"Thus," writes Dio Cassius, "nearly the whole of Judaea was made desolate. Roger (1969) "The United Kingdom and the Beginning of the Mandates System, 1919–1922", in: Redmount, Carol A. The Assyrians held the region until the fall of their empire in 612 BCE to a coalition led by Babylonians and Medes and, shortly after, the Babylonians invaded Palestine in 598 BCE and sacked Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple of Solomon, and took the leading citizens among the Israelites back to Babylon (a period in Jewish history known as the Babylonian Captivity). [124] 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 the southern part of Jordan was part of the Vilayet of Hejaz.

In UN resolutions concerning Israel, East Jerusalem is routinely referred to as part of the West Bank or as part of the Palestinian Territories.[57]. The region comprises most of the territory claimed for the biblical regions known as the Land of Israel (Hebrew: ארץ־ישראל‎ Eretz-Yisra'el), the Holy Land or Promised Land, and represents the southern portion of wider regional designations such as Canaan, Syria, ash-Sham, and the Levant. [132] According to Palestinian constitution, article 4: "Islam is the official religion of Palestine. The Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007 divided the Palestinian territories politically. In 2011, Andrew Sanger explained the situation as follows: "Israel claims it no longer occupies the Gaza Strip, maintaining that it is neither a Stale nor a territory occupied or controlled by Israel, but rather it has 'sui generis' status. By clicking the button, you agree to the Land Network's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
[74] 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 Jerusalem Post has an enlightening – and depressing – article here on land ownership in the “West Bank”:. [77], 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. Egypt’s influence is evident in the pattern of burial rituals in the region which closely mirror Egypt’s in terms of the type of grave goods included in the tombs. "[134][135], According to Israeli archaeologists Magen Broshi and Yigal Shiloh, the population of ancient Palestine did not exceed one million. During the period between the 1993 Oslo Accords and the Second Intifada beginning in 2000, Israeli officials asserted that the term "occupation" did not accurately reflect the state of affairs in the territories. Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. The region was among the earliest in the world to see human habitation, agricultural communities and civilization. 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. Ramla became the administrative centre for the following centuries, while Tiberias became a thriving centre of Muslim scholarship. Estimating the population of Palestine in antiquity relies on two methods – censuses and writings made at the times, and the scientific method based on excavations and statistical methods that consider the number of settlements at the particular age, area of each settlement, density factor for each settlement. Following the events of the Second Intifada, and in particular, Operation Defensive Shield, most territories, including Palestinian cities (Area A), came back under effective Israeli military control, making the discussion along those lines largely moot. [42][43] The extent of the territories, while subject to future negotiations, have frequently been defined by the Green Line. The region continued to be contested throughout the next few centuries until the British involved themselves in 1915 CE during World War I at which time the western powers first devised plans to partition the Middle East for their own purposes and benefit. A Mosque in the area of Medina, possibly: This page was last edited on 28 September 2020, at 17:21. The Arab League threatened to take military measures to prevent the partition of Palestine and to ensure the national rights of the Palestinian Arab population. [43], 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.
[11] The European Union (EU) also has adopted this usage. According to the Israeli Supreme Court, the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits unilateral annexation of occupied territory, does not[dubious – discuss] apply to East Jerusalem, as there was no[dubious – discuss] "legitimate sovereign"[citation needed] recognised by Israel and its allies previously exercising control over the territory. Cite This Work Part of the USAID mission is to provide flexible and discrete support for implementation of the Quartet Road Map. [viii][ix], In November 2012, the status of Palestinian delegation in the United Nations was upgraded to non-member observer state as the State of Palestine.

Menachem Klein, ['Jerusalem: The Contested City,'] C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2001 pp.189ff., passim.