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Palestine (Arabic: فلسطين, romanized: Filasṭīn), officially the State of Palestine (دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn), is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. In 2012, in a de facto recognition of statehood, it was designated a non member observer state by the United Nations, and it is recognized by more than two thirds of UN member states. Palestine shares borders with Israel to the west and north, Jordan to the east and Egypt to the southwest. The state comprises the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The population of Palestine exceeds five million people, and covers an area of 6,020 square kilometres (2,320 sq mi). Jerusalem is its proclaimed capital and the official language is Arabic. The majority of Palestinians practice Islam while Christianity also has a significant presence. Rafah is the largest city and Ramallah serves as the administrative center.

The region of Palestine has played an important part in world history. The Canaanites, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans and Byzantines all left their mark on the land. In addition to its historical significance, Palestine holds profound religious importance for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Throughout history the region has seen periods of coexistence and conflict between different religious and ethnic groups. Notably, during the Middle Ages, when Jewish communities faced persecution, they found refuge and protection under Muslim rule and the wider Islamic world. The Ottoman Empire, which controlled Palestine from the 16th century until its collapse at the end of World War I, provided a sanctuary for Jews fleeing persecution in Europe. The end of the Ottoman rule marked a new chapter in Palestine's history. Following World War I, the British Empire assumed control of the region under the League of Nations mandate. The British Mandate for Palestine, established in 1920, brought significant changes to the political and social landscape of the area, setting the stage for the conflicts and struggles that would follow.

The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was accompanied by a forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and created a large Palestinian refugee population. Subsequent Arab–Israeli wars, including the Six-Day War in 1967, resulted in occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In 1988, PNC, the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) led by Yasser Arafat, declared the establishment of Palestine. Signing of the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, negotiated between Israel and the PLO, aimed to establish a government and the eventual creation of Palestinian state. However, the implementation of the Oslo Accords faced significant challenges, including the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and ongoing security concerns. In 2007, internal divisions between Palestinian political factions led to a takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas. Since then, the West Bank has been governed by the Palestinian National Authority, led by Fatah, and the Gaza Strip under the control of Hamas.

The Palestinian Authority governs parts of the West Bank while Hamas controls the Gaza Strip. Palestine faces various challenges, political violence, including territorial disputes, socio-economic disparities, freedom of movement and the impact of the occupation. Current effort is advancing the Palestinian cause and achieving a just and lasting resolution to the conflict. Palestine is a member of several international organizations including the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and a non-member observer at the United Nations. It is one of the most educated countries in the Arab world and the Middle East, with massive reserves of oil and gas. (Full article...)

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Gaza is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories. Inhabited since at least the 15th century BCE, Gaza has been dominated by several different peoples and empires throughout its history. The Philistines made it a part of their pentapolis after the Ancient Egyptians had ruled it for nearly 350 years. In 635 CE, it became the first city in Palestine to be conquered by the Rashidun army and quickly developed into a centre of Islamic law. As a result of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Egypt administered the newly formed Gaza Strip territory and several improvements were undertaken in the city. Gaza was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967, but in 1993, the city was transferred to the Palestinian National Authority. Following the 2006 election, conflict broke out as the Fatah party seemed unwilling to transfer power to Hamas, resulting in Hamas taking power in Gaza by force. Most of Gaza's inhabitants are Muslim, although there exists a Christian minority.

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Credit: American Colony, Jerusalem
Restoration: Lise Broer/Fir0002

Ottoman machine gun corps, before the Second Battle of Gaza, which took place on 19 April 1917. The First Battle of Gaza, just three weeks prior, had ended in defeat for the British Empire, and this second attempt to break through Turkish defenses was also unsuccessful. Six months later, on the third attempt, the Allied forces were finally able to break the Gaza–Beersheba line.

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Did you know...

...that the UN founded the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in 1975?
...that four planes were simultaneously hijacked (pictured) in the 1970 Dawson's Field hijackings?
...that the tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly has been resumed more times than any other?

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Yasser Arafat was one of the outstanding freedom fighters of this generation, one who gave his entire life to the cause of the Palestinian people.

— Nelson Mandela

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WikiProjects

You are invited to participate in WikiProject Palestine, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about Palestine.

Parent projects: Asia • Countering systemic bias • Western Asia • Arab World • Countries •

Main project: WikiProject Palestine

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Middle Eastern military history

Related projects: Geography • Egypt • Iraq • Israel • Jordan • Lebanon • Islam • Syria

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Norman Gary Finkelstein (born December 8, 1953) is an American political scientist, activist and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust, an interest motivated by the experiences of his parents who are Jewish Holocaust survivors. He is a graduate of Binghamton University and received his Ph.D in Political Science from Princeton University. He has held faculty positions at Brooklyn College, Rutgers University, Hunter College, New York University, and, most recently, DePaul University, where he was an assistant professor from 2001 to 2007. In 2007, after a highly publicized row between Finkelstein and a notable opponent of his, Alan Dershowitz, Finkelstein's tenure bid at DePaul was denied. Finkelstein was placed on administrative leave for the 2007–2008 academic year, and on September 5, 2007, he announced his resignation after coming to a settlement with the university on generally undisclosed terms.

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