Palestine (Latin Syria Palestina, Hebrew Palestina [פלשתינה] orEretz Yisrael [ארץ־ישראל], Arabic Filasteen [فلسطين]), is a region in the Middle East extending inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Its political status is hotly disputed.
Egyptian writings refer to the region as R-t-n-u (for convenience pronounced Rechenu). Several names for the region are found in the Bible: (Eretz) Yisrael "(land of) Israel", Eretz Ha-Ivrim "land of the Hebrews", "land flowing with milk and honey", "land that [God] swore to your fathers to assign to you", "Holy Land", and "land of the LORD". The portion of the land lying west of the Jordan was also called "land of Canaan" during the period in which it fell under the control of Egyptian vassals traditionally descended from Canaan the son of Ham. After the division of the Jewish kingdom into two the southern part was called "land of Judah" and the northern part was called "land of Israel".
The name "Palestine" comes from the Philistine people, who are first recorded by the ancient Egyptians as P-r/l-s-t (conventionally Peleset), one of the Sea Peoples who invaded Egypt in Ramesses III's reign. "Palestine" (Hebrew פלשת Pəléšeth, P(e)léshet) is used in the Bible to denote the coastal region inhabited by the Philistines, whose five principal cities were Gaza, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Ashkelon. Usage of the term, usually in the form "Syria Palestina", to denote the inland areas as well was common among Greek writers as early as Herodotus. Josephus, however, apparently intended by the name only the land of the Phillistines. The Philistines (meaning "invaders" in Hebrew) were subjugated by David; however, by Amos' time they had regained their independence. They are no longer mentioned by Assyrian times. As noted above, the Romans changed the region's name from "Syria Judea" to "Syria Palestina" in the Second century.
Filastin (فلسطين), originally an Arabic transcription of the Greek term Palaistina, was the name of one of the districts of Syria in the Fatimid and Abbasid Caliphates of the 7th to 11th centuries, was briefly the heart of the Crusader States and then part of the Mamluk empire. After the Ottoman conquest, the name disappeared as the official name of an administrative district but remained in popular and semi-official use. Many examples of its usage in the 16th and 17th centuries have survived. During the 19th century, the "Ottoman Government employed the term Arz-i Filistin (the 'Land of Philistines') in official correspondence, meaning for all intents and purposes the area to the west of the River Jordan which became 'Palestine' under the British in 1922" (Mandel, page xx). However, the translation he gives is incorrect: Arz-i Filistin (أرض فلسطين) translates as "Land of Palestine." Amongst the educated Arab public, Filastin was a common concept, referring either to the whole of Palestine or to the Jerusalem sanjaq alone.
In European usage up to World War I, the name "Palestine" was used informally for a region that extended in the north-south direction typically from Raphia (south-east of Gaza) to the Litani River (now in Lebanon). The western boundary was the sea, and the eastern boundary was the poorly-defined place where the Syrian desert began. In various European sources, the eastern boundary was placed anywhere from the Jordan River to slightly east of Amman. The Negev Desert was not included.
Formal use of the English word "Palestine" returned with the British Mandate (see above).
the area north and south of Jerusalem and eastward to the Jordan River, generally called the West Bank, though some Israelis call the region by its biblical names of Judea and Samaria
Israel has annexed the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. However, the Israeli annexation are not recognized by the United Nations nor by most states, which regard them as territories under Israeli military occupation. Israel had not formally annexed the West Bank and the Gaza Strip first out of an intention to negotiate a peace agreement with Jordan and Egypt using the territories as a bargaining chip. Egypt withdrew its claim for the Gaza Strip in 1979 as a part of the Israeli-Egypt peace treaty signed and Jordan for the West Bank in 1988. This paved the way for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. After increasing international pressure and the first Intifada Israel began negotiations with the PLO to allow at least for Palestinian self-administration, which resulted in the Oslo accords. Since the Six-Day War, Israeli settlements have been illegally constructed in the territories.
It should be noted that neither the Gaza Strip, nor the West Bank are formally claimed by any universally recognized state - both Egypt and Jordan revoked their demands to them at the signing of peace treaties with Israel. The "State of Palestine", whose independence was declared by the PLO in the 1980s, claims these territories, and 2/3 of the world's nations recognize the "State of Palestine" as a state. According to the 1993Oslo Accords, the final status of the West Bank and Gaza is subject to a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, temporary agreements now being in place. The status of the Golan Heights is subject to an agreement with Syria.
UN Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) and Resolution 338 (1973) state that the status of the territories needs to be resolved by negotiations, and requires Israel to withdraw from these territories. The Israeli government and some critics world-wide maintain that the wording of these resolutions is extremely ambiguous and no longer relevant due to the changing political situation in the region, while many Palestinians and critics worldwide maintain that they remain not only relevant but essential.
The Palestinian refugees left their homes during two events, first in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and secondly after Israel's invasion of the West Bank in the Six-day war.
On midnight on May 14, 1948, the last British soldiers departed and the new state of Israel was proclaimed. By then, Palestine was already in a state of war, the Arab Liberation Army had entered the land to fight for the Palestinians against the Jews. West Jerusalem and parts of the Old City were under Jewish control, but the city was effectively under Arab siege. Jaffa had been captured by Jews, as well a corridor between the coast and Jerusalem. Arab inhabitants of that area had launched numerous attacks on the young Jewish state's vital route; because of that, several Arab villages had been destroyed according to Plan Dalet, and their inhabitants expelled, in order to remove the Arab siege from Jerusalem.
In response to the declaration of the State of Israel, armies from the surrounding Arab states of Egypt, Syria, TransJordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon entered Palestine, thus beginning the 1948 war, which was lost by the Arabs.
By the end of this war, there were between 400,000 and 850,000 Arab refugees. (Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, Submitted to the Secretary-General for Transmission to the Members of the United Nations, General Assembly Official Records: Third Session, Supplement No.11 (A/648), Paris, 1948) The Palestinian refugees have not been permitted to return home. According to the UNRWA there are now over 5 million Palestinian refugees (including descendants).
A fiercely contested question is exactly how the refugees came to flee the country. Some hold that most Palestinian Arabs left their homes because they were encouraged to do so by the surrounding Arab states, through various media, such as radio broadcasts in order the clear the area for operations by the invading Arab armies. Some international observers and historians have stated that most of them left because some were driven out by force from the Haganah and the Jewish undergrounds or fled in fear of massacres such as Deir Yassin. Separate articles exist on Palestinian refugees, Jewish refugees and the Palestinian Exodus.
In the Six-day War 1967, 300,000 additional Palestinians were evicted from their homes, including 180,000 formerly resettled refugees from the 1948 war.
The UN's agency, UNRWA has a unique definition for the Palestinian refugees: UNRWA's definition of a refugee also covers the descendants of persons who became refugees in 1948[1]. This differs from the standard UN definition of a refugee: people who are outside their country of origin (or their habitual residence, in the case of stateless people) and who, due to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for race, religion, nationality, a group membership or political opinion, cannot or will not avail themselves of the protection to which they are entitled[1], which excludes the descendants of refugees (other than dependents) from refugee status.
"Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for the loss or damage to property..."
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "every person has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country."
In the negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government, both parties signed an agreement saying that financial compensation was a necessary and legitimate way of dealing with many of the refugees from both sides.
Palestine Economic Forum (PalEcon) The Palestine Economic Forum web-site promoting discussion on the Palestinian economy. Covers economic policy, peace economics and their publications. http://www.palecon.org/
Jerusalem Water Undertaking Serving the water needs of the Ramallah district (about 100 villages, municipalities and refugee camps. Includes an annual report describing the organisation, and the outline of a joint JWU-German project to improve water supply. http://www.jwu.org/
PalTel Palestine Telecommunications Company - details of the company, customer services and news items. http://www.paltel.net
Cellular News Cell phone information for the Palestine Authority - news, coverage and network details. http://www.cellular-news.com/coverage/palestine.shtml
Palestine Real Estate Investment Co. Details of current construction projects, the company, and includes a newsletter. http://www.aqaria.com/Index.html
UNCTAD Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People Provides on the UNCTAD technical assistance programme to the Palestinian people in the areas of trade, finance and enterprise development. Includes an overview of ongoing projects and secretariat publications on the Palestinian economy since 1985. http://www.unctad.org/palestine/
Dallah Al-Barakah Rent-a-Car Offering cars and SUV's in the Jerusalem and West Bank area. Offers a location map, and a catalog. http://www.dallahrentacar.com/
Number One Source, Ltd. Offers solar energy, passive cooling and wind energy systems including system design, procurement and construction. Includes news on current projects. Located on the West Bank. http://www.number1source.net/
Khozendar Sons Co. Company active in manufacturing, energy, trade, real estate and contracting. Includes projects, activities and company history. [Arabic, English] http://www.khozendar.com/
