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Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in the southern Levant region of West Asia. It encompasses two disconnected territories — the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, collectively known as the Palestinian territories — within the larger region of Palestine. The country shares its borders with Israel to north, west and south, Jordan to the east and Egypt to the southwest. It has a combined land area of 6,020 square kilometres (2,320 sq mi) while its population exceeds five million people. Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem while Ramallah serves as its administrative center and Gaza City was its largest city until massive population movements began in 2023 due to the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. Arabic is the official language. The majority of Palestinians practice Islam while Christianity also has a presence.

In 1917, Britain called for a Jewish nation to be created in the land of Palestine. After World War I, Britain assumed responsibility for Palestine under a League of Nations Mandate. During the next two decades, over 100,000 Jews entered the country. As tensions in Palestine increased due to mass immigration of Jews and resulting violence, the British government found it increasingly difficult to manage the situation. In 1947, Britain decided to hand over the issue to the United Nations. After World War II , in 1947, the United Nations adopted a partition plan for Mandatory Palestine , recommending the creation of two independent Arab and Jewish states and an independent Jerusalem entity.  The Jews accepted the partition plan, but the Arabs rejected it. Immediately after the General Assembly adopted the resolution, a civil war broke out, and the plan was not implemented. 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 marked by a war that resulted in the forced displacement of 700,000 Palestinians and created a large refugee population. Subsequent Arab–Israeli wars, including the Six-Day War in 1967, resulted in the Israeli capture and occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. On 15th November 1988, Palestinian National Council, the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) led by Yasser Arafat, declared the establishment of the State. Signing of the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, negotiated between Israel and the PLO, created the Palestinian Authority (PA) to exercise partial control over parts of Palestinian territories. 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 in part by the Palestinian Authority, led by Fatah, while the Gaza Strip has remained under the control of Hamas. Israel has built settlements in both of the Palestinian territories since the start of the occupation. The settlements in the Gaza Strip were dismantled in Israel's unilateral disengagement in 2005, and approximately 670,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements in the West Bank. The international community considers Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

Currently, the biggest challenges to the country include the Israeli occupation, a blockade, restrictions on movement, Israeli settlements and settler violence, as well as an overall poor security situation. The questions of Palestine's borders, the legal and diplomatic status of Jerusalem, and the right of return of Palestinian refugees remain unsolved. Despite these challenges, the country maintains an emerging economy and sees frequent tourism. It is also a member of several international organizations, including the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. It has been a non-member observer state of the United Nations since 2012. This limited status is largely due to the United States, a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power, has consistently used its veto or threatened to do so to block Palestine’s full membership to UN. (Full article...)

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Palestinian cuisine consists of foods from or commonly eaten by Palestinians — which includes those living in the Palestinian territories, Israel, Jordan, refugee camps in nearby countries as well as by the Palestinian diaspora. The cuisine is a diffusion of the cultures of civilizations that settled in the historic region of Palestine, particularly during and after the Islamic era beginning with the Arab Ummayad conquest, then the eventual Persian-influenced Abbasids and ending with the strong influences of Turkish cuisine, resulting from the coming of the Ottoman Turks. Cooking styles vary by region and each type of cooking style and the ingredients used are generally based on the climate and location of the particular region and on traditions. Rice and variations of kibbee are common in the Galilee, the West Bank engages primarily in heavier meals involving the use of taboon bread, rice and meat and coastal plain inhabitants frequent fish, other seafood, and lentils, Gaza's inhabitants heavily consume chili peppers too. Meals are usually eaten in the household but dining out has become prominent particularly during parties where light meals like salads, bread dips and skewered meats are served. Coffee is consumed throughout the day and liquor is not very prevalent amongst the population, however, some alcoholic beverages such as arak or beer are consumed by Christians and less conservative Muslims.

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Ottoman surrender of Jerusalem, 1917
Ottoman surrender of Jerusalem, 1917
Credit: American Colony

The Mayor of Jerusalem Hussein al-Husayni (centre) meets with soldiers of the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force on December 9, 1917, under the white flag of surrender. The Battle of Jerusalem had begun the day before, but the Turkish forces in the city were no match against the British forces. A Turkish counterattack on December 25 was also repulsed, confirming the capture of Jerusalem by the Allies.

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Giraffa camelopardalis at Qalqilya Zoo

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Nelson Mandela
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.

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Edward Wadie Saïd (Arabic pronunciation: [wædiːʕ sæʕiːd] Arabic: إدوارد وديع سعيد, Idwārd Wadīʿ Saʿīd; 1 November 1935 – 25 September 2003) was an American-Palestinian literary theorist, and University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He was a founding figure of the critical field of post-colonialism. Saïd was a Palestinian Arab born in Jerusalem (then in the British Mandate of Palestine), and held an American passport through his father who was a Palestinian U.S. citizen with Protestant origins. Said was an advocate for the human rights of the Palestinian people, whom the commentator Robert Fisk described as the Palestinians' most powerful voice. As an influential cultural critic, academic, and writer, Edward Saïd was known best for the book Orientalism (1978), a critical analysis of the ideas that are the bases of Orientalism — the Western study of Eastern cultures. As a public intellectual, he discussed contemporary politics, music, culture, and literature, in lectures, newspaper and magazine articles, and books. Drawing from his family experiences as a Palestinian Christian in the Middle East, at the time of the establishment of Israel (1948), Saïd argued for the establishment of a Palestinian state, equal political and human rights for the Palestinians in Israel — including the right of return — and for increased U.S. political pressure upon Israel to recognize, grant, and respect said rights; he also criticized the political and cultural politics of Arab and Muslim régimes. He received a Western education in the U.S., where he resided from adolescence until his death in 2003; as such, in his memoirs, Out of Place (1999), Saïd applied his dual cultural heritage to narrow the gap of political and cultural understanding between The West and the Middle East, to improve Western understanding of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. His decade-long membership in the Palestinian National Council, and his pro–Palestinian political activism, made him a controversial public intellectual.

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Topics

Demographics: Definitions · State of Palestine · History · Name · People · Diaspora  · Refugee camps · Arab citizens of Israel

Politics: Arab Higher Committee · All-Palestine Gov-t · PLO · PFLP · Depopulated villages

Today: Fatah · Hamas · Islamic Jihad · Political parties · PNA · Hamas gov-t · Governorates · Governorates · Cities · Arab localities in Israel · PNC · PLC ·

General: Flag · Law

Palestine: West Bank · Gaza Strip · E. Jerusalem

Religion: Islam · Christianity · Judaism · Dome of the Rock · Al-Aqsa Mosque · Great Mosque of Gaza · Cave of the Patriarchs · Church of the Holy Sepulchre · Basilica of the Annunciation · Church of the Nativity · Joseph's Tomb · Rachel's Tomb · Lot's Tomb · Nabi Samwil

Culture: Art · Traditional costumes · Cinema · Cuisine · Dance · Handicrafts · Language · Literature · Music

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Religions in Palestine


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