The word Palestine
derives from Philistia, the name given by Greek writers to the land of the
Philistines, who in the 12th century BCE occupied a small pocket of land on the southern coast, between modern
Tel Aviv–Yafo and Gaza. The name was revived by the Romans in the 2nd century CE in “Syria Palaestina,” designating the southern portion of the province of Syria, and made its way thence into Arabic, where it has been used to describe the region at least since the early Islamic era. After Roman times the name had no official status until after
World War I and the end of rule by the
Ottoman Empire, when it was adopted for one of the regions
mandated to Great Britain; in addition to an area roughly comprising present-day Israel and the West Bank, the
mandate included the territory east of the Jordan River now
constituting the Hashimite Kingdom of Jordan, which Britain placed under an administration separate from that of Palestine immediately after receiving the mandate for the territory.
Palestine is the area of the eastern Mediterranean region comprising parts of modern Israel along with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The strategic importance of the area is immense: through it pass the main roads from Egypt to Syria and from the Mediterranean to the hills beyond the Jordan...
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