The History of Palestine The Whole Truth

 

History of the Arabic Region

When Christopher Columbus discovered the new continent, which is known today as America, the Arabic countries were then under the rule of a great Islamic state, namely the Ottoman Empire, which had extended its dominion over all the Arabic soil and countries known today, in addition to some other Islamic states. Such empire was the last Islamic state that had reigned over the Arabic region, and that was from the year 1516 till the year 1918.

The Arabic regions and the Middle East region had witnessed the rise of many governments and Islamic States that followed one after the other on its soil, according to place and time. The following table, which is compiled from different historic resources, shows the times of such states, and its geographic prevalence since the rise of Islam till the establishment of the Ottoman Empire:

The Reign	Ruling period	The geographic realm
The Rightly-Guided Caliphs	632 – 661 A.D.	Arabic Peninsula +  Bilad Al-Sham + Egypt + Iraq and a number of other countries.
The Umayyad Caliphs	611 – 750 A.D.	The same countries + North  Afirca + Sind region + South of Spain and other countries
The Abbasid Caliphs	750 – 1259 A.D.	Most of the above countries save Palestine.
The Idrisid State	788 – 974 A.D.	Morroco.
The Tulunid State	868 – 905 A.D.	Egypt and Syria.
The Hamdanid Dynasty	905 – 1004 A.D.	Syria and the Arabic Peninsula
The Fatmids	909 – 1171 A.D.	North of Africa + Egypt + West of the Arabic Peninsula + Bilad Al-Sham.
The Ikhshidid State	935 – 969 A.D.	Egypt+ Palestine + Syria + some of the contiguous countries.
The Mazidyon State/The Zirid Dynasty	961 – 1150 A.D.	Middle of Iraq.
The Aqlyoun State	990 – 1096 A.D.	Iraq + Peninsula + north of Syria.
The Mardisid State	1032 – 1079 A.D.	Halab and north of Syria
The Almoravids	1065 – 1147 A.D.	North of Africa
The Almohads	1130 – 1269 A.D.	North of Africa
The Ayyubid Dynasty	1169 – 1260	Egypt + Yamen + Bilad Al-Sham.
The Marinids and Wattasid Dynasty	1196 – 1549 A.D.	Morroco.
The Hafsids	1228 – 1574 A.D.	Tunsia.
The Mamluk State	1250 – 1517 A.D.	Egypt + Bilad Al-Sham + west of the Arabic Peninsula.
The Ottoman Sultans	1281 – 1924 A.D.	United all the arabic countries under it.

Note: this table cites the most important countries that the aforementioned states had ruled and not all of them.

This table reveals clearly the versatility of states that shared control, or contended with each others for the control of the Arabic region, the Middles East, and the Gulf. In addition, it pinpoints to the absence of any foreign influence in such regions, and especially what is now known as Israel.

Owing to the fact that the Middle East is privileged with great importance due to its spiritual and religious value, as it was the place of descent of religions and messengers. In addition, it is considered the commercial crossroads, and the point of junction of the three most important continents at that time: Europe, Africa, and Asia, hence it had witnessed many wars, which drained the Arabic nation for long centuries, because of the external greediness and the numerous invasions, in addition to the internal dissensions, which had caused states to fall down, and others to rise over its debris, as shown in the above table. Nevertheless, the external greediness remained the severer, in particular with the recurrence of attempts to destroy the Islamic state, lay hands on it, and manipulate its nations and riches.

The Crusades are considered one of the gravest invasions, under which the region had suffered the scourges of military expeditions, the first of which was prompted by Pope Urban II at Clermont in the year 1095. The historian Foucher de Chartres had talked about this incident in his book “Histoire du pèlerinage des Francs à Jérusalem”, where we quote what he said in page 122: “War is not to acquire just one city, but rather the region of Asia as a whole, together with its countless riches and treasures. Thus proceed to the sanctified tomb, and liberate the sacred land from the hands of the robbers, and take it to yourselves, for this land as the Torah has said outpours with milk and honey.”

Among the other important invasions that the Muslims suffered under during this long history, is the ravaging Mongol and Tatar invasions, which had overthrown the Abbasid Caliphs in the year 1258, and destroyed Baghdad, killing from its people more than 800 thousands, their troops advanced towards the rest of the Middle East countries, spreading fear all over the region, where Syria and Palestine had fallen under their dominion. Then and under the circle of struggle and contention between France and Britain, the former, under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte had mounted a campaign against Egypt and Palestine in the Year 1897, where he occupied many Palestinian cities, and committed a massacre killing more than 12000 Arab captives. Those last wars were not less greedy and atrocious, if they were not even more bloody, which brought about more affliction and hardship to the Arabic region that rankles with its wounds, for the British and the French had broken up the unity of the Islamic states and occupied them, imposing on the citizens different systems that violate the sanctities and traditions of these nations, enough to recall to our minds the number of victims of the French occupation in Algeria, which reached million and half a million martyrs, in order for all to know the brutality of that occupier, who exceeded that of Tatar under the leadership of their savage leader Holako.

Controlling The Arabic Region And The Emergence of Colonies

Owing to the great number of wars that depleted the Islamic states and the Arabic nation, the colonizing power managed to overthrow the Ottoman Empire, and fetter its influence little by little. Then followed the signing of Sykes-Picot Agreement between France and Britain in 1916, through which they agreed upon dividing the Arabic region into controlling areas, thus they subjugated Lebanon and Syria to French dominion, while Jordan and Iraq were subjugated to the British dominion, as for Palestine it remained a small state. All this occurred without paying the least heed to the opinion of the people of the region, as if they did not care about the future of their land, or as if the people were no more than just slaves to the colonist to do to them whatever he wanted. Facing up this racial division and illegitimate control of the Arabic countries, it was the duty of the nations of the region to strive to liberate the Arabic lands from the British and French occupation. The following table shows the dates of independence of these countries, according to the information found in the Arab League site on the internet:

Country	Date of Independence		Country	Date of Independence
Jordan	25/5/1946		Oman	18/11/1950
Emirates	2/12/1971		Comoros	06/07/1975
Bahrain	11/08/1971		Qatar	09/01/1971
Tunis	20/03/1956		Kuwait	25/02/1961
Algeria	05/07/1962		Lebanon	22/11/1946
Djibouti	11/08/1971		Libya	24/12/1951
Saudi Arabia	23/09/1932		Egypt	28/02/1922
Syria	17/04/1946		Morocco	02/03/1956
Sudan	01/01/1956		Mauritania	28/11/1960
Somalia	1/07/1960		Yemen	26/09/1962North 1967 South
Iraq	03/10/1932		Palestine	Still under Zionist occupation

The above table shows how all the Arabic countries have gained their independence, and put an end to the suppression and despotism of occupation, except Palestine that stills suffers savagery and brutality of the colonist without achieving its independence, and they were even expelled out of their land, and were driven away to contiguous countries, while others, who are foreigners to the region and totally different from its people in their conventions and customs were implanted in their place. They were embedded by the British colonist by the power of the arms, in revenge for the independence movements that emancipated the Arabic countries and lifted up high the flags of victory. Hence, it is rendered essential to clarify the whole story of the history of Palestine, so that everyone knows how the world has now reached this stage of dissension, contention, warfare, disturbance,  and genocide.

Palestine and the Historical Truth

It is considered easy to acquire accurate information substantiated by documented resources about the history of Palestine dating back to thousands of years till our contemporary time, and that because of the abundance of resources and studies that tackled this history, on top of the places that secure such information is the Palestinian Authority, and that to make sure that the information is free of any distortion or twisting, and in order for the coming generation, whether Palestinians or not, never to forget this history. On such basis, the Palestinian National Information Center working under the General Institute for Information, which in turn is affiliated to the Palestinian Authority, provides full historical information  corroborated with studies and researches.

Prehistoric Palestine

The name of Palestine:

Palestine was known since ancient history as Kan’an land, where it was mentioned in the reports of one of the army leaders to King Mary. In addition, this name is found inscribed clearly on the obelisk of Adrimi, who was the king of Alkha (Tal Al-A’tshenah) during the middle of the fifth century before Christ. The origin of the word Palestine, as it was mentioned in the Assyrian records during the era of the king of Assyria (Addizary III) around the year 800 B.C. comes from the word Philsta, where he had inscribed on his obelisk that in the fifth year of his reign, his forces had submitted Palastu under his control, and compelled its people to pay taxes. Also the word Palestine was mentioned by Herodotus on Aramean basis, as we find him using it in referring to  a place on the south part of Syria or (Palestinian Syria) nearby Finithya  till the Egyptian boundaries. Moreover, the Romanian historians, like Agathar Chides, Strabo, and Diodoru had used such naming.

During the Romanian era, the name of Palestine used to be called on all the sacred land, then it developed to be the official name of this district since the era of Hadrian, thus this name grew to be widely used in the Christian church, where they used to refer to it quite often in the Christian pilgrims reports. On the other hands, Palestine used to be a part of Bilad Al-Sham during the Islamic era.

The fecundity of the Palestinian land, in addition to its distinguished position had made it habitable since ancient times, where it played an important role as a cultural junction between different places around the world, by virtue of its central position, which rendered it historically recognizable since ancient times.

The Ancient Stone Age

According to what the archeological discoveries have revealed, scientists agreed that man lived on the Palestinian land, he is known as man of erect stature,. Those ancestors were primarily hunters, who traveled in search of different herds of animals. Worth mentioning that prehistoric man during that period had passed through different development phases, where he began to develop his hunting maneuvers and his tools made of stone. During the third phase of the Stone Age, the thinking man appeared, where the knife made of long blades, constituted the primary tool used in this period. Remnants of that man was discovered inside caves in Palestine, like Al-Amira cave, Irc Al-Ahmar, Al-wad, Kubarah and other places in Negev desert. This phase marks the beginning of human gatherings, that represented a developed social form, despite the fact that such groups remained surviving on hunting and the gathering of provision.

17000 – 8000 B.C.: Shifting from Gathering to Production

During that phase man progressed from the phase of gathering to that of production, where he started to search for the spots of water to settle around, and collect the seeds of small plants like wheat, barley to plant them, in addition to practicing hunting. Thus that phase from the Stone age was distinguished by stability, and development of the means of life and production, especially after man discovered pottery, and used it in building and manufacturing of tools.

8000 – 4000 B.C.: appearance of agricultural communities

Man during that phase depended on fishing and cultivation of some cereals, but he had not yet known breeding of animals. In addition to such activities, there were commercial connections between Palestine and Turkey, as tools made of Obsidian that Turkey used to export were found in Ariha and other countries, in return Ariha used to export raw materials, like tar, salt from Dead Sea. Then in subsequent phases man learned how to breed animals.

4000 – 2000 B.C.: The Closing of the Fourth millennium before Christianity

That period witnessed a clear change in the economic, social, architectural aspects in Palestine. Probably the most distinguished thing in that period is the appearance of a large number of cemeteries that are engraved inside the rocks in Palestine. During the subsequent periods, the usage of metals were discovered, where man started to manufacture from it tools and vessels. This period also witnessed the emergence of temples, which the excavation processes had unveiled their presence in many Palestinian cities and villages. As for the development of the industrial and commercial level, it pinpointed the demographic growth, together with the increase of the standard of living and the progress of agriculture.

Semites

According to the archeological discoveries in Egypt and Iraq, the Semites are considered the most ancient known nations, who  lived on the Palestinian soil since the fourth millennium before Christ. They used to inhabit the eastern shore of the Mediterranean sea. As for the religious aspect, the Semites are considered –  originally – the tribes descending from Shem, the eldest son of Noah (peace be upon him). What is confirmed, is that the original ancient inhabitants of Palestine were all Arab, who migrated from the Arabic Peninsula following a drought that stroke it. Thus they  lived in their new native country “Canaan” for more than two thousands years before the appearance of the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) and his followers.

Canaanites

According to the documented assessments, the famous Canaanites migration from the Arabic Peninsula occurred during the mid-third millennium before Christ. Though a group of the researchers have deduced that the Canaanites had settled in the country since the beginning of the third millennium, basing their assumption on the Egyptian Archeological discoveries. While others believe that the presence of the Canaanites dates back to seven thousands years ago, and that through tracing the monuments in their ancient cities, the most ancient of which is “Ariha” that stands erect till our day, and which is considered the most ancient city on earth. Although assessments of the precise beginning of the Canaanite presence has oscillated, what is unanimously agreed upon is that they were the first to inhabit this region among the ancient nations that were present at that time, and they were the first to erect on the soil of Palestine a civilization. It was mentioned in the Hebrew writings that Canaanites are the original inhabitants of the country, and it is also mentioned in Torah that they were the Amorite people. One of the most ancient cities that exist till our day is Ariha, Jericho, Asdod, Acco, Gaza, Al-Majdal, Jaffa, Askelan and Bisan. There are also many cities and villages, some of which still remain till our day, and others have perished. The metropolis of Canaan was  Shekeem.

The Canaanites were renowned for cultivation and industry, they had excelled in mining, manufacturing of pottery, glass, clothes, and textile. In addition, they excelled in the art of architecture. Music and literature come on the top of the Canaanite’s civilization, where no other Semite population had ever cared for art and music like the Canaanites did, as they had quoted a lot from the music of the different nations, which took of the ancient Near East a home to them. As music constituted one of the worshipping rituals for Canaanites, thus their music rhythms, and instruments had spread all over the region. No one can gainsay that art and literature are the epitome of civilization. Thus there is no wonder when we trace the Israeli writings, we discover the great effort exerted by the Israelis to delude the whole world into thinking that they were the erectors of that grand civilization, and the composers of hymn, songs, and chanting. They had succeeded in making of this falsehood a fact in the eyes of many. But the great trusted historians like “Bristed” described the flourishing Canaanites city when the Hebrews entered it, as a city that contained luxurious and comfortable houses, a city that knew industry, trade, writing, and temples, thus it had a civilization, which the primitive Hebrew shepherds had emulated, hence they deserted their tents, and imitated them in building houses. Moreover, they took off the leather that they used to wear in the desert, to put on colorful wool clothes, and as time lapsed, it became hard to differentiate between the Canaanites and the Hebrews in the outward appearance. Then after the coming of the Palestinians from the seaside, and the Israelis from Jordan, the land of Canaan was split among three nations. Henceforth the Canaanites no longer became the sole masters of the country. Nevertheless, the Canaanite language remained the prevailing one. Since the dawn of recorded history, namely five thousands years ago, till the British mandate in the year 1920, Palestine had known only three languages: Canaanite language in the first place, then Aramean language, which was the language of Christ (peace be upon him), and thirdly the Arabic language.

2000 B.C. – 1200 B.C.

At the beginning of the second millennium B.C., cities had started to witness a certain vivacity, and new modes of architecture and cemeteries appeared, in addition to creation of new forms of pottery and weapons. Moreover, this phase was distinguished by developed commercial and political relationships with most of the ancient Eastern regions, particularly, Egypt, Bilad Al-Sham, north of Syria, and east of Turkey. Besides, such phase was marked by the development of pottery manufacturing and the way of selecting the clay and mixing it, then molding it into shapes by means of a speedy wheel, thus producing elegant and versatile vessels. On the other hands, this phase was distinguished by a thorough Egyptian hegemony over Bilad Al-Sham during the reign of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, who  conquered the last of the Hixos kings around the year 1567 B.C., and that through the campaigns embarked by Thutmose III on Bilad Al-Sham around the year 1480 B.C., also it is characterized by the disappearance of the strong fortresses backed up by compact layers of mud that were built by the Hixos. Worth mentioning here, that during that period, Palestine had witnessed a state of turmoil that affected the region from the northern and middle districts with the beginning of the reign of the eighteenth dynasty, and that after the expulsion of the Hixos from Egypt and their chasing them away till Sharohin in the north of Palestine. Such events were recorded in detailed manuscripts since the era of Thutmose III, among such manuscripts, one relating the battle of Megiddo that was under leadership of King of Megiddo and King of Qadish on the Syrian part, who formed a coalition, to which more than one thousand and twenty cities entered. Such event was also mentioned in one of Thutmose’s III topographical manifests, also such scripts where found inscribed in one of the obelisks that were erected in Karnak and Memphis.

1200 – 550 B.C.: Era of Kingdoms (Iron Age):

During that period the Palestinians considered themselves the legitimate successors to the Egyptian authority in Palestine, thus they held sway over most of its parts. They are usually referred to as the inhabitants of the Palestinian coast, where they established a number of the main cities, like Gaza, Askalan, Asdoud, A’qir, Tal As-Safy, and others. The Canaanite impact had manifested itself over the Palestinians, such effect can be traced in the names of their deities, like Dagon and A’shtartout, also the religious life of the inhabitants of the Palestinian coast has its Canaanite origin, in addition to their religious edifices, most prominent of which is the consecutive series of temples in Tal Al-Kasilah that was built according to the fashion of Canaanite temples, with a touch of Egyptian architecture. On the other hand, there were claims made by the Israeli archeologists concerning the origin of some archeological discoveries and architectures, which they attributed to the old Israelis, and which was known in the foreign sources as “collared-rimjar”.

Bilad Al-Sham: Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan