Palestine: Region Profile
By Duane Miller, PhD
We arrive at our first profile that does not pertain to a country. What is Palestine? In using this word, we are not endorsing or criticizing any political orientation.
The name has referred to many different expanses of territory over the centuries in the Near East. It appears to date back to the arrival of the sea people named the Peleset to what is today Gaza in the 12th Century BC. These became over time the Philistines and over the centuries Philistia came to be known as Palestine. Over the centuries “Palestine” was a geographical region, not the name of a particular ethnic group. And then, the geographical region differed from century to century.
But today how is this contentious word used? When we hear Palestinian today it tends to mean a non-Jewish Arab from within the borders of the State of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
For many centuries all of this land was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. That empire expired after World War I, and the Arab sections of the empire were divided by the French and British under the Sykes-Picot agreement. (The book to read is A Peace to End all Peace by David Fromkin.)
In 1920 the British Mandate commenced over the Trans-Jordan. After World War II (1939–1945) large numbers of Jews immigrated to British Palestine. The mandate ended in 1948 and a war erupted between the Arabs and Jews. The Jews were victorious and established the secular State of Israel, informed by socialist political values. The areas not dominated by the Jews were the west bank of the Jordan River and Gaza, a small strip of land on the Mediterranean Sea.
The State of Israel was recognized as a sovereign state. The people of Gaza and the West Bank were recognized as refugees by the United Nations. Many of them emigrated to other parts of the world. A few countries have recognized the state of Palestine, but most have not.
The people of the West Bank and Gaza are technically stateless—which means they don’t have the ability to acquire a passport, and this limits their ability to travel internationally.
In 2008 the people of Gaza, tired of the corrupt rule of the political party Fatah, elected Hamas, which was internationally recognized as a terrorist organization, to rule Gaza. After 2008 no more democratic elections were held and since then Hamas has ruled Gaza. The constitution of Hamas declares a key goal: the destruction of the Jewish State (Israel). It is not easy to envision a future when Hamas and Israel can peacefully live side by side.
The people of Palestine often feel they are oppressed by Israel. Israel does not allow for Palestinians to travel freely or operate their own ports or airports. On the other hand, Israelis claim that opening ports means allowing for importing weapons, which historically is accurate.
As Christians, we should recognize there is no political solution to this problem. When you are talking with your Palestinian friend:
- Mention Jesus, the “prince of peace”, and tell them that Jesus is the only one who can bring true peace
- Ask him if Islamic politics actually helps. Say all the Jews are gone, how would things be better?
- Ask him why so many people are trying to leave a good Islamic government, if Islam is the truth?
- Ask him about Christianity in his land. There are many Christian saints from Palestine. (If you want more info on this, ask the IMO resource coordinator.)