Palestine
(The Other Side)
For those readers out there, most of you know where and what Palestine is. What most of you do not know is the story behind Palestine. Palestine is not called Palestine anymore. It is now known as Israel. As most of you know Israel is presently at war with the Palestinian people, but most of the time all you hear is just one side of the story. In other areas of the world you hear both sides, but why is it that here in America you only here one side? There are the occasional shows such as 60 minutes where the other side is covered but that does not happen often enough. The intent of this web page is to give you the a better idea about the history of Palestine and how it came to be one of the most hostile places on the planet, and most importantly share with you the other side.
Palestine is located in the Middle East bordering Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. Palestine's geography varies from high mountains, to fertile valleys, and low flat lands. Palestine is also significant in the biblical sense because it is where Jesus was born and many ancient and sacred sites still exist, which are both very holy to Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike.
This picture you see is Palestine before the establishment of an Israeli state.
This is Palestine as the world sees it today. It has now been split up and renamed Israel. As you can see there are parts of Israel that are still largely populated by Palestinians. They are the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and these are the places which receive the most attention on the news. The rest of the land is populated by Israelis.
Palestine was not always as chaotic as it is now. For centuries Palestine was a peaceful place where Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived side by side. People from all religions intermarried and became related in some way or form, and they were all known as Palestinians. In a countries history there are always good times and bad times.
Brief History
Palestine was for a long time its own independent state the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian peoples lived side by side for a long time. Empires came and went such as the Roman Empire but the state of Palestine always remained the same. The last major empire to ever rule Palestine was the Ottoman Empire. After World War 2 the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist and its conquered territories in the Middle East were divided. France took Syria and Lebanon, and Great Britain took Palestine and Jordan. After the creation of the United Nations there was a sudden need to fine the persecuted Jews in Europe a home. Why they could not return to their homes in Europe I do not know? A vast majority left Europe in search of citizenship in the United Kingdom and United States. Interestingly enough the Steamer filled with Jewish immigrants on route to the U.S. was denied passage when they got to New York harbor or the boat bound for Great Britain which was intentionally blown up because they did not want all those Jewish immigrants to come there . All in all they decided to stick them in Palestine, with no regard to the Palestinians who were inhabiting the area. They basically gave the land to the immigrants which did not belong to Great Britain or the U.S. or the United Nations in the first place. Anyway they gave them a piece of land and in 1948 a Israeli state was established. After the established state problems started to occur and violence escalated to and a couple of wars later Palestine is what it is today.