281: ISRAEL OR PALESTINE OR PALESTINE OR ISRAEL OR ISRAEL OR….Once one knows the facts of HOW, WHY, and WHERE; one could then decide WHAT is WHAT, WHICH is WHICH, and WHO is WHOM; and let go of the HORSE-SHIT

24 May, 2008

ISRAEL OR PALESTINE OR PALESTINE OR ISRAEL OR ISRAEL OR….Once one knows the facts of HOW, WHY, and WHERE; one could then decide WHAT is WHAT, WHICH is WHICH, and WHO is WHOM; and let go of the HORSE-SHIT

THE LAND OF ISRAEL, known in Hebrew as Eretz Yisrael, has been sacred to the Jewish people since the time of the biblical patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Bible places this period in the early 2nd millennium BC. According to the Torah, the Land of Israel was promised to the Jews as their homeland, and the sites holiest to Judaism are located there. Around the 11th century BC, the first of a series of Jewish Kingdoms and States had established rule over the region; these Jewish Kingdoms and States ruled intermittently for the following one thousand years.

Between the time of the Jewish Kingdoms and the 7th-century Moslem conquests, the Land of Israel fell under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Sassanian, and Byzantine rule. Jewish presence in the region dwindled after the failure of the Bar Kokhba (the return of the Messiah) Revolt against the Roman Empire in 132AD and the resultant large-scale expulsion of Jews. Nevertheless, a continuous Jewish presence in Palestine was maintained. Although the main Jewish population shifted from the Judea region to the Galilee; the Mishnah and part of the Talmud, among Judaism's most important religious texts, were composed in Israel during this period. The Land of Israel was captured from the Byzantine Empire around 636AD during the initial Moslem conquests. Control of the region was transferred between the Umayyads, Abbasids, and the Crusaders over the next six centuries, before falling into the hands of the Mamluk Sultanate, in 1260. In 1516, the Land of Israel became a part of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled the region until the 20th century.

PALESTINE, Greek: Παλαιστίνη. Latin: Palaestina; Hebrew: פלשתינה‎ Palestina; Arabic: فلسطين‎ Filasṭīn, Falasṭīn, Filisṭīn; is a widely-attested Western and Near Eastern conventional name which is used, among others, to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River and various adjoining lands. As a geographical, apolitical term, in its broadest application, it can be used to refer to ancient Palestine, an area that includes contemporary Israel, the Israeli-occupied territories, part of Jordan, and some parts of both Lebanon and Syria. In classical or contemporary terms, it can also be used to refer to the area once known as British Mandate Palestine, and today known as Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.

The Hebrew Bible calls the region Canaan (כּנען), while the part of it occupied by the Israelites is designated Israel (Yisrael). The name Land of the Hebrews (ארץ העברים, Eretz Ha-Ivrim) is also found, as well as several poetical names: land flowing with milk and honey, the land that God promised to your fathers to assign to you, the Holy Land, the Land of the Lord, and the Promised Land.

* The Land of the Lord indeed! What a shambles of a place! Personally, I do not see anything holy about the place, as it has been an arena of wars, battles, and skirmishes since as far back as anyone could possibly remember or read about; nor do I see any sign or hope of peace or compromise or co-existence.

The Land of Canaan is given a precise description in the Bible (the Old Testament) as including all of Lebanon as well. The wide area appears to have been the home of several small nations such as the Canaanites / Hebrews / Hittites / Amorrhites / Pherezites / Hevites and Jebusites.

According to Hebrew tradition, the land of Canaan is part of the land given to the descendants of Abraham, which extends from the Nile to the Euphrates River. That land is said to include an area called Aram Naharaim, which includes Ur Kasdim in modern Turkey, where Abraham's father was born.

PALEOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC PERIODS (1,000,000 – 5,000BC)

Human remains found at El-'Ubeidiya, 2 miles (3 km) south of Lake Tiberius date back as early as 500,000 years ago. The discovery of the Palestine Man in the Zuttiyeh Cave in Wadi Al-Amud near Safad in 1925 provided some clues to human development in the area. N.B: He was named the Palestine Man but that doesn’t prove he was Palestinian or Jew. He could have been a wanderer from the Arabian Peninsula or anywhere else.

In the caves of Shuqba in Ramallah and Wadi Khareitun in Bethlehem, stone, wood and animal bone tools were found and attributed to the Natufian culture (12,800 – 10,300 BC). Other remains from this era have been found at Tel Abu Hureura, Ein Mallaha, Beidha and Jericho.

Between 10,000 and 5,000BC, agricultural communities were established. Evidence of such settlements were found at Tel El-Sultan, Jericho and include mud-brick rounded and square dwellings, pottery shards, and fragments of woven fabrics.

CHALCOLITIC PERIOD (5,000 – 3,000BC) / BRONZE AGE (3,000 – 1,200 BC)

A culture originating in Syria existed along the Jericho-Dead Sea-Bir El-Saba-Gaza-Sinai route, marked by the use of copper and stone tools that brought new migrant groups to the region contributing to an increasingly urban social fabric.

By the early Bronze Age (3000–2200BC) independent Canaanite city-states situated in plains and coastal regions and surrounded by mud-brick defensive walls were established and most of these cities relied on nearby agricultural hamlets for their food.

Archaeological finds from the early Canaanite era have been found at Tel Megiddo, Jericho, Tel al-Far'a (Gaza), Bisan, and Ai (Deir Dibwan/Ramallah District), Tel El Nasbe (al-Bireh) and Jib (Jerusalem).

In the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1500BC), Canaan was influenced by the surrounding civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, and Syria; diverse commercial ties and an agriculturally based economy led to the development of new pottery forms, the cultivation of grapes, and the extensive use of bronze. Burial customs at the time seemed to be influenced by a belief in the afterlife.

Political, commercial, and military events during the Late Bronze Age period (1450–1350BC) were recorded by ambassadors and Canaanite proxy-rulers for Egypt in 379 cuneiform tablets known as the Amana Letters.

By 1190BC, the Philistines had arrived and mingled with the local population, losing their separate identity over several generations.

The IRON AGE (1200–330BC)

Pottery remains found in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gat, Ekron and Gaza decorated with stylized birds provided the first archaeological evidence for Philistine settlement in the region. The Philistines were credited with introducing iron weapons and chariots to the local population.

PERSIAN RULE (538BC)

After the Persian Empire had been established, Jews were allowed to return to what their holy books had termed the Land of Israel, and having been granted some autonomy by the Persian administration, and it was during this period that the Second Temple in Jerusalem was built. Sebastia, near Nablus, was the northernmost province of the Persian administration in Palestine, and its southern borders were at Hebron. Some of the local population served as soldiers and lay people in the Persian administration, while others continued in agriculture. In 400BC, the Nabataeans made inroads into southern Palestine and built a separate civilization in the Negev that lasted until 160BC.

CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY

HELLENISTIC RULE (333BC)

The Persian Empire fell to the Greek forces of the Macedonian general Alexander the Great. After his death, with the absence of heirs, his conquests were divided amongst his generals, while the region of the Jews: Judah or Judea as it became known; was at first part of the Ptolemaic Dynasty and then part of the Seleucid Empire.

The landscape during this period was markedly changed by extensive growth and development that included urban planning and the establishment of well-built fortified cities. Hellenistic pottery was produced that absorbed Philistine traditions. Trade and commerce flourished, particularly in the most Hellenized areas, such as Ascalon, Jaffa, Jeruslem, Gaza, and ancient Nablus.

The Jewish population in Judea was allowed limited autonomy in religion and administration.

HASMONEAN DYNASTY (140BC)

An independent Jewish Kingdom under the Hasmonean Dynasty existed from 140 to 37BC. In the second century BC, fascination for Greek culture in Jerusalem resulted in a movement to break down the separation of Jew and Gentile and some Jews even tried to disguise the marks of their circumcision. Disputes between the leaders of the reform movement eventually led to civil war and the intervention of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Subsequent persecution of the Jews led to the Maccabean Revolt under the leadership of the Hasmoneans, and the construction of a native Jewish Kingship under the Hasmonean Dynasty. After approximately a century of independence, disputes between the Hasmonean rivals Aristobulus and Hyrcanus led to control of the kingdom by the Roman army of Pompey; the territory then became first a Roman Client Kingdom under Hyrcanus and then, in 70BC, a Roman Province administered by the Roman Governor of Syria.

ROMAN RULE (63BC) Palestine; before and after the Time of Christ

General Pompey arrived in Judea in 63 BC, but Roman Rule was solidified when Herod of Idumean ancestry was appointed as king. Urban planning under the Romans was characterized by cities designed around the Forum – the central intersection of two main streets – the Cardo, running north-south and the Decumanus running east-west. Cities were connected by an extensive network of roads developed for economic and military purposes. Among the most notable archaeological remnants from this era are Herodium (Tel al-Fureidis) to the south of Bethlehem and Caesarea.

Around the time associated with the birth of Jesus, Roman Palestine was in a state of disarray and direct Roman Rule was re-established. The early Christians were oppressed and while most inhabitants became romanized, others, particularly Jews, found Roman rule to be unbearable.

THE FRIST JEWISH REVOLT IN JUDEA

The Jews revolted, and as the result of the First Jewish-Roman War (66-73AD), Titus sacked Jerusalem; destroying the Second Temple, leaving only supporting walls, including the Western Wall.

THE SECOND JEWISH REVOLT IN JUDEA

In 135AD, following the fall of the second Jewish revolt led by Bar Kokhba (Hebrew: מרד בר כוכבא‎) in 132–135AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian attempted the expulsion of Jews from Judea. His attempt was as unsuccessful as were most of Rome's many attempts to alter the demography of the Empire; this was demonstrated by the continued existence of the Rabbinical Academy of Lydda in Judea; and in any case large Jewish populations remained in Samaria and the Galilee.

The Bar Kokhba Revolt against the Roman Empire was the second major revolt by the Jews of Judea and the last of the Jewish-Roman Wars. Simon Bar Kokhba, the commander of the revolt, was acclaimed the Messiah, the King prophesied to restore Israel. The revolt established a Jewish state for over two years, but a massive Roman army finally crushed it. The Romans then barred Jews from Jerusalem. Jewish Christians hailed Jesus as the Messiah and did not support Bar Kokhba, but all the same, they were barred from Jerusalem along with the rest of the Jews. The war and its aftermath helped differentiate Christianity as a religion distinct from Judaism.

The Revolt is also known as The Second Jewish Revolt that resulted in the second Jewish-Roman War; or The Third Revolt, with the Kitos War, 115 - 117, as the Second.

Lydda or Lod (Hebrew: לוֹד‎, Arabic: اَلْلُدّْ‎, pronounced Al-Ludd, Greco-Latin: Lydda) is a mixed Arab-Jewish city ten miles southeast of Tel Aviv in the Center District of Israel. In 2007, its population was 74,000. A historic city dating from the Greek and Roman eras, Lod is the hub of Israel's main international airport, Ben Gurion International Airport, previously known as Lod Airport. The airport and related industries are a major source of employment for the residents of Lod. The Jewish Agency Absorption Centre, the main facility for handling olim arriving in Israel, is also located in Lod.

THE THIRD JEWISH REVOLT / THE THIRD JEWISH-ROMAN WAR / THE KITOS WAR: (115-117) (Hebrew: מרד הגלויות‎: mered ha'galoyot or mered ha'tfutzot (מרד התפוצות), translation: Rebellion of the exile) is the name given to the second of the Jewish-Roman Wars, but which took place outside Judea. The name is derived from the Mauretanian Roman general Lucius Quietus who ruthlessly suppressed the Jewish revolt in Mesopotamia and was sent to Judea to handle the revolt there.

BYZANTINE (EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE) RULE (330–640AD)

Emperor Constantine the Great (274-337AD), Roman Emperor (306-337) converted to Christianity in 312, on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge against his rival in Italy, Maxentius. After his mother, Empress Helena, had identified the spot she believed to be the spot where Christ was crucified, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built in Jerusalem. The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Ascension in Jerusalem were also built during Constantine's reign

ARAB CALIPHATE RULE (638–1099AD)

In 638, Caliph Omar Ibn al-Khattab and Safforonius, the Byzantine Governor of Jerusalem, signed Al-Uhda al-'Omariyya (The Umariyya Covenant), an agreement that stipulated the rights and obligations of non-Moslems in Palestine. Jews were permitted to return to Palestine for the first time since the 500-year ban enacted by the Romans and maintained by Byzantine rulers. Omar Ibn al-Khattab was the first conqueror of Jerusalem to enter the city on foot, and when visiting the site that now houses the Haram al-Sharif, he declared it a sacred place of prayer. Cities that accepted the new rulers, as recorded in registrars from the time, were: Jerusalem, Nablus, Jenin, Acre, Tiberias, Bisan, Caesarea, Lajjun, Lydda, Jaffa, Imwas, Beit Jibrin, Gaza, Rafah, Hebron, Yubna, Haifa, Safad and Ashkelon.

UMAYYAD RULE (661–750AD)

Under Umayyad Rule, the Byzantine Province of Palaestina Prima became the military and administrative sub-province (jund) of Filastin – the Arabic name for Palestine from that point onwards. It formed part of the larger province of Al-Sham (Arabic for Greater Syria). Jund Filastin (Arabic: جند فلسطين, literally “the army of Palestine” was a region extending from the Sinai to the plain of Acre. Major towns included Rafah, Caesarea, Gaza, Jaffa, and Nablus; Jericho Jund al-Urdunn (literally “the army of Jordan”) was a region to the north and east of Filastin which included the cities of Acre, Bisan and Tiberias.

In 691, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ordered that the Dome of the Rock be built on the site where the Islamic Prophet Mohammed was believed by Moslems to have begun his nocturnal journey to heaven, on the Temple Mount. A decade afterward, Caliph Al Walid I ordered the Al-Aqsa Mosque built. It was during Umayyad Rule that Christians and Jews were granted the title of Peoples of the Book to underline the common monotheistic roots they shared with Islam.

ABBASID RULE (750–969AD)

The Baghdad-based Abbasid Caliphs visited and renovated the Holy Shrines and Sanctuaries in Jerusalem. Coastal areas were fortified and developed and port cities like Acre, Haifa, Caesarea, Arsuf, Jaffa and Ashkelon monies from the state treasury. A Trade Fair took place in Jerusalem every year on September 15 where merchants from Pisa, Genoa, Venice and Marseilles converged to acquire spices, soaps, silks, olive oil, sugar and glassware in exchange for European products. European Christian pilgrims visited and made generous donations to Christian Holy Places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Harun al-Rashid (786-809) established the Christian Pilgrims' Inn in Jerusalem, fulfilling Umar's pledge to Bishop Sophronious to allow freedom of religion and access to Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims.

FATIMID RULE (969–1099AD)

From their base in Tunisia, the Fatimids, who claimed to be descendants of Mohammed through his daughter Fatima, conquered Palestine by way of Egypt in 969AD. Jerusalem, Nablus, and Askalan were expanded and renovated under their rule. After the 10th century the division into Junds began to break down and in 1071, the Isfahan-based Seljuk Turks captured Jerusalem only to hand it back in 1098.

CRUSADER RULE (1099–1187AD)

Under the Crusader Rule, fortifications, castles, towers and fortified villages were built, rebuilt and renovated across Palestine largely in rural areas. A notable urban remnant of the Crusader architecture of this era is found in Acre's old city.

In July 1187, the Cairo-based Kurdish General Saladin commanded and led his troops to victory in the Battle of Hattin. Saladin went on to take Jerusalem. An agreement granting special status to the Crusaders allowed them to continue to stay in Palestine; and, in 1229, King Frederick II of Prussia (the most notable of enlightened despots in 18th century Europe) negotiated a 10-year Treaty that placed Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem once again under Crusader Rule.

Saladin (1138-1193): The Moslem Warrior-Leader, who recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders was born in Tikrīt, Iraq. Saladin, as he is known in the West, was a Kurd; his Arabic name was Salah El-Din Yusuf Ibn Ayyub. Someone, somewhere, some place, and some time ago once dared to compare Hassan Nesrallah to Salah El-Din Yusef Ibn Ayyub! A comparison of opposites! BY GOD!

In 1270, Sultan Baibars expelled the Crusaders from most of the country, though they maintained a base at Acre until 1291. Thereafter, any remaining Europeans either went home or merged with the local population.

MAMLUK RULE (1270–1516AD)

Palestine formed a part of the Damascus Wilayah district under the rule of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and was divided into three smaller Sanjaks subdivisions with capitals in Jerusalem, Gaza, and Safad. Celebrated by Arab and Moslem writers of the time as the blessed land of the Prophets and Islam's revered leaders, Moslem sanctuaries were rediscovered and received many pilgrims. While the first half of the Mamluk Era (1270-1382) saw the construction of many schools, lodgings (khans) for travellers and the renovation of mosques neglected or destroyed during the Crusader period, the second half (1382-1517) was a period of decline as the Mamluks were engaged in battles against the Mongols in areas outside Palestine.

In 1486, hostilities broke out between the Mamluks and the Ottoman Turks in battles for control over western Asia. The Mamluk armies were eventually defeated by the forces of the Ottoman Sultan, Selim I, and lost control of Palestine in 1516, after the battle of Marj Dabiq.

OTTOMAN RULE (1516–1831AD)

After the Ottoman conquest, the name Palestine disappeared as the official name of an administrative unit, as the Turks often called their sub-provinces after the capital. Following its incorporation into the Ottoman Empire in 1516, it became part of the vilayet/province of Damascus-Syria until 1660. It then became part of the vilayet of Saida/Sidon, briefly interrupted by the March 1799 – July 1799 French occupation of Jaffa, Haifa, and Caesarea. During the siege of Acre in 1799, Napoleon prepared a proclamation declaring a Jewish state in Palestine.

EGYPTIAN RULE (1831-1841)

In May 1832 the areas of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian Territories were conquered and annexed by Mohammed Ali's expansionist Egypt, at the time still nominally Ottoman) in the 1831 Egyptian-Ottoman War. Britain sent her navy to shell Beirut and an Anglo-Ottoman expeditionary force landed, causing local uprisings against the Egyptian occupiers. A British naval squadron anchored off Alexandria. The Egyptian army retreated to Egypt. Muhammad Ali signed the Treaty of 1841. Britain returned control of the Levant to the Ottomans. The Levant: the region on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Its name derives from the Italian word levante, meaning rising implying the rising.

OTTOMAN RULE (1841-1917)

In the reorganisation of 1873, which established the administrative boundaries that remained in place until 1914, Palestine was split between three major administrative units. The northern part, above a line connecting Jaffa to north Jericho and the Jordan, was assigned to the vilayet of Beirut, subdivided into the sanjaks (districts) of Acre, Beirut and Nablus. The southern part, from Jaffa downwards, was part of the special district of Jerusalem. Its southern boundaries were unclear but petered out in the eastern Sinai Peninsula and northern Negev Desert. Most of the central and southern Negev was assigned to the vilayet of Hijaz, which also included the Sinai Peninsula and the western part of Arabia.

Nonetheless, Palestine 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 Palestine) 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. However, the Ottomans regarded Palestine as an abstract description of a general region but not as a specific administrative unit with clearly defined borders. This meant that they did not consistently apply the name to a clearly defined area. Ottoman court records, for instance, used the term to describe a geographical area that did not include the sanjaks of Jerusalem, Hebron and Nablus, although these had certainly been part of historical Palestine. Amongst the educated Arab public, Filastin was a common concept, referring to the whole of Palestine or to the Jerusalem sanjak or to the area around.

Ottoman Rule over the eastern Mediterranean lasted until World War I when the Ottomans sided with Germany and the Central Powers. During World War I, the Ottomans were driven from much of the region by the United Kingdom during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

THE 20^th CENTURY

In European usage up to World War I, 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.

Under the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, it was envisioned that most of Palestine, when freed from Ottoman control, would become an international zone not under direct French or British colonial control. Shortly thereafter, British foreign minister Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which laid plans for a Jewish homeland to be established in Palestine eventually.

The British-led Egyptian Expeditionary Force, commanded by General Edmund Allenby, captured Jerusalem on 9 December, 1917 and occupied the whole of the Levant following the defeat of Turkish forces in Palestine in the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918 and the capitulation of Turkey on 31 October.

BRITISH MANDATE (1920–1948)

The British Mandate enacted English, Hebrew and Arabic as its three official languages. The land designated by the mandate was called Palestine in English, Falastin (فلسطين) in Arabic, and in Hebrew Palestina or Eretz Yisrael (פלשתינה (א"י).

In April 1920 the Allied Supreme Council (the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan) met in San Remo in Northern Italy and formal decisions were taken on the allocation of mandate territories. The United Kingdom accepted the mandate for Palestine, but the boundaries of the mandate and the conditions under which it was to be held were not decided. The Zionist Organization's representative in San Remo reported to his colleagues in London.

There were still important details outstanding, such as the actual terms of the mandate and the question of the boundaries of Palestine. There was the delimitation of the boundary between French Syria and Palestine, which would constitute the northern frontier and the eastern line of demarcation, adjoining Arab Syria. The latter was not likely to be fixed until the Emir Feisal attended the Peace Conference, probably in Paris.

In July 1920, the French drove Faisal Ibn Husayn from Damascus ending his already negligible control over the region of Trans-Jordan where local chiefs traditionally resisted any central authority. The Sheikhs, who had earlier pledged their loyalty to the Sharif of Mecca, asked the British to undertake the region's administration. Extension of the Palestine government's authority to Trans-Jordan was requested, but at meetings in Cairo and Jerusalem between Winston Churchill and Emir Abdullah in March 1921, it was agreed that Abdullah would administer the territory (initially for six months only) on behalf of the Palestine administration. In the summer of 1921 Trans-Jordan was included within the Mandate, but excluded from the provisions for a Jewish National Home. On 24 July, 1922 the League of Nations approved the terms of the British Mandate over Palestine and Trans-Jordan. On 16 September the League formally approved a memorandum from Lord Balfour confirming the exemption of Trans-Jordan from the clauses of the mandate concerning the creation of a Jewish national home and from the mandate's responsibility to facilitate Jewish immigration and land settlements. With Trans-Jordan under the administration of the British Mandate, the mandate's collective territory became constituted of 23% Palestine and 77% Trans-Jordan. Trans-Jordan was a very sparsely populated region at the time, especially in comparison with Palestine proper, due to its relatively limited resources and largely desert environment.

The award of the mandates was delayed as a result of the United States' suspicions regarding Britain's colonial ambitions, with similar reservations held by Italy over France's intentions. France in turn refused to reach a settlement over Palestine until its own mandate in Syria became final.

THE UNITED NATIONS (UN) PARTITION

On 29^th November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly, with a two-thirds majority international vote, passed the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181), a plan to resolve the Arab-Jewish conflict by partitioning the territory into separate Jewish and Arab states, with the Greater Jerusalem area, encompassing Bethlehem, under international control.

Jewish leaders (including the Jewish Agency), accepted the plan, while Palestinian Arab leaders rejected it and refused to negotiate. Neighbouring Arab and Moslem states also rejected the partition plan. The Arab community reacted violently after the Arab Higher Committee had declared a strike; and burned many buildings and shops. As armed skirmishes between Arab and Jewish paramilitary forces in Palestine continued, the British mandate ended on May 15, 1948, the establishment of the State of Israel having been proclaimed the day before. The Arab States and their armies (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Holy War Army, Arab Liberation Army, and local Arabs) immediately attacked Israel following its declaration of independence, and the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 ensued. Consequently, the partition plan was never implemented.

VERY IMPORTANT FACTS:

The 1948 Palestinian Exodus (Arabic: الهجرة الفلسطينية Al-Hijra al-Filasteeniya) refers to the refugee flight of Palestinian Arabs during the last 6 months of the British Mandate and the First Arab-Israeli War. It is referred to by most Palestinians and Arabs as Al- Nakba (Arabic: النكبة), meaning the disaster, catastrophe, or cataclysm. The United Nations (UN) final estimate of the number of Palestinian refugees outside Israel after the 1948 War was placed at 711,000 in 1951. A quarter of the 160,000 Arab Palestinians remaining in Israel were internal refugees. Today, Palestinian refugees and their descendants are estimated to number over 4 million Palestinians.

The initial exodus and the current situation of Palestinian refugees is a contentious topic of high importance to all parties in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Contentious indeed! Trust the Arabs to blunder and bungle something then turn around and blame others for it! They were the cause of the Palestinian Exodus in the first place! They drove the Palestinians from Palestine with their ill-thought of, ill-planned, ill-prepared for, ill-timed, ill-carried out, and ill-finished War of 1948 against Israel!

The Jewish Exodus from Arab lands refers to the 20th century mass expulsion or mass departure of Jews from Arab and Islamic countries. The migration began in the late 19th century, but accelerated after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. According to official Arab statistics, 856,000 Jews left their homes in Arab countries from 1948 until the early 1970s. Some 600,000 resettled in Israel, leaving behind properties valued today at more than $300 billion. Jewish-owned real-estates left behind in Arab lands have been estimated at 100,000 square kilometers; four times the size of the State of Israel.

AGAIN! I ASK YOU! First, the Arabs drove the Palestinians from Palestine with their 1948 War; second, the Arabs expelled or drove the Israelis from their lads and seized their properties; and the Israelis, having nowhere to go, went and settled in Israel, and now they want the Israelis to give Israel back to the Palestinians! Well, what about the properties the Israelis left behind which the Arabs stole/seized; what’s the difference?

ADDITIONAL NOTES, CONJECTURES, AND FACTS:

NOTE (FACT): Ramallah (Arabic: رام الله) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank adjacent to Al-Bireh. Its population consists of approximately 25,500 residents. It is located about 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Jerusalem and is considered the unofficial capital of the Palestinian National Authority.

CONJECTURES: Modern Ramallah was founded in the mid-1500s by the Hadadeens, a tribe of brothers who were descended from Yemenite Christian Arabs. The Hadadeens, led by Rashed Haddad, arrived from east of the Jordan River near what is now the Jordanian town of Shobak. Although the reasons for the Hadadeen's migration is attributed to fighting and unrest among tribes in that area, a more common rendition is as follows: Rashed's brother Sabri Haddad was once hosting Emir Ibn Kaysoom, the head of a powerful tribe in the region, when Sabri's wife gave birth to a baby girl. According to tribal customs, the Emir congratulated Sabri and asked for the infant's betrothal to his own young son once they both came of age. Sabri believed the request to be in jest, as Christian-Moslem intermarriage was not customary, and agreed to the request in what he likewise considered a joke. Many years later, the Emir came to the Hadadeens and demanded they fulfill their promise, which they refused to do. Many clashes ensued during the following months, with assassinations occurring on both sides. To avoid further bloodshed at the hands of the more powerful Kaysoom tribe, the Hadadeens fled west, and settled on the hilltops of Ramallah, which was only very sparsely populated at the time by a handful of Moslem families. Subsequently, the Hadadeen family elders (along with heads of a few other Christian tribes that arrived in Ramallah afterwards) became each the head of eight clans to whom modern-day Ramallah natives can still trace their ancestry.

FACTS AND CONEJCTURES: The Philistines have frequently been identified with the Island of Crete and perhaps the whole Aegean region. This indicates that their origins lie in the areas of Crete, Western Asia Minor, and the Aegean Sea; and modern archaeology bears this out. For instance; Philistine pottery resembles that of Minoan and Mycenaean or Homeric Greek civilizations to the point that, a material connection is beyond doubt or question. Other substantial links include early Greek weapons, armour, dress, burial methods, military tactics, government, religion, Etc.

How did these Aegean peoples end up settling in Canaan? The story is a long one, and it begins in the days of Abraham. Being a restless, warlike, and trading people, the Philistines frequently attempted to expand their influence through setting up trading colonies, first, and then by force of arms if necessary. According to the Bible, Abraham sojourned in the Land of the Philistines for many days (the Bible is a Book of the Jews, by the Jews, for the Jews. It is a chronicle of their history and has nothing to do with the rest of us). This means that, by the early 19^th Century BC, at least a small colony of Philistines had already gained a foothold in the Land of Canaan.

What caused the main body of Sea Peoples – as they are known to historians – to cross the Mediterranean is not entirely known. Perhaps the migration of Central European peoples into the Aegean region dislodged them, or perhaps the throes of Mycenaean decline played a part. Some have even suggested a terrible famine or a volcanic eruption as reasons for their relocation. Whatever the cause, the annals of the time record that the Sea Peoples were strong enough to overwhelm the Hittite Empire in Asia Minor, as well as other nations down the Mediterranean coast; and, not content with these conquests, they set out to invade Egypt between the reigns of Pharaohs Merneptah (1224-1216BC) and Rameses III (1174-1144BC).

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• 496: LEBANON AGAIN III – The Defence Strategy Monkey-Shit Again – Not All of Us are Etc and so forth and so on
• 495: CHRISTMAS I – 25th December, 6th January, or 7th January? You tell me.
• 494: LEBANON AGAIN II – All this bleating, braying, barking, howling, and Farting from both ends about a Defence Strategy for Lebanon
• 493: SANTA CLAUS SLAUGHTERS SEVERAL CAUSES CASUALTIES – And on Christmas Eve, too, to boot!
• 492: Revised 5/Jan/2009 (10.25 GMT+2) LEBANON: The Cart before the Horse – Once upon a time. Today……
• 491: THE LATEST GAZA MONKEY-SHIT II – The world are not going to lay their cocks on the line for people who never wanted or intended to have peace with……
• 490: Revised 3/Jan/2009 (08.25 GMT+2) THE LATEST GAZA MONKEY-SHIT I – People who live in Glass-Houses should not throw stones at their neighbours
• 489: Revised 2/Jan/2009 (16.15 GMT+2) CRAZY WEIRDI-WEIRDOS AND STORIES, IRONIES, AND JOKES TO MAKE YOU CRY – It takes All Sorts of Evolved Life-forms to make such a Crazy and Weird World
• 488: BLACK SEPTEMBER / THE LEBANESE CIVIL WAR / NAHR EL-BARED / ETC – The Palestinians Never Wanted Peace, or to Live in Peace, with Any Country or People, or even with Themselves
• 487: Revised 30/Dec/2008 (05.40 GMT+2) GAYS, LESBIANS, BEAST-FUCKERS, TRANNIES, KINKIES, SADISTS, PAEDOPHILES, Etc DILEMMA and ENIGMA – Once you acknowledge, accept, and allow them, there’s no stopping them

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