Palestine

History of Palestine

The geographical area in the Middle East known as Palestine – found between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River - comprises parts of modern Israel, Jordan and Egypt. The area has had several names in the last three millennia, including Canaan, the Holy Land and Judea.

Before World War One, Palestine formed part of the Ottoman Empire. After World War Two, an international organisation called the United Nations decided to divide Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state, creating the a geographical area called Israel. Israel was created in 1948 with the purpose of creating a homeland for Jewish people who were scattered all over the world. The Arab states were not happy with this and in the same year a war broke out.

This division has been at the heart of many conflicts in the region for the past half century. This is partly due to the fact that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced when the state of Israel was created. Around 800,000 Palestinians fled from their homes in 1948 to avoid the fighting and gathered in refugee camps throughout Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, West Bank and Gaza strip. The situation has provoked several wars involving Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Palestinians have lived under Israeli occupation since 1967. In 1979 Egypt and Israel signed a peace agreement, but it wasn’t until the early 1990’s that a peace process began. Part of this process involved the handing over of Gaza and the West Bank to Palestinian control, but a final agreement between the people of Israel and Palestine is yet to be reached.

 

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