Palestine

A 2003 satellite image of the region, with national borders shown in light gray.

Palestine is a name, which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region
between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.[1] In its broader meaning as a geographical
term, Palestine can refer to an area that includes contemporary Israel and the Palestinian
territories, parts of Jordan, and parts of Lebanon and Syria.[1][2] In its narrow meaning, it refers to
the area within the boundaries of the former British Mandate of Palestine (1920-1948) west of
the Jordan River.

Palestine can also refer to the Proposed Palestinian State. Within the context of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict, the use of the term Palestine can arouse fierce controversy.[3]

Contents
 1 Name and boundaries
 1.1 Non-Biblical texts
 1.2 Biblical texts
 2 History
 2.1 Paleolithic and Neolithic periods (1 mya–5000 BCE)
 2.2 Chalcolithic period (4500–3000 BCE) and Bronze Age (3000–1200 BCE)
 2.3 Iron Age (1200–330 BCE)
  2.3.1 Hebrew Bible period
 2.3.2 Persian rule (538 BCE)
 2.4 Classical antiquity
 2.4.1 Hellenistic rule (333 BCE)
 2.4.2 Hasmonean dynasty (140 BCE)
 2.4.3 Roman rule (63 BCE)
 2.4.4 Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) rule (330–640 CE)
 2.5 Islamic period (630-1918 CE)
 2.5.1 Arab Caliphate rule (638–1099 CE)
 2.5.1.1 Umayyad rule (661–750 CE)
 2.5.1.2 Abbasid rule (750–969 CE)
 2.5.1.3 Fatimid rule (969–1099 CE)
 2.5.2 Crusader rule (1099–1187 CE)
 2.5.3 Mamluk rule (1270–1516 CE)
 2.5.4 Ottoman rule (1516–1831 CE)
 2.5.5 Egyptian rule (1831-1841)
 2.5.6 Ottoman rule (1841-1917)
 2.6 The 20th century
 2.6.1 British Mandate (1920–1948)
 2.6.2 UN partition
 2.7 Current status
 3 Demographics
 3.1 Early demographics
 3.2 Demographics in the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods
 3.2.1 Travelers' impressions of 19th century Palestine
 3.2.2 Official reports
 3.3 Genetic analyses of regional populations
 3.4 The question of late Arab immigration to Palestine
 3.5 Current demographics
 4 See also
 5 References
 6 External links

 7 Bibliography

Name and boundaries

The name and the borders of Palestine have varied throughout history, though Palestine has
certain natural boundaries that justify its historical individuality.[4] Other terms that have been
used to refer to all or part of this area include Arabistan, Canaan, Greater Israel, Greater Syria,
the Holy Land, Iudaea Province, Israel, "Israel HaShlema", Kingdom of Israel, Kingdom of
Jerusalem, Land of Israel, Levant, Retenu (Ancient Egyptian), Southern Syria, and Syria
Palestina.
'Palestine' ( Greek: Παλαιστίνη; Latin: Palaestina; Hebrew: ‫ פלשתינה‬Palestina; Arabic:
‫ فلسطين‬Filasṭīn, Falasṭīn, Filisṭīn ) is a Latinized name given to the region of the Iudaea
Province by the Roman emperor Hadrian[5][6] following the crushing Bar Kochba's revolt in 132-
135[7] in an attempt to suppress Jewish national feelings.[8][9] In the Bible, the area inhabited by
the Philistines was known as Pleshet Genesis, X.13. The Philistines were a seafaring people who
lived in cities along the coast. During the Late Bronze Age, Philistia was located approximately
where the Gaza Strip and the cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod are situated today in modern Israel.
Philistia was a confederation of five city states: Gaza, Ashkelon and Ashdod on the coast, and
Ekron and Gath inland.[10]

The ethnic affiliation of the Philistines is not clear. The Philistine names preserved on
inscriptions appear to "contradict the notion that they were Greek-speakers."[11] Some scholars
argue however that they were a non-Semitic group, with roots in Southern Greece dating back to
the period of early Mycenaean civilization.[12] A hypothetical link to the Anatolian people, based
upon mere phonological similitude to the Palaic language, seems tenuous but not impossible.

Non-Biblical texts

Ancient Egyptian texts called the entire coastal area along the Mediterranean Sea between
modern Egypt and Turkey R-t-n-u (conventionally Retjenu). Retjenu was subdivided into three
regions and the southern region, Djahy, shared approximately the same boundaries as Canaan, or
modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories, though including also Syria.[13]

Early archeological textual reference to the territory of Palestine is found in the Merneptah Stele,
dated c. 1200 BCE, containing a recount of Egyptian king Merneptah's victories in the land of
Canaan, mentioning place-names such as Gezer, Ashkelon and Yanoam, along with Israel, which
is mentioned using a hieroglyphic determinative that indicates a nomad people, rather than a
state.[14]

Egyptian texts of the temple at Medinet Habu, record a people called the P-r-s-t (conventionally
Peleset), one of the Sea Peoples who invaded Egypt in Ramesses III's reign. This is considered
very likely to be a reference to the Philistines. The Hebrew name Peleshet (‫ פלשת‬Pəléshseth)
usually translated as Philistia in English, is used in the Bible to denote "the coastal region north
and south of Gaza which was occupied and settled by Philistine invaders from across the sea".[15]

The Assyrian emperor Sargon II called the region the Palashtu in his Annals. By the time of
Assyrian rule in 722 BCE, the Philistines had become 'part and parcel of the local
population',[16][17] and prospered under Assyrian rule during the seventh century despite
occasional rebellions against their overlords.[10] In 604 BCE, when Assyrian troops commanded
by the Babylonian empire carried off significant numbers of the population into slavery, the
distinctly Philistine character of the coastal cities dwindled away,[16][18] and the history of the
Philistine people effectively ended.[10]

In the 5th century BCE, the Greek historian and geographer Herodotus wrote in Greek of a
"district of Syria, called Παλαιστινη (Palaistinê)."[19][20][21] Syria, at that time, referred rather
imprecisely to the region lying between Asia Minor, Sinai, the Mediterranean Sea and the
Persian Gulf. The boundaries of the "district" of Palaistinê described by Herodotus are even more
imprecise, as is the ethnic nature of its people; sometimes it denotes the coast north of Mount
Carmel, and elsewhere it seems to extend down all the coast from Phoenicia to Egypt, and as far
east as the Jordan River.[22]

During the Roman period, the province of Iudaea covered much of modern Palestine, although
the Galilee and other northern areas remained distinct administratively. However, many writers
continued to use the Greek name. For example, in the first century C.E., the Roman writer Pliny
the Elder mentions a region of Syria that was "formerly called Palaestina" among the areas of
the Eastern Mediterranean.[23] The Jewish historian Josephus, writing in Greek, used the name
Palaistinê for the smaller coastal area which most of his contemporaries preferred to call
Philistia.[24] the Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria, also writing in Greek, used the terms Palestine
and Canaan interchangeably, noting that the region's Jewish population was larger than that of
any other single country.[25]

After the Jewish rebellions of the first and second centuries CE, the Romans merged the province
of Iudaea with Galilee, Samaria and Idumaea, uniting the entire area in a new province bearing
the Greco-Latin name, Syria-Palaestina.[26][27]

During the Byzantine Period, this entire region (including Syria, Palestine, Samaria, and Galilee)
was renamed Palaestina and then subdivided into Diocese I and II. The Byzantines also renamed
an area of land including the Negev, Sinai, and the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula as
Palaestina Salutoris, sometimes called Palaestina III. Since the Byzantine Period, the Byzantine
borders of Palaestina (I and II) have served as a name for the geographic area between the
Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Biblical texts

The Holy Land, or Palestine, showing not only the Ancient Kingdoms of Judah and Israel in
which the 12 Tribes have been distinguished, but also their placement in different periods as
indicated in the Holy Scriptures. Tobias Conrad Lotter, Geographer. Augsburg, Germany, 1759

In the Biblical account, the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah ruled from Jerusalem a vast
territory extending far west and north of Palestine for some 120 years. Archaeological evidence
for this period is very rare, however, and its implications much disputed.[28][29]
The Hebrew Bible calls the region Canaan (‫( )כנען‬Numbers 34:1–12), while the part of it
occupied by 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", "land that [God] swore to your fathers to assign to you", "Holy Land", "Land of
the Lord", and the "Promised Land".

The Land of Canaan is given a precise description in (Numbers 34:1) as including all of
Lebanon, as well (Joshua 13:5). 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 (Genesis 15:18). This land is said
to include an area called Aram Naharaim, which includes Ur Kasdim in modern Turkey, where
Abraham's father was born.

In Exodus 13:17, "And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them
not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest
peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt."

The events of the Four Gospels of the Christian Bible take place almost entirely in this country,
which in Christian tradition thereafter became known as The Holy Land.

In the Qur'an, the term ‫( الرض المقدسة‬Al-Ard Al-Muqaddasah, English: "Holy Land") is
mentioned at least seven times, once when Moses proclaims to the Children of Israel: "O my
people! Enter the holy land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not back
ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin." (Surah 5:21)

History

A dwelling unearthed at Tell es-Sultan.

Paleolithic and Neolithic periods (1 mya–5000 BCE)

See also: Paleolithic and Neolithic

Human remains found at El-'Ubeidiya, 2 miles (3 km) south of Lake Tiberias date back as early
as 500,000 years ago.[30][31] 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.[30][32][33]
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 (c. 12800–10300 BCE). Other
remains from this era have been found at Tel Abu Hureura, Ein Mallaha, Beidha and
Jericho.[30][34]

Between 10000 and 5000 BCE, agricultural communities were established. Evidence of such
settlements were found at Tell es-Sultan, Jericho and include mud-brick rounded and square
dwellings, pottery shards, and fragments of woven fabrics.[35][36][37]

Chalcolithic period (4500–3000 BCE) and Bronze Age (3000–1200 BCE)

See also: Chalcolithic and Bronze Age

An 1882 rendering of Canaan, as divided among the Twelve Tribes, by the American Sunday-
School Union of Philadelphia.

Along the Jericho-Dead Sea-Bir es-Saba-Gaza-Sinai route, a culture originating in Syria, marked
by the use of copper and stone tools, brought new migrant groups to the region contributing to an
increasingly urban fabric.[35][38][39]

By the early Bronze Age (3000–2200 BCE) 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 needs.[35][40]

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 an Nasbe (al-Bireh) and Jib
(Jerusalem).

The Canaanite city-states held trade and diplomatic relations with Egypt and Syria. Parts of the
Canaanite urban civilization were destroyed around 2300 BCE, though there is no consensus as
to why. Incursions by nomads from the east of the Jordan River who settled in the hills followed
soon thereafter.[35][41]

In the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1500 BCE), 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.[35][42] Burial customs from this time seemed to be
influenced by a belief in the afterlife.[35][43]

Political, commercial and military events during the Late Bronze Age period (1450–1350 BCE)
were recorded by ambassadors and Canaanite proxy rulers for Egypt in 379 cuneiform tablets
known as the Amarna Letters.[44]

By c. 1190 BCE, the Philistines arrived and mingled with the local population, losing their
separate identity over several generations.[16][45]

Iron Age (1200–330 BCE)

See also: Iron Age

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
are credited with introducing iron weapons and chariots to the local population.[46]

Developments in Palestine between 1250 and 900 BCE have been the focus of debate between
those who accept the Old Testament version on the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes,
and those who reject it.[47] Niels Peter Lemche, of the Copenhagen School of Biblical Studies,
submits that the picture of ancient Israel "is contrary to any image of ancient Palestinian society
that can be established on the basis of ancient sources from Palestine or referring to Palestine and
that there is no way this image in the Bible can be reconciled with the historical past of the
region."[48]

The "David's Palace" site,[49][50][51] the sacrificial site at Shechem[52] and the Merneptah
Stele,[53][54][55] and Mesha Stele[56][57][58] among others are subject to different historical
interpretations: scholars in the "conservative camp" reconstruct the history of Israel according to
the biblical text and view the archaeological evidence in that context, whilst scholars in the
minimalist or deconstructionist school argue that there can be no archaeological evidence
supporting the United Monarchy because the biblical account is a religious mythology created
wholly by Judean scribes in the Persian and Hellenistic periods; a third camp of centrist scholars
acknowledges the value of some isolated elements of the Pentateuch and of Deuteronomonistic
accounts as potentially valid history of monarchic times that can be in accord with the
archaeological evidence, but argue that nevertheless the biblical narrative should be understood
as highly ideological and adapted to the needs of the community at the time of its compilation.[59]

Hebrew Bible period

Map of the southern Levant, c.830s BCE. Kingdom of Judah Kingdom of Israel Philistine
city-states Phoenician states Kingdom of Ammon Kingdom of Edom Kingdom of Aram-
Damascus Aramean tribes Arubu tribes Nabatu tribes Assyrian Empire Kingdom of Moab
See also: Archaeology of Israel and History of ancient Israel and Judah

Though the Biblical tradition holds that the Israelites arrived in Canaan from Egypt, archaeology
provides strong evidence that they emerged from among the local population existent there at the
time; these events are generally dated to between the 13th and 12th centuries BCE.[47]
Archaeological evidence indicates that the late 13th, the 12th and the early 11th centuries BCE
witnessed the foundation of perhaps hundreds of insignificant, unprotected village settlements,
many in the mountains of Palestine.[48] From around the 11th century BCE, there was a reduction
in the number of villages, though this was counterbalanced by the rise of certain settlements to
the status of fortified townships.[48]

According to Biblical tradition, the United Kingdom of Israel was established by the Israelite
tribes with Saul as its first king in 1020 BCE.[60] In 1000 BCE, Jerusalem was made the capital of
King David's kingdom and it is believed that the First Temple was constructed in this period by
King Solomon.[60] By 930 BCE, the united kingdom split to form the northern Kingdom of Israel,
and the southern Kingdom of Judah.[60] These kingdoms co-existed with several more kingdoms
in the greater Palestine area, including Philistine town states on the Southwestern Mediterranean
coast, Edom, to the South of Judah, and Moab and Amon to the East of the river Jordan.[61]

There was an at least partial Egyptian withdrawal from Palestine in this period, though it is likely
that Bet Shean was an Egyptian garrison as late as the beginning of the 10th century BCE.[48] The
socio-political system was characterized by local patrons fighting other local patrons, lasting
until around the mid-9th century BCE when some local chieftains were able to create large
political structures that exceeded the boundaries of those present in the Late Bronze Age.[48]

Archaeological findings from this era include, among others, the Mesha Stele, from c. 850 BCE,
which recounts the conquering of Moab, located East of the Dead Sea, by king Omri, and the
successful revolt of Moabian king Mesha against Omri's son, presumably King Ahab; and the
Kurkh Monolith, dated c. 835 BCE, describing King Shalmaneser III of Assyria's Battle of
Qarqar, where he fought alongside the contingents of several kings, among them King Ahab and
King Gindibu.

Between 722 and 720 BCE, the northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrian
Empire and the Israelite tribes - thereafter known as the Lost Tribes - were exiled.[60] The most
important finding from the southern Kingdom of Judah is the Siloam Inscription, dated c. 700
BCE, which celebrates the successful encounter of diggers, digging from both sides of the
Jerusalem wall to create the Hezekiah water tunnel and water pool, mentioned in the Bible, in
2Kings 20:20. In 586 BCE, Judah was conquered by the Babylonians and Jerusalem and the First
Temple destroyed.[60] Most of the surviving Jews, and much of the other local population, were
deported to Babylonia.[16][62]

Persian rule (538 BCE)

After the Persian Empire was 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, it was during this period that the Second Temple in Jerusalem was built.[16][63]
Sebastia, near Nablus, was the northernmost province of the Persian administration in Palestine,
and its southern borders were drawn at Hebron.[16][64] Some of the local population served as
soldiers and lay people in the Persian administration, while others continued to agriculture. In
400 BCE, the Nabataeans made inroads into southern Palestine and built a separate civilization
in the Negev that lasted until 160 BCE.[16][65]

Classical antiquity

See also: Classical antiquity

Hellenistic rule (333 BCE)

Roman Iudaea Province in the 1st century CE as based on Robert W. Funk's The Acts of Jesus,
Michael Grant's's Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels and John P. Meier's A Marginal
Jew.

The Persian Empire fell to Greek forces of the Macedonian general Alexander the Great.[66][67]
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 first part of the
Ptolemaic dynasty and then part of the Seleucid Empire.[68]

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.[66][64] Hellenistic
pottery was produced that absorbed Philistine traditions. Trade and commerce flourished,
particularly in the most Hellenized areas, such as Ascalon, Jaffa,[69] Jerusalem,[70] Gaza,[71] and
ancient Nablus (Tell Balatah).[72][66]

The Jewish population in Judea was allowed limited autonomy in religion and administration.[73]

Hasmonean dynasty (140 BCE)

An independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmonean Dynasty existed from 140–37 BCE. In
the second century BCE fascination in Jerusalem for Greek culture resulted in a movement to
break down the separation of Jew and Gentile and some people even tried to disguise the marks
of their circumcision.[74] Disputes between the leaders of the reform movement, Jason and
Menelaus, eventually led to civil war and the intervention of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.[74]
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.[74]
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 70CE, a Roman
Province administered by the governor of Syria.[75]

Roman rule (63 BCE)

Palestine in the Time of Christ as rendered by as B.W. Johnson (1891) in The People's New
Testament.

Though General Pompey arrived in 63 BCE, Roman rule was solidified when Herod, whose
dynasty was of Idumean ancestry, was appointed as king.[66][76] 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.[77] Cities were
connected by an extensive road network 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[78] and Caesarea.[66][79]

Around the time associated with the birth of Jesus, Roman Palestine was in a state of disarray
and direct Roman rule was re-established.[66][80] The early Christians were oppressed and while
most inhabitants became Romanized, others, particularly Jews, found Roman rule to be
unbearable.[66][80]
As a result of the First Jewish-Roman War (66-73), Titus sacked Jerusalem destroying the
Second Temple, leaving only supporting walls, including the Western Wall. In 135, following the
fall of a Jewish revolt led by Bar Kokhba in 132–135, 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 is 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.[26] Tiberias became the headquarters of exiled Jewish patriarchs. The
Romans joined the province of Judea (which already included Samaria) together with Galilee to
form a new province, called Syria Palaestina, to complete the disassociation with Judaea.[26].
Notwithstanding the oppression, some two hundred Jewish communities remained. Gradually,
certain religious freedoms were restored to the Jewish population, such as exemption from the
imperial cult and internal self-administration. The Romans made no such concession to the
Samaritans, to whom religious liberties were denied, while their sanctuary on Mt.Gerizim was
defiled by a pagan temple, as part of measures were taken to suppress the resurgence of
Samaritan nationalism[26].

The Emperor Hadrian (132 CE) renamed Jerusalem "Aelia Capitolina" and built temples there to
honor Jupiter. Christianity was practiced in secret and the Hellenization of Palestine continued
under Septimius Severus (193–211 CE).[66] New pagan cities were founded in Judea at
Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrin), Diopolis (Lydd), and Nicopolis (Emmaus).[66][64]

Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) rule (330–640 CE)

5th century CE: Byzantine Diocese of Palaestina I (Philistia, Judea and Samaria) and Palaestina
II (Galilee and Perea).

Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity around 330 CE made Christianity the official
religion of Palaestina.[81][82] After his mother Empress Helena identified the spot she believed to
be where Christ was crucified, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built in Jerusalem.[81] The
Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Ascension in Jerusalem were also
built during Constantine's reign.[81]. This was the period of its greatest prosperity in antiquity.
Urbanization increased, large new areas were put under cultivation, monasteries proliferated,
synagogues were restored, and the population West of the Jordan may have reached as many as
one million.[26].

Palestine thus became a center for pilgrims and ascetic life for men and women from all over the
world.[81][64] Many monasteries were built including the St. George's Monastery in Wadi al-Qelt,
the Monastery of the Temptation and Deir Hajla near Jericho, and Deir Mar Saba and Deir
Theodosius east of Bethlehem.[81]

In 352 CE, a Jewish revolt against Byzantine rule in Tiberias and other parts of the Galilee was
brutally suppressed. Imperial patronage for Christian cults and immigration was strong, and a
significant wave of immigration from Rome, especially to the area about Aelia Capitolina and
Bethlehem, took place after that city was sacked in 410.[26].

In approximately 390 CE, Palaestina was further organised into three units: Palaestina Prima,
Secunda, and Tertia (First, Second, and Third Palestine).[81][83] Palaestina Prima consisted of
Judea, Samaria, the coast, and Peraea with the governor residing in Caesarea. Palaestina
Secunda consisted of the Galilee, the lower Jezreel Valley, the regions east of Galilee, and the
western part of the former Decapolis with the seat of government at Scythopolis. Palaestina
Tertia included the Negev, southern Jordan — once part of Arabia — and most of Sinai with
Petra as the usual residence of the governor. Palestina Tertia was also known as Palaestina
Salutaris.[81][84]

In 536 CE, Justinian I promoted the governor at Caesarea to proconsul (anthypatos), giving him
authority over the two remaining consulars. Justinian believed that the elevation of the governor
was appropriate because he was responsible for "the province in which our Lord Jesus Christ...
appeared on earth".[85] This was also the principal factor explaining why Palestine prospered
under the Christian Empire. The cities of Palestine, such as Caesarea Maritima, Jerusalem,
Scythopolis, Neapolis, and Gaza reached their peak population in the late Roman period and
produced notable Christian scholars in the disciplines of rhetoric, historiography, Eusebian
ecclesiastical history, classicizing history and hagiography.[85]

Byzantine administration of Palestine was temporarily suspended during the Persian occupation
of 614–28, and then permanently after the Muslims arrived in 634 CE, defeating the empire's
forces decisively at the Battle of Yarmouk in 636 CE. Jerusalem capitulated in 638 CE and
Caesarea between 640 CE and 642 CE.[85]

Islamic period (630-1918 CE)

Arab Caliphate rule (638–1099 CE)

An 1890 map of Palestine as described by medieval Arab geographers, with Jund Filastin
administrative area

In 638 CE, 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 all non-Muslims in Palestine.[81] 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.[86][64]

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.[87][88]
Cities that accepted the new rulers, as recorded in registrars from the time, were: Jerusalem,
Nablus, Jenin, Acre, Tiberias, Bisan, Caesarea, Lajjun, Lydd, Jaffa, Imwas, Beit Jibrin, Gaza,
Rafah, Hebron, Yubna, Haifa, Safad and Ashkelon.[86]

Umayyad rule (661–750 CE)

Under Umayyad rule, the Byzantine province of Palaestina Prima became the administrative and
military sub-province (jund) of Filastin - the Arabic name for Palestine from that point
forward.[89] It formed part of the larger province of ash-Sham (Arabic for Greater Syria).[90] 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, Nablus and Jericho.[91] 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.[91]

In 691, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ordered that the Dome of the Rock be built on the site
where the Islamic prophet Muhammad is believed by Muslims to have begun his nocturnal
journey to heaven, on the Temple Mount. About a decade afterward, Caliph Al-Walid I had the
Al-Aqsa Mosque built.[92]

It was under Umayyad rule that Christians and Jews were granted the official title of "Peoples of
the Book" to underline the common monotheistic roots they shared with Islam.[86][93]

Abbasid rule (750–969 CE)

The Baghdad-based Abbasid Caliphs renovated and visited the holy shrines and sanctuaries in
Jerusalem[94] and continued to build up Ramle.[86][95] Coastal areas were fortified and developed
and port cities like Acre, Haifa, Caesarea, Arsuf, Jaffa and Ashkelon received monies from the
state treasury.[96]

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.[96] European Christian pilgrims visited and made
generous donations to Christian holy places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.[96] 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.[97]

Fatimid rule (969–1099 CE)

From their base in Tunisia, the Fatimids, who claimed to be descendants of Muhammad through
his daughter Fatima, conquered Palestine by way of Egypt in 969 CE.[96][98] Jerusalem, Nablus,
and Askalan were expanded and renovated under their rule.[96]

After the 10th century, the division into Junds began to break down. In 1071, the Isfahan-based
Seljuk Turks captured Jerusalem only to hand it back in 1098.[96]

See also the Mideastweb map of "Palestine Under the Caliphs", showing Jund
boundaries (external link).

Crusader rule (1099–1187 CE)

See also: Crusade and Kingdom of Jerusalem

Under the European rule, fortifications, castles, towers and fortified villages were built, rebuilt
and renovated across Palestine largely in rural areas.[96][99] A notable urban remnant of the
Crusader architecture of this era is found in Acre's old city.[96][100] During the period of Crusader
control, it has been estimated that Palestine had only 1,000 poor Jewish families[101]

In July 1187, the Cairo-based Kurdish General Saladin commanded his troops to victory in the
Battle of Hattin.[102][103] 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, Frederick II
negotiated a 10-year treaty that placed Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem once again under
Crusader rule.[102]
In 1270, Sultan Baibars expelled the Crusaders from most of the country, though they maintained
a base at Acre until 1291.[102] Thereafter, any remaining Europeans either went home or merged
with the local population.[103]

Mamluk rule (1270–1516 CE)

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.[103] Celebrated by Arab and Muslim writers of the time as the
"blessed land of the Prophets and Islam's revered leaders,"[103] Muslim sanctuaries were
"rediscovered" and received many pilgrims.[104]

While the first half of the Mamluk era (1270-1382) saw the construction of many schools,
lodgings for travellers (khans) and the renovation of mosques neglected or destroyed during the
Crusader period,[104] the second half (1382-1517) was a period of decline as the Mamluks were
engaged in battles with the Mongols in areas outside Palestine.[103][105]

In 1486, hostilities broke out between the Mamluks and the Ottoman Turks in a battle 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 after the 1516 battle of Marj Dabiq.[103][106]

Ottoman rule (1516–1831 CE)

Territory of the Ottoman Empire in 1683

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
1516 incorporation in the Ottoman Empire, it was part of the vilayet (province) of Damascus-
Syria until 1660. It then became part of the vilayet of Saida (Sidon), briefly interrupted by the 7
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)

On 10 May 1832 the territories of Bilad ash-Sham, which include modern Syria, Jordan,
Lebanon, and Palestine were conquered and annexed by Muhammad Ali's expansionist Egypt
(nominally still Ottoman) in the 1831 Egyptian-Ottoman War. Britain sent the 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.

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 wilayet of Hijaz, which also included the Sinai
Peninsula and the western part of Arabia.[107]

Nonetheless, the old name remained in popular and semi-official use. Many examples of its
usage in the 16th and 17th centuries have survived.[108] During the 19th century, the Ottoman
Government employed the term Ardh-u 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".[109] 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.[107] 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.[110][111] Amongst the educated Arab public,
Filastin was a common concept, referring either to the whole of Palestine or to the Jerusalem
sanjak alone[112] or just to the area around Ramle.[113]

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 20th century

Palestine in British map 1924 the map now in the National Library of Scotland

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.[114]

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
controversial Balfour Declaration of 1917, which promised to establish a Jewish state in
Palestine in exchange for the Jewish financial support to the British in their war against
Ottomans and Germans.

The British-led Egyptian Expeditionary Force, commanded by Edmund Allenby, captured

Jerusalem on 9 December 1917 and occupied the whole of the Levant following the defeat of
Turkish forces in Palestine at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918 and the capitulation of
Turkey on 31 October.[115]

British Mandate (1920–1948)

Palestine and Transjordan were incorporated (under different legal and administrative
arrangements) into the Mandate for Palestine issued by the League of Nations to Great Britain on
29 September 1923
The new era in Palestine. The arrival of Sir Herbert Samuel, H.B.M. high commissioner, etc.
with Col. Lawrence, Emir Abdullah, Air Marshal Salmond and Sir Wyndham Deedes.

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 (‫ )فلسطين‬in Arabic,
and in Hebrew Palestina or Eretz Yisrael ((‫)פלשתינה )א"י‬.

In the Anglo-French Declaration of 1918 the French and British governments pledged their
support for "national governments and administrations deriving their authority from the free
exercise of the initiative and choice of the indigenous populations." In May 1919, elections were
held for the General Syrian Congress. At a meeting in Damascus, held on the 8th of March 1920,
the Congress adopted a resolution rejecting the Faisal-Clemenceau accords. The congress
declared the independence of Syria, including Palestine, and proclaimed Faisal the king of Arabs.
The new state included territory in Syria, Palestine, and northern Mesopotamia which had been
set aside under the Sykes-Picot Agreement for an independent Arab state, or confederation of
states.

In April 1920 the Allied Supreme Council (the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy and
Japan) met at Sanremo and formal decisions were taken on the allocation of mandate territories.
The United Kingdom obtained a mandate for Palestine and France obtained a mandate for Syria.
The boundaries of the mandates and the conditions under which they were to be held were not
decided. The Zionist Organization's representative at Sanremo, Chaim Weizmann, subsequently
reported to his colleagues in London:

There are still important details outstanding, such as the actual terms of the mandate and the question of
the boundaries in Palestine. There is the delimitation of the boundary between French Syria and Palestine,
which will constitute the northern frontier and the eastern line of demarcation, adjoining Arab Syria. The
latter is not likely to be fixed until the Emir Feisal attends the Peace Conference, probably in Paris.[116]
Churchill and Abdullah (with Herbert Samuel and T. E. Lawrence) during their negotiations in
Jerusalem, March 1921.

In July 1920, the French drove Faisal bin Husayn from Damascus ending his already negligible
control over the region of Transjordan, 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. Herbert Samuel asked for the extension of the
Palestine government's authority to Transjordan, 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 Transjordan was included within the Mandate, but excluded from the
provisions for a Jewish National Home.[117] On 24 July, 1922 the League of Nations approved the
terms of the British Mandate over Palestine and Transjordan. On 16 September the League
formally approved a memorandum from Lord Balfour confirming the exemption of Transjordan
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 settlement.[118] With
Transjordan coming under the administration of the British Mandate, the mandate's collective
territory became constituted of 23% Palestine and 77% Transjordan. The Mandate for Palestine,
while specifying actions in support of Jewish immigration and political status, stated, in Article
25, that in the territory to the east of the Jordan River, Britain could 'postpone or withhold' those
articles of the Mandate concerning a Jewish National Home. Transjordan was a very sparsely
populated region (especially in comparison with Palestine proper) due to its relatively limited
resources and largely desert environment.

The Preamble of the League of Nations Mandate required the Principal Allied Powers to fix the
boundaries. In 1923 an agreement between the United Kingdom and France established the
border between the British Mandate of Palestine and the French Mandate of Syria. The British
handed over the southern Golan Heights to the French in return for the northern Jordan Valley.
The border was re-drawn so that both sides of the Jordan River and the whole of the Sea of
Galilee, including a 10-metre wide strip along the northeastern shore, were made a part of
Palestine [119] with the following provisoes:
  Any existing rights over the use of the waters of the Jordan by the inhabitants of Syria
shall be maintained unimpaired.
 The Government of Syria shall have the right to erect a new pier at Semakh on Lake
Tiberias or to have joint use of the existing pier
 Persons or goods passing between the existing landing-stage or any future landing-stages
on the Lake of Tiberias and Semakh Station shall not by reason of the mere fact that they
must cross the territory of Palestine be deemed persons or goods entering Palestine for
the purpose of Customs or other regulations, and the right of the Syrian Government and
their agents to access to the said landing-stages is recognised.
 The inhabitants of Syria and of the Lebanon shall have the same fishing and navigation
rights on Lakes Huleh and Tiberias and on the River Jordan between the said lakes as the
inhabitants of Palestine, but the Government of Palestine shall be responsible for the
policing of the lakes.[120]

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

Together with the American protests against the issuance of mandates these triangular quarrels between
the Italians, French, and British explain why the A mandates did not come into force until nearly four
years after the signing of the Peace Treaty.... The British documents clearly reveal that Balfour's patient
and skillful diplomacy contributed greatly to the final issuance of the A mandates for Syria and Palestine
on September 29, 1923.[121]

United States Secretary of State Robert Lansing had been a member of the American
Commission to Negotiate Peace at Paris in 1919. He explained that the system of mandates was
simply a device created by the Great Powers to conceal their division of the spoils of war, under
the color of international law. He observed that the value of the former German and Ottoman
territories would have been applied to offset the Allies claims for war reparations, if sovereignty
had been ceded directly. He also observed that Jan Smuts had been the author of the original
concept.[122]

The US Senate refused to ratify the Covenant of the League of Nations, in part over a dispute
regarding the legality of the mandates. Senator Lodge, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations
Committee had attached a reservation which read: 'No mandate shall be accepted by the United
States under Article 22, Part 1, or any other provision of the treaty of peace with Germany,
except by action of the Congress of the United States.'[123] Senator Borah, speaking on behalf on
the 'Irreconcilables' stated 'My reservations have not been answered.' He completely rejected the
proposed system of Mandates as an illegitimate rule by brute force. [124] Under the plan of the US
Constitution, Article 1, the Congress was delegated the power to declare or define the Law of
Nations and this dispute cast a cloud over the validity of the mandate system.

The US government subsequently entered into individual treaties to secure legal rights for its
citizens, and to protect property rights and businesses interests in the mandates. In the case of the
Palestine Mandate Convention, it recited the terms of the League of Nations mandate, and
subjected them to eight amendments. One of those precluded any unilateral changes to the terms
of the mandate.[125] The United States did not agree to mutual defense, provisionally recognize a
Jewish State, or pledge itself to maintain the territorial integrity of the mandate.[126]

The Official Journal of the League of Nations, dated June 1922, contained an interview with
Lord Balfour in which he explained that the League's authority was strictly limited. The article
related that the 'Mandates were not the creation of the League, and they could not in substance be
altered by the League. The League's duties were confined to seeing that the specific and detailed
terms of the mandates were in accordance with the decisions taken by the Allied and Associated
Powers, and that in carrying out these mandates the Mandatory Powers should be under the
supervision--not under the control--of the League.'[127]

The Palestine Exploration Fund published surveys and maps of Western Palestine (aka
Cisjordan) starting in the mid-19th century. Even before the Mandate came into legal effect in
1923 (text), British terminology sometimes used '"Palestine" for the part west of the Jordan River
and "Trans-Jordan" (or Transjordania) for the part east of the Jordan River.[128][129]

Rachel's Tomb on a 1927 British Mandate stamp. "Palestine" is shown in English, Arabic (
‫)فلسطين‬, and Hebrew, the latter includes the acronym ‫ א״י‬for Eretz Yisrael

The first reference to the Palestinians, without qualifying them as Arabs, is to be found in a
document of the Permanent Executive Committee, composed of Muslims and Christians,
presenting a series of formal complaints to the British authorities on 26 July 1928.[130]

In the years following World War II, Britain's control over Palestine became increasingly
tenuous. This was caused by a combination of factors, including:

 Rapid deterioration due to the terrorist attacks by the Irgun and Lehi on Arab civilians,
British officials, British forces, international delegates (e.g. Comte Bernadotte), and
strategic installations. This caused severe damage to British morale and prestige, as well
as increasing opposition to the mandate in Britain itself, public opinion demanding to
"bring the boys home".[131]
 World public opinion turned against Britain as a result of the British policy of preventing
Holocaust survivors from reaching Palestine, sending them instead to Cyprus internment
camps, or even back to Germany, as in the case of Exodus 1947.
  The costs of maintaining an army of over 100,000 men in Palestine weighed heavily on a
British economy suffering from post-war depression, and was another cause for British
public opinion to demand an end to the Mandate.
 US Congress was delaying a loan necessary to prevent British bankruptcy. The delays
were in response to the British refusal to fulfill a promise given to Truman that 100,000
Holocaust survivors would be allowed to migrate to Palestine.

Finally in early 1947 the British Government announced their desire to terminate the Mandate,
and passed the responsibility over Palestine to the United Nations.

UN partition

UN partition plan, 1947

On 29 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) coming under international control. Jewish leaders (including the Jewish Agency),
accepted their portion of the plan, while Palestinian Arab leaders rejected it and refused to
negotiate. Neighboring Arab and Muslim states also rejected the partition plan. The Arab
community reacted violently after the Arab Higher Committee declared a strike and burned
many buildings and shops. In a speech delivered on 25 March 1948, US President Truman
recommended a temporary trusteeship and stated: We could not undertake to impose this solution
on the people of Palestine by the use of American troops, both on Charter grounds and as a
matter of national policy.[132] 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 (see Declaration of the Establishment of
the State of Israel). The neighboring Arab states and armies (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt,
Transjordan, Holy War Army, Arab Liberation Army, and local Arabs) immediately attacked
Israel following its declaration of independence, and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War ensued.
Consequently, the partition plan was never implemented.
Current status

Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and
neighboring Arab states eliminated Palestine as a distinct territory. With the establishment of
Israel, the remaining lands were divided amongst Egypt, Syria and Jordan. The Arab
governments at this point refused to set up a State of Palestine.

The region as of today: Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights

In addition to the UN-partitioned area it was allotted, Israel captured 26% of the Mandate
territory west of the Jordan river. Jordan captured and annexed about 21% of the Mandate
territory, known today as the West Bank. Jerusalem was divided, with Jordan taking the eastern
parts, including the Old City, and Israel taking the western parts. The Gaza Strip was captured by
Egypt.

For a description of the massive population movements, Arab and Jewish, at the time of the 1948
war and over the following decades, see Palestinian exodus and Jewish exodus from Arab lands.
Map of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 2007

From the 1960s onward, the term "Palestine" was regularly used in political contexts. Various
declarations, such as the 15 November 1988 proclamation of a State of Palestine by the PLO
referred to a country called Palestine, defining its borders based on the U.N. Resolution 242 and
383 and the principle of land for peace. The Green Line was the 1967 border established by
many UN resolutions including those mentioned above.

In the course of the Six Day War in June 1967, Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan and
Gaza from Egypt.

According to the CIA World Factbook,[133] of the ten million people living between Jordan and
the Mediterranean Sea, about five million (49%) identify as Palestinian, Arab, Bedouin and/or
Druze. One million of those are citizens of Israel. The other four million are residents of the West
Bank and Gaza, which are under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority.

In the West Bank, 360,000 Israeli settlers live in a hundred scattered settlements with connecting
corridors. The 2.5 million West Bank Palestinians live in four blocs centered in Hebron,
Ramallah, Nablus, and Jericho. In 2005, all the Israeli settlers were evacuated from the Gaza
Strip in keeping with Ariel Sharon's plan for unilateral disengagement, and control over the area
was transferred to the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestine Liberation Organization has enjoyed status as an observer member at the United
Nations since 1974, and continues to represent "Palestine" there.[134] After the 1988 declaration of
independence, the State of Palestine was formally recognized by 117 United Nations member
states.[135] Palestine is also represented at international sporting events, like the Olympics and
Paralympics and films from Palestine have won awards at international cinema events, like the
Oscars. (See also Cinema of Palestine).[136] [137]
Demographics
Early demographics

Estimating the population of Palestine in antiquity relies on 2 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.

According to Joseph Jacobs, writing in the Jewish Encyclopedia[138] (1901-1906), the Pentateuch
contains a number of statements as to the number of Jews that left Egypt, the descendants of the
seventy sons and grandsons of Jacob who took up their residence in that country. Altogether,
including Levites, there were 611,730 males over twenty years of age, and therefore capable of
bearing arms; this would imply a population of about 3,154,000. The Census of David is said to
have recorded 1,300,000 males over twenty years of age, which would imply a population of
over 5,000,000. The number of exiles who returned from Babylon is given at 42,360. Tacitus
declares that Jerusalem at its fall contained 600,000 persons; Josephus, that there were as many
as 1,100,000. According to Israeli archeologist Magen Broshi, "... the population of Palestine in
antiquity did not exceed a million persons. It can also be shown, moreover, that this was more or
less the size of the population in the peak period--the late Byzantine period, around AD 600"[139]
Similarly, a study by Yigal Shiloh of The Hebrew University suggests that the population of
Palestine in the Iron Age could have never exceeded a million. He writes: "... the population of
the country in the Roman-Byzantine period greatly exceeded that in the Iron Age...If we accept
Broshi's population estimates, which appear to be confirmed by the results of recent research, it
follows that the estimates for the population during the Iron Age must be set at a lower
figure."[140]

Shmuel Katz writes:[141]

When Jewish independence came to an end in the year 70, the population numbered, at a conservative
estimate, some 5 million people. (By Josephus' figures, there were nearer 7 million.) Even sixty years
after the destruction of the Temple, at the outbreak of the revolt led by Bar Kochba in 132, when large
numbers had fled or been deported, the Jewish population of the country must have numbered at least 3
million, according to Dio Cassius' figures. Sixteen centuries later, when the practical possibility of the
return to Zion appeared on the horizon, Palestine was a denuded, derelict, and depopulated country. The
writings of travellers who visited Palestine in the late eighteenth and throughout the nineteenth century
are filled with descriptions of its emptiness, its desolation. In 1738, Thomas Shaw wrote of the absence of
people to fill - Palestine's fertile soil. In 1785, Constantine Francois Volney described the "rained" and
"desolate" country. He had not seen the worst. Pilgrims and travellers continued to report in heartrending
terms on its condition. Almost sixty years later, Alexander Keith, recalling Volney's description, wrote:
"In his day the land had not fully reached its last degree of desolation and depopulation.[142]

The table below represents estimates of the first century population of Palestine (as adapted from
Byatt, 1973).
 Authority Jews Total population1
Conder, C R[143] - 6 million
Juster, J[144] 5 million >5 million
Mazar, Benjamin[145] - >4 million
Klausner, Joseph[146] 3 million 3.5 million
Grant, Michael[147] 3 million not given
Baron, Salo W[148] 2-2.5 million 2.5-3 million
Socin, A[149] - 2.5-3 million
Lowdermilk, W C[150] - 3 million
Avi-Yonah, M[151] - 2.8 million
Glueck, N[152] - 2.5 million
Beloch, K J[153] 2 million not given
Grant, F C[154] - 1.5-2.5 million
Byatt, A[155] - 2.265 million
Daniel-Rops, H[156] 1.5 million 2 million
Derwacter, F M[157] 1 million 1.5 million
Pfeiffer, R H[158] 1 million not given
Harnack, A[159] 500,000 not given
Jeremias, J[160] 500,000-600,000 not given
McCown, C C[161] <500,000 <1 million
1.
There is no consensus on the population of Palestine in the first century of the Common Era;
estimates range from under 1 million to 6 million.

Demographics in the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods

In the middle of the first century of the Ottoman rule, i.e. 1550 CE, Bernard Lewis in a study of
Ottoman registers of the early Ottoman Rule of Palestine reports:[162]

From the mass of detail in the registers, it is possible to extract something like a general picture of the
economic life of the country in that period. Out of a total population of about 300,000 souls, between a
fifth and a quarter lived in the six towns of Jerusalem, Gaza, Safed, Nablus, Ramle, and Hebron. The
remainder consisted mainly of peasants, living in villages of varying size, and engaged in agriculture.
Their main food-crops were wheat and barley in that order, supplemented by leguminous pulses, olives,
fruit, and vegetables. In and around most of the towns there was a considerable number of vineyards,
orchards, and vegetable gardens.

By Volney's estimates in 1785, there were no more than 200,000 people in the country.[163]

In his paper 'Demography in Israel/Palestine: Trends, Prospects and Policy Implications'[164]

Sergio DellaPergola, drawing on the work of Bachi (1975), provides rough estimates of the
population of Palestine west of the River Jordan by religion groups from the first century
onwards summarised in the table below.
 Year Jews Christians Muslims Total1
First half 1st century CE Majority - - ~2,500²
5th century Minority Majority - >1st century
End 12th century Minority Minority Majority >225
14th cent. before Black Death Minority Minority Majority 225
14th cent. after Black Death Minority Minority Majority 150
1533-1539 5 6 145 157
1690-1691 2 11 219 232
1800 7 22 246 275
1890 43 57 432 532
1914 94 70 525 689
1922 84 71 589 752
1931 175 89 760 1,033
1947 630 143 1,181 1,970
1.
Figures in thousands. The total includes Druzes and other small religious minorities.
2.
There is no consensus on the population of Palestine in the first century of the Common Era;
estimates range from under 1 million to 6 million.

According to Alexander Scholch, the population of Palestine in 1850 had about 350,000
inhabitants, 30% of whom lived in 13 towns; roughly 85% were Muslims, 11% were Christians
and 4% Jews[165]

Number of Number of Households

Qazas Towns and
Villages Muslims Christians Jews Total
1 Jerusalem
Jerusalem 1 1,025 738 630 2,393
Countryside 116 6,118 1,202 - 7,320
2 Hebron
Hebron 1 2,800 - 200 3,000
Countryside 52 2,820 - - 2,820
3 Gaza
Gaza 1 2,690 65 - 2,755
Countryside 55 6,417 - - 6,417
3 Jaffa
Jaffa 3 865 266 - 1,131
Ludd . 700 207 - 907
Ramla . 675 250 - 925
Countryside 61 3,439 - - 3,439
4 Nablus
Nablus 1 1,356 108 14 1,478
Countryside 176 13,022 202 - 13,224
 5 Jinin
Jinin 1 656 16 - 672
Countryside 39 2,120 17 - 2,137
6 Ajlun
Countryside 97 1,599 137 - 1,736
7 Salt
Salt 1 500 250 - 750
Countryside 12 685 - - 685
8 Akka
Gaza 1 547 210 6 763
Countryside 34 1,768 1,021 - 2,789
9 Haifa
Haifa 1 224 228 8 460
Countryside 41 2,011 161 - 2,171
10 Nazareth
Nazareth 1 275 1,073 - 1,348
Countryside 38 1,606 544 - 2,150
11 Tiberias
Tiberias 1 159 66 400 625
Countryside 7 507 - - 507
12 Safad
Safad 1 1,295 3 1,197 2,495
Countryside 38 1,117 616 - 1,733

Figures from Ben-Arieh, in Scholch 1985, p. 388.

According to Ottoman statistics studied by Justin McCarthy,[166] the population of Palestine in the
early 19th century was 350,000, in 1860 it was 411,000 and in 1900 about 600,000 of which 94%
were Arabs. In 1914 Palestine had a population of 657,000 Muslim Arabs, 81,000 Christian
Arabs, and 59,000 Jews.[167]

According to Howard Sachar, the Arab population of Palestine was about 260,000 in 1882. This
number had doubled by 1914 and reached 600,000 by 1920 and 840,000 by 1931. Thus, between
1922 and 1946 the Arab population of Palestine increased by 118 percent, the highest rate of
population growth among all Arab lands except Egypt.[168] McCarthy estimates the non-Jewish
population of Palestine at 452,789 in 1882, 737,389 in 1914, 725,507 in 1922, 880,746 in 1931
and 1,339,763 in 1946.[169]

Travelers' impressions of 19th century Palestine

Alphonse de Lamartine visited Palestine in 1835, "Outside the gates of Jerusalem we saw indeed
no living object, heard no living sound, we found the same void, the same silence ... as we should
have expected before the entombed gates of Pompeii or Herculaneam a complete eternal silence
reigns in the town, on the highways, in the country ... the tomb of a whole people.[170]
The satirist Mark Twain wrote a humorous account of his visit to Palestine in 1867, and wrote in
chapters 46,49,52 and 56 of Innocents Abroad: "Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it
broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies. Palestine is
desolate and unlovely -- Palestine is no more of this workday world. It is sacred to poetry and
tradition, it is dreamland."(Chapter 56)[171] "There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even
the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country".
(Chapter 52)[172] "A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life
and action. We reached Tabor safely. We never saw a human being on the whole route". (Chapter
49)[173] "There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent – not for thirty miles in either
direction. ...One may ride ten miles (16 km) hereabouts and not see ten human beings." ...these
unpeopled deserts, these rusty mounds of barrenness..."(Chapter 46)[174]

"Innocents Abroad" was a literary satire which poked holes in the underpinnings of various
popularly held theories, like manifest destiny. Twain held some of the usual colonialist and
orientalist assumptions of the day, but he openly mocked Christian and Jewish claims to Arab-
owned lands in Palestine.[175]

Kathleen Christison, an American author who spent sixteen years as an analyst for the CIA, was
critical of attempts to use Twain's humorous writing as a literal description of Palestine at that
time. She writes that "Twain's descriptions are high in Israeli government press handouts that
present a case for Israel's redemption of a land that had previously been empty and barren. His
gross characterizations of the land and the people in the time before mass Jewish immigration are
also often used by US propagandists for Israel."[176] For example she noted that Twain described
the Samaritans of Nablus at length without mentioning the much larger Arab population at all.[177]
The Arab population of Nablus at the time was about 20,000.[178]

During the nineteenth century, many residents and visitors attempted to estimate the population
without recourse to official data, and came up with a large number of different values. Estimates
that are reasonably reliable are only available for the final third of the century, from which period
Ottoman population and taxation registers have been preserved.[179]

After a visit to Palestine in 1891, Ahad Ha'am wrote:

From abroad, we are accustomed to believe that Eretz Israel is presently almost totally desolate, an
uncultivated desert, and that anyone wishing to buy land there can come and buy all he wants. But in truth
it is not so. In the entire land, it is hard to find tillable land that is not already tilled; only sandy fields or
stony hills, suitable at best for planting trees or vines and, even that after considerable work and expense
in clearing and preparing them- only these remain unworked. ... Many of our people who came to buy
land have been in Eretz Israel for months, and have toured its length and width, without finding what they
seek.[180]

In 1852 the American writer Bayard Taylor travelled across the Jezreel Valley, which he
described in his 1854 book The Lands of the Saracen; or, Pictures of Palestine, Asia Minor,
Sicily and Spain as: "one of the richest districts in the world."[181], while Lawrence Oliphant, who
visited Palestine in 1887, wrote that Palestine's Valley of Esdraelon was "a huge green lake of
waving wheat, with its village-crowned mounds rising from it like islands; and it presents one of
the most striking pictures of luxuriant fertility which it is possible to conceive."[182]

The Dutch scholar and cartographer Adriaan Reland visited Palestine in 1695, made a population
census, and came to the conclusion that Palestine was mostly empty with several existing
communities of Jews and Christians.[183]

According to Paul Masson, a French economic historian, "wheat shipments from the Palestinian
port of Acre had helped to save southern France from famine on numerous occasions in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries."[184]

Walter C. Lowdermilk, Assistant Chief of the United States Soil Conservation Service has
compared Palestine favorably to California:

The similarity of Southern California and Palestine is so close in climate, topography, soils and vegetation
that the present condition of similarly placed areas in California is a reliable index of the early condition
of the land of Palestine. Vegetation varied from desert scrub on lower slopes of the Jordan Valley and
Dead Sea, to luxuriant forests of Cedars of Lebanon on the flanks of Mount Hermon, similar to the desert
vegetation from Coachella Valley below sea level in Southern California to pine and fir forests on lower
slopes of Mt. Baldy (10,000 ft) in the San Gabriel Range. Rainfall favours Palestine, for Jaffa gets more
rain 2 1.5 inches) per annum than Los Angeles (15.2 inches), and the Mt. Hermon mountain land mass
gets up to 70 inches (1,800 mm) of rain while Mt. Baldy only 50 inches (1,300 mm). Other comparisons
are striking. The region of the Jordan River, including Palestine and Trans-Jordan and the maritime
slopes, is quite similar to California, but has an added advantage of its limestone country rock. The
climates are alike, the natural vegetation, the physiographic features, except for the great limestone
springs in Palestine. Similar crops may be grown. Differences are that soils of Palestine were uniformly
better, that uplands have been badly eroded from misuse, and that slopes of Palestine favoured tree crops
and were terraced where surface rock was ready at hand..".[185]

Researcher Abelson writes:[186]

In 1898, German Kaiser Wilhelm II also visited Palestine. He was appalled at the condition of the country.
The Ottomans had stripped the forests for lumber and firewood. The Palestinian Arabs had let an old
Roman aqueduct fall into ruin. The ultimate ecological curse was the ubiquitous herds of black goats. For
nearly 2,000 years after the dispersion of the Jews, Arabs had allowed their goats to graze unfenced across
Palestine. They had eaten the grass down to its roots, and the topsoil had eroded and blown away. The
biblical land of milk and honey had become a dust bowl.

– Palestine: The Original Sin, Meir Abelson

Official reports

The reports of the British Mandatory administration often contained self-serving descriptions and
accounts which implied that the British Colonial Office or the European Jewish immigrants were
bringing progress to a backward land and people.
Comparable conditions were reported in the Jewish settlements in the United States during the
same period. Jewish settlers lived in poor sanitary conditions. They experienced malaria and
yellow fever epidemics; lived in dirt dugouts and sod houses; used wooden plows; and had
unpaved roads; They left behind many abandoned towns and settlements. [187][188] Quite a few of
the successful Jewish farming colonies only barely managed to get by with the help of charitable
subsidies. Most died out after the second generation. [189]

The Report of the Palestine Royal Commission contains a similar description of conditions along
Palestine's coastal plain in 1913: "The road leading from Gaza to the north was only a summer
track suitable for transport by camels and carts...No orange groves, orchards or vineyards were to
be seen until one reached [the Jewish village of] Yabna [Yavne]...Houses were all of mud. No
windows were anywhere to be seen...The ploughs used were of wood...The yields were very
poor...The sanitary conditions in the village were horrible. Schools did not exist...The western
part, towards the sea, was almost a desert...The villages in this area were few and thinly
populated. Many ruins of villages were scattered over the area, as owing to the prevalence of
malaria, many villages were deserted by their inhabitants."[190]

In 1920, the League of Nations' Interim Report on the Civil Administration of Palestine stated
that there were 700,000 people living in Palestine:

Of these 235,000 live in the larger towns, 465,000 in the smaller towns and villages. Four-fifths of the
whole population are Moslems. A small proportion of these are Bedouin Arabs; the remainder, although
they speak Arabic and are termed Arabs, are largely of mixed race. Some 77,000 of the population are
Christians, in large majority belonging to the Orthodox Church, and speaking Arabic. The minority are
members of the Latin or of the Uniate Greek Catholic Church, or--a small number--are Protestants. The
Jewish element of the population numbers 76,000. Almost all have entered Palestine during the last 40
years. Prior to 1850 there were in the country only a handful of Jews. In the following 30 years a few
hundreds came to Palestine. Most of them were animated by religious motives; they came to pray and to
die in the Holy Land, and to be buried in its soil. After the persecutions in Russia forty years ago, the
movement of the Jews to Palestine assumed larger proportions.[191]

By 1948, the population had risen to 1,900,000, of whom 68% were Arabs, and 32% were Jews
(UNSCOP report, including bedouin).

Genetic analyses of regional populations

Regions of the Y chromosome used in staining

According to various genetic studies, Jewish and Samaritan populations and various Palestinian
populations overlap genetically because they share some of the same Neolithic ancestors.

Geneticists generally agree there was mixing in Middle East populations in prehistoric times.
Nebel et al. (2000) doing Y-chromosome haplotype analysis for patrilineal ancestry of Jews and
Palestinian Muslims "revealed a common gene pool for a large portion of Y chromosomes,
suggesting a relatively recent common ancestry". The two modal haplotypes that comprise the
Palestinian Arab clade were very infrequent among Jews, "reflecting divergence and/or
admixture from other populations". Nebel et al. regard their findings in good agreement with
historical evidence that suggest that "Part, or perhaps the majority, of the Muslim Arabs in this
country descended from local inhabitants, mainly Christians and Jews, who had converted after
the Islamic conquest in the seventh century AD... These local inhabitants, in turn, were
descendants of the core population that had lived in the area for several centuries, some even
since prehistoric times.[192]

A subsequent study aimed at determining the genetic relationship among three Jewish
communities (Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Kurdish) by the same group described two Y-
chromosomal haplotype groups, Eu9 and Eu10, that represent a major part of Middle East
ancestry. Eu9 appears to originate from the northern Fertile Crescent, while Eu10 appears to
come from the southern part of it. Jewish and Muslim Kurdish populations have high-frequency
of Eu9 but generally lack Eu10, which is prevalent in Palestinian Muslims. The study proposes
that

...the Y chromosomes in Palestinian Arabs and Bedouin represent, to a large extent, early lineages derived
from the Neolithic inhabitants of the area and additional lineages from more-recent population
movements. The early lineages are part of the common chromosome pool shared with Jews. According to
our working model, the more-recent migrations were mostly from the Arabian Peninsula, as is seen in the
Arab-specific Eu 10 chromosomes that include the modal haplotypes observed in Palestinians and
Bedouin... The study demonstrates that the Y chromosome pool of Jews is an integral part of the genetic
landscape of the region and, in particular, that Jews exhibit a high degree of genetic affinity to populations
living in the north of the Fertile Crescent.[193]

The question of late Arab immigration to Palestine

Whether there was significant Arab immigration into Palestine after the beginning of Jewish
settlement there in the late 19th century has become a matter of some controversy. The official
British Census data for Palestine, the reports made by the Mandatory Administration to the
League of Nations, the 1938 Palestine Partition Commission, Population expert A.M. Carr-
Saunders, and the Anglo-American Committee concluded that Arab population growth was
attributable to "natural increase", not to any substantial immigration.[194] Critics of the official
"natural increase" thesis have resorted to rationalizations or relied upon anecdotal statements and
impressions which have little statistical value.

Howard Sachar estimates the number of Arabs who immigrated to Palestine between 1922 and
1946 at 100,000.[195] He argues that

The influx could be traced in some measure to the orderly government provided by the British; but far
more, certainly, to the economic opportunities provided by Jewish settlement. The rise of the Yishuv
benefited Arab life indirectly, by disproportionate Jewish contributions to the government revenue, and
thereby to increase the mandatory expenditures on the Arab sector; and directly, by opening new markets
for Arab produce and (until the civil war of 1936) new employment opportunities for the Arab labor. It
was significant, for example, that the movement of Arabs within Palestine itself was largely to regions of
Jewish concentration. Thus, Arab population increase during the 1930s was 87 percent in Haifa, 61
percent in Jaffa, 37 percent in Jerusalem. A similar growth was registered in Arab towns located near
Jewish agricultural villages. The 25 percent rise in of Arab participation in industry could be traced
exclusively to the needs of the large Jewish immigration.[196]

According to Martin Gilbert, 50,000 Arabs immigrated to Palestine from the neighboring lands
between 1919 and 1939 "attracted by the improving agricultural conditions and growing job
opportunities, most of them created by the Jews".[197]

American economist Fred Gottheil argues that there likely was significant Arab immigration:

There is every reason to believe that consequential immigration of Arabs into and within Palestine
occurred during the Ottoman and British mandatory periods. Among the most compelling arguments in
support of such immigration is the universally acknowledged and practiced linkage between regional
economic disparities and migratory impulses. The precise magnitude of Arab immigration into and within
Palestine is, as Bachi noted, unknown. Lack of completeness in Ottoman registration lists and British
Mandatory censuses, and the immeasurable illegal, unreported, and undetected immigration during both
periods make any estimate a bold venture into creative analysis. In most cases, those venturing into the
realm of Palestinian demography—or other demographic analyses based on very crude data—
acknowledge its limitations and the tentativeness of the conclusions that may be drawn.[198]
Roberto Bachi has concluded that there was a small but significant unrecorded Muslim
immigration into Palestine estimated at around 900 people per year or approximately 13,500 in
total between 1931 and 1945.[199]

McCarthy explains, "... evidence for Muslim immigration into Palestine is minimal. Because no
Ottoman records of that immigration have yet been discovered, one is thrown back on
demographic analysis to evaluate Muslim migration."[200] [199] McCarthy argues that there is no
significant Arab immigration into mandatory Palestine:

From analyses of rates of increase of the Muslim population of the three Palestinian sanjaks, one can say
with certainty that Muslim immigration after the 1870s was small. Had there been a large group of
Muslim immigrants their numbers would have caused an unusual increase in the population and this
would have appeared in the calculated rate of increase from one registration list to another... Such an
increase would have been easily noticed; it was not there.[200]

The argument that Arab immigration somehow made up a large part of the Palestinian Arab population is
thus statistically untenable. The vast majority of the Palestinian Arabs resident in 1947 were the sons and
daughters of Arabs who were living in Palestine before modern Jewish immigration began. There is no
reason to believe that they were not the sons and daughters of Arabs who had been in Palestine for many
centuries.[201]

McCarthy also concludes that there was no significant internal migration to Jewish areas
attributable to better economic conditions:

Some areas of Palestine did experience greater population growth than others, but the explanation for this
is simple. Radical economic change was occurring all over the Mediterranean Basin at the time. Improved
transportation, greater mercantile activity, and greater industry had increased the chances for employment
in cities, especially coastal cities... Differential population increase was occurring all over the Eastern
Mediterranean, not just in Palestine... The increase in Muslim population had little or nothing to do with
Jewish immigration. In fact the province that experienced the greatest Jewish population growth (by .035
annually), Jerusalem Sanjak, was the province with the lowest rate of growth of Muslim population
(.009).[202]

Gad Gilbar has also concluded that the prosperity of the Palestine in the 45-50 years before
World War I was a result of the modernization and growth of the economy owing to its
integration with the world economy and especially with the economies of Europe. Although the
reasons for growth were exogenous to Palestine the bearers were not waves of Jewish
immigration, foreign intervention nor Ottoman reforms but "primarily local Arab Muslims and
Christians."[203]

Demographer Uziel Schmelz, in his analysis of Ottoman registration data for 1905 populations of
Jerusalem and Hebron kazas, found that most Ottoman citizens living in these areas, comprising
about one quarter of the population of Palestine, were living at the place where they were born.
Specifically, of Muslims, 93.1% were born in their current locality of residence, 5.2% were born
elsewhere in Palestine, and 1.6% were born outside Palestine. Of Christians, 93.4% were born in
their current locality, 3.0% were born elsewhere in Palestine, and 3.6% were born outside
Palestine. Of Jews (excluding the large fraction who were not Ottoman citizens), 59.0% were
born in their current locality, 1.9% were born elsewhere in Palestine, and 39.0% were born
outside Palestine.[204]

Yehoshua Porath believes that the notion of "large-scale immigration of Arabs from the
neighboring countries" is a myth "proposed by Zionist writers". He writes:

As all the research by historian Fares Abdul Rahim and geographers of modern Palestine shows, the Arab
population began to grow again in the middle of the nineteenth century. That growth resulted from a new
factor: the demographic revolution. Until the 1850s there was no "natural" increase of the population, but
this began to change when modern medical treatment was introduced and modern hospitals were
established, both by the Ottoman authorities and by the foreign Christian missionaries. The number of
births remained steady but infant mortality decreased. This was the main reason for Arab population
growth. ... No one would doubt that some migrant workers came to Palestine from Syria and Trans-Jordan
and remained there. But one has to add to this that there were migrations in the opposite direction as well.
For example, a tradition developed in Hebron to go to study and work in Cairo, with the result that a
permanent community of Hebronites had been living in Cairo since the fifteenth century. Trans-Jordan
exported unskilled casual labor to Palestine; but before 1948 its civil service attracted a good many
educated Palestinian Arabs who did not find work in Palestine itself. Demographically speaking, however,
neither movement of population was significant in comparison to the decisive factor of natural
increase.[205]

Daniel Pipes responded to Porath by granting that From Time Immemorial quoted carelessly,
used statistics sloppily, and ignored inconvenient facts. Nonetheless, he explained that:

Miss Peters's central thesis is that a substantial immigration of Arabs to Palestine took place during the
first half of the twentieth century. She supports this argument with an array of demographic statistics and
contemporary accounts, the bulk of which have not been questioned by any reviewer, including Professor
Porath.

Professor Porath replied with an array of data culled from expert demographers to confirm his
position. He also pointed out that Peters demographic statistics were inexplicable:

...nowhere in her main text or in the methodological appendices (V and VI) did Mrs. Peters bother to
explain to her readers how she managed to break down the Ottoman or Cuinet's figures into smaller units
than subdistricts. As far as I know no figures for the units smaller than subdistricts (Nahia; the parallel of
the French commune), covering the area of Ottoman Palestine, were ever published. Therefore I can't
avoid the conclusion that Mrs. Peters's figures were, at best, based on guesswork and an extremely
tendentious guesswork at that.[206]

Current demographics

See also: Demographics of Israel, Demographics of the Palestinian territories, and

Demographics of Jordan
According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, as of May 2006, of Israel's 7 million people,
77% were Jews, 18.5% Arabs, and 4.3% "others".[207] Among Jews, 68% were Sabras (Israeli-
born), mostly second- or third-generation Israelis, and the rest are olim — 22% from Europe and
the Americas, and 10% from Asia and Africa, including the Arab countries.[208]

According to Palestinian evaluations, The West Bank is inhabited by approximately 2.4 million
Palestinians and the Gaza Strip by another 1.4 million. According to a study presented at The
Sixth Herzliya Conference on The Balance of Israel's National Security[209] there are 1.4 million
Palestinians in the West Bank. This study was criticised by demographer Sergio DellaPergola,
who estimated 3.33 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip combined at the end of
2005.[210]

According to these Israeli and Palestinian estimates, the population in Israel and the Palestinian
Territories stands at 9.8-10.8 million.

Jordan has a population of around 6,000,000 (2007 estimate).[211][212] Palestinians constitute

approximately half of this number.[213]

See also

 Arab-Israeli conflict
 British Mandate of Palestine
 Greater Israel
 Greater Syria
 History of Palestine
 State of Israel
 Israeli-Palestinian conflict
 Land of Israel
 Names of the Levant
 Palestinian Authority
 Palestinian people
 Place names in Palestine
 State of Palestine

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83.^ Thomas A. Idniopulos (1998). "Weathered by Miracles: A History of Palestine From Bonaparte
and Muhammad Ali to Ben-Gurion and the Mufti". Retrieved on 2007-08-11.
84.^ "Roman Arabia". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved on 2007-08-11.
85.^ a b c Kenneth G. Holum "Palestine" The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Ed. Alexander P.
Kazhdan. Oxford University Press 1991.
86.^ a b c d Shahin (2005), page 10
87.^ CALIPH UMAR'S ADDRESS AFTER JERUSALEM
88.^ The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City By Dore
Gold, pg. 97
89.^ Walid Khalidi (1984). Before Their Diaspora. Institute for Palestine Studies, Washington DC.
pp. 27–28.
90.^ Haim Gerber (Fall 2003). ""Zionism, Orientalism, and the Palestinians"". Journal of Palestine
Studies (Journal of Palestine Studies) Vol. 33, No. 1: 23–41. doi:10.1525/jps.2003.33.1.23.
http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/jps.2003.33.1.23?cookieSet=1&journalCode=jps.
91.^ a b James Parkes. "Palestine Under the Caliphs". MidEastWeb. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
92.^ Rizwi Faizer (1998). "The Shape of the Holy: Early Islamic Jerusalem". Rizwi's Bibliography
for Medieval Islam. Retrieved on 2007-07-14.
93.^ Ahl al-Kitab. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 12, 2007, from
Encyclopædia Britannica Online
94.^ Ghada Hashem Talhami (February 2000). The Modern History of Islamic Jerusalem: Academic
Myths and Propaganda. Volume VII, No. 2. Middle East Policy Council.
http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol7/0002_talhami.asp. Retrieved on 20 August 2007.
95.^ Yaacov Lev (2007). The Ethics and Practice of Islamic Medieval Charity. 5, Issue 2. History
Compass. pp. 603–618.
96.^ a b c d e f g h Shahin (2005), p. 11
97.^ M. Cherif Bassiouni (2004). "Islamic Civilization: An Overview". Middle East Institute: The
George Camp Keiser Library. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
98.^ "Egypt: The Fatimid Period 969 - 1771". Arab Net (2002). Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
99.^ David Nicolle (July 2005). Crusader Castles in the Holy Land 1192-1302. Osprey. ISBN
9781841768274. http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S8278~per=41.
100.^ "Projects:The Old City of Akko (Acre)". Israeli Antiquities Authority. Retrieved on 2007-08-
14.
101.^ Frank Heynick, Jews and medicine, An Epic Saga, KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 2002 p.103,
commenting on Maimonidies' decision not to settle there a century later.
102.^ a b c Kenneth Setton, ed. A History of the Crusades, vol. I. University of Pennsylvania Press,
1958
103.^ a b c d e f Shahin (2005), page 12.
104.^ a b Walid Khalidi (1984). Before Their Diaspora. Institute for Palestine Studies, Washington
DC. pp. 28–29.
105.^ "[http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ihame/Sec11.htm Islam and Islamic History in Arabia
and The Middle East: The Mongols and the Mamluks]". Islamicity. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
106.^ Chase, 2003, pp. 104-105.
107.^ a b Gideon Biger, The Boundaries of Modern Palestine, 1840-1947, pp. 13-15. Routledge,
2004. ISBN 0714656542
108.^ Gerber, 1998.
109.^ Mandel, 1976, p. xx.
110.^ Judith Mendelsohn Rood, Sacred Law in the Holy City, p. 46. Brill Publishers, 2004.
111.^ Bernard Lewis, "Palestine: On the History and Geography of a Name", International History
Review 11 (1980): 1-12
112.^ Porath, 1974, pp. 8-9.
113.^ Haim Gerber (1998) referring to fatwas by two Hanafite Syrian jurists.
114.^ [Biger]
115.^ Hughes, 1999, p. 17; p. 97.
116.^ 'Zionist Aspirations: Dr Weizmann on the Future of Palestine', The Times, Saturday, 8 May,
1920; p. 15.
117.^ Gelber, 1997, pp. 6-15.
118.^ Sicker, 1999, p. 164.
119.^ CAABU :: The Council for Arab-British Understanding
120.^ No. 565. — EXCHANGE OF NOTES * CONSTITUTING AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE BRITISH AND FRENCH GOVERNMENTS RESPECTING THE BOUNDARY LINE
BETWEEN SYRIA AND PALESTINE FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN TO EL HAMMÉ,
PARIS MARCH 7, 1923, Page 7 Border Treaty
121.^ Louis, 1969, p. 90.
122.^ Project Gutenberg: The Peace Negotiations by Robert Lansing, Boston and New York:
Houghton Mifflin Company. 1921, Chapter XIII 'THE SYSTEM OF MANDATES'

If the advocates of the system intended to avoid through its operation the appearance of taking enemy
territory as the spoils of war, it was a subterfuge which deceived no one. It seemed obvious from the very
first that the Powers, which under the old practice would have obtained sovereignty over certain conquered
territories, would not be denied mandates over those territories. The League of Nations might reserve in the
mandate a right of supervision of administration and even of revocation of authority, but that right would be
nominal and of little, if any, real value provided the mandatory was one of the Great Powers as it
undoubtedly would be. The almost irresistible conclusion is that the protagonists of the theory saw in it a
means of clothing the League of Nations with an apparent usefulness which justified the League by making
it the guardian of uncivilized and semi-civilized peoples and the international agent to watch over and
prevent any deviation from the principle of equality in the commercial and industrial development of the
mandated territories.
 It may appear surprising that the Great Powers so readily gave their support to the new method of
obtaining an apparently limited control over the conquered territories, and did not seek to obtain
complete sovereignty over them. It is not necessary to look far for a sufficient and very practical
reason. If the colonial possessions of Germany had, under the old practice, been divided among the
victorious Powers and been ceded to them directly in full sovereignty, Germany might justly have
asked that the value of such territorial cessions be applied on any war indemnities to which the Powers
were entitled. On the other hand, the League of Nations in the distribution of mandates would
presumably do so in the interests of the inhabitants of the colonies and the mandates would be
accepted by the Powers as a duty and not to obtain new possessions. Thus under the mandatory system
Germany lost her territorial assets, which might have greatly reduced her financial debt to the Allies,
while the latter obtained the German colonial possessions without the loss of any of their claims for
indemnity. In actual operation the apparent altruism of the mandatory system worked in favor of the
selfish and material interests of the Powers which accepted the mandates. And the same may be said of
the dismemberment of Turkey. It should not be a matter of surprise, therefore, that the President found
little opposition to the adoption of his theory, or, to be more accurate, of the Smuts theory, on the part
of the European statesmen.

123.^ Henry Cabot Lodge: Reservations with Regard to the Treaty and the League of Nations
124.^ Classic Senate Speeches and the Denunciation of the Mandate System, starting on page 7, col.
1
125.^ Palestine Mandate Convention between the United States of America and Great Britain,
Signed at London, December 3, 1924, starting on page 212 of FRUS, 1924, Volume II.
126.^ see for example the negtiations under DELAY IN EXCHANGE OF RATIFICATIONS OF
THE PALESTINE MANDATE CONVENTION PENDING ADJUSTMENT OF CASES
INVOLVING THE CAPITULATORY RIGHTS OF AMERICANS, 1925
127.^ Excerpts from League of Nations Official Journal dated June 1922, pp. 546-549
128.^ Ingrams, 1972
129.^ "Mandate for Palestine - Interim report of the Mandatory to the LoN/Balfour Declaration
text". League of Nations (1921-07-30). Retrieved on 2007-03-08.
130.^ Henry Laurens, La Question de Palestine, Fayard, Paris 2002 vol.2 p.101
131.^ Colonel Archer-Cust, Chief Secretary of the British Government in Palestine, said in a lecture
to the Royal Empire Society that "The hanging of the two British Sergeants [an Irgun retaliation
to British executions] did more than anything to get us out [of Palestine]". (The United Empire
Journal, November-December 1949, taken from The Revolt, by Menachem Begin)
132.^ United States Proposal for Temporary United Nations Trusteeship for Palestine, Statement by
President Truman, March 25, 1948
133.^ Population data calculated from three pages of the online CIA World Factbook [3] [4] [5]
134.^ Rupert Cornwell (July 8, 1998). "UN upgrades Palestine status". Independent, The (London).
135.^ Kurz, 2005, p. 123.
136.^ Pierre Tristam. "Palestine at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Summer Games: Your Guide to
Palestine's Athletes, Competitions and Olympic History". About.com.
137.^ Arjan El Fassed (31 January 2006). "Palestine gets its first Oscar nomination with Paradise
Now". The Electronic Intifada.
138.^ Statistics, accessed 21 May, 2007.
139.^ Magen Broshi, The Population of Western Palestine in the Roman-Byzantine Period, Bulletin
of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 236, p.7, 1979.
140.^ Yigal Shiloh, The Population of Iron Age Palestine in the Light of a Sample Analysis of Urban
Plans, Areas, and Population Density, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No.
239, p.33, 1980.
141.^ Katz, p.113-115 (Hebrew)
142.^ Tomas Shaw, Travels and Observations Relating to Several Parts of Barbary and the Levant
(London, 1767), p. 331ff.; Constantine Francois Volney, Travels Through Syria and Egypt in the
Years 1783, 1784 and 1785 (London, 1787); Alexander Keith, The Land of Israel (Edinburgh,
1944), P. 465.
143.^ Conder, C. R. "Palestine". A Dictionary of the Bible III. Ed. James Hastings. pages 646-647.
144.^ Les Juifs dans l'empire romain (1914), 1, 209f.
145.^ Referred to by W C Lowdermilk, Palestine, Land of Promise,(1944), p. 47.
146.^ From Jesus to Paul (1944), 33.
147.^ Herod the Great (1971), 165.
148.^ A Social and Religious History of the Jews, 2nd ed. (1952), Vol. 1, 168, 370-2.
149.^ Encyclopaedia Biblica column 3550.
150.^ Referred to by W C Lowdermilk, Palestine, Land of Promise (1944), 47.
151.^ The Holy Land (1966), 220, 221.
152.^ Letter of 16 December 1941 reported by Lowdermilk, ibid, 47.
153.^ Die Bevolkerung der griechischromischen Welt (1886), 242-9.
154.^ Economic Background of the Gospels (1926), 83.
155.^ Byatt, 1973.
156.^ Daily Life in Palestine at the Time of Christ (1962), 43.
157.^ Preparing the Way for Paul (1930), 115.
158.^ History of New Testament Times (1949), 189.
159.^ Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums (1915), 1, 10.
160.^ Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus (1969), 205.
161.^ The Density of Population in Ancient Palestine, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol 66 (1947),
425-36.
162.^ Bernard Lewis, Studies in the Ottoman Archives--I, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and
African Studies, University of London, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 469-501, 1954
163.^ Katz, 115 citing C.F.C Conte de Volney: Travels through Syria & Egypt in the years 1783,
1784, 1785 (London, 1798). Vol II p. 219
164.^ DellaPergola, 2001, p. 5.
165.^ Scholch, 1985, p. 503.
166.^ McCarthy, 1990, p.26.
167.^ McCarthy, 1990.
168.^ Sachar, p. 167.
169.^ McCarthy, 1990, pp. 37-38.
170.^ Katz, 114 citing Alphonse de Lamartine, Recollections of the East, Vol. I (London, 1845), pp.
268, 308.
171.^ Chapter 56.
172.^ Chapter 52.
173.^ Chapter 49.
174.^ Chapter 46.
175.^ see: Tom Sawyer Abroad Chapter 1
176.^ K. Christison, Perceptions of Palestine: Their Influence on U.S. Middle East Policy, Univ. of
California Press, 1999; p16.
177.^ K. Christison, Perceptions of Palestine: Their Influence on US Middle East Policy, Univ. of
California Press, 1999; p. 20.
178.^ B. B. Doumani, The political economy of population counts in Ottoman Palestine: Nablus,
Circa 1950, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol 26 (1994) 1-17.
179.^ J. McCarthy, The population of Ottoman Syria and Iraq, 1878-1914, Asian and African
Studies, vol. 15 (1981) pp. 3-44. K. H. Karpat, Ottoman population 1830-1914 (Univ. Wisconsin
Press, 1985).
180.^ Alan Dowty, Much Ado about Little: Ahad Ha'am's "Truth from Eretz Yisrael", Zionism, and
the Arabs, Israel Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Fall 2000) 154-181.
181.^ The Lands of the Saracen, by Bayard Taylor
182.^ Abu-Lughod, 1971, p. 126.
183.^ RELANDI HADRIANI Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata. Trajecti Batavorum,
Guilielmi, 1714., pages 648-649
184.^ Marwan R. Beheiry, "The Agricultural Exports of Southern Palestine, 1885-1 9 14", Journal
of Palestine Studies, volume 10, No. 4, 198 1, p. 67.
185.^ Palestine's Economic Future: A Review of Progress and Prospects (London: Percy Lund
Humphries and Co., Ltd., 1946), pp. 19-23.
186.^ Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson [6]
187.^ Heat, humidity, malaria, and yellow fever conspired to destroy the settlement of Am Olam
near Newport Arkansas in 1884. Ninety percent of its residents became ill, and twenty died. After
a miserable year, the remaining settlers decided to try their luck in other parts of the United
States. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture Project
188.^ In 1882 the first Jewish agricultural colony in Kansas was established. It was named
Beersheba. Dugouts and sod houses were constructed for homes, a synagogue, and school. Cow
chips were used for fuel. Wells were dug and the native prairie was plowed and planted. Farming
proved to be unprofitable and severe winters produced hardships. In the 1890s the colonists sold
or abandoned their homesteads. A decade after the colony was established, no one remained and
the land reverted to prairie. Beersheba and Early Kansas Town
189.^ The Last of the Jewish Farmgirls
190.^ Jewish Virtual Library: Arabs in Palestine
191.^ Interim Report on the Civil Administration of Palestine
192.^ Journal Abstract: Almut Nebel, Dvora Filon, Deborah A. Weiss, Michael Weale, Marina
Faerman, Ariella Oppenheim, Mark G. Thomas. 2000 "High-resolution Y chromosome
haplotypes of Israeli and Palestinian Arabs reveal geographic substructure and substantial overlap
with haplotypes of Jews". Human Genetics 107(6): 630-641.
193.^ Journal Article: Almut Nebel, Dvora Filon, Bernd Brinkmann, Partha P. Majumder, Marina
Faerman, Ariella Oppenheim. 2001. "The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic
Landscape of the Middle East". American Journal of Human Genetics 69(5): 1095–1112.
194.^ From Time Immemorial - Natural Increase and the Growth of Palestine's Arab Population
195.^ Sachar, p. 167.
196.^ Sachar, pp. 167–168
197.^ Gilbert, 2005, p. 16.
198.^ Gottheil, 2003.
199.^ a b McCarthy, 1990, p. 33.
200.^ a b McCarthy, 1990, p. 16.
201.^ McCarthy, 1990, p. 38.
202.^ McCarthy, 1990, pp. 16-17.
203.^ Gilbar, 1986, p. 188.
204.^ Schmelz, 1990, pp. 15-67.
205.^ Porath, Y. (1986). Mrs. Peters's Palestine. New York Review of Books. 16 January, 32 (21 &
22).
 206.^ Mrs. Peters's Palestine: An Exchange, The New York Review of Books, Volume 33, Number 5,
March 27, 1986.
207.^ Central Bureau of Statistics, Government of Israel. "Population, by religion and population
group" (PDF). Retrieved on 2006-04-08.
208.^ Central Bureau of Statistics, Government of Israel. "Jews and others, by origin, continent of
birth and period of immigration" (PDF). Retrieved on 2006-04-08.
209.^ Bennett Zimmerman & Roberta Seid (January 23, 2006). "Arab Population in the West Bank
& Gaza: The Million Person Gap". American-Israel Demographic Research Group. Retrieved on
2006-09-27.
210.^ Sergio DellaPergola (Winter 2007, No. 27). "Letter to the Editor". Azure. Retrieved on 2007-
01-11.
211.^ Jordan: Facts & Figures, accessed 22 May, 2007.
212.^ CIA World Factbook, accessed 22 May, 2007.
213.^ Assessment for Palestinians in Jordan, Minorities at Risk, accessed 22 May, 2007.

External links
 The Hope Simpson Report (London, 1930) [7]
 Palestine Royal Commission Report (the Peel Report) (London, 1937) [8]
 Report to the Council of the League of Nations (1928) [9]
 Report to the Council of the League of Nations (1929) [10]
 Report to the Council of the League of Nations (1934) [11]
 Report to the Council of the League of Nations (1935) [12]
 www.mideastweb.org - A website with a wealth of statistics regarding population in
Palestine
 Coins and Banknotes of Palestine under the British Mandate
 WorldStatesmen- Maps, flags, chronology, see Israel and Palestinian National Authority
 hWeb - Israel-Palestine in Maps
 Palestine Fact Sheet from the Common Language Project
 1911 Encyclopedia description of Palestine
 Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine
 History of the Palestine Problem, UN website

Maps

 Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916

 1947 UN Partition Plan
 1949 Armisitice Lines
 Israel After 1949 Armistice Agreements
 Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine

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