Once a beautiful territory with clean, intact residential buildings and infrastructure, now the territory of Palestine is a dilapidated disaster zone. The ongoing war for the right to own their ancestral lands is taking away the opportunity for the population to take a breather and restore their economic activity.
The story of a small but very proud state is still sad, but the Palestinians are full of hope for a brighter future. They believe that one day Allah will remove all infidels from their path and give peace and freedom to the Palestinian people.
Where is Palestine?
The Territory of Palestine is located in the Middle East. The geographical map includes in this territory the Asian countries of the southwestern part: Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and others. Among them there are surprising differences in the political system: some states are distinguished by republican rule, others by monarchy.
Historians have proved that the territories of the Middle East are the ancestral home of ancient civilizations that disappeared many millions of years ago. Three well-known world religions appeared here - Islam, Judaism and Christianity. The terrain is mainly composed of sandy deserts.or impassable mountains. For the most part, there is no agriculture here. However, many countries have risen to the peak of their modern development thanks to oil fields.
A darkening factor for the inhabitants of the countries of the Middle East are territorial strife, because of which a huge number of civilians die. Since the emergence of a Jewish state among the Arab countries was an unexpected factor, almost all countries of the second paragraph refused diplomatic relations with Israel. And military conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians have been going on since 1947 to the present day.
Initially, the location of Palestine occupied the entire area, from the waters of the Jordan to the Mediterranean coast. In the middle of the last century, the Palestinian disposition changed after the creation of the famous State of Israel.
Which city is the capital of Palestine? Status of Jerusalem
The history of the ancient city of Jerusalem goes back to ancient times BC. Modern realities do not leave the sacred land alone. The division of the city began immediately after the establishment of the borders of Israel and the Arab state in 1947, after many years of British claims. However, Jerusalem was endowed with a special status of an international scale, all military garrisons had to be withdrawn from it, respectively, life was supposed to be exclusively peaceful. But, as is often the case, things didn't go according to plan. Despite the instructions of the UN, in 48-49 years of the twentieth century there was a military conflict between the Arabs and the Israelis, forestablishing dominion over Jerusalem. As a result, the city was divided into parts between the Jordanian state, which was given the eastern part, and Israel, which got the western territories of the ancient city.
The famous Six-Day War of 67 years of the twentieth century was won by Israel, and Jerusalem completely entered its composition. But the UN Security Council did not agree with such a policy and ordered Israel to withdraw its troops from Jerusalem, recalling the decree of 1947. However, Israel spat on all demands and refused to demilitarize the city. And already on May 6, 2004, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the full right of Palestine to occupy the eastern part of Jerusalem. Then military conflicts began with renewed vigor.
Now in Palestine there is a temporary capital - Ramallah, located thirteen kilometers from Israel, in the center of the western banks of the Jordan River. The city was recognized as the capital of Palestine in 1993. In the 1400s BC, the settlement of Rama was located on the site of the city. This was the era of the Judges, and the place was the holy Mecca for Israel. The modern boundaries of the city were formed in the middle of the 16th century. Wars were also waged for this city, and at the beginning of the second millennium of our era, the city was finally transferred to the state of Palestine. The burial place of Yasser Arafat, who passed away in 2004, is located in Ramallah. The population is twenty-seven and a half thousand people, exclusively Arabs live here, some of whom profess Islam, and some are Christians.
President of the country
PresidentPalestine is the same chairman of the Palestinian National Authority. As in many presidential countries, he is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The president has the right to appoint and dismiss the prime minister, and also personally approves the composition of the government. The President can deprive the head of the board of authority at any time. In his power is the dissolution of parliament and the appointment of early elections. The Palestinian President is the defining element in matters of foreign and domestic policy.
Historical information includes the fact that, by UN decree, Palestine was forbidden to present its head as the President of Palestine, despite the fact that the state of Palestine was officially created in 1988. The penultimate chairman, Yasser Arafat, did not use the designation of his office with the word president. But the real chairman of the Palestinian Authority in 2013 issued a decree on the official replacement of the post with a presidential one. True, many countries in the world have not recognized such a change.
The name of the President, who has been in power for four years now, is Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen. The term of office of the Palestinian president cannot exceed a five-year period and can be re-elected only once in a row. Yasser Arafat, his predecessor, died in office.
Where are the borders of Palestine? Geography of the country
Officially, only 136 UN member states out of 193 recognized the state of Palestine. The historical territory of Palestine is divided into four parts, which consist of landscoastal plain to the Mediterranean territories of Galilee - the northern part, Samaria - the central part, located on the north side of sacred Jerusalem and Judea - the southern part, including Jerusalem itself. Such boundaries were established according to the biblical scriptures. However, at the moment, the Palestinian area is divided into only two parts: the bank of the Jordan, the river in Palestine (its western part) and the Gaza Strip.
Let's consider the first component of the Arab state. The western banks of the Jordan River stretched for only 6 thousand kilometers, and the total length of the border is four hundred kilometers. In summer it is quite hot here, but in winter the climatic conditions are mild. The lowest point in the area is the Dead Sea with its 400 meters below sea level. With the help of irrigation, local residents adapted to use the land for agricultural needs.
The West Bank is mostly a flat area. Palestine as a whole has a very small amount of territorial land - 6220 square kilometers. The main part of the western plain is covered with small hills and desert, there is no sea communication here. And forest space is only one percent. Accordingly, the border of Palestine with Jordan passes here.
The next part of the country is the Gaza Strip, with a border length of sixty-two kilometers. The area consists of hills and sand dunes, the climate is dry and the summers are very hot. Gaza is almost entirely dependent on the supply of drinking water from the source of Wadi Gaza, from where Israel also feeds on water. It borders the Gaza Strip with Israel and is conditioned in all vital communications that the Jewish state has established. In the west, Gaza is washed by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and in the south it borders on Egypt.
Inhabitants
Given that the area of Palestine is quite small, then the population in Palestine is only about five million. The exact data for 2017 is 4 million 990 thousand 882 people. If we recall the middle of the twentieth century, then the population growth for half a century amounted to almost 4 million. Compared with 1951, when the country consisted of 900 thousand people. The number of male and female population is almost the same, the birth rate exceeds the death rate, perhaps this is also due to a slight decrease in hostilities in the form of bombing of settlements. Migration is just as popular, with almost ten thousand people fleeing Palestine this year. Average life expectancy for men is only 4 years shorter than for women, at 72 years and 76 years respectively.
Since, according to the UN decree, the Eastern part of Jerusalem belongs to Palestine, the population is almost all Israelis, in general, like the west of the city. The Gaza Strip is inhabited mainly by Arabs who profess Sunni Islam, but among them there are also a couple of thousand Arabs with a Christian cross around their necks. In general, Gaza is mainly a settlement of refugees who fled from Israeli soil 60 years ago. Today, hereditary refugees live in Gaza.
Approximately four million former residents of Palestine are in refugee status. They aresettled in the territories of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and other states of the Middle East. The official language of Palestine is Arabic, but Hebrew, English and French are widely spoken.
History of occurrence
The historical name of the state of Palestine comes from Philistia. The population of Palestine at that time was also called the Philistines, which in literal translation from Hebrew means "intruders." The place of settlement of the Philistines was the modern part of the Mediterranean coast of Israel. The second millennium BC was marked by the appearance of Jews in these territories, who called the area Canaan. Palestine is referred to in the Jewish Bible as the Land of the Children of Israel. Since the time of Herodotus, the rest of the Greek philosophers and scientists began to call Palestine Syria Palestine.
In all history books, the state of Palestine dates back to the colonization of the area by the Canaanite tribes. In the early period before the coming of Christ, the area was captured by various peoples: the Egyptians, invaders from the coast of Crete, and so on. 930 BC divided the country into two different states - the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah.
The population of Palestine suffered from the aggressive actions of the ancient Persian state of Achaemenides, it was annexed by various states of the Hellenistic period, in 395 it was part of Byzantium. However, the rebellion against the Romans brought exile to the Jewish people.
Since 636, Palestine has fallen under the control of the Arabs, and for six centuries the ball has been rolling from the hands of the Arab conquerors to the handscrusaders. Since the 13th century, Palestine has been part of the Egyptian kingdom, and the Mamluks own it before the arrival of the Ottomans.
The beginning of the 16th century falls on the reign of Selim the First, who increases his territories with the help of a sword. For 400 years, the population of Palestine was subject to the Ottoman Empire. Of course, over the years, regular European military expeditions, for example, Napoleon, tried to take over the territory. Meanwhile, the fleeing Jews returned to Jerusalem. Together with Nazareth and Bethlehem, leadership was carried out on behalf of Orthodox and Catholic church leaders. But beyond the borders of the holy cities, Sunni Arabs remained the overwhelming majority among the population.
Forced Jewish settlement of Palestine
In the 19th century, Ibrahim Pasha came to the country, he conquered the lands and established his residence in the city of Damascus. During the eight years of government, the Egyptians managed to carry out a reform movement according to the models presented to them by Europe. Natural resistance on the part of the Muslim people was not long in coming, but they suppressed it with bloody military force. Despite this, during the period of Egyptian occupation in the territories of Palestine, grandiose excavations and research were carried out. Scholars have tried to find evidence for biblical writings. Toward the middle of the 19th century, the British Consulate was organized in Jerusalem.
At the end of the 19th century, the Jewish people poured into Palestine at breakneck speed, mostly followers of Zionism. A new stage in the history of the State of Palestine began. At the beginning of the last century, the Arab population was 450 thousand, andJewish - 50 thousand
After the First World War, London establishes its mandate over the territories of Palestine and modern Jordan. The British authorities undertook to create a large national Jewish diaspora in Palestine. In this regard, in the 1920s, the Transjordan state was formed, where Jews from Eastern Europe began to move, and their number grew to 90,000. In order for everyone to find something to do, they specially drained the swamps of the Israel Valley and prepared the land for agricultural activities.
After the sad events in Germany and other European countries, Hitler came to power, some of the Jews managed to leave for Jerusalem, but the rest were subjected to cruel repressions, the consequences of which the whole world knows and mourns. After the end of World War II, Jews made up thirty percent of the total population of Palestine.
The creation of Israel was a blow to the Palestinian territories and the state as a whole. The United Nations, by its right, decided to allocate a certain piece of the Palestinian kingdom for the Jews and give it to them to create a separate Jewish state. From that moment on, serious military conflicts begin between the Arab and Jewish people, each fighting for their ancestral lands, for their own truth. At the moment, the situation has not yet been resolved and the confrontation between the army of Palestine continues.
By the way, the Soviet Union also had its part in the Arab lands, which were called Russian Palestine and were acquired back in the days of the Russianempire. On the lands there were special real estate objects that were intended for Russian pilgrims and Orthodox people from other countries. True, later in the 60s these lands were resold to Israel.
The Palestinian Liberation Army is protecting the President and the Palestinian lands. In fact, this is a separate military organization that had its head office in Syria and is supported by Syrian Islamists, therefore, according to some Russian and Israeli sources, the AOP is a terrorist group. She took part in almost all hostilities against the Israeli military forces. The Palestinian army and its leaders condemn all military activities against Syria and the Syrian people by Western countries.
Country culture
The culture of Palestine in its modern form is the work of Arab poets and works of local art. Palestine is gradually developing cinema, taking into account world examples, the dynamics can be traced at a good level.
In general, the art of Palestine is closely connected with the Jewish, because these two peoples lived side by side for hundreds of years. Despite political strife, literature and painting are based on the traditional culture of the Jews, and there is practically nothing left of the Arab past. More than seventy percent of the population are Sunni Muslims, that is, Islam is the traditional religion of the state, which is adjacent to a minority of Christians and Jews.
The same goes for customs and traditions. There is practically nothing from the Arabs in Palestine: for many centuries the Palestinians absorbed the Jewishtraditions both in the song style and in the dance step. The design of houses and interior decoration is also almost identical to Jewish.
The current state of Palestine
To date, the largest cities in Palestine can be called Jerusalem (considering its Eastern part, given by UN decree to Palestine), Ramallah (capital city), Jenin and Nablus. By the way, the only airport was in the area of the temporary capital, but was closed in 2001.
Modern Palestine outwardly looks depressing, moving over the famous wall, which is a military fence between the two countries, you find yourself in a world of complete devastation and "dead" silence. Houses half-destroyed from the bombings border on newly rebuilt ones. Many Palestinians, left without a roof over their heads, live the life of refugees and equip stone caves for rooms. They build masonry in the form of walls to enclose the family territory. Despite the progress made in various areas, poverty prevails over the number of jobs. Driving a little deeper across the country, we find ourselves in the last century, where there is no electricity or it is supplied at certain hours. Many burn bonfires for warmth right on the floor of the former entrances of now destroyed houses. Some never left the dilapidated dwelling, they continue to make internal frames for durability, because there is simply no opportunity for major repairs - financial security does not allow spending so much money on expensive restoration.
On the border of the two warring states, a thorough check of documents is underway. If the bustourist, then the police may not drive everyone out into the street, but simply walk around the cabin and check passports. The thing is that Israelis are prohibited from entering the territory of Palestine, in particular, to zone A. Everywhere on the roads there are indications of zones, and warning signs that it is dangerous for an Israeli to be in this place for he alth. But who will go there? But many Palestinians, on the contrary, have Israeli certificates and, accordingly, dual citizenship (if we take Palestine for a separate separate state).
The local currency is the Israeli shekel. Which is convenient for tourists who suddenly find themselves from the western part of Jerusalem to the east. The central parts of the temporary capital and large cities look more modern and even have their own nightlife. According to the stories of tourists, people here are hospitable and always eager to help, but not without scam taxi drivers and street guides. Despite the close connection with Israeli culture, Muslim shrines are very revered by local Arab residents, so you need to dress accordingly for a trip to Palestine.
In recent years, another problem between Palestinians and Israelis has been the construction of Israeli settlements in the west of the Jordan River and in East Jerusalem. Officially, such settlements are prohibited and illegal. Some Arab families have lost their private lands, which, however, they promise to return in cash.
But there are also Jewish houses for demolition on the West Bank of the Jordan River, the resettlement of such people has been delayed forten years, the reason for this is the unwillingness of the Jews themselves to leave their territories. They build barricades and organize rallies. The Palestinians, on the other hand, are fierce opponents of any presence of a Jewish commune on the lands of their state. Thus, the conflict drags on for even more years, because Israel categorically refuses to listen to the instructions of the UN, and the idea of creating two separate states is gradually becoming utopian.
Jordan River
There are only three rivers in the Palestinian state: Jordan, Kishon, Lachish. Of course, the Jordan River is the most interesting. And not by their attitude towards Palestine or Israel, but from a spiritual point of view. It was here that Christ was baptized, after which he was proclaimed a prophet Jesus, and it is here that pilgrims come to bathe, and many come to accept the faith of Christianity. In ancient times, pilgrims took with them clothes completely soaked in the waters of the Jordan, and shipbuilders scooped up sacred waters in buckets for storage on the ship. It was believed that such rituals bring good luck and happiness.
