Palestine: population, area, capital, history and culture. Unrecognized states – Palestine

Once a beautiful area with clean, intact homes and infrastructure, the Palestinian territory is now a dilapidated disaster zone. The ongoing war for the right to own their ancestral lands takes away the opportunity for the population to take a break and restore their economic activity.

The story of a small but very proud state is still sad, but Palestinians are full of hope for a bright future. They believe that one day Allah will remove all infidels from their path and give peace and freedom to the Palestinian people.

Where is Palestine?

The territory of Palestine is located in the Middle East. The geographical map includes in this territory the Asian countries of the southwestern part: Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and others. Among them there are surprising differences in state system: Some states are distinguished by republican rule, others by monarchical rule.

Historians have proven that the territories of the Middle East are the ancestral home of ancient civilizations that disappeared many millions of years ago. Three famous world religions appeared here - Islam, Judaism and Christianity. The terrain mainly consists of sandy deserts or impassable mountains. For the most part, there is no agriculture here. However, many countries rose to the peak of their modern development thanks to oil fields.

A darkening factor for the residents is territorial disputes, due to which a huge number of civilians are dying. Since the emergence of a Jewish state was an unexpected factor, almost all countries of the second point abandoned diplomatic relations with Israel. And military conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians have continued from 1947 to the present day.

Initially, the location of Palestine occupied the entire area, ranging from the waters of the Jordan to the Mediterranean shores. In the middle of the last century, the Palestinian disposition changed after the creation of the famous state of Israel.

Which city is Jerusalem status

The history of the ancient city of Jerusalem goes back to ancient times BC. Modern realities do not leave the sacred land alone. The division of the city began immediately after the establishment of the borders between Israel and the Arab state in 1947, after many years of British claims. However, Jerusalem was endowed with a special international status; all military garrisons were to be withdrawn from it; accordingly, life was supposed to be exclusively peaceful. But, as often happens, everything did not go according to plan. Despite the instructions of the UN, in 48-49 of the twentieth century there was a military conflict between Arabs and Israelis to establish power over Jerusalem. As a result, the city was divided into parts between the Jordanian state, which received the eastern part, and the Israeli state, which received western territories ancient city.

The famous Six-Day War of 67 of the 20th century was won by Israel, and Jerusalem completely became part of it. But the UN Security Council did not agree with this policy and ordered Israel to withdraw its troops from Jerusalem, recalling the decree of 1947. However, Israel ignored all the demands and refused to demilitarize the city. And already on May 6, 2004, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the full right of Palestine to occupy the eastern part of Jerusalem. Then military conflicts began with renewed vigor.

Now Palestine has a temporary capital - Ramallah, located thirteen kilometers from Israel, in the center of the western banks of the Jordan River. The city was recognized as the capital of Palestine in 1993. In the 1400s BC, the settlement of Rama was located on the site of the city. This was the era of the Judges, and the place was the sacred Mecca for Israel. The modern boundaries of the city were formed in the mid-16th century. Wars were also fought over this city, and at the beginning of the second millennium AD the city was finally transferred to the state of Palestine. The burial place of Yasser Arafat, who passed away in 2004, is located in Ramallah. The population is twenty-seven and a half thousand people, exclusively Arabs live here, some of whom profess Islam, and some of whom are Christians.

President of the country

The President of Palestine is the same chairman of the Palestinian National Authority. As in many presidential countries, he is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The President has the right to appoint and remove the Prime Minister, and is also personally involved in approving the composition of the government. The President can revoke the powers of the head of the board at any time. He has the power to dissolve parliament and call early elections. The Palestinian President is the determining element in matters of foreign and domestic policy.

Historical information includes the fact that by UN decree, Palestine was prohibited from representing its head as the President of Palestine, despite the fact that the state of Palestine was officially created in 1988. The penultimate chairman, Yasser Arafat, did not use the word president to designate his position. But the real chairman of the Palestinian Authority in 2013 issued a decree officially replacing the position with a presidential one. True, many countries around the world have not recognized this change.

The name of the President, who has ruled for four years, is Abu Mazen. The Palestinian president's term of office cannot exceed five years and can only be re-elected consecutively once. Yasser Arafat, his predecessor, died while in office.

Where are the borders of Palestine? Geography of the country

Officially, only 136 UN member countries out of 193 have recognized Palestine as a state. The historical territory of Palestine is divided into four parts, which consist of the lands of the coastal plain to the Mediterranean territories of Galilee - the northern part, Samaria - the central part, located on the northern side of Holy Jerusalem and Judea - the southern part that includes Jerusalem itself. Such boundaries were established according to biblical scriptures. However, at the moment, the Palestinian area is divided into only two parts: the bank of the Jordan, the river in Palestine (its western part) and the Gaza Strip.

Let's consider the first component of the Arab state. stretched for only 6 thousand kilometers, and the total length of the border is four hundred kilometers. In summer it is quite hot here, but in winter the climatic conditions are mild. The lowest point of the area is the Dead Sea with its 400 meters below sea level. With the help of irrigation, local residents adapted to using the land for agricultural needs.

The West Bank is a predominantly flat area. Palestine as a whole has a very small amount of territorial land - 6220 square kilometers. The main part of the western plain is covered with small hills and desert, and there is no sea traffic. And forest space is only one percent. Accordingly, the border between Palestine and Jordan runs here.

The next part of the country is the Gaza Strip, with a border length of sixty-two kilometers. The area consists of hills and sand dunes, the climate is dry and the summers are very hot. Gaza is almost entirely dependent on drinking water from the Wadi Gaza spring, from which Israel also receives its water. The Gaza Strip borders Israel and is conditioned in all vital important communications, which were established by the Jewish state. In the west, Gaza is washed by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and in the south it borders on Egypt.

Residents

Considering that the area of ​​Palestine is quite small, the population in Palestine is only about five million. The exact data for 2017 is 4 million 990 thousand 882 people. If we recall the mid-twentieth century, the population growth over half a century was almost 4 million. Compared to 1951, when the country consisted of 900 thousand people. The number of male and female populations is almost the same, the birth rate exceeds the death rate, perhaps this is also due to a slight decrease in military operations in the form of bombing populated areas. Migration is also popular, with almost ten thousand people fleeing Palestine this year. The average life expectancy for men is only 4 years less than for women and is 72 years and 76 years, respectively.

Since, by UN decree, the eastern part of Jerusalem belongs to Palestine, the population is almost entirely Israeli, as is the west of the city. The Gaza Strip is inhabited mainly by Arabs who profess Sunni Islam, but among them there are also a couple of thousand Arabs with a Christian cross on their necks. In general, Gaza is mainly settlements of refugees who fled Israeli soil 60 years ago. Today, hereditary refugees live in Gaza.

Approximately four million former Palestinian residents live in refugee status. They settled in the territories of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and other states of the Middle East. The official language of Palestine is Arabic, but knowledge of Hebrew, English and French is common.

History of origin

The historical name of the state of Palestine comes from Philistia. The population of Palestine at that time was also called the Philistines, which literally translated from Hebrew means “invaders.” The place of settlement of the Philistines was the modern part of the Mediterranean coast of Israel. The second millennium BC was marked by the appearance of Jews in these territories, who nicknamed the area Canaan. In the Jewish Bible, Palestine is referred to as the Land of the Children of Israel. Starting from the time of Herodotus, other Greek philosophers and scientists began to call Palestine Syria Palestine.

In all history textbooks, the state of Palestine traces its origins to the colonization of the area by the Canaanite tribes. In the early period before the coming of Christ, the area was captured different peoples: Egyptians, invaders from the shores of Crete, and so on. 930 BC divided the country into two different states - the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah.

The population of Palestine suffered from the aggressive actions of the ancient Persian state of the Achaemenids; it was annexed by various states of the Hellenistic period, and in 395 it was part of Byzantium. However, the revolt against the Romans brought exile to the Jewish people.

Since 636, Palestine came under Arab control, and for six centuries, like a ball, it rolled from the hands of the Arab conquerors into the hands of the crusaders. Since the 13th century, Palestine has been part of the Kingdom of Egypt, and it was ruled by the Mamluks until the arrival of the Ottomans.

The beginning of the 16th century falls on the reign of Selim the First, who increases his territories with the help of the sword. For 400 years, the population of Palestine was subject to the Ottoman Empire. Of course, over the years, successive European military expeditions, for example, Napoleon, tried to take possession of the territory. Meanwhile, the fleeing Jews returned to Jerusalem. Together with Nazareth and Bethlehem, leadership was carried out on behalf of Orthodox and Catholic church leaders. But beyond the borders of the holy cities, the overwhelming majority of the population was still Sunni Arabs.

Forced settlement of Palestine by Jews

In the 19th century, Ibrahim Pasha came to the country, he conquered the lands and founded his residence in During the eight years of his reign, the Egyptians managed to carry out a reform movement according to the models presented to them by Europe. Natural resistance on the part of the Muslim people was not long in coming, but they suppressed it with bloody military force. Despite this, during the period of Egyptian occupation, extensive excavations and research were carried out in the territories of Palestine. Scientists have tried to find evidence for the biblical writings. Towards the middle of the 19th century, a British consulate was established in Jerusalem.

At the end of the 19th century, Jewish people poured into Palestine at breakneck speed, mostly followers of Zionism. A new stage in the history of the state of Palestine has begun. At the beginning of the last century, the Arab population was 450 thousand, and the Jewish population was 50 thousand.

After the First World War, London establishes its mandate over the territories of Palestine and modern Jordan. The British authorities pledged to create a large national Jewish diaspora in Palestine. In this regard, in the 20s, the Transjordanian state was formed, where Jews from Eastern Europe began to move, and their number grew to 90 thousand. In order for everyone to find something to do, they specially drained the swamps of the Israel Valley and prepared the land for agricultural activities.

After the sad events in Germany and others European countries After Hitler came to power, some of the Jews managed to leave for Jerusalem, but the rest were subjected to brutal repression, the consequences of which the whole world knows and mourns. After the end of World War II, Jews made up thirty percent of the total population of Palestine.

The creation of Israel was a blow to the Palestinian territories and the state as a whole. The United Nations, by its right, decided to allocate a certain piece of the Kingdom of Palestine for the Jews and give it to them to create a separate Jewish state. From this moment on, serious military conflicts begin between the Arab and Jewish people, each fighting for their ancestral lands, for their truth. At the moment, the situation has still not been resolved and the confrontation with the Palestinian army continues.

By the way, the Soviet Union also had its part in the Arab lands, which were called Russian Palestine and were acquired during the Russian Empire. On the lands there were special real estate objects that were intended for Russian pilgrims and Orthodox people from other countries. True, these lands were later resold to Israel in the 60s.

The President and the Palestinian lands are protected by the Palestine Liberation Army. In fact, it is a separate military organization that had its head office in Syria and is supported by Syrian Islamists, therefore, according to some Russian and Israeli sources, the AOP is a terrorist group. It took part in almost all military operations against Palestine and its leaders condemn all military activities against Syria and the Syrian people by Western countries.

Country culture

The culture of Palestine in its modern form represents the works and works of local art. Palestine is gradually developing cinema; taking into account world examples, the dynamics can be seen at a good level.

In general, the art of Palestine is closely connected with Jewish art, because these two peoples lived side by side for hundreds of years. Despite political strife, literature and painting are based on traditional Jewish culture, and almost nothing remains of the Arab past. More than seventy percent of the population are Sunni Muslims, that is, Islam is the traditional religion of the state, which coexists with minorities in the form of Christians and Jews.

The same goes for customs and traditions. There is practically nothing from the Arabs in Palestine: for many centuries, the Palestinians absorbed Jewish traditions both in the song style and in the dance steps. The design of the houses and interior decoration are also almost identical to the Jewish ones.

The present state of Palestine

Today, the largest cities in Palestine can be called Jerusalem (given its Eastern part, given by UN decree to Palestine), Ramallah (capital city), Jenin and Nablus. By the way, the only airport was located in the temporary capital area, but was closed in 2001.

Modern Palestine looks depressing from the outside; crossing the famous wall, which is a military fence between the two countries, you find yourself in a world of complete destruction and “dead” silence. Houses dilapidated by bombing border on newly rebuilt ones. Many Palestinians, left homeless, live the life of refugees and equip stone caves for rooms. They build masonry walls in the form of walls to enclose the family territory. Despite advanced development in various areas, poverty prevails over the number of jobs. Having traveled a little deeper through the country, we find ourselves in the last century, where there is no electricity or it is supplied at certain times. Many people burn fires to keep warm right on the floor of the former entrances of now destroyed houses. Some never left their dilapidated home; they continue to make internal frames for stability, because there is simply no opportunity for major repairs - financial support does not allow them to spend so much money on expensive restoration.

At the border of two warring states, a thorough check of documents is underway. If the bus is a tourist bus, then the police may not throw everyone out onto the street, but simply walk around the cabin and check their passports. The thing is that Israelis are prohibited from entering Palestinian territory, in particular, zone A. Everywhere on the roads there are indications of zones and warning signs that it is hazardous to health for an Israeli to be in this place. But who will go there? But many Palestinians, on the contrary, have Israeli IDs and, accordingly, dual citizenship (if we take Palestine as a separate, isolated state).

The local currency is the Israeli shekel. Which is convenient for tourists who suddenly find themselves from the western part of Jerusalem to the eastern. The central parts of the temporary capital and large cities look more modern and even have their own nightlife. According to tourists, people here are hospitable and always try to help, but there are scammer taxi drivers and street guides. Despite the close connection with Israeli culture, Muslim shrines are highly revered by local Arab residents, so you need to dress accordingly for a trip to Palestine.

IN last years Another problem between Palestinians and Israelis was the construction of Israeli settlements in the west of the Jordan River and in East Jerusalem. Officially, such settlements are prohibited and illegal. Some Arab families have lost their private lands, which, however, they promise to return in monetary terms.

But there are also Jewish houses facing demolition on the west bank of the Jordan River; the resettlement of such people has been delayed for ten years, due to the reluctance of the Jews themselves to leave their territories. They build barricades and organize rallies. The Palestinians are fierce opponents of any presence of a Jewish commune on the lands of their state. Thus, the conflict drags on for even more years, because Israel categorically refuses to listen to the instructions of the UN, and the idea of ​​​​creating two separate states is gradually becoming utopian.

Jordan River

There are only three rivers in the Palestinian state: Jordan, Kishon, Lachish. Of course, the most interesting is the Jordan River. And not with his attitude towards Palestine or Israel, but from a spiritual point of view. It was here that Christ was baptized, after which he was proclaimed the prophet Jesus, and it is here that pilgrims come to bathe, and many to accept the faith of Christianity. IN old times, the pilgrims took with them clothes completely soaked in the waters of the Jordan, and the shipbuilders scooped up sacred waters in buckets for storage on the ship. Such rituals were believed to bring good luck and happiness.

Details Category: Partially recognized and unrecognized states of Asia Published 04/23/2014 09:48 Views: 9623

The State of Palestine was proclaimed at an extraordinary session of the Palestinian National Council on November 15, 1988 in Algiers.

The State of Palestine is officially recognized by many countries (more than 100) and is part of the League of Arab States. The first Western European country to recognize this state was Iceland in 2011.
Palestine has diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation.
The USA, Israel, Spain, Norway, Sweden and other countries do not recognize the State of Palestine and believe that the possibility of its creation should be the result of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Israel exercises actual military control over a significant part of Palestine, even in the territory where power officially belongs to the Palestinian National Authority. Large areas of the West Bank, as well as East Jerusalem, are disputed between Israelis and Palestinians.

Why doesn't Israel recognize the State of Palestine?
Let's consider Israel's position on this issue.
Israel believes that the proclaimed state does not have a defined territory, nor does it have a functioning effective government. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA), led by Mahmoud Abbas, controls neither the Gaza Strip, which is under the rule of the radical Hamas movement, nor the West Bank (about 60% of its territory is controlled by Israel).
The Palestinian leadership claims to represent the interests of all Palestinians. But at the same time, it refuses to grant civil rights to Palestinian refugees, including those living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
A necessary condition for acceptance by the UN is the recognition of international laws, respect for human rights, and the desire for peace. Israel believes that Palestine does not meet any of these conditions. In turn, the leaders of the PNA have repeatedly stated that their goal is to create a state “free of Jews,” which causes rejection by the world community.
Russia supports Palestine's intention to become an observer state at the UN.
Thus, a partially recognized state of Palestine in the Middle East is in the process of being created.

State symbols

Flag– comes from the Arab nationalist flag of World War I during the Arab Revolt of 1916-1918. against the Ottoman Empire. It is a rectangular panel with an aspect ratio of 1:2, consisting of three equal horizontal stripes (from top to bottom): black, white and green, with a red isosceles right triangle at the pole edge.
According to the “Palestinian Mission in Germany”, black is the color of the Abassids, white is the color of the Umayyads, red is the color of the Kharijites, the conquerors of Andalusia and the Hashemites, green is the color of the Fatimids and Islam. All four colors are considered pan-Arabic colors. The flag was approved in 1916.

Coat of arms– is an image of a silver “Saladin eagle” with black wings, tail and upper part of the head, looking to the right and having a pointed shield on its chest, repeating the design of the flag of Palestine in a vertical position. In its paws the eagle holds a cartouche on which the name of the state is written in Arabic. The coat of arms was approved on January 5, 2013.

State structure

Form of government– democratic parliamentary republic.
Head of State- the president.
Head of the government- Prime Minister.

Capital- Ramallah.
The largest city- Gaza.
Official language– Arabic. Hebrew and English are widely spoken.
Territory– 6020 km².

Palestinian Arabs
Population– 4,394,323 people. The bulk of the population are Palestinian Arabs and Jews (17% of residents of the West Bank and 0.6% of residents of Gaza).
Religion– Muslims predominate (75% in the West Bank, 98.7% in Gaza). Jews practice Judaism. 8% of West Bank residents and 0.7% of Gazans are Christian.
Currency– new Israeli shekel.
Political parties and organizations. Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement). Formed in 1987. Leads Muslim holy war(jihad) against Israel, advocates its destruction and the creation of an Islamic theocratic state throughout Palestine and Jordan, and does not renounce terrorist methods. Hamas officially opposes any peace agreement with Israel. In 2004, the new head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, obtained agreement from the Hamas leadership to a ceasefire with Israel.
In 1964 Ahmed Shukeyri created the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which led the movement for the creation of an independent Arab Palestinian state, carried out armed actions and political speeches. In 1988, the PLO announced recognition of UN resolutions 1948 and 1967 and, as a result, Israel's right to exist.
Islamic Jihad is a military organization of Islamic fundamentalists formed in the late 1970s under the influence of the Islamic revolution in Iran. Seeks to destroy Israel and expel Jews from Palestine. Uses terrorist methods.
There are other organizations and groups (more than 10).
Armed forces- “police forces”, numbering from 40 to 80 thousand recruits. They are armed with a limited number of military equipment and automatic weapons. There are also armed formations of individual political groups.
Economy– was based mainly on agriculture, Palestinians worked in Israel. After Israel closed its borders, more than half of the country's working population found themselves unemployed in Palestine.
Agriculture: cultivation of olives, citrus fruits and vegetables, production of meat and other food products is developed.
Industry: Small family businesses that produce cement, clothing, soap, handicrafts and souvenirs (wood carvings and mother-of-pearl). There are small, modern industrial plants in Israeli settlements. Most of the electricity is imported from Israel.
Export: olives, citrus and other fruits, vegetables, building stone, flowers. Import: food, consumer goods and construction materials.

Education– school education lasts 12 years: from 1st to 10th grade – basic school; Grades 11-12 – high school (specialized education). In addition to public schools, there are UNRWA schools, created at the initiative of UNESCO for refugees in Palestine. Education in these schools is provided only in the scope of a basic school; the students then move on to public schools. Separate schools for boys and girls predominate, but there are also mixed schools. There are universities, colleges, institutes and vocational schools in the country.

Nature

The West Bank of Jordan is mostly a rugged plateau. Lowest point - surface Dead Sea(–408 m), the highest is Mount Tal-Asur (1022 m). The Gaza Strip is a flat or hilly coastal plain covered with sands and dunes.
The rivers of Palestine are not navigable. The Jordan River flows from north to south and flows into the salty Dead Sea. It is mentioned many times in the Bible. According to the Old Testament, Joshua led the Jewish people on dry land between the miraculously parted waters of the Jordan, ending the Jews' forty-year wandering in the desert. According to the Gospel, Jesus Christ was baptized in the waters of the river. Christians regard the Jordan as a sacred river; Since the Byzantine era, there has been a belief that the water of the Jordan heals diseases.

The Jordan River at the site of the events described
Small rivers and streams dry up during the dry season. There is a shortage of drinking water in the country.
Climate Mediterranean, it depends on the altitude of the area above sea level. Summer is dry, warm or hot, and a hot, drying khamsin wind often blows from the desert. Winter is mild or cool.
Flora: evergreen oak, turpentine tree, olive, pistachio, juniper, laurel, strawberry tree, Jerusalem pine, plane tree, Judas tree, in the mountains - Tabor oak and sycamore (biblical fig tree).

Jerusalem (Aleppo) pine
Fauna Palestine is poor. Large mammals are almost exterminated. There are foxes, porcupines, hedgehogs, hares, wild boars, snakes, turtles and lizards. There are about 400 species of birds, including vultures, pelicans, storks, and owls.

Culture

Contemporary literature of Arab Palestine: the outstanding Palestinian poet, laureate of the international literary prize “Lotus” Mahmoud Derwish (cycle of poems “Songs of my little homeland”, poem “Poems in the glare of a shot”), poets Samih al-Kasem, Muin Bsisu.

Writers and poets of the older generation - Abu Salma, Tawfik Zayyad, Emil Habibi. Works of Palestinian writers have been published in Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, and European countries, incl. in Russia.

Ismail Shammout
Fine arts are developing, especially painting and graphics. The most famous Palestinian artists: Ismail Shammut (paintings “The Good Land”, “Women from Palestine”), Tamam al-Akhal, Tau-fik Abdulal, Abded Muty Abu Zeida, Samir Salama (paintings “Palestinian Refugee Camp”, “Peace and War” ", "People's Resistance"). Artist Ibrahim Ghanem has been called the “artist of the Palestinian village.” In his paintings, he shows the usual daily work of fellah peasants, their customs and rituals, colorful costumes and dances, and landscapes of Palestinian villages filled with sunlight. This is a deep feeling native land and the customs of its people, the painter subtly conveys in the compositions “Dancing in the Village Square”, “Harvest”, “Rural Landscape”. The life and work of peasants and townspeople are equally sincerely and soulfully shown in the paintings of artists Jumarani al-Husseini (“Olive Harvest Season”), Leila al-Shawwa (“Village Women”), Ibrahim Hazim (“Girls”).

I. Shammut “The female face of Palestine”
Young Palestinian filmmakers have created a number of films: “Chronicle of a Disappearance” and “Divine Intervention” (directed by Ilya Seleiman, 2002), “Invasion” (directed by Nizar Hassan), “Chronicle of a Siege” (directed by Samir Abdullah, working in France), etc. .

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Palestine

Holy Nativity scene (Bethlehem)

Holy Cave of the Nativity

The greatest Christian shrine, a cave in the rock where Jesus Christ was born from the Virgin Mary.
In surviving written sources it was first mentioned around 150. An underground temple has been located here since the time of St. Helena. Belongs to the Jerusalem Orthodox Church.
The birthplace of Christ is marked by a silver star set into the floor and once gilded and adorned with precious stones. The star has 14 rays and symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem, inside the circle there is an inscription in Latin: “Jesus Christ was born here from the Virgin Mary.” Above this star, in a semicircular niche, hang 16 lamps, of which 6 belong to the Orthodox, 6 to the Armenians and 4 to the Catholics. Behind these lamps, in a semicircle on the wall of a niche, are small Orthodox icons.

The silver star below the throne marks the place where Christ was born.

Basilica of the Nativity

Christian church in Bethlehem, built, according to legend, over the birthplace of Jesus Christ. Along with the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, it is one of the two main Christian churches in the Holy Land.
One of the oldest continuously operating churches in the world. The first temple over the Cave of the Nativity was built in the 330s at the direction of Emperor Constantine the Great.

Since then, services here have been virtually uninterrupted. Modern basilica VI-VII centuries. - This is the only Christian temple in Palestine that has survived intact from the pre-Muslim period.

Other attractions of Palestine

There are many places in Palestine associated with Christianity.

Church of the Holy Sepulcher

The temple stands on the spot where, according to Holy Scripture, Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and then resurrected. The ceremony of the descent of the Holy Fire is held annually in the temple. The main rights of ownership and use of the shrines of the Temple belong to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the complex of administrative buildings of which is directly adjacent to the southwestern side of the Temple.
In addition to the Holy Sepulcher, the temple complex included the supposed site of Golgotha ​​and the site of the discovery of the Life-Giving Cross.

Jericho

Modern Jericho
A city in Palestine, in the West Bank. It is the capital of the province of Jericho. Located in the north of the Judean Desert, approximately 7 km west of the Jordan River.
One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it is mentioned many times in the Bible.
To the west of Jericho rises the Forty Days Mountain (Mount of Temptation, Mount Quarantal), where Jesus Christ fasted for forty days, tempted by the devil. Now the Orthodox Monastery of Temptation is located on this site.

Monastery of Temptation

In Jericho, according to local legend, the tree of Zacchaeus has been preserved. The fig tree mentioned in the Gospel is located on land owned by the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society.

The ancient city of Hebron and its surroundings

Hebron is one of the oldest cities in the world, located in the historical region of Judea, and is revered in Judaism as the second holiest city after Jerusalem. The most famous historical site in Hebron is the Cave of the Patriarchs (Cave of Machpelah), which is a holy site for Jews, Christians and Muslims. Literally translated from Hebrew, the name sounds like “Double Cave.” According to the Bible, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as their wives Sarah, Rebekah and Leah, are buried in the crypt. According to Jewish tradition, the bodies of Adam and Eve are also buried here.
In Judaism, the cave is revered as the second holiest place (after the Temple Mount), and is also revered by Christians and Muslims.

Mount Gerizim

Together with Mount Ebal, Gerizim was appointed by Moses for the annual reading of the Law at the national assembly, and here the six tribes of Israel: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Benjamin were to pronounce a blessing on the performers of the Law. Here, by order of Moses, the Israelites built an altar of solid stones, on which the 10 commandments of the Lord were carved.

Qumran

This is an area in the West Bank. The settlement was destroyed by the Romans in 68 AD. or soon after. The settlement, like the entire area, became known thanks to the cache of scrolls located not far from it in the caves of the steep cliffs and below, in the marl ledges. From its discovery in 1947 until 1956, approximately 900 scrolls were found, mostly written on parchment, but also on papyrus. Extensive excavations were carried out. Vessels, Jewish ritual baths and cemeteries were found.
Some scientists believe that a community of the Jewish sect of the Essenes was located here, others suggest the existence of non-religious communities here.

Qumran Manuscripts (Dead Sea Scrolls)

Currently, all the Qumran scrolls have been published. They are kept in the Temple of the Book in Jerusalem. But there is an opinion that not all of the Dead Sea Scrolls have fallen into the hands of scientists. Of particular interest is the connection between the Qumran manuscripts and early Christianity: it turned out that the Dead Sea Scrolls, created several decades before the birth of Christ, contain many Christian ideas.

City of Nablus (in antiquity Flavia Neapolis)

Modern Nablus
The city has been known since biblical times. In 400 BC. e. it has become a cultural center and holy city Samaritans Captured by the Romans at the beginning of our era and renamed by them in honor of the Emperor Vespasian as Flavius ​​Neapolis, this name was corrupted in Arabic as Nablus. The city preserves the ruins of an ancient Hyksos temple. The Church of St. Anne and the Sidonian Tombs are interesting.
The city is currently home to about 130,000 people, mostly Palestinians. Most believers are Muslims. About 350 Samaritans live in a separate area on Mount Gerizim.

Story

Ancient history

The first people on the territory of Palestine were erectuses (they lived on the banks of the Jordan River back in 750 thousand BC and already knew how to make fire). During the Middle Paleolithic, Neanderthals lived here. About 9 thousand years ago Jericho was built here.

Canaan (Phenicia)

In biblical times it was a country stretching west from the northwestern bend of the Euphrates and from the Jordan to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Currently divided between Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.
Originated in the 4th millennium BC. The Canaanite period lasts 2 thousand years before the invasion of proto-Jewish tribes. According to the Bible, the Hebrew tribes led by Joshua invaded the territory of Canaan from the east, and Jericho became their first victim. They captured most of the territory of Canaan; the Philistines (Palestinians) were able to overpower them only during the reign of kings David and Solomon.

Roman and Byzantine periods

The Roman period begins in 66 BC. e., when Pompey annexed Palestine, among other territories of the Eastern Mediterranean. Initially, the local Jewish elite welcomed the new rulers, believing that the distant Romans would not interfere in the internal affairs of their country. However, the Romans soon brought to power the more loyal Idumean dynasty, whose most famous representative was King Herod the Great.
In 395, Palestine became a province of Byzantium. By this time, a strong Christian community had formed among the local population, known as the Jerusalem Orthodox Church. Then, in 614, Palestine was annexed to Persia, the churches were destroyed, and the Life-Giving Cross was taken to Iran. After the victory over Persia in 629, Palestine again became a province of Byzantium.

Arab period

It lasted from 634. In the 10th century. control over Palestine passes to the Egyptian Tulunid dynasty, which is replaced by the Seljuk Turks, and from 1098 again by the Egyptian Fatimids.

Crusaders

In 1099, European crusaders stormed Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established. The kingdom's power also extended to Lebanon and coastal Syria. During this period, numerous castles were built in Palestine in Gaza, Jaffa, Acre, Arsur, Safed and Caesarea). The kingdom fell in 1291.

Ottoman Empire

In 1517, the territory of Palestine was conquered by the Ottoman Turks under the leadership of Sultan Selim I. For 400 years it remained part of the vast Ottoman Empire, covering much of southeastern Europe, all of Asia Minor and the Middle East, Egypt and North Africa.
Christians and Jews, according to Muslim law, had the status of "dhimmi" (enjoyed relative civil and religious freedom, but did not have the right to bear arms, serve in the army or ride horses and were required to pay special taxes. During this period, the Jews of Palestine lived mainly at the expense of charitable proceeds from abroad.
In 1800, the population of Palestine did not exceed 300 thousand. The main places of concentration of the Christian population - in Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem - were controlled by the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Jews were mainly concentrated in Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias and Hebron. The rest of the country's population was Muslim, almost all Sunni.

Zionism

There has always been a strong desire among the Jews to return to Zion and Palestine. Since the 12th century. persecution of Jews Christian Church led to their influx into the Holy Land. In 1492, this flow was replenished with Jews expelled from Spain, they founded the Jewish community of Safed.
The first major wave of modern Jewish immigration, known as the First Aliyah, began in 1881.

The founder of political Zionism (a movement that aimed to establish a Jewish state on the land of Israel, raising the Jewish question in the international arena) is considered to be Theodor Herzl, a journalist, writer, and doctor of jurisprudence.

British Mandate

The second aliyah (1904-1914) began after the Kishinev pogrom. About 40 thousand Jews settled in Palestine.
During World War I, the Jewish Legion was formed and assisted British troops in the conquest of Palestine. In November 1917, a document was created declaring that Britain "looks positively at the founding in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."
1919-1923 – Third Aliyah: 40 thousand Jews arrived in Palestine, mostly from Eastern Europe. The economy began to develop. Arab resistance led in 1920 to the Palestinian riots and the formation of a new Jewish military organization, the Haganah.
In 1922, the League of Nations awarded Great Britain a Mandate for Palestine, explaining the need to “establish in the country political, administrative and economic conditions for the safe formation of a Jewish national home.” At that time, the country was inhabited mainly by Muslim Arabs, but the largest city, Jerusalem, was predominantly Jewish.
In 1924-1929 - Fourth Aliyah. 82 thousand Jews came to Palestine, mainly as a result of a surge in anti-Semitism in Poland and Hungary. The rise of Nazi ideology in the 1930s. in Germany led to the Fifth Aliyah, a quarter of a million Jews fled from Hitler. This influx ended with the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939. and the British publication of the White Paper in 1939, which effectively stopped Jewish immigration to Palestine. Countries around the world refused to accept Jews fleeing the Holocaust. Together with Britain's ban on resettlement in Palestine, this effectively meant death for millions. To circumvent the ban on immigration to Palestine, a secret organization, Mossad Le-Aliyah Bet, was created, which helped Jews illegally reach Palestine and escape death.
At the end of World War II, the Jewish population of Palestine was 33%, up from 11% in 1922.

After the creation of Israel

At the end of 1947, according to a UN decision, British Palestine was divided into Arab and Jewish parts, with special status being granted to the Jerusalem area under UN administration. But the Arabs did not agree with the creation of the State of Israel on the territory that they considered theirs. A protracted Arab-Israeli conflict began.
As a result of the first Arab-Israeli war, the territory of Palestine was divided between Israel, Egypt and Transjordan.

Arab activists almost immediately turned to terrorist attacks against Israel. The Arabs were supported by international organizations and countries of the socialist camp. In 1967, as a result of the Six Day War, most of British Palestine came under Israeli control.
In 1994, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was created, led by Yasser Arafat. The capital of the PNA became the city of Ramallah.

Yitzhak Rabin, Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Accords, September 13, 1993, Washington
In 2005, Israel, as part of its Unilateral Disengagement Plan, evacuated all Jewish settlements and withdrew its troops from the Gaza Strip.
The State of Palestine is officially recognized by 134 UN member states and is part of the League of Arab States, but does not have the status of a full member of the UN, since it is not recognized by the three permanent member states of the UN Security Council: the USA, Great Britain and France, as well as most EU countries, Japan and some others.

14.11.2012 14:22

The issue of the ethnicity of the Palestinian Arabs has recently been the subject of publications by German orientalist Dr. Sylvia Ortlieb, “Palästinensische Identität und Ethnizität,” translated into Russian as “Palestinian Identity and Ethnicity”), as well as controversial Israeli scholars and publicists such as Ilan Pappe (“Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”), or the author of the scandalous book, Professor Shlomo Sand and some others.

The Western designation Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel), Palestine of Christian sources comes from the more than 3000-year-old ethnonym of ancient immigrants, the “people of the sea”, from the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea (Crete), Philistines, in Hebrew Plishtim. Confrontations and fierce battles were followed by periods of peace, mixing and mestizization. King David was in early years their vassal. The Jewish legendary hero Samson, who according to biblical sources was from the tribe of Dan, is considered by some researchers to be a Judaized Philistine who spent a lot of time in Gaza. In the 8th century BC. The Philistines were conquered by Assyria. They shared the fate of the Jews, were after 600 BC. like those conquered by Nebuchadnezzar (Nebuchadnezzar) and deported to Mesopotamia, where they may have partially dissolved into the Jewish people. Mutual assimilation of Jews and Philistines also took place:

“And their sons do not know how to speak Hebrew; they half speak Ashdod (Philistine) and the languages ​​of other nations” (Nehemiah 13:24)

The history of this people finally ended after the campaigns of Alexander the Great (IV century BC), when their remnants dissolved among the population of Eretz Israel during the Hellenistic period. After the Bar Kochba Revolt, also known as the Second Jewish War (132-135 AD), the Romans administratively reorganized this part of their empire and renamed Judea the province of Syria-Palestine. Thus the geopolitical term Palestine was born.

In 1695-1696 Eretz Israel was visited by the Dutchman Adrian Reland, a geographer, cartographer, traveler and philologist, who summarized contemporary sources of research about Palestine. He described his impressions in Latin in the book “Palaestina, ex monumentis veteribus illustrata.” During his travels he visited 2,500 settlements mentioned in the Bible. Reland mapped what was then Palestine on a total of eleven maps and recorded in notes the population and structures of all the villages, towns and cities he visited. Moreover, he was able to compare these passages with those given in the Mishnah and Talmud. None of the toponyms he checked were Arab origin- mostly the names of settlements indicated Jewish, Greek or Latin roots. This is clear today, because the “Arabized” names of villages and cities are not filled with special meaning. Thus, it was already clear to him that Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, Nablus, Gaza, Jenin and Ramallah, El-Khalil (Hebron) and El-Quds (Jerusalem) are in this sense toponyms devoid of Arab historical roots. Reland, for example, was able to trace by linguistic comparison the origins of the name of today's capital of the Palestinian Authority, the city of Ramallah, which was then called "Bet Allah" (the house of Allah), and prove its origin from the Hebrew original Beit El (House of God). ).

The territory of Palestine was deserted during Reland's time. A small number of inhabitants lived in Jerusalem, Acre, Safed, Tiberias and Gaza. Jews were the majority, Christians were the minority. In addition, he noted a small number of Muslim nomads who came here as seasonal migrant workers to the inhabited territories. The exception was the territory of the modern city of Nablus, which Jews then and now call Nablus. This is a city in which traces of the kidnapped biblical Dina, daughter of the patriarch Jacob and his wife Leah, are lost. The tomb of Patriarch Joseph is located in Nablus. At the time of Reland's travels, there was a Muslim tribe living there, as well as Samaritans. About 700 Christians lived in Nazareth, Jerusalem had about 5,000 inhabitants, the majority were Jews, the minority were Christians. In Gaza, approximately 550 people were recorded living there, Jews and Christians in equal numbers. Jews were engaged in agriculture, Christians organized trade and transport. Tiberias and Safed were obviously in the 17th century. populated almost exclusively by Jews. Umm el-Fahm, today a large Arab city in Israel, was at that time a small town with a predominantly Christian population. Reland was unable to find a single village whose original name was derived from Arabic roots.

The malarial swamps of these desert and semi-desert regions of the Middle East were then inhabited mainly by the descendants of Jews and were a place of forced labor for Arab exiles, especially in Gaza. Arab nationalists and Islamists, as well as their obedient followers, surprise us today with a fundamentally new interpretation modern history, without hesitation to “plunge” deeply into it, with the obligatory use of the term “pre-Islamism” and declaring “ours” all territories, cities and monumental monuments and buildings of Israel. Now that, based on historical evidence, it becomes clear that back in the 17th century. Almost everything in Eretz Israel was Jewish in color, it is reasonable to ask the question: how can one define the geography of that time as “pre-Islamist”, which today serves as the basis for the legal claims of Muslims of our time? Needless to say, Arab ethno-national forms in Eretz Israel with specific ethnic, geographical and cultural identities have never existed.

The Arabs who came to these landscapes always considered themselves part of the “ummah,” the Arabic definition of the Islamic worldwide community. When the Land of Israel was controlled by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, they considered themselves its citizens, and later, after the collapse of the empire, as part of “Greater Syria.” The leading historian of the Arab national movement, George Habib Antonius, wrote a lot about this at the beginning of the 20th century. Archaeologists studying ancient Judaism and early Christianity have yet to find or excavate any of the mosque predecessors to modern monumental Islamic sacred buildings. More and more synagogues from the Byzantine period and churches from the early Islamic periods were found.

UNITAR (United Nations think tank) John Haynes Holmes, who was known for his leftist views, published the book “Palestine Today and Tomorrow—A Survey of Zionism” back in 1929.

“The country of Israel, to which the Jews came to restore their ancient homeland... There is not a single piece of this territory where there would be no traces of ancient Jewish tribes... There are no roads, no streams, no mountains, not a single village , who would not keep the memory of the great [Jewish] kings and would not hear the words of the great Jewish prophets... The reason for the return of the Jews to this Land is much higher and nobler than just economic calculation... They returned to fulfill a great mission - restoration Zion. And Zion is Palestine."

Most "Palestinians" are descendants of Arabs who, within a hundred years, 1845-1947, immigrated from Sudan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Morocco, Bosnia, the Caucasus, Turkmenistan, Kurdistan , India, Afghanistan and Balochistan (provinces of Pakistan) in Eretz Israel.

Eretz Israel owes the massive resettlement of Arabs to the fact that first the Ottoman Empire and then the British authorities accepted them into the labor market for the implementation of many projects: the construction of the port in Haifa, railways, military facilities and roads for road transport. They worked in quarries, draining swamps, etc.

Later, Arabs from neighboring countries, attracted by the economic boom, immigrated legally and illegally in search of work. This in turn became possible as a consequence of the organized Jewish immigration to Eretz Israel, which became especially noticeable from 1881. The result of the process was a significant increase in the Arab population. For example, if 6,000 Arabs lived in Haifa in 1880, then in 1919 their number increased to 80,000.

The expansion of Jewish settlements in Eretz Israel, and with it the development of infrastructure, created new jobs. The demand for labor increased particularly at the beginning of World War II, which in turn caused a wave of increased immigration of Arab workers who settled west of the Jordan. Ephraim Karsh, head of the Middle East and Mediterranean research programs at the Royal College of London and author of Palestine Betrayed, wrote in a report to a British commission in 1937:

“The growth of the Arab population, especially in urban areas, is associated with the development of Jewish construction. Censuses of 1922 and 1931 showed that the Arab population of Haifa grew by 86%, Jaffa - to 62%, Jerusalem - to 37%. At the same time, in cities with an Arab population, such as Nablus and Hebron, the population grew by only 7%, while the Gaza Strip saw a decrease of 2%. (Yale University Press, 2010, p. 12).

The conquest of the country by the Egyptian Pasha Muhammad Ali (1831-1840) was consolidated by the flow of thousands of Egyptians who, from the occupied territory between Gaza and Tul Karem, moved further north to the Hula Valley. They followed the trail of Egyptian army deserters who had fled Egypt before 1831. British traveler H.B. Tristram describes Egyptian refugees in the Beit She'an valley, Acre, Hadera, Netanya and Jaffa. The result of Arab immigration from 1880 to 1947. there was an intensive growth of the Arab population. In Jaffa, Haifa and Ramla, in each individual case it increased 17, 12 and 5 times respectively (Yoram Ettinger). The British Palestine Exploration Foundation found that big number Egyptian settlements of Jaffa, as well as in the areas of Sahnet el-Mussaria, Abu Kabir, Abu Dervish, Sumeil, Sheikh Munis (present-day Ramat Aviv), Salam, etc. appeared only in 1917. The Arabs of Jaffa then differed sharply from each other and were divided by at least 25 citizenships of different states. Iranians, Afghans, Indians, Baluchis and many others were widely represented.

Hundreds of families from Egypt settled in Ara Arar, Kfar Qassem, Taib and Qalansawa. In 1908, Arabs from Yemen settled in Jaffa, and Syrian Arabs from Haran settled in the port cities of Haifa and Jaffa.

“30,000-36,000 Syrian workers (khural) arrived in Palestine in recent months", reported the Syrian newspaper La Siri on August 12, 1934. Syrian rulers considered Palestine to be the southern province of Greater Syria.

Libyan migrants and refugees were settled in the Gedera area, south of Tel Aviv, and Algerian migrants were settled near Safed, Tiberias and other areas of the Galilee. Their leader, Abd al-Qader el-Husseini, had his headquarters in Syria.

Circassians who fled the Russian conquests of the Caucasus in 1878, Muslims from Bosnia, Turkmen, Arabs from Yemen (1908) and Bedouin tribes from Transjordan who fled wars and famines completed the diversity of Arab demography. Almost many of the Arabs who fled the country during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948 were reunited with their families and clans in Egypt and other Arab countries.

In his book Innocents Abroad, the famous American writer Mark Twain wrote in 1869:

“Palestine seems to be in rags and with its head covered in ashes. She is burdened by a curse that has devastated her fields and robbed her of the will to live. Palestine is abandoned and miserable. A sad, hopeless country - a country with a broken heart..."

“No exciting events... In this valley (Jezreel) it is impossible to find even a run-down village for thirty miles in any direction. There are only two or three Bedouin nomadic camps, but not a single permanent settlement. You can drive dozens of miles without seeing a living person..."

In the barren, according to Mark Twain, mountains of Galilee and Judea, he found loneliness and desolation:

“Jericho, cursed by God, is striking in its desolation, in which Joshua left it more than three thousand years ago. In Bethlehem, a sacred place where at night shepherds watched over their flocks and angels sang “peace on earth and good will to men,” now there is not a single living creature...”

Entry about Jerusalem:

“The further we moved... the more often we encountered bare rocks; the landscape became repulsive and frightening. Even if only stonemasons had settled here for centuries, they would not have been able to throw so many stones. You barely come across a tree or bush. Even the olives and cacti, these last friends of the barren land, have almost abandoned the country... The Great Jerusalem itself, whose name is carved in the centuries, has lost its ancient splendor and has become a poor village.” (Translations of fragments from the German edition of Mark Twain, “Innocents Abroad” - in deutscher Ausgabe “Die Arglosen im Ausland. Reiseabenteuer in der Alten Welt”, München 1966).

Benjamin Netanyahu points out that 14 years later, the famous English cartographer Arthur Penhrin Stanley gave a similar review in his report:

“It is hardly an exaggeration to say that in Judea for many miles there is no life, no human presence.”

Stanley wrote these words in 1881, the same year that Arafat falsely called at the UN the beginning of the “Zionist invasion” and the displacement of the indigenous population from a supposedly prosperous and fertile country.

The long-standing observations of Mark Twain and other travelers are confirmed in her books by the American writer and journalist, history professor Joan Peters. Peters became known in the United States for her 1984 book From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict Over Palestine, which examines colonization of Palestine by Arabs and Jews. In her work, which became a bestseller in the United States and Israel, Joan Peters rejects any historical right of a national home for the Palestinians. The publication contains facts, documents and testimonies of leading scientists and journalists. One of Peters' most ardent opponents was the odious American political scientist Norman G. Finkelstein, who in turn was accused of persecuting Jews, belittling the Holocaust, supporting Hezbollah and terrorism, intolerance and pornography. Peters' book quotes the chairman of the American Christian Palestine Committee, Dr. Carl Hermann Voss:

“The Arab population of Palestine was insignificant until the Jews began to cultivate uninhabited and abandoned wastelands. This attracted many Arabs from neighboring countries."

Here are some more excerpts from Joan Peters' book.

In 1939, President Roosevelt wrote:

"Since 1921, Arab immigration to Palestine has far exceeded Jewish immigration throughout the entire period."

“The Egyptian conqueror Ibrahim Pasha founded a colony of Egyptian soldiers in Beyzain, Nablus, Irbid, Acre and Jaffa. Five hundred soldier families (at least 2,000 people) were resettled and settled in a new place. This is just one example of many..."

Peters notes that in 1930, the British government, burdened with the promise of the return of Jews to Eretz Israel and the creation of a “national home,” facilitated the resettlement of Arabs in the region. According to her, on January 3, 1926, the British High Commissioner authorized and facilitated the resettlement of “... Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian or refugees of other nationalities without passport or visa to Palestine.”

“In another area, in Safed, Muslims from Morocco and Kurds were received... In 1878, Caucasians, Algerians, Egyptians, Druze, Turks, Bosnians and other emigrants came to Palestine... At least 25 percent of 141 000 Muslims (in all Palestine in 1882) were new migrants or descendants of those who came after the conquests of Egypt in 1831 to Palestine... In 1858 the British consul in Jerusalem wrote: “In Jerusalem the number of Muslims is not more than a quarter of the population cities".

“...The 1931 census showed that Muslims speak at least 23 languages, Christians even 28, and they are immigrants to Palestine. According to this census, the non-Jews of Palestine listed 24 different countries as their place of birth.”

There are currently more than 117,000 Arab Christians living in Israel. They make up about 9% of Israel's Arab population. About 70% of them live in the Israeli cities of the Northern District - Gish, Yeylabone, Kafr Yasif, Kafr Kana, Ibillin and Shfaram. The largest community of Arab Christians is in Nazareth. Christians also live in a number of other villages, including the Druze ones - in Khurweish and Magar.

Israeli journalist and scholar of Palestinian history Aryeh Avneri wrote in his book Demand for Confiscation (1982):

“History has many examples of processes that led to absorption and assimilation - and then the creation of a new national entity. If the Arab conquests were to lead to the creation of an Arab people, no matter how small the population, it would be difficult today to refute the assertion of a permanent Arab presence in Palestine."

"But that did not happen. The Arabs who lived in Palestine centuries ago, at the beginning of the process of Jewish settlement, were a tiny minority among other migrants and were fueled by a constant influx of Muslims due to conflicts of local tribes with their sheikhs and tyrants, forced to flee their countries of origin - B.A. )... In 1554, 205,000 Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in Palestine. In 1800, the population of Eretz Israel had already reached 275,000 people. In 1890, thanks to constant immigration through the construction of Jewish settlements, the population increased to 532,000 people. This was led to by the creation and development of Jewish trade, an increase in demand for labor and an improvement in the health care system. IN late XVIII and in the 19th centuries. part of the Palestinian population strengthened due to Napoleon's campaign in 1799 and as a result of the invasion of the Egyptian army. During the subsequent reign of Ibrahim Pasha, in 1831-1840, the situation changed dramatically. Many residents fled Palestine, and others took their place.”

Most of the Arab-Muslim tribes and clans preserve the memory of their ethnic origin. Arab sources talk about this openly and shamelessly, especially in cases where they are not talking about Islamized Jews and Samaritans. In the 60s of the XIX century. many Egyptians fled forced labor on the construction of the Suez Canal in Eretz Israel. Many so-called "Palestinians" still go by the surnames and first names of al-Masri, Mazarua and Fayoumi, which means they came from Egypt. Quite a few “Palestinians” bear the surname Al-Hurani, which means: they were brought from Syrian Khuran to the country, especially to work in the port of Haifa. There are other groups of Muslims who retain memories of their non-Arab origins. These include Persians, Afghans, Indians, Georgians and many others.

1. The largest group of this kind is represented by Arabic-speaking Kurds. The number of Muslims of Kurdish origin in the Eretz Israel is especially large and numbers at least 100,000 people in Israel itself, and about 400,000 in Judea and Samaria. The villages of Abu al-Hijjah on Mount Carmel and Kaukab al-Hijjah in the lower Galilee are inhabited entirely by Kurdish tribes and clans. Up to one third of Hebron's Muslim population is of Kurdish origin. They are descended from Kurdish immigrants from different eras- from the Middle Ages to the present day. The high reputation of the name Salah ad-Din, the Kurdish commander of the Arab army and the conqueror of the Crusaders, makes belonging to the Kurdish clans in Arab eyes a matter of high social prestige.

2. Along with the Circassians, who are currently defined in Russia as Adygs (self-name Adyghe), in Israel there is a significant representation of this national minority who speak Arabic. But they retained memories of the language, culture of their ancestors and their Circassian origin. Israeli Circassians are descendants of early waves of 19th-century immigrants from the North Caucasus who found themselves in Eretz Israel during the nearly fifty-year war with Russia (1817–1864). Some of the Circassians were then deported to the Ottoman Empire, where they were resettled in the Middle East. Their number is estimated at 20,000 to 30,000 people. Circassians are the inhabitants of mainly two villages in the Galilee, Rehaniya and Kafr Qama. Arabized descendants of the Circassian Mamluks make up the vast majority of the population of the village of Abu Ghosh, west of Jerusalem. Representatives of their five main clans openly and proudly talk about their Circassian origins and thus stand out from the crowds of Palestinian Arabs. Circassians actively helped in Jewish illegal immigration and took part in wars on the side of Israel.

3. There are tens of thousands of people in the closely related clans that classify themselves as Turks and Turkmen in origin, especially the Arab al-Turkoman clan, which currently lives in northern Samaria in the Jenin region. In addition, a significant number of Muslims of Turkic origin live in Haifa and Jerusalem.

4. Bosnians, called Boshnaks in Arabic, are descendants of relatively recent (19th century) Slavic-Muslim immigrants from Bosnia. After the War of Independence, there were no ethnically representative representatives of purely or predominantly Bosnian communities left on the territory of Israel after the War of Independence. Members of the ethnic group are scattered across Eretz Israel but survive in settlements in the West Bank. They are known in the villages of Inon and Turmus Aya near Nablus and Shiloh. Total Bosnians in Eretz Israel number about 20,000 people. The last of their elders, who spoke his native Serbo-Croatian language, died in the 60s of the last century.

5. The majority of Palestinian Albanians are descendants of relatively recent immigrants (19th century). Groups of Arabized Albanians live in and around the city of Acre, as well as in Jerusalem. Their total number reaches several thousand people.

6. Another Muslim ethnic group in Eretz Israel is the so-called “Sudanese”. They are descendants of black slaves brought to the country from Africa. The “Sudanese” Muslim and linguistically completely Arabized collective is subject to racial discrimination in Arab society. For example, the village of Jezir a-Zarqa is “Sudanese”, so its residents waited expectantly not to participate in the conflict on the side of the Arabs during the War of Independence and sat out the results of the hostilities at home - where they once settled comfortably - between Ma'agan Mikhael and Caesarea.

7. All the inhabitants of the Negev and the majority of the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, some of the highland Bedouins inhabiting the Hebron plateau, as well as the nomads from the deserts of Sinai, the Negev, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are descendants of the Bedouins. The Saudi dialect of Arabic they use provides irrefutable evidence of their origin.

8. There are other Islamic groups that retain memories of their own non-Arab origins: Persians, Afghans, Indians, Georgians and many others.

9. Muslim Gypsies, Roma or Domari/Dom, representatives of the Gypsy tribes of the Middle East - from several hundred to several thousand people - live in Israel, especially in Jerusalem, and maintain their own identity and their own language. Israeli authorities generally view them as Muslim Arabs.

10. A special group consists of the descendants of Samaritans and Islamized Jews who converted to Islam. The number of Samaritans alone, who are concentrated in the Nablus (Nablus) area, is estimated at 20,000-30,000 people. Currently, about 800 Samaritans still adhere to their ancient Jewish religion. Half of them live in Holon in Israel, the other half live in Samaria, in the city of Kiryat Luza on Mount Gerizim, near the ruins of an ancient temple near Nablus/Nablus. The Jewish Samaritans maintained their religion, which is considered the oldest branch of Judaism. They recognize only the Pentateuch of Moses. Samaritans are citizens of Israel because Israel's Law of Return recognizes them as Jews. The language of their services is Hebrew.

Samaritan men serve alongside Jews in israeli army. The Samaritans of Kiryat Luz in Samaria also possess Palestinian Authority identity cards. Descendants of Islamized Samaritans are less likely than other non-Arab, Muslim groups to mention and show their ethnic roots for fear of persecution due to kinship with Jewish Samaritans and Jews in Israel. In this sense, their behavior is similar to that of Islamized Jews in the Palestinian Authority. The origin of these ancient inhabitants of Eretz Israel, who lived here long before the Arab conquests, is not questioned by anyone, not even the Arabs. Moreover, despite their small numbers, the Samaritans are well known in Christendom thanks to the story of the “Good Samaritan” from the New Testament.

11. Some Christian Armenians are descendants of refugees from 1915-1918 who fled the genocide in Turkey in the Land of Israel.

Thus, the majority of "Palestinians" are a large mixture, in Hebrew erev rav - a rabble, a chaotic collection of various ethnic groups whose homeland is not in Eretz Israel. The statement of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (1969-1974) “There is no such thing as a Palestinian people” is widely known. This statement was unexpectedly convincingly confirmed on March 23, 2012 by the Hamas security “minister” of the “Palestinians” in the Gaza Strip, Fathi Hammad, in the Egyptian TV program El-Hekma. His television speech was dedicated to yet another begging for help from his jihadist brothers:

“...when we turn to our Arab brothers for help, we do not seek their help in order to eat, live, drink, clothe, or live in luxury. No, when we seek their help, it is in order to continue the jihad.

Thank God, we all have Arab roots, and every Palestinian, in Gaza and throughout Palestine, can attest to his Arab roots - whether from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, or anywhere. We have blood ties. So where is your love and mercy?

Personally, half of my family is Egyptian. We're all like that. More than 30 families in the Gaza Strip under the name Al-Masri ["Egyptian"].

Brothers, half of the Palestinians are Egyptians, the other half are Saudis.

Who are the Palestinians? We have many families with the surname Al-Masri whose roots are Egyptian. Egyptian! They can be from Alexandria, from Cairo, from Dumetta, from the north - from Aswan, from Upper Egypt. We are Egyptians. We are Arabs. We are Muslims. We are part of you..."

In the struggle for the destruction of Israel, Islamist propaganda has invented and successfully used a new parallel language, some examples from the lexicon of which are given below:

Apartheid is the only democratic system in the Middle East that offers Arab citizens full equality before the law, including the right to be a member Supreme Court, an ambassador, an IDF officer, or a Cabinet minister, which is a form of “racism.” This should in no way be confused with the widespread discrimination and social exclusion of Palestinians on ethnic grounds in Lebanon, which is no longer “apartheid”.

The Apartheid Walls are a separation fence that was built in response to numerous terrorist attacks to protect Jews and Muslims from suicide bombers, as this is a clear manifestation of “Zionist aggression”.

Occupation: Perpetuating the state of Palestinian politics despite the complete absence of Israeli soldiers in the Palestinian territories. "Occupation" is an excuse for every Palestinian excess, including domestic violence or even high blood cholesterol. It is significant that 96% of Palestinians are governed by their own elected leaders.

Occupied Territories is the status of every geographic area where Zionists live, preferably in areas with thousands of years of undeniably Jewish history: for example, the Western Wall of the Temple ("Wailing Wall") and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Ramat Aviv is also “occupied” territory. Moreover, this is the permanent state of the Gaza Strip, in which there are no “Zionists” today.

Demonstration: Violent rioting by a jihadist mob, including throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at soldiers and civilians, and firing automatic weapons that Palestinians were granted the right to bear under the peace agreements.

Humiliation: Palestinians' perception that Israel is doing absolutely nothing negative that could lead to "demonstrations."

Real Jew: Any Jew with an Eastern European sounding last name (which ideally ends with the suffix -ein) and screaming anti-Zionist slogans. Despite this, the “Holocaust” is a fiction, “Zionist aggression” is a reality, only the kapos were “real Jews”, etc., etc.

According to the research of Orientalist, Americanist and publicist, in the recent past the Consul General of Israel in Houston (USA), currently an associate professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Yoram Ettinger, the claims spread by the Arabs about the “original” permanent Arab presence in Eretz Israel are completely unfounded. In 1890, Jews already made up more than half of the population of Jerusalem. Until 1948, the newspaper now called the Jerusalem Post was known as The Palestine Post. The Palestinian Symphony (now the Israeli Philharmonic) orchestra consisted exclusively of Jews, etc. Attempts to deny the religious, moral, historical, geographical, and, above all, international legal foundations of the Jewish people for the sovereignty and Land of Israel to justify terrorism and Arab hatred for Jews is the main obstacle to a peaceful resolution to the protracted Arab-Israeli conflict.

- in the east, and from the west it is washed by the Mediterranean Sea. The West Bank, in turn, is bordered on the east by Jordan and on the north, south and west by Israel.

The name of the state of Palestine comes from "philistia"(translated from Hebrew as “invaders”). This is the name given to the territory of the Mediterranean coast, inhabited in ancient times by the Philistines.

Palestine is a country with a rich and difficult history. Its lands once belonged to Jordan and Egypt. After numerous Arab-Israeli wars and the abandonment of Palestinian territories by Egypt and Jordan, at a session in Algiers in 1988, the Palestinian National Council announced the creation of a Palestinian state. Despite the fact that the final status of the Palestinian territories was not determined, authorities were created in Palestine. Yasser Arafat became the first president of the state, and in 2005 Mahmoud Abbas was elected to this post.

However, relations between Palestine and Israel remain extremely tense. The Israeli army controls almost all the borders of the Palestinian state.

On November 29, 2012, following a UN vote, Palestine was granted observer state status at the United Nations. This will allow the Palestinian authorities, if necessary, to appeal to international authorities operating under the auspices of the UN and to file claims at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Capital	Ramallah
Population	4,016,416 people
Population density	667 people/km²
	Arab
Religion	Islam (more than 90% of the population)
Form of government	democratic parliamentary republic
	Israeli new shekel
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International dialing code
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Electricity

Climate and weather

The climate in Palestine is subtropical. Due to the scattered territory of the state and the features of the relief, some regions belong to the dry tropical and temperate climate zone.

Temperatures in winter range from - 6…+18 °С, in summer - from +24 °С before +35 °С. Summer here falls between April and October. This is the time when sultry winds (“khamsin” and “sharav”) blow from the Sinai and Arabian deserts. IN different parts In Palestine, the heat is perceived differently due to differences in humidity.

The water of the Dead Sea heats up to +19 °С, in summer its temperature often reaches +31 °С.

Precipitation ranges from 100 to 800 per year (depending on the region), most of it occurs in the winter months.

Nature

The territory of the Palestinian state is represented by two disparate parts: the coastal Gaza Strip and the West Bank Jordan.

The Gaza Strip is represented by sand dunes that stretch for as much as 40 kilometers from Egypt to the city Gaza. It is a densely populated area and much of the land is planted with vegetables and citrus fruits. Tourists will be delighted by the picturesque coastline in the south of the Gaza Strip.

There is also a mountain range in Palestine. Its northern region is Samaria- represented by olive gardens and green hills. Judea is characterized by an arid climate, and south of Hebron this area completely turns into a desert.

The West Bank of the Jordan is represented by a plateau, which decreases in the west and then abruptly ends in the east. The lowest point is the Dead Sea (-408 meters), and the highest point is Mt. Tal-Asur(1022 meters).

The flora of Palestine is very diverse. Oak, olive, juniper, turpentine tree, pistachio, laurel, Jerusalem pine, strawberry tree, plane tree, sycamore and Tavorian oak are often found here. Animal world represented by foxes, hedgehogs, hares, wild boars, porcupines, snakes, turtles and lizards. Large mammals, unfortunately, have been almost completely exterminated. The bird population is represented by 400 different species.

Palestine has several natural reserves, but due to the Arab-Israeli conflict, it is not easy for the Palestinian Authority to monitor the safety of its unique natural monuments.

Attractions

Almost all the sights of Palestine are in one way or another connected with the Bible and are holy places.

Bethlehem is one such place. The city is located at an altitude of 955 meters above sea level, 10 kilometers from Jerusalem. As the birthplace of Jesus, Bethlehem has become the most significant city on earth for Christians. Every year thousands of pilgrims from all over the world flock here to venerate the shrines, admire their palaces and temples, and simply wander through the narrow streets of this ancient city.

On the site of the cave where Jesus was born, Emperor Constantine the Great once built Basilica of the Nativity. Only a small part of it has survived to this day. Of particular value is Grotto of Birth.

On the top of a hill 6 kilometers from Bethlehem are the ruins of King Herod's palace. They amaze with their grandeur and luxury. It offers breathtaking views of the Dead Sea.

Not far from Bethlehem are Solomon's Ponds. Three huge stone reservoirs that collected rainwater were once the main source of water for nearby cities.

One of the oldest cities in the world - Hebron- located south of Jerusalem. This city is associated with the name of Abraham and is considered sacred by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Main shrine Hebron- temple El Haram. In this temple, built over the Cave of Machpelah, Jews and Arabs pray side by side.

On the highway leading to Jericho, 10 kilometers from Jerusalem, is located Good Samaritan House. Since ancient times it has been a resting place for travelers and traders. Today there are craft workshops where you can buy a variety of souvenirs.

There are many monasteries, temples, and mosques open to visitors in Palestine: monastery Mar Saba, mosque Nabi Musa, monastery Saint Elias, monastery Deir Quarantal and others.

Nutrition

Palestinian cuisine, which unites the culinary traditions of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates, has many individual characteristics.

Contrary to popular belief, Pakistani dishes are not overly hot and spicy. Mint, all kinds of herbs and greens, onions, olives, lemons, and pine nuts are often added to food. Dishes are often complemented with salted and pickled vegetables.

In Pakistan, chicken is very popular - it forms the basis of almost all meat dishes.

They eat a lot of bread. It's basically flatbread. mileage(they are often used instead of spoons) or traditional ragyf, as well as various pita breads.

The most popular meat dishes shawarma(flatbread with meat and herbs), mansaf(stewed lamb seasoned with special sauce), adas(lentils with chicken and onions in lemon sauce), Mashavi(cold cuts) and others.

Palestine is considered the leader among Arab countries in the preparation of sweets. Be sure to try it knafe with cheese, guava dessert, delicious ice cream and candied fruit.

There are many tea and coffee shops in Palestine. Tea and coffee accompany any meal or friendly gatherings. Tea here is often drunk overly sweet, while sugar is not added to coffee at all. Palestinian coffee is of very good quality. Depending on the degree of roasting coffee beans It comes in brown or black. Cardamom is often added to coffee when brewing.

The country produces good wine and beer. The most popular local alcoholic drink is arak(specific milky, has a strong anise smell).

The price level in Palestine is low. You can have a good meal in a cafe or small restaurant for just $10, and lunch in the most expensive restaurant will cost $20.

Accommodation

The escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has caused an almost complete cessation of international tourism. There are few places left in Palestine for comfortable accommodation for tourists. Hotels are located in major cities and are intended mainly for workers of various humanitarian foundations and UN employees. A regular room in a hotel of this kind will cost at least $150 per night.

The largest selection of hotels in Bethlehem. There are over 30 hotels of varying levels of service located here. Accommodation in Bethlehem will be the most acceptable from the point of view of moving around Palestine.

IN Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Gaza There are economy class hotels and boarding houses. They are aimed mainly at visitors from Jordan and local residents. A room here will cost $50 per night.

Many tourists wishing to travel to Palestine often stay in hotels on Israeli territory.

Entertainment and relaxation

Palestine is washed by two seas: the Mediterranean from the Gaza Strip and the Dead.

The sand dunes of Gaza stretch for 40 kilometers and provide good opportunities for organizing a beach holiday. But, unfortunately, constant military conflicts do not allow us to create the infrastructure necessary for a comfortable holiday. Most of the beaches are littered and cluttered with chaotic buildings. The beaches in the city are considered the best Gaza.

The northern part of the Dead Sea is only formally part of Palestine, but in reality is under the control of the Israeli administration. Therefore, if you want to get to the nature reserves or health facilities located here, then you can easily do this while on Israeli territory.

History buffs will be interested in an excursion to the ancient Jericho. This city was built much earlier than the Egyptian pyramids. Residents Jericho made a huge contribution to the development of civilization. Ancient Jericho located two kilometers from the modern city. There are constant archaeological excavations. Ruins of a Byzantine city and the Caliph's palace Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik are located just three kilometers from Jericho. The surrounding area is of particular archaeological value. Forty Day Mountains(west of Jericho). Legend has it that it was here that Jesus fasted for forty days without succumbing to the temptations of the devil.

Celtic Canyon is one of the most significant natural parks Palestine. The canyon stretches along the Judean Desert for 40 kilometers. In ancient Roman times there was a road connecting Jerusalem and Jericho. The slopes of the canyon seem deserted and lifeless, but many centuries ago they were inhabited by monks who carved their cells right into the rocks. And later, a majestic monastery was carved into the sheer rock of the canyon St. George. It was destroyed during the Persian invasion, but at the beginning of the twentieth century the monastery was almost completely restored.

Purchases

Most large stores, including shopping center Palestine Mall, are located in the capital Ramallah. There are also small shops and open markets scattered throughout the country.

Food in Palestine is not very expensive. For example, a kilogram of oranges will cost 1.2 $, a cup of cappuccino - about 3 $, a dozen eggs - 1.5 $.

The most popular souvenir from the country can be called the pilgrim's cross. This attribute indicates a visit to the Holy Land. It is a large cross with two massive bars on it (a symbol of the crucified Christ). Every quarter Grand Cross there are also four small crosses that symbolize the nailed hands and feet of Jesus. The pilgrim's cross is a shrine for Catholics, Christians, and Protestants.

The variety of jewelry, mostly of a religious nature, is also surprising - icons, images, crosses. Here you can also buy unique temple candles, particles of Saint Golgotha, magic cards, amulets, vases, figurines, and boxes.

Antique lovers and collectors will find many interesting things in Palestine. There is a large selection of edged weapons from all times - swords, daggers, scimitars, sabers, pikes.

Transport

Currently there is no air service in Palestine. The airport in the Gaza Strip, having been destroyed during military operations, has not operated since 2001.

The main means of transportation around the country are buses and minibuses. The bus fleet consists of old cars, minibuses - minibuses for 10-12 people. A bus ticket costs a little more than a dollar, a minibus ticket costs $1.5. The movement of minibus taxis is not subject to any schedule and is carried out as the cabin fills up.

Taxis operate in all Palestinian cities. A taxi costs a little less than a dollar per kilometer, but the price can often be negotiated in advance.

Traveling around Palestine has some peculiarities. This is due to the fact that the territory of the state is divided into several zones: zone A is under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, zone B is under the general control of Palestine and Israel, zone C is under the control of the Israeli army. Roads outside zones A and B pass through Israeli checkpoints where documents are checked and vehicles are inspected. This procedure takes a lot of time. In addition, some roads are completely closed to Palestinian traffic.

There are no major car rental companies in Palestine. But in Ramallah, Hebron, and Gaza there are small companies that offer car rentals at prices ranging from $40 to $60 per day. But remember that you will be stopped at every Israeli army post to check your documents and find out your route.

Connection

Cellular communications in Palestine are provided by the company Paltel. It is the largest local operator of satellite, cellular and landline communications. In general, the service is provided with the help of Israeli companies Orange, Motorola And Cellcom A Paltel acts as an intermediary between these companies and Palestinian users. Israeli operators provide better call quality and competitive rates, which is why many Palestinians prefer to use their services.

You can use the credit tariff by paying for services once a month. You can also make calls using prepaid cards. They are presented in denominations of 20, 45, 70, 150 and 270 units. Moreover, as the card denomination increases, the cost per minute becomes lower. Calls at night and in the evening are 30% cheaper.

Internet communications are provided by companies Palsoft, Palestine on line, Palnet. There are Internet cafes in all major cities of Palestine.

Safety

When planning your trip, be aware of the volatile situation in Palestine. Local residents are exhausted by military conflicts; Often here you can witness outbursts of anger and violence, of which foreign tourists can also become victims. The Palestinian police are not always in control, so avoid crowds of locals.

Also, do not try to provoke Palestinians into a frank conversation by being interested in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This may be misinterpreted.

Foreign tourists with a residence permit in Israel will be subject to criminal prosecution when visiting areas A and B: this is prohibited under Palestinian law.

Be careful with your food, wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly, and use only bottled water.

Business climate

The Palestinian economy is in a dire state. This situation is associated with constant exacerbations of the Arab-Israeli conflict, leading to hostilities and numerous destructions.

Tourism, once serving driving force economy is minimal today. The infrastructure is poorly developed, the level of service is low, and the turbulent situation within the country is frightening.

Palestine has good opportunities for agricultural development. Growing fruit trees has always brought considerable income. But numerous roadblocks and various restrictions significantly slow down trade relations. Often the goods simply deteriorate in transit.

In addition, the country has a high unemployment rate. About 60-70% of the population lives below the poverty line. This leads to constant mass unrest and demonstrations.

Real estate

Since ancient times, the lands of Palestine have been among the most coveted in the world. This is connected, of course, with the sacred history of these places. Today, Palestinian real estate is not in great demand. This is due to the turbulent political situation and the low level of economic development.

Besides, local population has a negative attitude towards customers who are not of Arab origin. Palestinian law prohibits, under penalty of death, the sale of real estate to persons with Israeli citizenship.

In Palestine, documents are checked quite often, so always carry your passport with you.

To visit the Gaza Strip you need to obtain a special permit and the wait can be long.

Try to avoid traveling at night and avoid areas with curfews.

The import and export of currency is not limited. In addition, cameras, typewriters, radios, binoculars, tape recorders, musical instruments, and sports equipment are exempt from declaration upon entry. But provided that all these items are small in size and have been previously used.

But antiques, video equipment and computers are subject to mandatory declaration.

Visa information

Due to the fact that you can only enter Palestine from Israeli territory, tourists are subject to the Israeli passport and visa regime. A visa is not required to travel to Israel for a period not exceeding 90 days for the purpose of tourism or visiting relatives. In this case, upon entry you must provide a certain package of documents, and a special mark will be placed in your passport.

At Israeli airports, as well as at the checkpoint in Rafah There are “green corridors” that can be followed by persons who do not have items that need to be declared.

There are no additional customs controls when crossing the border between Israel and Palestine.

The Israeli Embassy in Moscow is located at: Bolshaya Ordynka, 56. Tel.: (+7 095) 230-6700. Fax: (+7 095) 238-1346

The content of the article

PALESTINE, historical region in the eastern Mediterranean; a self-governing territory consisting of two separate parts: the West Bank of Jordan (area - 879 sq. km) and the Gaza Strip (area - 378 sq. km). The West Bank borders on the north, west and south with Israel (border length - 307 km), on the east - with Jordan (border length - 97 km). Gaza is washed from the west by the Mediterranean Sea (the length of the coastline is 40 km), in the south it borders with Egypt (the length of the border is 11 km), in the east – with Israel (the length of the border is 51 km).

Nature.

The West Bank of the Jordan is predominantly a very rugged plateau, which gently slopes in the west and abruptly ends in the east towards the Jordan Valley. The lowest point is the surface of the Dead Sea (–408 m), the highest is Mount Tal Asur (1022 m). The Gaza Strip is a flat or hilly coastal plain covered with sands and dunes; the highest point is Abu Auda (105 m).

The rivers of Palestine are not navigable. The main river, the Jordan (Nahr esh-Sharia), flows from north to south and flows into the salty Dead Sea (Bahr Lut). Small rivers and streams flowing from the plateau to Mediterranean Sea, Dead Sea and towards the Jordan Valley dry up during the dry season. There is a shortage of drinking water.

The climate is Mediterranean, depending on the altitude of the area above sea level. Summer is predominantly dry, warm or hot, and often a hot, drying khamsin wind blows from the desert. Winters are mild or cool, air masses from the sea bring rain. On the coast, the average temperature in January (Celsius) is +12°, in August +27°, in the east of Palestine - +12 and +30°, respectively. The area around Jerusalem receives approximately 500 mm of precipitation per year.

The most common plants are evergreen oak, turpentine tree, olive, pistachio, juniper, laurel, strawberry tree, Jerusalem pine, plane tree, Judas tree, in the mountains - Tabor oak and sycamore (biblical fig tree). The fauna of Palestine is poor. Large mammals have been exterminated almost everywhere. There are foxes, porcupines, hedgehogs, hares, wild boars, snakes, turtles and lizards. Counts approx. 400 species of birds, including vultures, pelicans, storks, owls.

Population.

According to an estimate as of July 2004, 2.9 million Arabs lived in the West Bank, in addition, 187 thousand Israelis were settled in the West Bank, and in East Jerusalem - approximately. 177 thousand Israelis. In 2005, the Gaza Strip was home to 1.38 million Arabs and more than 5 thousand Israeli settlers. In August 2005, Israeli authorities evacuated settlements from Gaza and began the withdrawal of several settlements in the West Bank.

OK. 4 million Palestinian Arabs are refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries.

Demographic data. In the West Bank, 43.4% of the population is under 15 years of age, 53.2% of the population is between the ages of 15 and 64, and 3.4% is 65 years of age and older. Average age population - 18.14 years, average life expectancy - 73.08 years. The birth rate was 32.37 per 1000, the death rate was 3.99 per 1000, and the migration rate was 2.88 per 1000. Infant mortality was estimated at 19.62 per 1000 births. The annual population growth was 3.13% (2005 estimate).

In the Gaza Strip, 48.5% of residents were under 15 years of age, 48.8% were between 15 and 64 years of age, and 2.6% were 65 years of age or older. The average age of the population is 15.5 years, the average life expectancy is 71.79 years. The birth rate was 40.03 per 1000, the death rate was 3.87 per 1000, and the migration rate was 1.54 per 1000. Infant mortality was estimated at 22.93 per 1000 births. Annual population growth is 3.77%.

National and religious composition. The bulk of the population is Palestinian Arabs, Jews make up 17% of the residents of the West Bank and 0.6% of the residents of Gaza. Religiously, Muslims predominate (75% in the West Bank, 98.7% in Gaza). Jews practice Judaism. 8% of West Bank residents and 0.7% of Gazans are Christian. The population speaks Arabic and Hebrew, and English is also common.

Population distribution. The largest cities in Palestine at the turn of the 2000s were: East Jerusalem (about 370 thousand inhabitants, including Israeli settlers), Gaza (over 350 thousand inhabitants), Khan Yunus (over 120 thousand), Al-Khalil ( Hebron, about 120 thousand), Jabalya (about 114 thousand), Nablus (over 100 thousand), Tulkarm (about 34 thousand). The UN unilaterally declared East Jerusalem the capital of Arab Palestine, but it was officially annexed by Israel in 1980. The Palestinian Authority is headquartered in Ramallah.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNANCE

After the end of the British Mandate for Palestine (1948) and the Arab-Israeli War of 1948–1949, the territory allocated by UN General Assembly Resolution No. 181 of November 29, 1947 for the creation of an Arab Palestinian state was divided between Israel, Transjordan and Egypt. The West Bank of Jordan and East Jerusalem were included in the Kingdom of Jordan in 1949–1950, and Gaza was annexed to Egypt. In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza, and in 1980 announced the annexation of East Jerusalem. Subsequently adopted UN Security Council resolutions No. 242 and No. 338 contained demands for Israel's withdrawal from all Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 and the liquidation of all Israeli settlements established there.

Egypt later abandoned its claims to Gaza, and in 1988, King Hussein of Jordan announced the termination of his country's administrative and other ties with the West Bank. On November 15, 1988, the Palestinian National Council (the Arab Palestinian parliament in exile) at a session in Algiers announced the creation of the State of Palestine in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967, including East Jerusalem. Under a series of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1993–1998, Palestinian Arabs were granted temporary self-government. The final status of the territories must be resolved through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian side.

Within the framework of the autonomy regime, which has existed since 1994, Palestinian authorities have been created, which are gradually transferred control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In 2002, the then head of the Palestinian National Authority, Yasser Arafat, signed the Basic Law, establishing a system for organizing Palestinian authority. It consolidated the existence of a de facto regime of a presidential republic.

The Palestinian National Authority is headed by a president elected by the people through direct elections. He is also the commander-in-chief of the autonomy's armed forces. The post of President since 1994 was held by Ya. Arafat. He died in 2004, and Mahmoud Abbas was elected to this post in the presidential elections held in January 2005.

The highest legislative body is the Palestinian Legislative Council. It consists of 89 members: the president and 88 deputies elected in 16 multi-member constituencies. The Legislative Council is called upon to approve the prime minister appointed by the president and the members of the government cabinet nominated by the prime minister. He has the right to express a vote of no confidence in ministers. Elections to the Legislative Council took place in 1996. Since 2006, the council consists of 132 deputies.

Executive power in the autonomy is exercised by the president and the government. According to the 2003 amendment to the Basic Law, the President appoints the Prime Minister, who is also the head of the services national security. The prime minister forms the government (cabinet) and is responsible to the president. The post of Prime Minister has been held by Ahmed Qureyi since 2003.

At the local level, power resides in elected municipal councils.

The judicial power, the organization of which is provided for by the Basic Law, has not yet been officially formalized.

Political parties and organizations.

Hamas(Islamic Resistance Movement) - formed in 1987 on the basis of the Palestinian branch of the pan-Arab organization "Muslim Brotherhood". He wages a Muslim holy war (jihad) against Israel, advocates its destruction and the creation of an Islamic theocratic state throughout Palestine and Jordan, and does not renounce terrorist methods. Hamas has officially opposed any peace agreement with Israel. Enjoys wide influence in Gaza and growing influence in the West Bank. After the death of Palestinian leader Arafat in 2004, the new head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, managed to get the Hamas leadership to agree to a ceasefire with Israel. In 2005 won the municipal elections. Ruling party since 2006.

The core of the political structure of the Palestinian Arabs is created in 1964 by Ahmed Shuqairi " Palestine Liberation Organization» (PLO), which led the movement to create an independent Arab Palestinian state. To this end, the PLO carried out armed actions and political speeches. Initially, the organization did not recognize the partition of Palestine in 1947–1948 and advocated the elimination of the state of Israel and the creation of a single secular state throughout the territory of former Mandatory Palestine. In 1969, the PLO leadership was replaced by a radical wing led by Arafat, which in the 1970s shifted its focus to organizing an armed struggle against Israel, including committing terrorist acts against civilians. In 1988, the PLO announced recognition of UN resolutions 1948 and 1967 and, as a result, Israel's right to exist. This paved the way for subsequent agreements and the creation of the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank and Gaza.

The PLO includes leading secular political organizations Palestinian Arabs: Fatah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Palestinian People's Party, Palestinian Liberation Front, Arab Liberation Front, Popular Struggle Front, Al-Saika, etc. .

« Palestinian National Liberation Movement» (Fatah) is the largest organization of the PLO, until 2006 it formed the Palestinian Authority. Formed in 1959 by Arafat, in 1967–1968 it became part of the PLO. Advocates for the creation of an Arab state in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967. Supported by conservative Arab governments, has observer status in the Socialist International. It has armed formations: Quwwat al-Saeqa (official), Tanzim, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (since 2005 - Arafat Brigades), etc. In the elections to the Legislative Council in 1996, Fatah received 55 of 88 seats . Leader - Farouk Qaddumi, M. Abbas (President of the Palestinian Authority).

« Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine» (PFLP), created in 1953 by Georges Habash as the “Arab Nationalist Movement”. In 1968 it was transformed into the PFLP, which declared itself a Marxist-Leninist organization. He joined the PLO in 1968, objected to the recognition of Israel's right to exist and relied on armed struggle.

« Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine» (DFLP) - broke away from the PFLP in 1969, is part of the PLO. The DFLP declared itself a Marxist-Leninist organization and advocated achieving national independence Palestinian Arabs through mass revolution. Focused on the USSR. In 1993, the front rejected the agreement between the PLO and Israel, which paved the way for the creation of the Palestinian Authority, but in 1999 it took part in the negotiations. The DFLP receives some assistance from Syria. The leader is Naif Hawatme.

« Palestinian Democratic Alliance" - broke away from the DFLP in 1991, advocated PLO negotiations with Israel, which led to the formation of the Palestinian Authority. Alliance leader Yasser Abd-Rabbo took the post of Minister of Information in the Palestinian National Authority.

« Palestinian People's Party» – socialist. Formed in 1982 as the Palestinian Communist Party, oriented toward the Soviet Union. In 1991 she abandoned the Marxist-Leninist ideology and changed the name. Leaders - Khan Amira, Abdel Majid Hamadan.

"As-Saika"(“Lightning”) is a military-political organization created with the support of the Syrian Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (PASV) in 1968. It is part of the PLO and focuses on Syria.

« Palestinian Liberation Front» (PFO) - formed in 1977 as a result of the PFLP - High Command group that broke away from the PFLP in 1968. The organization widely resorted to terrorist methods. In the 1980s, he moved his headquarters to Iraq. In the 1990s, the front announced its renunciation of terrorism and recognition of Israel's right to exist. The leader of the Volga Federal District, Abu Abbas, was arrested by the Americans in Iraq in 2003 and died in custody.

« Arab Liberation Front"- created in 1969, focused on the Iraqi Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (BAath).

In addition to the organizations that are part of the PLO, there is a radical Islamist movement operating in the West Bank and Gaza " Islamic Jihad"- a military organization of Islamic fundamentalists, formed in the end. 1970s under the influence of the Islamic revolution in Iran. Seeks to destroy Israel and expel Jews from Palestine. Uses terrorist methods.

In addition to those mentioned, other small groups (including leftists) operate in Palestine: “Palestinian People's Democratic Union”, Palestinian Revolutionary Communist Party”, “Socialist Workers League”, etc.

Armed forces. In accordance with the agreements signed between the PLO and Israel in 1993 in Oslo, a “police force” was formed in the Palestinian Authority, numbering, according to some sources, from 40 to 80 thousand recruits. They are armed with a limited number of military equipment and automatic weapons. In addition to these official forces, there are armed formations of individual political groups.

Foreign policy.

In 1974, the UN General Assembly granted the PLO observer status; in 1988 it was extended to enable him to participate in assembly debates without the right to vote. The State of Palestine is recognized by 94 countries and has diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation. General delegations represent Palestine in European countries.

ECONOMY

The economy of the West Bank and Gaza was based on Agriculture and the work of Palestinians in Israel. However, since the start of a new round of armed confrontation with Israel in 2000 (the so-called “Second Intifada”), the Israeli authorities have closed the borders, blocked Palestinian territories and stopped allowing Palestinians to work in Israel (thus, about 100 thousand of them have lost their jobs 125 thousand Palestinians). These measures have caused serious damage to the Palestinian economy, especially in the densely populated Gaza Strip. Many enterprises and firms have closed. A complete collapse was averted thanks to international financial assistance amounting to $2 billion in 2004. More than half of the working-age population is unemployed, and 59% of West Bank residents and 81% of Gazans live below the official poverty level.

The West Bank's GDP in 2003 was $1.8 billion ($800 per capita), Gaza's GDP was $768 million ($600 per capita). GDP growth in 2003 was 6% in the West Bank and 4.5% in Gaza. GDP structure: 9% - agriculture, 28% - industry, 63% - service sector (2002).

The cultivation of olives, citrus fruits and vegetables, the production of meat and other food products is developed. The industry is represented mainly by small family enterprises that produce cement, clothing, soap, handicrafts and souvenirs (wood carvings and mother-of-pearl products). There are small, modern industrial plants in Israeli settlements. Most of the electricity is imported from Israel.

The volume of exports (205 million US dollars in 2002) is significantly inferior to imports (1.5–1.9 billion US dollars). Olives, citrus and other fruits, vegetables, building stone, and flowers are exported. Food products, consumer goods and construction materials are imported. Main trading partners: Israel, Egypt and Jordan.

The Palestinian Authority's budget in 2003 consisted of revenues of $677 million and expenditures of $1,155 million. External debt in 1997 was $108 million. The Israeli shekel and the Jordanian dinar are in circulation.

The length of highways in the West Bank is 4.5 thousand km (of which 2.7 thousand km are paved). Gaza has only a network of small roads of poor quality. The Israelis built separate roads serving Israeli settlements. The main port is Gaza. There are 3 airports in the West Bank with paved runways. There are 2 airports in the Gaza Strip, including Gaza International Airport with paved runways.

The population of the West Bank and Gaza uses 302 thousand telephones and 480 thousand mobile phones. There are 145 thousand Internet users.

There are Arab universities in the West Bank (the largest are in Bir Zeit and Nablus). The Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation operates in Ramallah, and there are also local, private radio stations.

A number of newspapers are published: Al-Quds (Jerusalem), An-Nahar, Al-Fajr, Al-Shaab, etc.

STORY

The oldest inhabitants of Palestine known to archaeologists were the Neanderthals (200 thousand years BC). OK. 75 thousand years ago, modern people appeared in the region, who lived here side by side with Neanderthals for tens of thousands of years. OK. 9 thousand years BC The Neolithic revolution began on the territory of Palestine, permanent settlements appeared, and in the 9th–8th millennia BC. – the first walled city known in history: Jericho. In 4–3 millennia BC. Semitic tribes (Canaanites) settled here. In the subsequent period, the area was under Egyptian political influence. OK. 1200 BC Hebrew tribes settled in Palestine, almost simultaneously the Philistines appeared on the coast, from whose name the origin modern name"Palestine". In the 10th century BC. Palestine was united by the Hebrew kingdom of David and Solomon, which later split into Israel and Judah. The first of these states was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC, the second by the Babylonians in 597–586 BC. In the 6th–4th centuries. BC. Palestine was part of the Persian kingdom in the 4th century. BC. was conquered by Alexander the Great, and after his death served as an object of struggle between the dynasties of his successors - the Egyptian Ptolemies and the Syrian Seleucids. In 168 BC The Jewish state was restored, ruled by the Maccabean dynasty and then by Herod the Great. In the 1st century BC. it became dependent on the Roman Empire. After a series of uprisings, the Jews were expelled from Palestine by the Roman authorities in the 70s. From the 1st century Until 395, Palestine was a province of the Roman Empire, and from 395–634 it was part of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium).

In 634, Palestine was conquered by the Arabs and included in the Arab Caliphate. The Arab tribes that settled in Palestine mixed with the local inhabitants and laid the foundation for the modern Palestinian Arabs. After the collapse of the caliphate, the region was part of various Muslim states. Muslim rule was interrupted only in 1099–1187, when the Kingdom of Jerusalem existed in Palestine, created by European crusaders.

In 1516, Palestine became part of the Ottoman Empire and remained part of it until 1918. At the end of the First World War, it was occupied by British troops; in 1923 Great Britain received a mandate from the League of Nations to govern Palestine. The British authorities promised to create a “national home” for Jews on its territory. Originated in the 19th century. The Zionist movement began to settle Palestine. Violent conflicts often broke out between the new settlers and the Arab residents. Great Britain sought to use these contradictions in the interests of maintaining its power over Palestine. Demands for independence began to grow among both Jews and Arabs.

In 1947, the UN General Assembly decided to divide Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state and an international zone of Jerusalem. In May 1948, the creation of a Jewish state, Israel, was proclaimed. The Arab leadership and neighboring Arab states did not recognize the partition of Palestine; A war broke out between them and Israel, during which the territory allocated for the Arab state was divided between Israel, Transjordan (West Bank with East Jerusalem) and Egypt (Gaza). Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled and were resettled in refugee camps in neighboring Arab countries. Israel still does not recognize the right of return for them and their descendants.

In 1949, Transjordan annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and these territories became part of the Kingdom of Jordan. Palestinian representatives were included in the Jordanian government. Gaza was governed as part of Egypt (from 1958 - the United Arab Republic). Constant attacks by armed groups of Palestinians (fidayeen) from Gaza and the West Bank on Israeli territory provoked retaliatory actions by the Israelis and often became the reason for serious conflicts (for example, Israeli participation in the Anglo-French attack on Egypt in 1956).

During the Arab-Israeli War in June 1967, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza were captured by Israeli troops. Israeli rule was introduced in these territories. military administration, and East Jerusalem was officially annexed by Israel in 1980. After this, Palestinian groups intensified their armed struggle with Israel, often resorting to acts of terror against civilian populations in third countries (attacks on Israeli schools in 1970 and 1974, the murder of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, explosions in Israeli cities, hijackings, sea ​​vessels, etc.). In 1970, after clashes with the Jordanian authorities, Palestinian organizations were expelled from Jordan, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) moved its headquarters to Lebanon. Here their stay provoked a bloody civil war in 1975. In turn, Jordan confirmed its claims to the West Bank by putting forward a plan to create a United Arab Kingdom in 1972.

In the 1970s, PLO leader Yasser Arafat began to look for ways to peacefully resolve the Palestinian conflict. In 1976, he supported a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for the creation of two states in Palestine (the project met opposition in the PLO and was also rejected by the United States). After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the PLO was forced to move its headquarters to Tunisia.

In December 1987, mass protests (intifada) broke out in the territories occupied by Israel. Their participants demanded an end to the occupation and the creation of a Palestinian state. The intifada continued until 1993. Under these conditions, the Palestinian National Council (the highest body in exile) at a session in Algeria on November 15, 1988, proclaimed the creation of the State of Palestine. The PLO announced the recognition of UN resolutions 1947 and 1967, which provided for the existence of two states in Palestine, thereby recognizing Israel's right to exist. That same year, Jordan renounced its claims to the West Bank. In 1991, the PLO leadership authorized the participation of Palestinians from the occupied territories as part of the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference on the Middle East. Under US and Russian sponsorship, informal direct negotiations began between Israel and the PLO. On August 20, 1993, the parties signed an agreement in Oslo. On September 13, 1993, in Washington, Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister I. Rabin officially signed a Declaration of Principles, which provided for the creation of temporary Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza for a period of 5 years. During this period, Israel retained responsibility for ensuring external and internal security and maintaining order in Israeli settlements. Negotiations on a final settlement were to begin no later than the third year of the transition period. Israel and the PLO announced mutual recognition. In 1996, the Palestinian National Council excluded from the PLO National Charter (program) all provisions that denied Israel's right to exist. The agreement with Israel caused sharp disagreements within the PLO itself. Radical groups (PFLP, DFLP, etc.) opposed him.

In 1994, the Palestinian Authority was formed in Ramallah, headed by President Arafat. In January 1996, elections for the President and Legislative Council took place. Arafat was re-elected head of the autonomy; out of 88 seats in the Legislative Council, 55 were won by his party, Fatah, another 7 by candidates close to it, and the rest by independents. Under the Cairo Agreement (May 1994), Israel transferred responsibility for governance of the Gaza Strip and Jericho to the Palestinians, and subsequent agreements (September 1995 Interim Agreement, January 1997 Protocol, October 1998 Memorandum and September Sharm El-Sheikh Agreement) 1999) – additional areas in the West Bank.

In September 1999 (with a three-year delay) Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on a final settlement began. The PFLP and DFLP decided to join the peace process and took part in the Camp David negotiations in July 2000, which ended inconclusively.

The further progress of the settlement was interrupted when, in response to Israeli right-wing leader A. Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (which both Jews and Muslims consider their shrine), a “second intifada” broke out in the Palestinian territories. During the war, representatives of extremist groups (Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Hezbollah and the PFLP-General Command) began to massively carry out bomb explosions in Israel aimed at the civilian population. Israel responded with rocket and bomb attacks, assassinations of Palestinian military leaders, and military operations. Israeli troops blocked Arafat's residence in Ramallah. Hundreds of people have died as a result of the ongoing violence. In the beginning. In the 2000s, Israel began constructing a fortified line (“security wall”) designed to isolate it and Israeli settlement areas from the occupied territories.

In 2002 USA, European Union, Russia and the UN proposed a new plan for resolving the Palestinian conflict, called the “Road Map”. It provided for the resumption of negotiations and a phased resolution of the problem until the creation of an independent Palestinian Arab state next to the Israeli one. At the same time, Israel and the West continued to criticize Arafat for the fact that his administration was not taking the necessary measures to stop the organization of terrorist acts. Yielding to international pressure, on March 19, 2003, Arafat appointed a supporter of a more moderate line, Mahmoud Abbas, as prime minister of the autonomy, who resigned on September 6. On October 7, 2003, Ahmed Qureyi was appointed to this post. At the same time, in Palestine itself, Arafat was criticized for corruption and ineffectiveness of the administration; These circumstances, economic difficulties and the intensity of the confrontation with Israel contributed to the rapid growth in the popularity of Islamic extremists from Hamas.

On November 11, 2004, Palestinian National Authority President Arafat died. The chairman of the Legislative Assembly, Rauhi Fattouh, was appointed acting leader, and presidential elections were held on January 9, 2005. They were won by Fatah candidate Mahmoud Abbas, who received a St. 62% of votes. His main rival, independent candidate Mustafa Barghouti, supported by the PFLP, collected approx. 20%; DFLP representative T. Khaled - St. 3%, and nominated by the Palestinian People's Party B. al-Salhi - approx. 3%. On February 24, 2005, A. Qureyi formed a new government of the Palestinian Authority.

Abbas managed to negotiate with Israel to end the violence. Promising Hamas Islamists the opportunity to participate in local and parliamentary elections, he persuaded them to join this agreement. Hamas won a landslide victory in municipal elections in 2005, and Abbas delayed parliamentary elections until 2006.

In March 2005, Israel officially handed over control of Jericho to the Palestinian Authority, followed by Tulkarm, Ramallah, Qalqiyah and Bethlehem.

Israeli Prime Minister Sharon back in 2004 achieved, despite protests in the ranks of his own ruling coalition, the adoption of a plan for “unilateral separation” from the Palestinians. In August 2005, Israel evacuated settlements from the Gaza Strip and several settlements in the West Bank, and in September 2005 withdrew troops from Gaza, ending its 38-year occupation.

In the parliamentary elections held on January 25, 2006, the Hamas movement won (76 out of 132 seats). The Fatah movement won 43 seats. The turnout at polling stations was 77%. Prime Minister Ahmed Qureyi resigned. Abbas was forced to form a new government led by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. The new cabinet of ministers began its work on March 29.

In the beginning. In 2006, a Hamas delegation led by Khaled Meshal (chairman of the political bureau of the movement) visited Moscow. Russia has actually become the main mediator in negotiations between Israel and Palestine. Plans for a peaceful settlement of the Middle East problem and the economic situation in the autonomy were the focus of V. Putin’s meeting with Abbas, which took place in May in Sochi. During the first half of 2006, the Russian Federation provided the Palestinian Authority with humanitarian aid in the amount of $10 million.

After the creation of the Hamas police (in May 2006), whose activities were immediately banned by Abbas, fighting began in the Gaza Strip between supporters of Fatah and Hamas. May 3 in Cairo Fatah movement and Hamas signed an agreement on national reconciliation and the creation of common authorities. This means forming a unified government and holding general elections. The agreement was reached through the mediation of the new Egyptian authorities. Under the agreement, Fatah units will continue to control the West Bank, and Hamas will continue to control the Gaza Strip.

Literature:

Polyakov K., Khasanov V. Palestinian resistance movement and the formation of Palestinian statehood (1980s–1990s). M., 2001
Faten M. The problem of Palestinian refugees and conflict resolution in the Middle East. St. Petersburg, 2002
Brass A. Palestinian origins. M., 2004