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108-477: Al-Maqdisi is one of the earliest known historical figures to self-identify as a Palestinian ,having done so when sharing an anecdote on one of his travels in Persia . Outside of his own work, there is little biographical information available about al-Maqdisi. He is neither found in the voluminous biographies of Ibn Khallikan (d. 1282) nor were the aspects of his life mentioned in the works of his contemporaries. He

216-501: A Jewish state and the dispossession of the Arab majority crystallised among most editors, Christian and Muslim, of local newspapers. The term itself Filasṭīnī was first introduced by Khalīl Beidas in a translation of a Russian work on the Holy Land into Arabic in 1898. After that, its usage gradually spread so that, by 1908, with the loosening of censorship controls under late Ottoman rule,

324-443: A number of Muslim, Christian and Jewish correspondents writing for newspapers began to use the term with great frequency in referring to the 'Palestinian people' ( ahl/ahālī Filasṭīn ), 'Palestinians' ( al-Filasṭīnīyūn ), the 'sons of Palestine' ( abnā’ Filasṭīn ) or to 'Palestinian society' ( al-mujtama' al-filasṭīnī ). Whatever the differing viewpoints over the timing, causal mechanisms, and orientation of Palestinian nationalism, by

432-618: A 2015 Foreign Affairs article that "based on hundreds of manuscripts, Islamic court records, books, magazines, and newspapers from the Ottoman period (1516–1918), it seems that the first Arab to use the term "Palestinian" was Farid Georges Kassab, a Beirut-based Orthodox Christian ." He explained further that Kassab's 1909 book Palestine, Hellenism, and Clericalism noted in passing that "the Orthodox Palestinian Ottomans call themselves Arabs, and are in fact Arabs," despite describing

540-802: A British "colony of the lowest order." The Arabs tried to get the British to offer an Arab legal establishment again roughly ten years later, but to no avail. After the British general, Louis Bols, read out the Balfour Declaration in February 1920, some 1,500 Palestinians demonstrated in the streets of Jerusalem. A month later, during the 1920 Nebi Musa riots, the protests against British rule and Jewish immigration became violent and Bols banned all demonstrations. In May 1921 however, further anti-Jewish riots broke out in Jaffa and dozens of Arabs and Jews were killed in

648-562: A ban of the sale of land to Jews. By the end of 1936, the movement had become a national revolt, and resistance grew during 1937 and 1938. In response, the British declared martial law , dissolved the Arab High Committee and arrested officials from the Supreme Muslim Council who were behind the revolt. By 1939, 5,000 Arabs had been killed in British attempts to quash the revolt; more than 15,000 were wounded. In November 1947,

756-669: A degree of continuity over a long historical period (much as 'the Israelites' of the Bible suggest a long historical continuity in the same region)." Baruch Kimmerling and Joel S. Migdal consider the 1834 Peasants' revolt in Palestine as constituting the first formative event of the Palestinian people. From 1516 to 1917, Palestine was ruled by the Ottoman Empire save a decade from the 1830s to

864-483: A long history, destroyed by Israeli forces. In addition, Palestinians lost from 1.5 to 2 million acres of land, an estimated 150,000 urban and rural homes, and 23,000 commercial structures such as shops and offices. Recent estimates of the cost to Palestinians in property confiscations by Israel from 1948 onwards has concluded that Palestinians have suffered a net $ 300 billion loss in assets. Those parts of British Mandatory Palestine which did not become part of

972-914: A result of the Oslo Accords , is an interim administrative body nominally responsible for governance in Palestinian population centres in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since 1978, the United Nations has observed an annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People . According to British historian Perry Anderson , it is estimated that half of the population in the Palestinian territories are refugees, and that they have collectively suffered approximately US$ 300 billion in property losses due to Israeli confiscations, at 2008–2009 prices. Despite various wars and exoduses , roughly one half of

1080-648: A similar Greek name in the days of Alexander the Great, but the earlier Greek name is no longer known. Geographically, it is the region between the rivers Amu Darya to its south and the Syr Darya to its north. The region of Transoxiana was one of the satrapies (provinces) of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia under the name Sogdia . It was defined within the classical world of Persia to distinguish it from Iran proper , especially its northeastern province of Khorasan ,

1188-692: A spoken and eventually written language" in the region. The Arab conquest also resulted in contacts with Tang China, where fragments of the Sasanian ruling elite, including Peroz III , had taken shelter after Iran's conquest by the Arabs. However, it did not result in Transoxania having major interactions with Chinese culture. Genghis Khan , founder of the Mongol Empire , invaded Transoxiana in 1219 during his conquest of Khwarezm . Before his death in 1227, he assigned

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1296-517: A state. However, Palestinian sovereignty over the areas claimed as part of the Palestinian state remains limited, and the boundaries of the state remain a point of contestation between Palestinians and Israelis. The first Palestinian nationalist organizations emerged at the end of the World War I . Two political factions emerged. al-Muntada al-Adabi , dominated by the Nashashibi family, militated for

1404-606: A term originating with the Sasanians , although early Arab historians and geographers tended to subsume the region within the loosely defined term "Khorasan" designating a much larger territory . The territories of Khwarazm , Sogdiana, Chaghaniyan , and Khuttal were located in the southern part of Transoxiana; Chach , Osrushana , and Farghana were located in the northern part. Historically known in Persian as Farā-rūd ( Persian : فرارود , [fæɾɒːˈɾuːd̪] – 'beyond

1512-584: A tradition that emerged in the 1960s that argues Palestinian nationalism has deep historical roots, with extreme advocates reading a Palestinian nationalist consciousness and identity back into the history of Palestine over the past few centuries, and even millennia, when such a consciousness is in fact relatively modern. The Battle of Karameh and the events of Black September in Jordan contributed to growing Palestinian support for these groups, particularly among Palestinians in exile. Concurrently, among Palestinians in

1620-512: A unique concept in which all of the lands of Islam constituted a single domain. He subdivided this domain into two parts: mamlakat al-ʿArab (domain of the Arabs) and mamlakat al-ʿAjam (domain of the non-Arabs). The former consisted, from east to west, of the six provinces of Iraq , Aqur (Upper Mesopotamia), Arabia , Syria , Egypt and the Maghreb , while the latter consisted of the eight provinces of

1728-519: Is a disputed issue amongst scholars. For some, the term " Palestinian " is used to refer to the nationalist concept of a Palestinian people by Palestinian Arabs from the late 19th century and in the pre-World War I period, while others assert the Palestinian identity encompasses the heritage of all eras from biblical times up to the Ottoman period . After the Israeli Declaration of Independence ,

1836-687: Is beyond the [Jayhūn] river") passed into Persian literary usage and stayed on until post-Mongol times. The name Transoxiana stuck in Western consciousness because of the exploits of Alexander the Great , who extended Greek culture into the region with his invasion in the 4th century BCE. Alexander's successors would go on to found the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom , ushering in a distinct Greek cultural presence within Transoxiana that existed for over two hundred years. The city of Ai-Khanoum , situated on

1944-465: Is beyond the river", sometimes rendered as "Mavarannahr". Transoxiana's major cities and cultural centers are Samarkand and Bukhara . Both are in the southern portion of Transoxiana (though still to the north of the Amu Darya itself, on the river Zarafshan ) and Uzbekistan, and the majority of the region was dry but fertile plains. Both cities remained centres of Persian culture and civilisation after

2052-458: Is independent of the existence of any actual Arabian origins. Palestinians are sometimes described as indigenous. In a human rights context, the word indigenous may have different definitions; the UN Commission on Human Rights uses several criteria to define this term. Palestine has undergone many demographic and religious upheavals throughout history. During the 2nd millennium BCE , it

2160-431: Is one of the best parts of the work. All that he wrote is the fruit of his own observation, and his descriptions of the manners and customs of the various countries, bear the stamp of a shrewd and observant mind, fortified by profound knowledge of both books and men. Hafit { Tuwwam } abounds in palm trees; it lies in the direction of Hajar { Al-Hasa }, and the mosque is in the markets ... Dibba and Julfar , both in

2268-513: The 1948 Palestinian expulsion , and more so after the 1967 Palestinian exodus , the term "Palestinian" evolved into a sense of a shared future in the form of aspirations for a Palestinian state . Founded in 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization is an umbrella organization for groups that represent the Palestinian people before international states. The Palestinian National Authority , officially established in 1994 as

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2376-566: The Al-Quds , Al-Munadi , Falastin , Al-Karmil and Al-Nafir newspapers, which used the term "Filastini" more than 170 times in 110 articles from 1908 to 1914. They also made references to a "Palestinian society", "Palestinian nation", and a "Palestinian diaspora". Article writers included Christian and Muslim Arab Palestinians, Palestinian emigrants, and non-Palestinian Arabs. The Palestinian Arab Christian Falastin newspaper had addressed its readers as Palestinians since its inception in 1911 during

2484-514: The Bronze-Age population of Canaan . Variations have been noted between Muslim and Christian Palestinians . Additionally, there are indications within Palestinian populations of maternal gene flow from Sub-Saharan Africa , possibly linked to historical migrations or the Arab slave trade . Genetic studies have also shown a genetic relationship between Palestinians and Jews . A 2023 study looking at

2592-612: The Islamic conquest of Iran , and played a crucial role in the revival of Persian culture with establishment of the Samanid Empire . Part of this region was conquered by Qutayba ibn Muslim between 706 and 715 and loosely held by the Umayyads from 715 to 738. The conquest was consolidated by Nasr ibn Sayyar between 738 and 740, and continued under the control of the Umayyads until 750, when it

2700-548: The Middle East after World War I . Khalidi also states that although the challenge posed by Zionism played a role in shaping this identity, that "it is a serious mistake to suggest that Palestinian identity emerged mainly as a response to Zionism." Conversely, historian James L. Gelvin argues that Palestinian nationalism was a direct reaction to Zionism. In his book The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War he states that "Palestinian nationalism emerged during

2808-655: The Muslim conquest of the Levant . Some Palestinian families, notably in the Hebron and Nablus regions, claim Jewish and Samaritan ancestry respectively, preserving associated cultural customs and traditions. Genetic studies indicate a genetic affinity between Palestinians and other Arab and Semitic groups in the Middle East and North Africa . Recent research suggests a genetic continuity between modern Palestinians and ancient Levantine populations, evidenced by their clustering with

2916-511: The Oxus ' ) is the Latin name for the region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to modern-day eastern Uzbekistan , western Tajikistan , parts of southern Kazakhstan , parts of Turkmenistan and southern Kyrgyzstan . The name was first coined by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC when Alexander's troops were able to conquer the region. The region may have had

3024-603: The Palestinian fedayeen , sumud provided an important subtext to the narrative of the fighters, "in symbolizing continuity and connections with the land, with peasantry and a rural way of life." In 1974, the PLO was recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people by the Arab nation-states and was granted observer status as a national liberation movement by the United Nations that same year. Israel rejected

3132-504: The Philistines . Among Semitic languages , Akkadian Palaštu (variant Pilištu ) is used of 7th-century Philistia and its, by then, four city states. Biblical Hebrew 's cognate word Plištim , is usually translated Philistines . When the Romans conquered the region in the first century BCE, they used the name Judaea for the province that covered most of the region. At the same time,

3240-510: The San Remo conference , it was decided to accept the text of those articles, while inserting in the minutes of the conference an undertaking by the Mandatory Power that this would not involve the surrender of any of the rights hitherto enjoyed by the non-Jewish communities in Palestine. In 1922, the British authorities over Mandatory Palestine proposed a draft constitution that would have granted

3348-682: The Six-Day War . Historian Avi Shlaim states that the Palestinians' lack of sovereignty over the land has been used by Israelis to deny Palestinians their rights to self-determination. Today, the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination has been affirmed by the United Nations General Assembly , the International Court of Justice and several Israeli authorities. A total of 133 countries recognize Palestine as

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3456-503: The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Partition Plan , which divided the mandate of Palestine into two states: one majority Arab and one majority Jewish. The Palestinian Arabs rejected the plan and attacked Jewish civilian areas and paramilitary targets. Following Israel's declaration of independence in May 1948, five Arab armies (Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Transjordan) came to

3564-506: The boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit." Historical records and later genetic studies indicate that the Palestinian people descend mostly from Ancient Levantines extending back to Bronze Age inhabitants of Levant. According to Palestinian historian Nazmi Al-Ju'beh like in other Arab nations, the Arab identity of Palestinians, largely based on linguistic and cultural affiliation,

3672-419: The pan-Arabist ideology put forward by Gamal Abdel Nasser —popular among Palestinians for whom Arabism was already an important component of their identity —tended to obscure the identities of the separate Arab states it subsumed. Since 1967, Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have lived under military occupation, creating, according to Avram Bornstein, a carceralization of their society . In

3780-506: The peasants' revolt in Palestine in 1834 (or even as early as the 17th century), while others argue that it did not emerge until after the Mandatory Palestine period. Legal historian Assaf Likhovski states that the prevailing view is that Palestinian identity originated in the early decades of the 20th century, when an embryonic desire among Palestinians for self-government in the face of generalized fears that Zionism would lead to

3888-444: The whole genomes of world populations found that the Palestinian samples clustered in the "Middle Eastern genomic group", which included samples such as Samaritan , Bedouin , Jordanian , Iraqi Jew and Yemenite Jew samples. The timing and causes behind the emergence of a distinctively Palestinian national identity among the Arabs of Palestine are matters of scholarly disagreement. Some argue that it can be traced as far back as

3996-486: The "Syrians of Palestine" or "Palestinian-Syrians", an ethnically amorphous group he distinguishes from the Phoenicians. Herodotus makes no distinction between the inhabitants of Palestine. The Greek word reflects an ancient Eastern Mediterranean-Near Eastern word which was used either as a toponym or ethnonym . In Ancient Egyptian Peleset/Purusati has been conjectured to refer to the " Sea Peoples ", particularly

4104-468: The 1840s when an Egyptian vassal of the Ottomans, Muhammad Ali , and his son Ibrahim Pasha successfully broke away from Ottoman leadership and, conquering territory spreading from Egypt to as far north as Damascus, asserted their own rule over the area. The so-called Peasants' Revolt by Palestine's Arabs was precipitated by heavy demands for conscripts. The local leaders and urban notables were unhappy about

4212-702: The 1950s, a new generation of Palestinian nationalist groups and movements began to organize clandestinely, stepping out onto the public stage in the 1960s. The traditional Palestinian elite who had dominated negotiations with the British and the Zionists in the Mandate, and who were largely held responsible for the loss of Palestine, were replaced by these new movements whose recruits generally came from poor to middle-class backgrounds and were often students or recent graduates of universities in Cairo , Beirut and Damascus. The potency of

4320-452: The Arabic speakers of Palestine as Palestinians throughout the rest of the book." Bernard Lewis argues it was not as a Palestinian nation that the Arabs of Ottoman Palestine objected to Zionists, since the very concept of such a nation was unknown to the Arabs of the area at the time and did not come into being until very much later. Even the concept of Arab nationalism in the Arab provinces of

4428-666: The Arabic-speaking Muslims of Palestine but also the Arab Christians and other religious communities of Palestine who were at that time Arabic-speakers, such as the Samaritans and Druze . Thus, the Jews of Palestine were/are also included, although limited only to "the [Arabic-speaking] Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the [pre-state] Zionist invasion." The Charter also states that "Palestine with

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4536-576: The Arabs of Palestine." Israeli historian Efraim Karsh takes the view that the Palestinian identity did not develop until after the 1967 war because the Palestinian exodus/expulsion had fractured society so greatly that it was impossible to piece together a national identity. Between 1948 and 1967, the Jordanians and other Arab countries hosting Arab refugees from Palestine/Israel silenced any expression of Palestinian identity and occupied their lands until Israel's conquests of 1967. The formal annexation of

4644-513: The British, and Izz ad-Din al-Qassam . After the killing of sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam by the British in 1935, his followers initiated the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine , which began with a general strike in Jaffa and attacks on Jewish and British installations in Nablus . The Arab Higher Committee called for a nationwide general strike, non-payment of taxes, and the closure of municipal governments, and demanded an end to Jewish immigration and

4752-600: The Gaza Strip, over 870,000 in the West Bank, and around 250,000 in Israel proper. Of the Palestinian population who live abroad, known as the Palestinian diaspora , more than half are stateless , lacking legal citizenship in any country. 2.3 million of the diaspora population are registered as refugees in neighboring Jordan , most of whom hold Jordanian citizenship; over 1 million live between Syria and Lebanon , and about 750,000 live in Saudi Arabia , with Chile holding

4860-780: The Jewish population in Jerusalem and its surroundings in Judea , and Samaritan population in Samaria , never fully recovered as a result of the Jewish-Roman Wars and Samaritan revolts respectively. In the centuries that followed, the region experienced political and economic unrest , mass conversions to Christianity (and subsequent Christianization of the Roman Empire ), and the religious persecution of minorities. The immigration of Christians,

4968-421: The Mandatory Power considered the Palestinian population to be composed of religious, not national, groups. Consequently, government censuses in 1922 and 1931 would categorize Palestinians confessionally as Muslims, Christians and Jews, with the category of Arab absent. The articles of the Mandate mentioned the civil and religious rights of the non-Jewish communities in Palestine, but not their political status. At

5076-664: The Mashriq (Sistan, Afghanistan , Khurasan and Transoxiana ), Sindh, Kirman , Fars , Khuzistan , Jibal , Daylam and Rihab ( Armenia , Adharbayjan and Aran ). Aḥsan al-taqāsīm gives a systematic account of all the places and regions al-Maqdisi had visited. He devoted a section of his book to Bilad al-Sham (the Levant ) with a particular focus on Palestine. In contrast to travelers to Palestine, such as Arculf ( c.  680s ), Nasir Khusraw ( c.  1040s ) and others, who were pilgrims, al-Maqdisi gave detailed insights into

5184-708: The Omani-UAE border. Dibba is another region split between the UAE and Oman, touching the Musandam Peninsula , which is partly ruled by the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah , where the ancient settlement of Julfar is located. Palestinians Palestinians ( Arabic : الفلسطينيون , romanized :  al-Filasṭīniyyūn ) are an Arab ethnonational group native to the region of Palestine . In 1919, Palestinian Muslims and Palestinian Christians constituted 90 percent of

5292-515: The Ottoman Empire as part of a 'sacred trust of civilization'. Article 7 of the League of Nations Mandate required the establishment of a new, separate, Palestinian nationality for the inhabitants. This meant that Palestinians did not become British citizens, and that Palestine was not annexed into the British dominions. The Mandate document divided the population into Jewish and non-Jewish, and Britain,

5400-458: The Ottoman Empire, "had not reached significant proportions before the outbreak of World War I." Tamir Sorek, a sociologist , submits that, "Although a distinct Palestinian identity can be traced back at least to the middle of the nineteenth century (Kimmerling and Migdal 1993; Khalidi 1997b), or even to the seventeenth century (Gerber 1998), it was not until after World War I that a broad range of optional political affiliations became relevant for

5508-687: The Ottoman period. During the Mandatory Palestine period, the term "Palestinian" was used to refer to all people residing there, regardless of religion or ethnicity , and those granted citizenship by the British Mandatory authorities were granted "Palestinian citizenship". Other examples include the use of the term Palestine Regiment to refer to the Jewish Infantry Brigade Group of the British Army during World War II, and

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5616-436: The Oxus in northern Afghanistan, remains the only Graeco Bactrian city to have been found and extensively excavated. During the Sasanian (Sassanid) Empire , it was often called Sogdia, a provincial name taken from the Achaemenid Empire , and used to distinguish it from nearby Bactria . The Chinese explorer Zhang Qian , who visited the neighbouring countries of Bactria and Parthia along with Transoxiana in 126 BCE, made

5724-423: The PLO's Palestinian National Council in July 1968, defined "Palestinians" as "those Arab nationals who, until 1947, normally resided in Palestine regardless of whether they were evicted from it or stayed there. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father – whether in Palestine or outside it – is also a Palestinian." Note that "Arab nationals" is not religious-specific, and it includes not only

5832-415: The Palestinian Arabs representation in a Legislative Council on condition that they accept the terms of the mandate. The Palestine Arab delegation rejected the proposal as "wholly unsatisfactory", noting that "the People of Palestine" could not accept the inclusion of the Balfour Declaration in the constitution's preamble as the basis for discussions. They further took issue with the designation of Palestine as

5940-486: The Palestinian Arabs' aid against the newly founded State of Israel . The Palestinian Arabs suffered such a major defeat at the end of the war, that the term they use to describe the war is Nakba (the "catastrophe"). Israel took control of much of the territory that would have been allocated to the Arab state had the Palestinian Arabs accepted the UN partition plan. Along with a military defeat, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from what became

6048-468: The Palestinian people's right to form a sovereign independent state, "The right of self-determination gives the Palestinian people collectively the inalienable right freely to determine its political status, while Israel, having recognized the Palestinians as a separate people, is obliged to promote and respect this right in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations". Transoxiana Transoxiana or Transoxania ( lit.   ' Land beyond

6156-456: The Roman and Byzantine periods to about 300,000 by the early Ottoman period. Over time, the existing population adopted Arab culture and language and much converted to Islam . The settlement of Arabs before and after the Muslim conquest is thought to have played a role in accelerating the Islamization process. Some scholars suggest that by the arrival of the Crusaders , Palestine was already overwhelmingly Muslim, while others claim that it

6264-470: The State of Israel. Israel did not allow the Palestinian refugees of the war to return to Israel. After the war, there was a hiatus in Palestinian political activity. Khalidi attributes this to the traumatic events of 1947–49, which included the depopulation of over 400 towns and villages and the creation of hundreds of thousands of refugees. 418 villages had been razed, 46,367 buildings, 123 schools, 1,233 mosques, 8 churches and 68 holy shrines, many with

6372-463: The State of Israel." In 1975, the United Nations established a subsidiary organ, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People , to recommend a program of implementation to enable the Palestinian people to exercise national independence and their rights to self-determination without external interference, national independence and sovereignty, and to return to their homes and property. The First Intifada (1987–93)

6480-433: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, a new ideological theme, known as sumud , represented the Palestinian political strategy popularly adopted from 1967 onward. As a concept closely related to the land, agriculture and indigenousness , the ideal image of the Palestinian put forward at this time was that of the peasant (in Arabic, fellah ) who stayed put on his land, refusing to leave. A strategy more passive than that adopted by

6588-450: The West Bank by Jordan in 1950, and the subsequent granting of its Palestinian residents Jordanian citizenship, further stunted the growth of a Palestinian national identity by integrating them into Jordanian society. The idea of a unique Palestinian state distinct from its Arab neighbors was at first rejected by Palestinian representatives. The First Congress of Muslim-Christian Associations (in Jerusalem , February 1919), which met for

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6696-466: The [Amu] river'), Faro-rüd ( Tajik : Фарорӯд ), and Varaz-rüd ( Tajik : Варазрӯд ), the area had been known to the ancient Iranians as Turan , a term used in the Persian national epic Shahnameh . The corresponding Chinese term for the region is Hezhong ( Chinese : 河中地区 - land between rivers (Amu and Syr) ). The Arabic term Mā Warāʾ an-Nahr ( Arabic : ما وراء النهر , [ˈmaː waˈraːʔ anˈnahr] , which means "what

6804-481: The art of Central Asia, this is within the setting of Buddhist art, where we can even observe a tendency to present such figures as caricatures, quite in line with the criticism of them in the Buddhist scriptures. Transoxania was a great center of Muslim civilization; it was the centre of the Timurid Empire and saw influential Muslim leaders like Oghuz Khan . An excerpt from a dynastic history commissioned by Eltüzer Khan of Khwarazm: "Oghuz Khan, who could speak at

6912-495: The capitals of the Palestine and Jordan districts, respectively. To a lesser extent, he described Acre, Beisan , Bayt Jibrin , Caesarea , Amman and Aila . In his descriptions of the aforementioned cities, al-Maqdisi noted their prosperity and stability and gave a general impression of Palestine as densely populated and wealthy, with numerous localities. Guy Le Strange comments on al-Maqdisi's work: His description of Palestine, and especially of Jerusalem, his native city,

7020-485: The confrontations. After the 1920 Nebi Musa riots , the San Remo conference and the failure of Faisal to establish the Kingdom of Greater Syria , a distinctive form of Palestinian Arab nationalism took root between April and July 1920. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the French conquest of Syria , coupled with the British conquest and administration of Palestine, the formerly pan-Syrianist mayor of Jerusalem , Musa Qasim Pasha al-Husayni , said "Now, after

7128-466: The direction of the Hajar, are close to the sea ... Tuwwam has been dominated by a branch of the Quraysh ... Al-Maqdisi mentioned regions in Eastern Arabia which form parts of what are now Saudi Arabia , the UAE and Oman . Al-Hasa is an important oasis region in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia, whereas Tuwwam is another oasis region split between the UAE and Oman, comprising the modern settlements of Al Ain and Al-Buraimi on different sides of

7236-399: The distinctiveness of Palestinian history ..." and "[a]lthough proud of their Arab heritage and ancestry, the Palestinians considered themselves to be descended not only from Arab conquerors of the seventh century but also from indigenous peoples who had lived in the country since time immemorial, including the ancient Hebrews and the Canaanites before them." Zachary J. Foster argued in

7344-432: The early 20th century strong opposition to Zionism and evidence of a burgeoning nationalistic Palestinian identity is found in the content of Arabic-language newspapers in Palestine, such as Al-Karmil (est. 1908) and Filasteen (est. 1911). Filasteen initially focused its critique of Zionism around the failure of the Ottoman administration to control Jewish immigration and the large influx of foreigners, later exploring

7452-444: The efforts of some extreme advocates of Palestinian nationalism to "anachronistically" read back into history a nationalist consciousness that is in fact "relatively modern". Khalidi argues that the modern national identity of Palestinians has its roots in nationalist discourses that emerged among the peoples of the Ottoman empire in the late 19th century that sharpened following the demarcation of modern nation-state boundaries in

7560-472: The emigration of Jews, and the conversion of pagans, Jews and Samaritans, contributed to a Christian majority forming in Late Roman and Byzantine Palestine . In the 7th century, the Arab Rashiduns conquered the Levant ; they were later succeeded by other Arab Muslim dynasties, including the Umayyads , Abbasids and the Fatimids . Over the following several centuries, the population of Palestine drastically decreased, from an estimated 1 million during

7668-441: The first Israeli–Palestinian interim peace agreement, were signed in 1993. The process was envisioned to last five years, ending in June 1999, when the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the Jericho area began. The expiration of this term without the recognition by Israel of the Palestinian State and without the effective termination of the occupation was followed by the Second Intifada in 2000. The second intifada

7776-512: The first known Chinese report on this region. Zhang Qian clearly identifies Parthia as an advanced urban civilisation that farmed grain and grapes, and made silver coins and leather goods. It was ruled successively by Seleucids , the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom , the Parthian Empire and the Kushan Empire before Sassanid rule. In Sasanian times, the region became a major cultural center due to

7884-556: The following years, especially under the nationalistic orientation of the leadership of Yasser Arafat . Mainstream secular Palestinian nationalism was grouped together under the umbrella of the PLO whose constituent organizations include Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine , among other groups who at that time believed that political violence was the only way to "liberate" Palestine. These groups gave voice to

7992-515: The history of Palestine  – encompassing the Biblical , Roman , Byzantine , Umayyad , Abbasid , Fatimid , Crusader , Ayyubid , Mamluk and Ottoman periods – form part of the identity of the modern-day Palestinian people, as they have come to understand it over the last century. Noting that Palestinian identity has never been an exclusive one, with "Arabism, religion, and local loyalties" playing an important role, Khalidi cautions against

8100-415: The impact of Zionist land-purchases on Palestinian peasants ( Arabic : فلاحين , fellahin ), expressing growing concern over land dispossession and its implications for the society at large. Historian Rashid Khalidi 's 1997 book Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness is considered a "foundational text" on the subject. He notes that the archaeological strata that denote

8208-445: The interwar period in response to Zionist immigration and settlement." Gelvin argues that this fact does not make the Palestinian identity any less legitimate: "The fact that Palestinian nationalism developed later than Zionism and indeed in response to it does not in any way diminish the legitimacy of Palestinian nationalism or make it less valid than Zionism. All nationalisms arise in opposition to some 'other.' Why else would there be

8316-512: The land as punishment for the Bar Kokhba revolt . Jacobson suggested the change to be rationalized by the fact that the new province was far larger. The name was thenceforth inscribed on coins, and beginning in the fifth century, mentioned in rabbinic texts . The Arabic word Filastin has been used to refer to the region since the time of the earliest medieval Arab geographers . It appears to have been used as an Arabic adjectival noun in

8424-503: The land in which the Palestinians have lived during the modern era. Palestine was administered by the Ottoman Empire until World War I, and then overseen by the British Mandatory authorities. Israel was established in parts of Palestine in 1948, and in the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , the West Bank was ruled by Jordan , and the Gaza Strip by Egypt , with both countries continuing to administer these areas until Israel occupied them in

8532-719: The lands of Western Central Asia to his second son Chagatai , and this region became known as the Chagatai Khanate . In 1369, Timur , of the Barlas tribe, became the effective ruler and made Samarkand the capital of his future empire . Transoxiana was known to be flourishing in the mid-14th century. The historian Mark Dickens notes: Transoxiana's principal pre-Islamic religion was Zoroastrianism , albeit in local manifestations. However, Buddhism , [Nestorian] Christianity , Manichaeism , and Mazdakism also had many adherents, especially in urban areas. This initial religious diversity

8640-494: The largest Palestinian diaspora concentration (around half a million) outside of the Arab world . The Greek toponym Palaistínē (Παλαιστίνη), which is the origin of the Arabic Filasṭīn (فلسطين), first occurs in the work of the 5th century BCE Greek historian Herodotus , where it denotes generally the coastal land from Phoenicia down to Egypt . Herodotus also employs the term as an ethnonym , as when he speaks of

8748-617: The loss of traditional privileges, while the peasants were well aware that conscription was little more than a death sentence. Starting in May 1834 the rebels took many cities, among them Jerusalem , Hebron and Nablus and Ibrahim Pasha's army was deployed, defeating the last rebels on 4 August in Hebron. Benny Morris argues that the Arabs in Palestine nevertheless remained part of a larger national pan-Arab or, alternatively, pan-Islamist movement. Walid Khalidi argues otherwise, writing that Palestinians in Ottoman times were "[a]cutely aware of

8856-482: The meantime, pan-Arabism has waned as an aspect of Palestinian identity. The Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank triggered a second Palestinian exodus and fractured Palestinian political and militant groups, prompting them to give up residual hopes in pan-Arabism. They rallied increasingly around the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which had been formed in Cairo in 1964. The group grew in popularity in

8964-562: The name Syria Palestina continued to be used by historians and geographers to refer to the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River , as in the writings of Philo , Josephus and Pliny the Elder . During the early 2nd century CE, Syria Palaestina became the official administrative name in a move viewed by scholars as an attempt by emperor Hadrian to disassociate Jews from

9072-598: The need to specify who you are? And all nationalisms are defined by what they oppose." David Seddon writes that "[t]he creation of Palestinian identity in its contemporary sense was formed essentially during the 1960s, with the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization." He adds, however, that "the existence of a population with a recognizably similar name ('the Philistines') in Biblical times suggests

9180-530: The newly declared Israeli state were occupied by Egypt or annexed by Jordan. At the Jericho Conference on 1 December 1948, 2,000 Palestinian delegates supported a resolution calling for "the unification of Palestine and Transjordan as a step toward full Arab unity". During what Khalidi terms the "lost years" that followed, Palestinians lacked a center of gravity, divided as they were between these countries and others such as Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere. In

9288-403: The population of Palestine, just before the third wave of Jewish immigration and the setting up of British Mandatory Palestine after World War I . Opposition to Jewish immigration spurred the consolidation of a unified national identity , though Palestinian society was still fragmented by regional, class, religious, and family differences. The history of the Palestinian national identity

9396-525: The preface of Aḥsan al-taqāsīm . He belonged to the school known as the "atlas of Islam", inaugurated by Abu Zayd al-Balkhi (d. 934) and developed by Istakhri (d. 957) and al-Maqdisi's contemporary Ibn Hawqal (d. 978). Al-Balkhi's school almost exclusively dealt with the Islamic world, to which al-Maqdisi too devoted his studies. Al-Maqdisi refers to this world as al-mamlaka or al-Islām (the Domain of Islam),

9504-498: The promotion of the Arabic language and culture, for the defense of Islamic values and for an independent Syria and Palestine. In Damascus , al-Nadi al-Arabi , dominated by the Husayni family, defended the same values. Article 22 of The Covenant of the League of Nations conferred an international legal status upon the territories and people which had ceased to be under the sovereignty of

9612-472: The purpose of selecting a Palestinian Arab representative for the Paris Peace Conference , adopted the following resolution: "We consider Palestine as part of Arab Syria, as it has never been separated from it at any time. We are connected with it by national, religious, linguistic , natural, economic and geographical bonds." An independent Palestinian state has not exercised full sovereignty over

9720-489: The recent events in Damascus , we have to effect a complete change in our plans here. Southern Syria no longer exists. We must defend Palestine". Conflict between Palestinian nationalists and various types of pan-Arabists continued during the British Mandate, but the latter became increasingly marginalized. Two prominent leaders of the Palestinian nationalists were Mohammad Amin al-Husayni , Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, appointed by

9828-442: The region since as early as the 7th century. In modern times, the first person to self-describe Palestine's Arabs as "Palestinians" was Khalil Beidas in 1898, followed by Salim Quba'in and Najib Nassar in 1902. After the 1908 Young Turk Revolution , which eased press censorship laws in the Ottoman Empire, dozens of newspapers and periodicals were founded in Palestine, and the term "Palestinian" expanded in usage. Among those were

9936-605: The region's population, way of life, economy and climate. He paid special attention to Jerusalem, detailing its layout, walls, streets, markets, public structures and landmarks, particularly the Haram ash-Sharif (Temple Mount) and the latter's Dome of the Rock and Jami Al-Aqsa . He described the city's people and customs, focusing on its Muslims, but also its Christian and Jewish communities, whose significant presence he lamented. Al-Maqdisi also gave extensive overviews of Ramla and Tiberias ,

10044-527: The resolution, calling it "shameful". In a speech to the Knesset , Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Yigal Allon outlined the government's view that: "No one can expect us to recognize the terrorist organization called the PLO as representing the Palestinians—because it does not. No one can expect us to negotiate with the heads of terror-gangs, who through their ideology and actions, endeavor to liquidate

10152-562: The study of geography. To acquire the necessary information, he undertook a series of journeys throughout the Islamic world, ultimately visiting all of its lands with the exception of al-Andalus (Iberian Peninsula), Sindh and Sistan . The known dates or date ranges of al-Maqdisi's travels include his journey to Aleppo sometime between 965 and 974, his second pilgrimage to Mecca in 978, a visit to Khurasan in 984 and his stay in Shiraz in 985 when he decided to compose his material. The finished work

10260-974: The term "Palestinian Talmud", which is an alternative name of the Jerusalem Talmud , used mainly in academic sources. Following the 1948 establishment of Israel , the use and application of the terms "Palestine" and "Palestinian" by and to Palestinian Jews largely dropped from use. For example, the English-language newspaper The Palestine Post , founded by Jews in 1932, changed its name in 1950 to The Jerusalem Post . The term Arab Jews can include Jews with Palestinian heritage and Israeli citizenship, although some Arab Jews prefer to be called Mizrahi Jews . Non-Jewish Arab citizens of Israel with Palestinian heritage identify themselves as Arabs or Palestinians. These non-Jewish Arab Israelis thus include those that are Palestinian by heritage but Israeli by citizenship. The Palestinian National Charter , as amended by

10368-595: The wealth derived from the Northern Silk Road . Sassanid rule was interrupted by the Hephthalite invasion at the end of the 5th century and didn't return to the Sassanids until 565. Many Persian nobles and landlords escaped to this region after the Muslim conquest of Persia . It was also ruled by Göktürks until the Arab conquest between 705 and 715, the area became known by the Arabic phrase Mā warāʼ al-Nahr "what

10476-477: The world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the territory of former Mandatory Palestine , now encompassing Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip . In Israel proper, Palestinians constitute almost 21 percent of the population as part of its Arab citizens . Many are Palestinian refugees or internally displaced Palestinians , including over 1.4 million in

10584-515: Was aided by the immigration of Egyptians (during the reigns of Muhammad Ali and Ibrahim Pasha ) and Algerians (following Abdelkader El Djezaïri 's revolt) in the first half of the 19th century, and the subsequent immigration of Algerians, Bosnians , and Circassians during the second half of the century. Many Palestinian villagers claim ancestral ties to Arab tribes from the Arabian Peninsula that settled in Palestine during or after

10692-559: Was also an architect. As can be inferred by his work and social background, al-Maqdisi was likely well-educated. Miquel asserts that al-Maqdisi's use of "rhymed prose, even poetry" is indicative of a strong knowledge in Arabic grammar and literature . Likewise, his writings show that he possessed an early interest in Islamic jurisprudence , history, philology and hadith . Al-Maqdisi made his first Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca ) in 967. During this period, he became determined to devote himself to

10800-465: Was born in Jerusalem in c.  946 and belonged to a middle-class family whose roots in the city's environs dated from the period approximate to the 7th-century Muslim conquest . According to historian André Miquel , al-Maqdisi was "very much attached to the Palestine of his birth and to the town whose name he bears". Al-Maqdisī or alternatively al-Muqaddasī was a nisba indicating that he

10908-517: Was from "Bayt al-Maqdis" or "Bayt al-Muqaddas", the Muslim names for Jerusalem. His paternal grandfather, Abu Bakr al-Banna, had been responsible for the construction of Acre 's maritime fortifications under orders from Ahmad ibn Tulun (r. 868–884), the autonomous Abbasid governor of Egypt and Syria . Al-Maqdisi's maternal grandfather, Abu Tayyib al-Shawwa, moved to Jerusalem from Biyar in Khurasan and

11016-598: Was gradually eroded after the Arab conquest . Muslims had conquered Transoxiana by the 7-8th century. There were multiple figures in the Muslim world who had conquered these lands. Some include the Umayyad and Abbasid Arabs that took over lands that are now Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Apart from a presence in Kushan Bactria , Hinduism unlike Buddhism, seems to have made little inroad into Central Asia north of Bactria. Even when Brahmins are depicted in

11124-508: Was inhabited by the Canaanites , Semitic -speaking peoples who practiced the Canaanite religion . Most Palestinians share a strong genetic link to the ancient Canaanites. Israelites later emerged as an outgrowth of southern Canaanite civilization, with Jews and Israelite Samaritans eventually forming the majority of the population in Palestine during classical antiquity , However,

11232-572: Was more violent than the first. The International Court of Justice observed that since the government of Israel had decided to recognize the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people, their existence was no longer an issue. The court noted that the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip of 28 September 1995 also referred a number of times to the Palestinian people and its "legitimate rights". According to Thomas Giegerich , with respect to

11340-564: Was only after the Crusades that the Christians lost their majority, and that the process of mass Islamization took place much later, perhaps during the Mamluk period . For several centuries during the Ottoman period the population in Palestine declined and fluctuated between 150,000 and 250,000 inhabitants, and it was only in the 19th century that a rapid population growth began to occur. This growth

11448-531: Was replaced by the Abbasid Caliphate . The Tang dynasty of China also controlled the eastern part of the region until the An Lushan Rebellion broke out. In the early Islamic period, the people of Transoxania spoke Sogdian (an Iranian language) and were divided among several principalities . The Arab conquest resulted in the spread of Arabic elite culture, and, more paradoxically, of Persian "as

11556-584: Was the first popular uprising against the Israeli occupation of 1967. Followed by the PLO's 1988 proclamation of a State of Palestine , these developments served to further reinforce the Palestinian national identity. After the Gulf War in 1991, Kuwaiti authorities forcibly pressured nearly 200,000 Palestinians to leave Kuwait . The policy which partly led to this exodus was a response to the alignment of PLO leader Yasser Arafat with Saddam Hussein . The Oslo Accords ,

11664-619: Was titled The Best Divisions for the Knowledge of the Provinces . Though possibly influenced by predecessors al-Jahiz (d. 869), who introduced the "science of countries", and Ibn al-Faqih (fl. 902), al-Maqdisi "surpassed" both "all to the advantage of what certainly should be called a true geography", according to Miquel. Moreover, Miquel surmises that al-Maqdisi "was probably the first to have desired and conceived" true geography as an "original science", an assertion that al-Maqdisi himself makes in

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