Arabs in Israel and Israeli Palestinian Arabs . Amnesty reports that "Arab citizens of Israel"
36019-424: The time referred predominantly to Bedouin nomads, though Arab settlement is attested in the Judean highlands and near Jerusalem by the 5th century, and some tribes had converted to Christianity. The local population engaged in farming, which was considered demeaning, and were called Nabaț , referring to Aramaic -speaking villagers. A ḥadīth , brought in the name of a Muslim freedman who settled in Palestine, ordered
36218-461: The transfer of land abandoned by Arabs to state ownership. These included the Absentee Property Law of 1950 which allowed the state to expropriate the property of Palestinians who fled or were expelled to other countries, and the Land Acquisition Law of 1953 which authorized the Ministry of Finance to transfer expropriated land to the state. Other common legal expedients included the use of emergency regulations to declare land belonging to Arab citizens
36417-465: The two primary communities were referred to by the British authorities as "Arabs" and " Jews ". Between 1948 and 1967 , very few citizens of Israel identified openly as "Palestinian". An "Israeli-Arab" identity, the preferred phrase of the Israeli establishment and public, was predominant. Public expressions of Palestinian identity, such as displays of the Palestinian flag or the singing and reciting of nationalist songs or poetry were illegal. Ever since
36616-403: The war, over 80% fled or were expelled. The other 20%, some 156,000, remained. Some of them are supporting Israel from the beginning. Arab citizens of Israel today are largely composed of the people who remained and their descendants. Others include some from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who procured Israeli citizenship under family-unification provisions made significantly more stringent in
36815-517: The world's longest military occupation in modern times. In 2008 Palestinian hikaye was inscribed to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage ; the first of four listings reflecting the significance of Palestinian culture globally. In November 2012, the status of Palestinian delegation in the United Nations was upgraded to non-member observer state as the State of Palestine . The boundaries of Palestine have varied throughout history. The Jordan Rift Valley (comprising Wadi Arabah,
37014-426: The world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the territory of former Mandatory Palestine , now encompassing Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip . In Israel proper, Palestinians constitute almost 21 percent of the population as part of its Arab citizens . Many are Palestinian refugees or internally displaced Palestinians , including over 1.4 million in
37213-440: The years. Arabs in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights (Syrian Golan) are special cases regarding citizenship and identity. Arabs living in East Jerusalem , occupied and administered by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967 hold Israeli ID cards, but most are non-citizen permanent residents since few accepted Israel's offer of citizenship after the war's end, refusing to recognize its sovereignty, and most maintain close ties with
37412-486: The years. In a 2017 telephone poll, 40% of Arab citizens of Israel identified as "Arab in Israel / Arab citizen of Israel", 15% identified as "Palestinian", 8.9% as "Palestinian in Israel / Palestinian citizen of Israel", and 8.7% as "Arab"; the focus groups associated with the poll provided a different outcome, in which "there was consensus that Palestinian identity occupies a central place in their consciousness". A November 2023 poll asked respondents from this demographic what
37611-621: Was 1,413,500 people, about 20% of Israel's population. The Arab population in 2023 was estimated at 2,065,000, representing 21% of the country's population. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (May 2003), Muslims, including Bedouins, make up 82% of the entire Arab population in Israel, along with around 9% Druze, and 9% Christians. Projections based on 2010 data, predicted that Arab Israelis will constitute 25% of Israel's population by 2025. Palestinians Palestinians ( Arabic : الفلسطينيون , romanized : al-Filasṭīniyyūn ) are an Arab ethnonational group native to
37810-456: Was aided by the immigration of Egyptians (during the reigns of Muhammad Ali and Ibrahim Pasha ) and Algerians (following Abdelkader El Djezaïri 's revolt) in the first half of the 19th century, and the subsequent immigration of Algerians, Bosnians , and Circassians during the second half of the century. Many Palestinian villagers claim ancestral ties to Arab tribes from the Arabian Peninsula that settled in Palestine during or after
38009-453: Was annexed by another Persian dynasty; the Sassanids , until returning to Byzantine control in 628 CE. Palestine was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate , beginning in 634 CE. In 636, the Battle of Yarmouk during the Muslim conquest of the Levant marked the start of Muslim hegemony over the region, which became known as the military district of Jund Filastin within the province of Bilâd al-Shâm (Greater Syria). In 661, with
38208-660: Was famously described by an Arab public figure as: "My state is at war with my nation". Arab/Palestinian citizens of Israel may refer to themselves by a wide range of terms. Each of these names, while referring to the same group of people, connotes a different balance in what is often a multilayered identity assigning varying levels of priority or emphasis to the various dimensions which may be historic-geographic (" Palestine (region) "), "national" or ethnoreligious (Palestinian, Arab, Israeli, Druze, Circassian), linguistic (Arabic-speaking), civic (feeling "Israeli" or not), etc.: Two appellations, among others listed above, are not applied to
38407-407: Was important for creating an Arab Palestine detached from greater Syria ( bilad al-Sham ). According to Pappe, it was an attempt to reinforce the Syrian front in face of Muhammad Ali's invasion. Two years later, Palestine was conquered by Muhammad Ali's Egypt, but Egyptian rule was challenged in 1834 by a countrywide popular uprising against conscription and other measures considered intrusive by
38606-405: Was inhabited by the Canaanites , Semitic -speaking peoples who practiced the Canaanite religion . Most Palestinians share a strong genetic link to the ancient Canaanites. Israelites later emerged as an outgrowth of southern Canaanite civilization, with Jews and Israelite Samaritans eventually forming the majority of the population in Palestine during classical antiquity , However,
38805-492: Was more violent than the first. The International Court of Justice observed that since the government of Israel had decided to recognize the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people, their existence was no longer an issue. The court noted that the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip of 28 September 1995 also referred a number of times to the Palestinian people and its "legitimate rights". According to Thomas Giegerich , with respect to
39004-412: Was only after the Crusades that the Christians lost their majority, and that the process of mass Islamization took place much later, perhaps during the Mamluk period . For several centuries during the Ottoman period the population in Palestine declined and fluctuated between 150,000 and 250,000 inhabitants, and it was only in the 19th century that a rapid population growth began to occur. This growth
39203-529: Was reported from Beersheba, Rahat, Ramla, Lod, Nasiriyah, Tiberias, Jerusalem, Haifa and Acre. The Arab community in Israel has seen a significant increase in violence and organized crime , including a rise in gang-related murders in recent years. A report by the Abraham Initiative highlighted that 244 Arab community members were killed in Israel in 2023, more than double the previous year's count. The report attributed this surge in homicides directly to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir , who campaigned on
39402-484: Was the first popular uprising against the Israeli occupation of 1967. Followed by the PLO's 1988 proclamation of a State of Palestine , these developments served to further reinforce the Palestinian national identity. After the Gulf War in 1991, Kuwaiti authorities forcibly pressured nearly 200,000 Palestinians to leave Kuwait . The policy which partly led to this exodus was a response to the alignment of PLO leader Yasser Arafat with Saddam Hussein . The Oslo Accords ,
39601-464: Was then annexed as a Babylonian province . The Philistines were also exiled. The defeat of Judah was recorded by the Babylonians. In 539 BCE, the Babylonian empire was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire . According to the Hebrew Bible and implications from the Cyrus Cylinder , the exiled Jews were eventually allowed to return to Jerusalem . The returned population in Judah were allowed to self-rule under Persian governance, and some parts of
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