Premodern history of Palestine

Part of the history of Palestine, including Mongol Modernity, up to the Ottoman Empire.

History

Ancient (Stone, Copper, Iron Ages)

The Levant, in a general sense, is the coastal area roughly between Egypt and Greece now known as Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, the State of Israel, and Jordan. It was home to many early humans, and was part of the Fertile Crescent, where the earliest civilizations were born.

The Southern Levant is amongst the oldest inhabited parts of all Eurasia, on one of three plausible routes by which early hominins could have dispersed out of Africa (along with the Bab al Mandab and the Strait of Gibraltar). Homo erectus left Africa and became the first hominin species to colonize Europe and Asia approximately two million years ago, probably via the Southern Levant. During this phase of the Pleistocene epoch the region was wetter and greener, allowing H. erectus to find places with fresh water as it followed other African animals that were dispersing out of Africa at the same time. One such location was 'Ubeidiya, on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee, where some of the oldest hominin remains in Eurasia have been discovered, dating to between 1.2 million and 1.5 million years ago.

Several Stone Ages, when stone tools prevailed and made up the bulk of artifacts, were followed by periods when other technologies came into use. They lent their names to the different periods. The basic framework for the southern Levant is as follows: the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age is often divided up into three successive phases: Lower Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic. An Epipaleolithic (latest Paleolithic) period, also known as Mesolithic (transition to Neolithic) follows and is, in turn, succeeded by a Neolithic (New Stone Age).

The following Chalcolithic period includes the first evidence of metallurgy with copper making its appearance. However, as stone technology remains prevalent, the name, Chalcolithic (Copper/Stone) age combines the two.

Bronze is used for the following periods, but is actually a misnomer for a good part of that time. An Early Bronze Age is divided into three major phases: Early Bronze I, II and III; but copper, not bronze, was the most common metal in use, while stone technology continued to contribute the bulk of tools. Early Bronze III is followed by another period, alternatively named Early Bronze IV, Middle Bronze I, Intermediate Bronze or Early Bronze-Middle Bronze. In this period the name is apt; true bronze (a tin alloy of copper) makes its appearance in this time span.

The next period is generally known as Middle Bronze II and is generally broken down into two sub-periods, Middle Bronze IIa and Middle Bronze IIb. Some scholars acknowledge a Middle Bronze III. The next period is known as Late Bronze and is often sub-divided into Late Bronze I and II.

Through the Bronze and early Iron Ages, the Southern Levant (now Palestine, the State of Israel, and Jordan) was inhabited by many different Semitic-speaking peoples and kingdoms. The Canaanites erected many city-states which were influenced by surrounding powers such as Egypt during this time.

The Biblical narrative concerning the land of Canaan and the Israelites begins with Abraham-- this will be explained insofar as its relevancy to Zionist myths about Biblical history and its relation to the land and people of Palestine today.

Biblical Narrative

In the Bible, the Israelites' greatest enemy was the Philistines. The Philistines, who lived also in the land of Canaan (which is roughly the same land today in what is called the "Palestine region") have no direct relation to modern Palestinians. However, after thousands of years, modern Palestinians still have a genetic makeup comprised of Levantine, Eastern Mediterranean, Iranian, Arabian, and North African-- showing that they have deep ancestral roots in the region dating back as far as ~3700 years ago to groups like the Canaanites (descendants of Canaan, son of Ham and grandson of Noah).

In Genesis, Abraham was called to journey to the promised land from his native Mesopotamia, likely some 4000 years ago. God promised to Abraham and his descendants the lands of Canaan. God tested Abraham's faith, and in offering his son Isaac, he passed the test. God then reassured Abraham, "I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." (Genesis 22:17-18)

God didn't say "Some nations will be blessed" through Abraham, He said "all". Thus, it was not just the Hebrews, not just the Jews who were blessed through Abraham, nor even was this blessing limited to His religious followers.

If, in this verse, He meant that Abraham's descendants were blessed forever, then Abraham's descendants include all nations. If He meant only Abraham's immediate ancestors were blessed, then they procreated so many times as to render his descendants one with the rest of humanity as a whole, thus blessing all nations. In either possible interpretation, all of humanity has an equal or universal Biblical claim to the land of Caanan (modern-day Israel and Palestine).

The Quran refers to Abraham (Ibrahim) as a prophet of Allah. The Tanakh calls him Avram. Thus, we can see that three of the major religions of the world today (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) regard the land as sacred through Abraham their prophet, and the blessing bestowed upon him by God/Allah/Yahweh. They are united in their faith in God and the prophets as the "Abrahamic" religions.

Akin to the Philistines and their non-relation to modern Palestinians, the Bible narrates the history of the "nation" of Israel, the Hebrews, who left Egyptian slavery in the book of Exodus 505 years after the story of Abraham. The twelve tribes descended from Abraham eventually formed the Kingdoms of Israel in the north and Judah in the south. United for some hundred years as the "United Kingdom of Israel" before a revolt around the 10th century BC split the rule, these kingdoms were founded in the Iron Age in the southern Levant. Samaria and Jerusalem, the capitals of the two kingdoms, fell to the Assyrians in 722/721 BC. Sargon II of Assyria exiled almost 30,000 Jews-- a fifth of the population-- from these lands. After the land fell under control of Babylon (the Chaldean empire), the Jews of Judah revolted, leading to the destruction of Judah entirely. The Babylonians destroyed Solomon's temple, which stood on the sacred Temple Mount (where Al-Aqsa Mosque today stands). The Hebrews were taken captive by Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II for their revolt, and exiled from the land of Judea. The key difference between the deportation by the Assyrians and that executed by the Chaldeans was this: the former scattered the population about its empire in small groups, whereas the latter gathered them all into a single place so they could retain their national identity and religion. Soon enough, the Hebrew population integrated with the Assyrians, assimilating culture and customs and giving up their worship of their God (Yahweh). These Hebrews are referred to as the "ten lost tribes of Israel". The southern Hebrews who were enslaved by Babylon (the Chaldeans) were freed and returned to the Land of Judah after the Persians (Achaemenids) conquered Babylon. Cyrus the Great, leader of the Persians, issued the Edict of Cyrus in 539 BC, which allowed Jews to return to the Land of Judah as an autonomous Jewish province under the Persian empire. (It's worth noting here that modern Iranians are descended from the Persians, and many Jews assimilated and gained protected ((dhimmi)) status under the Persian Empire because of Cyrus' benevolence, with their treatment varying from ruler to ruler.) This is called the "return to Zion", the namesake of the future Zionist ideology. The ten tribes of the North which were assimilated into the Assyrian empire never returned, hence their being "lost".

Fifty-thousand Jews returned to the province, called Yehud, while the rest stayed behind in Babylon. More exiles returned alongside Ezra later. During this period, the three main leaders of the Jews returned: "Zerubbabel reconstructed the temple (Ezra 3:8), Nehemiah rebuilt the walls (Nehemiah chapters 1 and 2), and Ezra restored the worship." Ezra was financially supported by the Persian king Artaxerxes, who later helped Nehemiah "restore respectability" to Jerusalem. The Second Temple was reconstructed between 516 BC and 70 AD by Cyrus' edict, completed during the reign of Persian king Darius I, and later refurbished and expanded by Herod the Great under the Romans.

Thus, after so much time, intermarrying, and tribulation, the ancient Israelites closely descended from Abraham bare little direct relation to modern Israeli Jews (most of whom are Ashkenazim who emigrated from their motherlands to the State of Israel). (This is returned to in the section on Islamic Rule.)

In the Bible, New Jerusalem is mentioned numerous times. New Jerusalem is not a land or physical place; it is a metaphorical city in Heaven in the Yahweh religion. Thus, when the modern State of Israel attempts to steal land from others in their attempt to "realize" New Jerusalem, they reduce New Jerusalem to a geographical place and simultaneously break the covenant. "After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, 'The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.' No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." (Deuteronomy 9:4-5) In the end, New Jerusalem is wherever the faithful and righteous are, and signifies to multiple prophets the heavenly paradise that awaits the faithful and righteous followers of God to rule.

In the Torah, the descendants of Abraham were commanded to destroy the seven nations which lived in the holy lands. These were the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, and the Perizzites. They were slain for pagan religious practices at the command of God, echoing His words that the Israelites gained the land not out of their righteousness, but out of the pagans' wickedness.

Middle Ages (Alexander the Great - Roman Palestine)

Alexander the Great

The Macedonian Empire began heading towards the Mediterranean Sea, conquering under the leadership of Alexander the Great in much the same manner as Alexander's father, Philip II. Philip II planned to siege the Persian Empire, but Alexander carried the attack out after his father's death.

Here we quote extensively from Saylor Academy on Alexander's conquest of the Levant:

"In November 333 [BCE], the Macedonians had defeated the large army of the Persian king Darius III Codomannus, and Alexander was now faced with a difficult choice. He could pursue the defeated Darius to the east and march on Persepolis, the Persian capital. He had promised the Macedonians and Greeks at home to punish the Persians for Xerxes' expedition in 480 BCE; the looting of Persepolis could mean the end of the war.

"The alternative was not to pursue Darius. There were many arguments for this policy, the most important being that the Persian fleet, commanded by Pharnabazus, was still in control of the Aegean sea and the Hellespont. Alexander's line of supplies was threatened, and the best thing he could do was to take the Phoenician towns (Aradus, Tripolis, Byblus, Beirut, Sidon and Tyre), where the crews of Pharnabazus' ships came from. The conquest of the Levant was a strategic necessity.

Alexander's Empire at its largest extent

"There were additional advantages. Alexander could continue to the south and conquer Egypt. On several occasions, the pharaohs of the ancient country along the Nile had sent wheat to Athens; since food crises were common in Antiquity, Alexander could count on the eternal gratitude of the Macedonians and Greeks if he could open a trade route between Egypt and the homeland.

"Besides, we must not ignore the motive given in our sources: Alexander wanted to go to Egypt because Perseus and Heracles -ancestors of Alexander- had done so. To Alexander, who took his legendary ancestry very serious, this was a more valid reason than it is to us. A final reason for paying a visit to Egypt, was that the Greeks and Macedonians were fascinated by this country. Business could be combined with pleasure.

"The Phoenician towns surrendered as soon as Alexander approached: Aradus, Tripolis, Byblus, Beirut and Sidon. (Here, Abdalonymus was appointed as king.) These were very, very ancient cities, which had had urban life at least millennium and a half before the Greek towns originated.

"The only Phoenician city that refused to come to terms was Tyre (Sur in the language of its inhabitants, "rock"), and Alexander knew that the siege was going to last for months. The situation was more or less comparable to Halicarnassus: he was besieging a harbor town, the enemy had excellent ships and could come and go as they liked. The difference was that the fortifications of Halicarnassus had been protected by a ditch of only fifteen meters wide and that the walls of Tyre were protected by the sea: the old city was built on an island.

"Another difference was that the capture of Tyre was strategically unnecessary. Tyre had offered surrender, but had refused Alexander the right to sacrifice in the temple of Melqart during the great festival in February, because only a native king could perform the necessary religious ceremonies. Alexander had felt insulted and had insisted, and this was the sole cause of the siege. No Persian king had ever made such an outrageous demand.

"In January 332, the siege began. The consequences were clear at once: the Tyrians were forced to recall the ships that had been fighting in the Aegean sea. Since the other Phoenician towns had already recalled their ships after the towns had surrendered to the Macedonians, the Persian naval offensive in the Aegean sea came to an end.

"To reach the Tyrian walls, the Macedonians built a mole. But the Tyrians still commanded the sea and made the construction extremely difficult. Alexander needed ships to protect the construction, and he was lucky, because Aradus, Tripolis, Byblus, Beirut and Sidon had just recalled their navies. In July, the town was attacked from three sides: the Phoenician fleet destroyed the Tyrian fleet in the "Egyptian port"; Macedonian ships attacked the walls with siege engines; and marines from Cyprus landed in the 'Sidonian port' and forced their way into the city. The siege mole had, after all, been useless.

"According to our sources, 6,000 Tyrians were killed during the fighting in the streets (many of which were so narrow that it was easy to step from roof to roof across the street). 4,000 Macedonians were wounded, perhaps 500 were killed. Alexander's indulged in his anger: he ordered 2,000 Tyrians to be crucified on the beach.

"From now on, Macedonia ruled the waves, and it was easy to bring the siege engines to Gaza, the next town that refused to surrender. The strong walls crowned a steep hill and Alexander's engineers were afraid that they could never take the town. Nonetheless, they constructed a mound. The siege engines, however, were unable to destroy the fortifications. Not to be outdone, the engineers built mines and made the wall collapse. After a siege of four months, Gaza fell in October 332. The male population was pulverized down to a man."

Interestingly, we interject, during the Macedonian siege of Gaza, Alexander complained about "loose subsoil" of Gaza-- tunnels-- which the Persians used to hold Alexander's army off for 100 days. Continuing on:

"The Persian governor of Gaza, Batis, had done an excellent job: he presented his king with extra time to gather a new army. Alexander was furious, ordered the man to be tied to his chariot, and dragged him around the city. This behavior was inspired by Alexander's legendary ancestor Achilles, who, according to Homer, had dishonored the corpse of the Trojan warrior Hector in a similar way (text).

"There is one source, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, in which we read about a visit Alexander paid to Jerusalem. There are many elements in Josephus' narrative that suggest that the story belongs to Jewish legend, not history. On closer inspection, however, the story -stripped of some implausible details- is consistent and may well be true [...] It is certainly possible that the Jews supported Alexander during his campaign against Gaza, and helped him in Egypt, a country which the Jews knew well (the Persians had used them to garrison the southern border at Elephantine). Alexander certainly used Jewish mercenaries to guard the city he was to build in Egypt, Alexandria."

In the aftermath of his death, Alexander's Empire split into four, with two powers flanking the region of Palestine: In Syria, the Seleucid Empire, founded by Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator in 312 BC; In Egypt, the Ptolemaic Kingdom, founded by Ptolemy I Soter, an ally of Alexander, in 305 BC.

Roman Palestine (Syria Palestina)

The Maccabeans were a group of Jewish rebels who wrested control of Judea from the Seleucid Empire. The Maccabeans took over in 167 BC until 37 BC under the Hasmonean Dynasty, retaining full independence from 106 BC to 63 BC. They were, in the proper sense, Judas Maccabeus and his four brothers; the later Maccabees were not their direct descendants.

The land of Judea was at first Ptolemy's before falling to the Seleucids around 200 BC. Alexander had already begun Hellenizing the area, and some upper-class Jews (such as the Tobiads) elected to renounce Jewish law and embrace Hellenistic lifestyles. Hellenistic Jews built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, competed in public sport, "removed their marks of circumcision and repudiated the holy covenant". (I Maccabees 1:15) Eventually, the traditional (Orthodox) and Hellenistic Jews struggled with each other, and so the term "Judaism" was created in opposition to "Hellenism" by the author of the second book of Maccabees. According to 1 Maccabees, Antiochus banned many traditional Jewish and Samaritan religious practices: he made possession of the Torah a capital offense and burned the copies he could find; sabbaths and feasts were banned; circumcision was outlawed, and mothers who circumcised their babies were killed along with their families; traditional Jewish ritual sacrifice was forbidden too. It was said that an idol of Olympian Zeus was placed on the altar of the Temple and that Israelites set up altars to Greek gods and sacrificed "unclean" animals on them.

After Matthais the Hasmodean refused to worship the Greek gods, he killed a Hellenistic Jew who attempted to offer a sacrifice in his place. He fled with his five sons to Judea. After his death, Matthais' son Judah lead the revolt, which took the form of guerilla warfare. This revolt was first directed against Hellenized Jews, who numbered many, but eventually widened in scope against the Seleucids and their pagan gods. A large Seleucid army was sent to quash the revolt but returned to Syria on the death of Antiochus IV. Its commander, Lysias, preoccupied with internal Seleucid affairs, agreed to a political compromise that restored religious freedom.

In the aftermath of this war, which involved many battles, the triumphant Maccabeans cleansed the Temple. They could only find a single small jug of untainted oil with which to light the Temple menorah, and it would be eight days before they could procure any more. The oil, which was only a single day's worth, miraculously lasted all eight days, which from then on was celebrated by Jews as Hannukah. The Temple was rededicated to Yahweh and the Hasmonean Dynasty was founded.

Rome, which rose at the same time the Grecian empire fell, sent General Pompey to Jerusalem to help negotiate between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II (the two Hasmonean brothers vying for power following the death of their mother, Alexandra Salome). This turned into a civil war between the brothers in 63 BC. Angered by what he viewed as Aristobulus' lack of respect, the Roman general sieged and sacked Jerusalem, taking the Kingdom of Judea under Rome's control. According to The Collector, "It took three months to breach the walls and overrun the Temple precinct, and the protracted siege resulted in the death of some 12,000 Jews. Pompey himself entered the Temple’s Holy of Holies (hitherto the exclusive privilege of the high priest). Although this desecrated the Temple, Pompey otherwise showed considerable respect: no treasures were looted to be included within his Triumph [over the Mithradic empire, including Jews, Albanias, and other critics/enemies of Rome], for instance, and he was quick to allow rituals to be resumed within the Temple."

Antipater was the first Roman procurator, or finance minister/administrator of Judea, appointed by Julius Caesar. Hyrcanus Hasmonean became the high priest. The Romans allowed the Hasmoneans to rule under their control until 40 BC, with Herod the Great, Antipater's son, to rule as king under Rome's direction.

Rome ended the Hasmonean dynasty with Herod's appointment. Herod, who helped rebuild and expand the Second Temple of Jerusalem, was the Biblical figure who ordered the Massacre of the Innocents during Jesus' time, in the Gospel of Matthew.

Beginning in the first century AD, the land of Judea became a province of the Roman Empire, with Syria to its north and Arabia Petrafa to its south, bordering the Sinai desert. Augustus, the first emperor, removed Herod's incompetent grandson Archelaus in 6 AD, after his own people plead to Rome for his removal. Starting this year, Rome began sending governors to Judea, including Pontius Pilate. Locals became tax collectors for Rome and profited by adding their own fees, fanning flames of disdain for the empire in the region. Kingdom of Judea offered Roman Egypt the land and sea routes in the region, and for a short time Jews enjoyed a degree of freedom in administering their own laws.

Jesus was born in Bethelem, in modern-day Palestine. Galilee, the land north of Judea (in today's northern Palestine/Israel and southern Lebanon), was the childhood home of Jesus, and was the setting of most of the Biblical miracles performed by him. In the two centuries following the birth of Jesus, the early Christians (who were Communists according to descriptions by the 4th-century author Lucien of Samasota, 19th-century French revolutionary Communists, and Friedrich Engels himself) were surpressed equally to if not moreso than the Jews.

Notorious Emperor Caligula intended to leave his own mark on the region when he ordered a statue of himself to be built in Temple of Jerusalem. Jews were furious, and the Syrian administrators delayed the order in 37 AD, until the emperor rescinded. The next time Caligula ordered the statue to be built, he was assassinated, closing the matter entirely.

The first Jewish-Roman war erupted when tensions sharpened in 66 AD. The Jews and Romans had violent religious disputes, including protests of taxation and attacks on Roman citizens. Rome sacked the Second Temple and executed thousands of Jews, at which point a full-fledged rebellion broke out. About 6,000 Jews were killed during the Battle of Beth Haron, and the Roman-allied king (Herod Agrippa II) was forced to flee. The Romans called the highly experienced general Vespasian to put down the rebellion.

Vespasian invaded Judea in 67 AD with his son Titus his second-in-command. With the support of Herod Agrippa's troops and four legions of his own, Vespasian elected to target clusters of rebels at a time rather than launch a total assault on Jerusalem; however, Vespasian had to leave the battlefield in 68/9 AD, when emperor Nero committed suicide and various factions tried to take power in the absence of the last of the Julio-Claudian emperors. Vespasian came out on top as emperor, and his son Titus tried to end the war in Judea swiftly to return to Rome. After much difficulty and a seven-month siege, Titus and his army sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD and finished off the remaining Jewish resistance, ending the first Jewish-Roman war. Unbeknownst until emperor Hadrian's visit to Judea (129-130 AD), Titus had destroyed the Second Temple and built a temple dedicated to Jupiter on the Temple Mount.

From The Collector:

"The Roman victory over the Jews had a profound impact, felt keenly both in Judaea as well as in Rome. For the Jewish population, the war had been devastating. Thousands had perished in the fighting, while countless others were enslaved, sold, and shipped around the empire. The most significant Jewish city, Jerusalem, was annihilated. Vespasian also settled veterans of the conflict in Judaea at Colonia Amosa, as well as garrisoning a legion (Legio X Fretensis) in Jerusalem on a permanent basis, providing a clear statement of Rome’s commitment to keeping the Jews firmly under control.

"Just as significant was how Vespasian used the riches plundered from Judaea. His predecessor Nero had lost favour with the Senate and people of Rome due to his megalomaniac tendencies. Perhaps the most notorious of these was the construction of his Domus Aurea, or Golden House, in central Rome. This palatial residence ate up huge swathes of public land and included the construction of a vast man-made lake. During his reign, Vespasian made a conscious effort to “return” this land to the Roman people: on the site of Nero’s lake, he built the empire’s largest amphitheater. Named the Flavian Amphitheatre, you probably know it by its other name: the Colosseum. The Colosseum was adorned with a dedicatory inscription that made clear that this vast public monument was paid for with the spoils of Vespasian’s war in Judaea."

The Second Jewish-Roman War began in 115 AD under emperor Trajan, with Rome attempting to broaden the empire eastward. During this time, Trajan was leading a campaign against the Parthians. Uprisings in Cyprus, Cyrenaica, Egypt, and Mesopotamia saw Roman garrisons and citizens killed by the rebels. The figures for death are still unknown, but likely in the tens of thousands. Eventually, thanks to Lusius Quietus and the Romans he led, the city of Lydda (today Lod) was sacked. Still, Jews of Judea were growing in resentment for the empire as Rome continued enhancing and fortifying their occupation of Judea.

In 132 AD, emperor Hadrian joined Judea and Galilee to form Syria Palaestina, combining the name of ancient Philistia with that of the neighboring province of Syria. This was in spite of the Jews, as Rome had thoroughly suppressed Judaism (as we will have outlined) between the end of the Hasmonean dynasty up through Hadrian's rule. However, again, there is no ancestral link between the ancient Philistines and modern Palestinians.

The Third Jewish-Roman war was another rebellion, coordinated in 132 AD and led by Simon Bar Kokhba. At first, the Jews were highly effective against the Roman legions. The Romans even fled in some areas. The Jews were able to found an independent, sovereign autonomous region, which lasted until Roman forces surrounded and entrenched themselves in Judea. Sextus Julius Severus, summoned by Hadrian from Britannia (Roman Britain) to take charge of the legions in Judea in 133/4 AD and backed by his own experienced army, slowly whittled the Jewish rebels down until they retreated to the Betar fortress in 135 AD. Eventually, his forces broke through the walls and the rebels were massacred.

As in the Second Jewish-Roman War, many Jews were either killed in battle or enslaved. In the latter case they were shipped to various locations and separated from their land, their families, and their communities. Many rebel bases and villages were razed, destroyed by the victors. The land was then repopulated by the empire with a "cosmopolitan mix" of different peoples from Roman-controlled lands. Hadrian issued edicts restricting the practice of Judaism, and Jewish literature was burned. He not only left the statue of Jupiter standing on the Temple Mount-- Hadrian had a statue of himself erected beside it. Jerusalem became the settlement or "colony" of Aelia Capitolina in the new Roman province of Syria Palaestina.

During the 4th century AD, Christianity began its rise in the area, with early Christians building some of the oldest temples and churches in the world-- they were definitely the oldest in the region. Orthodox Christians had already built temples dating to this time in Egypt, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, such as the Monastery of Saint Anthony and the Monastery of Saint Mary Deipara. In Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the rest of the Levant Christianity awoke, spawning temples such as the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem; Mor Gabriel Monastery in modern Midyat, Turkey; and Mar Mattai Monastery on Mount Alfaf in Iraq. Even today in the 2020s some of the oldest distinct Christian communities are still operating in these churches, still alive through much hardship we've yet to unpack here. Of course, by this time Christianity had become the official religion of Rome, so these practitioners were not treated as harshly as the earlier Christians, but for their denominations.

Following the merger and baptized in cosmopolitanism, the area of Syria Palaestina (today, Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and western Jordan) became heavily Christian after the Jews were decimated in the prior two centuries, and the northern area encompassing Galilee, the Valley of Megiddo, the Samarian hills, and Golan Heights was ruled by the Byzantine empire beginning in the decade before 400 AD. This province was known as Palaestina Secunda, relative to the southern region of Palaestina Prima, also taken under the rule of Byzantium. The Galilean region was a stronghold for Judaism in spite of the fact that the Romans occupied it and enforced Christianity, or at least anti-Judaism, to a certain extent.

The Romans continued to suppress the history of the Jewish-Roman wars and Roman brutality against the inhabitants of the Palestine region. The late Roman empire lasted (albeit in a decadent state) until 476 AD, when it was invaded from the north and collapsed. The Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, continued on, lasting until the end of the middle ages and falling in 1453 AD.

Islamic Rule (Islamic Middle Ages - 1918)

The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was born around 570 AD in Mecca, forging ties with other religious people and preaching Islam from Medina in modern-day Saudi Arabia to the Sinai Desert in Egypt. In fact, he sent the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (Hercules) an invitation to join Islam, which was rebuffed. The Caliphate waged extensive war on the Byzantines and other empires of the Levant and Fertile Crescent regions, such as the Sassanians (who laid the soil for Iranian civilization).

Though some say Muhammad was a major figure in what Norman Finkelstein dubs "the dogma of eternal Gentile hatred", he honored Judaism and the Torah, and so did the Quran. Negative and violent references to the Jews in the Quran were not eternal nor genocidal-- they arose from wartime situations. Muhammad revered the Torah as bursting with "light and truth", the wisdom of the previous Prophets which guided the Jewish people. Ultimately, such divisive claims about non-Jews amount to ignorance in the face of the continuity and unity of the Abrahamic religions.

Later, after the Prophet's death, his greatest comrade and father-in-law, Abu Bakr (RA), took over as the first Caliph of the Rashidun (Rightly Guided) Caliphate. The first four caliphs were "Rightly Guided" due to their being taught by and directly witnessing the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. As Caliph, however, Abu Bakr and subsequent monarchs did not proclaim to be prophets themselves.

Abu Bakr was the first to embrace Islam and, as caliph, he spread Islam beyond the bounds of the Arabian Peninsula into modern Syria, Palestine, and Iraq. He ruled for two years before his death in 634 AD, during which he spent large sums of money setting free Muslim slaves.

Islamic history in the Holy Land was marked by the conquest of Jerusalem in 635/8 by Caliph Umar (RA). Umar was a close associate and father-in-law of the prophet Muhammad and served as his second successor, or khalifa, after Abu Bakr (RA). He began to take from Byzantium and integrate the cities of Syria and Egypt, picking them off one by one. Jerusalem, still referred to as Aelia by the Romans and nascent Islamic rulers, was conquered after a protracted siege, surrendering and thereby peacefully transitioning power to the Caliphate. According to Boston University, "Muslim rule over the city left the Orthodox Christian community and their buildings intact. Jews and heterodox Christians are subsequently readmitted to the city. [...] There is no evidence that, at this early point in Muslim history, the city was already identified as the "distant sanctuary" (al masjid al-aqsa) referred to in the story of the Prophet Muhammad's ascent (al miraj)." Byzantine Christians remained the major population in the Holy City, regulated by the Pact of Umar.

The Muslim state was keen on its religious administration. One demonstrative example of this was the treaty signed by the leader Khalid ibn al-Walid in Damascus:

"This is what Khalid ibn al-Walid would grant to the inhabitants of Damascus if he enters therein: he promises to give them security for their lives, property and churches. Their city wall shall not be demolished, neither shall any Muslim be quartered in their houses. Thereunto we give them the pact of Allah and the protection of His Prophet, the caliphs and the believers. So long as they pay the poll tax, nothing but good shall befall them."

Umar's Assurance granted the people of Aelia protection as Christians. It reads, as reported by al-Tabari:

"In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. This is the assurance of safety which the servant of God, ʿUmar, the Commander of the Faithful, has given to the people of Aelia. He has given them an assurance of safety for themselves, for their property, their churches, their crosses, the sick and healthy of the city and for all the rituals which belong to their religion. Their churches will not be inhabited by Muslims and will not be destroyed. Neither they, nor the land on which they stand, nor their cross, nor their property will be damaged. They will not be forcibly converted. And Jews will not live in Aelia with them. The people of Jerusalem must pay the taxes like the people of other cities and must expel the Byzantines and the robbers. Those of the people of Jerusalem who want to leave with the Byzantines, take their property and abandon their churches and crosses will be safe until they reachtheir place of refuge. The villagers [who had taken refuge in the city at the time of the conquest] may remain in the city if they wish but must pay taxes like the citizens. Those who wish may go with the Byzantines and those who wish may return to their families. Nothing is to be taken from them before their harvest is reaped. If they pay their taxes according to their obligations, then the conditions laid out in this letter are under the covenant of God, are the responsibility of His Prophet, of the caliphs and of the faithful.”

The tax imposed upon non-Muslims by a Muslim state is called the Jizya. It is required to be paid not for the sake of humiliation or economic gain, but in exchange for the administrative protection of those to whom Islam refers as "People of the Book", non-Muslims, or dhimmi. In the Palestine region during this time, the dhimmi were made up largely of Byzantine and heterodox Christians as well as Jews. In many other areas, the dhimmi included Zoroastrians. non-Muslims were guaranteed their right to practice their religions, which was greeted with thunderous applause by the dhimmi across Egypt and modern-day Syria and Palestine. This, combined with the later expansion across the East, cemented the foundations of a shared Arab civilizational history and the notion of an Arab civilization-state.

According to islamichistory.org, "This policy was to prove successful everywhere. In Syria, for example, many Christians who had been involved in bitter theological disputes with Byzantine authorities- and persecuted for it- welcomed the coming of Islam as an end to tyranny. And in Egypt, which ‘Amr ibn al-‘As took from the Byzantines after a daring march across the Sinai Peninsula, the Coptic Christians not only welcomed the Arabs, but enthusiastically assisted them.

"This pattern was repeated throughout the Byzantine Empire. Conflict among Greek Orthodox, Syrian Monophysites, Copts, and Nestorian Christians contributed to the failure of the Byzantines – always regarded as intruders – to develop popular support, while the tolerance which Muslims showed toward Christians and Jews removed the primary cause for opposing them."

Assassinated in 644 AD, Hazrat Umar Farooq (RA) is remembered for bringing peace and stability to the caliphate, both religiously and economically. He built infrastructure and created an office for the administration of funds, as well as introducing the Islamic calendar during his ten-year reign.

Hazrat Umar set up a panel of the Prophet's ten most trusted companions prior to his death to choose his successor as caliph. It was thus decided that Hazrat Uthman (RA) would succeed him. He married two of the Prophet's daughters and spent his riches in the service of the ummah. Before his untimely death at the hands of insurgents in 656 AD, Hazrat Uthman headed the reprinting of the Quran, which was spoken differently due to differing dialects. This was his greatest contribution to Islam, and the text produced is that which is accepted throughout the Muslim world today. His murder sparked a civil war between the Caliphate and Muiawiyah, governor of Syria, which lasted five years.

Hazrat Ali (RA), the fourth and final Rightly Guided caliph and son-in-law of the Prophet, controversially took over after Hazrat Uthman was murdered. He tried to unify Muslims and bring peace and security to the world, but met significant resistance from non-Muslims. He battled them, defeating most of the insurgents, conquering the Umayyad at the Battle of Nahrawan, and reforming the tax system. He reigned as caliph until 661 AD (40 AH), when he was killed by an insurgent with a poisoned sword while praying on the 20th of Ramadan. He was the last of the Rightly Guided caliphs.

This line of succession is the topic of distinction between Sunni and Shia Muslims, but this page is not focused on Islam so much as its contextualization of Palestinian resistance with regard to the modern State of Israel. Suffice it to say, Shiites were partisans of Ali (RA) who insisted upon blood lineage from the Prophet (PBUH), while Sunnis accepted the non-blood lineage and the first three caliphs.

Umayyads, Abbasids, Crusades, Mamluks, Fatimids, Ayyubids, Rum Seljuks, and Ottomans

Muiawiyah was governor of Syria (under the third caliph), the first caliph and founder of the Umayyad dynasty. This was the first Muslim dynasty, ruling from Damascus after Hazrat Ali's (RA) death in 661 AD.

The move to Damascus signaled a shift in the Caliphate. The first four caliphs were humble, simple men; they were direct companions of the Prophet. The new dynasty was not at all related to Muhammad, and was thus seen as utterly illegitimate to the Shiites. Jerusalem, still called "Aelia" at this point, was waning in importance to Muslims, leaving Christians and Jews to attempt to attract people there. Muiawiyah wasn't able to resolve the tensions the Sunni caliphs had with the Shiites, and died in 680 AD.

The Umayyads commissioned multiple religious and secular buildings on the Temple Mount, including the Dome of the Rock (commissioned by Caliph 'Abd al-Malik and completed construction in 691 AD). The Dome still stands today in Jerusalem. According to Boston University, "Inscriptions indicate the purpose of this first monumental structure in a distinguished history of Muslim architecture. Abd al Malik had understood that, to compete with Byzantine Christendom, one had to speak its language:: the language of the triumphant (though "rightly guided") eschatological ruler who, by the will of God, presided over the last empire that was to end all empires. To be sure, Islam's attitude toward the People of the Book (ahl al-kitab) remained one of rebuke rather than displacement."

The Umayyad empire at its greatest extent

Map showing the movements taken and major battles fought by the Umayyads to form the empire

'Abd al-Malik minted a new currency which replaced the Byzantine and Sassanid coins in circulation. His organization of government served as a model for the later Abbasidian bureaucracy and that of its successors. The Caliphate under 'Abd al-Malik expanded from North Africa to the borders of China. Meanwhile, the death of Muhammad's (PBUH) grandson Husayn began another civil war, which ended in 692 AD. During this civil war, in the province of Palestine and others, the rebel Zubayr (grandson of the first caliph Abu Bakr) proclaimed himself caliph and took over. With the collapse of the Sufyanid house of the Umayyad dynasty, the Marwanid house, founded by caliph Marwan I, reigned until the collapse of the Umayyad dynasty in 750 AD.

Al-Walid I was the son of 'Abd al-Malik and his successor. Al-Walid continued his father's policies of expansion and centralization, taking modern-day Iran and land in the Caucasus, as well as the Iberian Peninsula. This was the greatest extent of the Caliphate. Al-Walid is well known for using the wealth plundered during expansion to finance the construction of grand public spaces such as the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Following the death of al-Walid, his brother Sulayman became caliph for four years until his death in 718 AD. Sulayman began his career as the governor of Palestine, where he studied until he rose to power. There he later founded the city of Ramla, which overtook Lydda (Lod) as the district capital of Palestine, and built the White Mosque. Today, Ramla is in the Central District of Israel, of northeast of the Gaza Strip and southeast of Tel Aviv.

Under Sulayman, the Caliphate ceased expansion; he fired his late brother's generals and officials on account of their appointment by the governor of Iraq, who had significant hegemony over and under al-Walid. Eastern resistance and breakdown of military organization blocked expansion to the east into deep Indo-China, while the campaigns in the Iberian Peninsula were plenty successful and halted. Sulayman's forces attempted to take Constantinople, capital of the previous Western Roman and current Byzantine (Eastern Roman) empires, between 717 and 718 AD, but were defeated. Following his death in 718 AD, Sulayman's successor Umar II pulled these soldiers back to the Caliphate. Umar II also disassembled the military and political bureaucracies of the Caliphate, streamlining the Islamic Army and administration; he furthered the campaigns in Iberia and witnessed the conversion of many Egyptians and Persians to Islam, and practiced diplomacy with Chinese and Tibetan rulers, inviting them to embrace Islam. Umar II died in 720 and was succeeded by Marwan II.

Marwan II, grandson of the fourth caliph Marwan I, was the fourteen and final caliph of the Umayyads. He governed Armenia and elsewhere for twelve years before rising to caliph. Marwan II focused especially on the revitalization of the Islamic Army, creating professionally-organized paid military units in place of loose, disorganized tribal units. He reconquered Syria in 746 and reinstated the Caliphate's rule in other regions, including Palestine. His reign began in 744 AD, ending with the third and final civil war against the Marwanid house, 747-750 AD. This rebellion was decisive; "[A] combined force of ʿAbbāsids, Persians, Iraqis, and Shīʿites decisively defeated the Umayyad army at the Battle of the Great Zab River in 750."

From the Jewish Virtual Library: "For the most part, the Islamic impetus to the Abbasid revolution lay in the secularism of the Umayyad caliphs. The Umayyads had always been outsiders—as a wealthy clan in Mecca, they had opposed Muhammad—and the secularism and sometime degeneracy that accompanied their caliphate delegitimized their rule for many devout Muslims."

With Marwan II's death in 750 AD, the Umayyad caliphate was dead and the Abbasid caliphate was founded. The Abbasids were the family and descendants of the Prophet's uncle, al-Abbas (RA). The Abbasids gained the support of the Shiites and Persians against the Umayyad caliphate beginning in the 710s AD. Meanwhile, after the ascent of the Abbasids, one of the last remaining Umayyads, Abd al-Rahman I, ruled the Iberian peninsula 756-788 and founded the Umayyad Emirate there, which was not Islamic. It wasn't until the 10th century AD that the Umayyads formed a rival caliphate.

The Abbasidian dynasty moved the capital from Damascus to Baghdad in 762. Samarra, another city, was founded north of Baghdad and briefly became the caliphate's capital. According to Suzan Yalman of the Met Museum, "The first three centuries of Abbasid rule were a golden age in which Baghdad and Samarra functioned as the cultural and commercial capitals of the Islamic world." They were not focused on the reconquest of Spain and the newly-formed Umayyad Emirate due to its distance, but the Berber Kharjites in North Africa began their own Islamic states in 801.

The Abbasids rose with the help of Shiites, but the breadth of Shiism was not kind after they abandoned the Shiites following their ascent. Negotiations regarding Sunni-Shia relations broke down between the caliphate and moderate Shia Muslims. After an uprising in Mecca in 786 saw the massacre of the Shiite 'Alids, the survivors fled west to the Maghreb (Northern Africa) and founded the Idrisid kingdom. These were to be the circumstances into which al-Ma'mun was born.

Here we quote extensively from the Jewish Virtual Library:

"Abd Allah, or al-Ma'mun, had not been named as a successor to the caliphate—this instead fell to his brother, Muhammad, called al-Amin. The brothers soon fell out, however, and al-Mamun seized the caliphate in 813. As with his predecessors, he tried to incorporate Shi'ites into the Islamic government, but his entire reign was spent in quelling disturbances among Shi'ites and anit-Shi'ites. He seems to have just held the line in the disintegration of the 'Abbasid caliphate. There are, however, two great innovations that irrevocably changed the course of Islamic history.

"The first was a military revolution begun by his brother, al-Mu'tasim. The constant revolutions and the deep division in Islamic society convinced al-Ma'mun that he needed a military force whose only loyalty was to him. So his brother, who would later become caliph (833-842 / 218-27), assembled a military force of slaves, called Mamluks. Many of the Mamluks were Turkish, who were famous for the horsemanship. But the Mamluk military also consisted of Slavs and some Berbers. By the middle of al-Wathiq's reign, the Mamluk army had completely displaced the Arabian and Persian army under the caliph. This army, and al-Mu'tasim's abandonment of Baghdad for Samarra, caused bitter resentment among Muslims and would irreperably sever the protective bond between the Islamic sovereign and the Islamic people. It also introduced a new ethnic group in the Islamic world, the Mamluks, who would eventually play a powerful role in the drama of power and decline in medieval Islam.

"More importantly, al-Ma'mun energetically patronized Greek, Sanskrit and Arabic learning and so altered the cultural and intellectual face of Islam. He adopted a radical theological position, called Mu'tazilism, which was regarded as somewhat heretical by more orthodox Muslims. Nevertheless, Mu'tazilism had as one of its fundamental beliefs the idea that Muslims should obey a single ruler. In order to facilitate the spread of Mu'tazilite teaching, al-Ma'mun established a university, the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma).

"It was here that Hellenistic and Indian works made their way into Islamic culture through a series of translations. Islam incorporated into its culture and belief the philosophical method of inquiry of the Hellenist world—it is for this reason that philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle were passed on to succeeding generations. This incorporation led to a new Islamic intellectual practice, faylasafa, or philosophy, based on principles of rational inquiry and to some extent empiricism."

Thus, this was an era of massive philosophical, artistic, and scientific growth for the Arab world and the Abbasid caliphate specifically. However, as it developed into the 10th and 11th centuries, the caliphate stagnated. Around the middle of the 10th century, Abbasidian territory near Iraq was taken by the Buyid dynasty, and by the early 11th century the caliphate's centralized dynastic power was crippled to the point of appearances. The Abbasidians adopted Iranian culture and tried to distance themselves from their Semitic ancestry, especially with the major integration of Mamluks into the military. With this decentralization of power and culture across the nascent Arab world came the Islamic medieval period, in which polities formed along culturally and ethnically-based regional lines.

With the caliphate stretched thin, Syria and Palestine were under the control of Egypt, which emerged powerful and independent after 868. After two dynasties in Egypt fell, a third rose: the Fatimids. The Fatimid dynasty, a branch of Shiites, lasted 969-1161 AD, controlling Egypt and the Levant during the First Crusade in 1099. Egypt became a center of learning and agricultural wealth once more, reopening trade routes with Europe and India.

According to Boston University, "Jerusalem [attracted] Sufi mystics, Islamic law scholars, and Karaite and rabbanite Jews, while retaining its character as Christianity's holiest city. Nevertheless, monumental buildings [fell] into disrepair and the city, as described by Muqqdasi, himself a Jerusalemite, seems sidelined and neglected."

In the lead-up to the First Crusade, the Great Schism occurred between Western European and Eastern European Christianity. Between the former Roman Empire and the standing Byzantine empire, there were religious tensions which built to a crescendo when the Pope excommunicated the bishop of Constantinople, who retorted by excommunicating the Pope. This disunification of Christianity spawned the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. No longer did the two empires support each other without calculating the benefits of doing so, and hostilities grew under the skin.

The Rum Seljuks, a tribal branch of the Iranian Great Seljuks, were growing in might, quickly rising. In the late 11th century, they contested both Fatimid rule over Bilad al-Sham (the Bedouin Muslim name for Syria and the southern Levantine region) and struck fear into the Byzantines by coming very close to Constantinople. They took Jerusalem from the Egyptians in 1071, and soon the Pope declared this empire an issue for both Europe and Christians as a whole.

The Council of Clermont was held on November 8th, 1095. Pope Urban II called for a Holy War to reclaim control of Jerusalem and the holy lands from the 'infidel' Muslims. The shabby, disorganized "People's Crusade" was a disaster. Made up of mostly laymen and peasants, these initial "Crusaders" were slaughtered in August 1096. In the Battle of Civelot in October 1096, a Turkish force of 5,000 destroyed a peasant army of 20,000. 17,000 Crusaders were killed compared to 50 Turks. The remaining 3,000-- elderly, women, and children-- returned to Constantinople.

On their ways to Jerusalem from Europe, both the Peasant Crusade and the First ("Princes'") Crusade, both campaigns looted and pillaged the villages they passed through. This was mostly out of necessity for crops and animals, as well as some money and belongings. In the Rhineland, in the city of Nicaea, Jews were slaughtered according to Albert of Aix, a church canon and historian of the First Crusade. Later, when men and horses were dying and food and water supply was low, the Crusaders pillaged and looted what they needed, sometimes receiving donations of money from sympathetic Christians.

In response, Byzantine Emperor Alexius I gathered the top European generals in Constantinople and initiated the first "armed pilgrimage". According to researcher Noah Hutto, "This pilgrimage was not only successful, but provided the undertone of romanticism for further exploits." Around the start of the year 1097 AD this well-armed assault began, triumphing in Nicaea in June 1097 and Antioch in June 1098. After a month of fighting between Antioch and Jerusalem, on July 7th, 1099 the Crusaders took Jerusalem by massacre. The Seljuks, divided internally, were overrun. When Muslims attempted to recapture the city at the Battle of Ascalon in 1099, they were again defeated. They mercilessly slaughtered both Muslim and Jew: as Ibn al-Qalanisi wrote, "A number of the townsfolk [of Jerusalem] fled to the sanctuary and a great host were killed. The Jews assembled in the synagogue, and the Franks burned it over their heads... they destroyed the shrines and the tomb of Abraham."

Islamic historiography contradicts said rosy image projected by the Christian world in Europe, claiming that the Crusade was simply another minor imperial pursuit or skirmish attempting to curb the "inevitable" spread of Islam. The subsequent Crusades, unceasing until 1291, went much the same. By the final major Crusade, many Europeans saw the Pope as a king rather than a "guardian of souls who stand before heaven's gate." They continuously came and killed the pagans and non-Catholics of Jerusalem. The Crusaders, finally, restored the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (destroyed by al-Hakim, sixth caliph of the Fatimids, in 1009) with the help of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos.

The Fatimids were driven out of Egypt by the Ayyubids of Saladin, to whom the Franks (franj) surrendered in Jerusalem. Saladin combined Egypt and Syria, dramatically changing the power dynamic in the region in favor of Muslims. The Ayyubids then ruled Jerusalem from Cairo from 1187 to 1250.

The second-to-last Ayyubid Sultan, As-Salih Ayyub, brought a slave woman to Cairo from the same areas his sultanate procured mamluks from. She was to become his wife, Shajar Al-Durr. When he died in 1249, during the seventh crusade, there was an army of Crusaders approaching Egypt with the intent of gaining Syria through Cairo's downfall. Shajar Al-Durr was left to assume power and she lead servants to believe the sultan was still alive until she announced his death. As-Salih Ayyub's son, Turanshah, came to power, but Shajar Al-Durr had an alliance with the mamluks, whom she had more in common with ethnically and culturally. The mamluks assassinated Turanshah in 1250 and made Shajar Al-Durr their monarch; she received letters from the Ayyubids in Syria doubting her ability to reign. Shajar Al-Durr married a mamluk who served her late husband named Aybak, who becomes the first sultan of the Mamluk Sultanate. Aybak and Shajar ruled side by side for seven years, but were distrustful of each other. When Aybak found out that his wife ordered her loyal servants to kill him in the bath, he promptly had her arrested (after which she was publicly humiliated and killed).

Further east, in Asia, Ghengis Khan was leading his Mongol warriors into north China. It took four years from the inception of the campaign against the Chin dynasty, but the capital was destroyed in 1215. Ogodei Khan continued on, conquering all of northern China by 1234, and ruling it from 1229 to 1241. Ghengis' grandson Kublai Khan later defeated the Song dynasty of the south in 1279, leading China to be ruled from the outside for the first time in history. The Islamic caliphate no longer controlled world trade via the Silk Road; rather, the Mongols controlled nearly the whole of Eurasia and founded the modern universal state, welcoming Russians, Jews, Arabs, and others into the empire. The Mongol empire moved west, taking Kiev and other major cities along the way. Planning to sweep through the Levant and take as much as possible on the way to Egypt, the horde conquered and slaughtered thousands in Baghdad and Aleppo in 1258, arriving to battle the Mamluks in Palestine at Ayn Jalut in July 1260. When they sent terms of surrender to the Mamluks the year prior, Aybak's successor Qutuz ordered the messenger to be executed, inviting the war instead. The Mamluks, first appearing as slaves of the Abbasid caliphate, defeated the Mongols in the Battle of Ayn Jalut.

See also: Mongol Modernity

The slave soldiers revolted against their masters, the Ayyubids, and overthrew the sultanate, gaining control of Egypt and the holy land in 1250. The Mamluks were not the only slave soldiers-- this was a larger phenomenon across the Islamic world, including the Abassids, Fatimids, and Ayyubids, as well as others.

The Mamluks were not a free people, nor a monocultural one; they were at first a population of slave soldiers during the Abbasid empire, but their sons were not allowed to join the army, meaning only outsiders could join the ranks. Often Turkic boys with proficiencies in horseback riding and/or bowmanship were taken from their homelands, traded by the Mongols in some cases or the Geneoese in others to the Mamluks, and trained to be horseback archers in Mamluk barracks in Egypt and the southern Levant. By the 13th century, the Mamluks were largely southern Russian (Bahri) and Circassian Caucasian (Burgi). The former produced the dynasty of Sultans 1250-1381, and the latter dynasty was dominant 1382-1517. As the historian Abu Shama put it, referencing the Battle of Ayn Jalut, "the people of the steppe had been destroyed by the people of the steppe."

The Mamluks also repelled attacks by the Crusaders around the same time. Baybars I seized power after assassinating Qutuz, and it was he who properly founded the Mamluks and ravaged the Crusader states. The Crusaders had created the Catholic feudal Crusader states following the first Crusade: the County of Edessa in the north; the Principality of Antioch along the Mediterranean south of that; the County of Tripoli, also along the coast; and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Antioch and Tripoli covered the coastline in modern-day southeastern Turkey, northwestern Syria, and northern Lebanon, while the Kingdom of Jerusalem covered what is today the State of Israel, Palestine, southern Lebanon and western Jordan. Edessa was taken by the Zengid Turks (sparking the Second Crusade) in 1144, and the Mamluks took Antioch in 1268 and Tripoli in 1289, leaving the Kingdom of Jerusalem alone and weak following the Ayyubid-backed siege of Jerusalem in 1244. When the Mamluks captured Acre in 1291, the Crusader states fell as well. The surviving Crusaders fled to the French Kingdom of Cyprus, established after the Third Crusade.

The Roman (Byzantine) "crusader states" which fell to various Turkish-Arab empires in the latter half of the 13th century

Baybars I ruled until 1277, and was succeeded by al-Malik al-Nasir, who concluded a truce with the Mongols in 1323 after major battles caused famine, Bedouin uprisings, and religious strife. Between the Timur victory in 1400 in Syria, the Portuguese wresting control of Indian trade, and the sultan's inability to quell the Mamluk military corps, Egypt's domination by the Mamluks was gradually growing weaker and weaker. By the time their Syrian provinces were attacked by Turkic Anatolian and Azerbaijani states, there was little hope of victory against the Ottoman empire.

The Mamluks fell in 1517, when the Ottomans hung the last Mamluk sultan. Their contribution to Islamic art and literature as well as architecture stands out as a landmark of Egyptian and Levantine history, and their military-driven lifestyle of the early years ceded somewhat to intellectual, spiritual, and artistic endeavors of the middle-to-late period. Egypt became a political, economic, and artistic leader in the Muslim world under their rule. Though always a precarious state with rampant factionalism and competing interests, it was mighty and powerful, which justified the reign of the slave soldier Sultanate.

Ottoman Empire

From here, the history of Palestine becomes intertwined with modernity. Continue from Ottoman Empire and Palestine. You may also want to check out Jewish Khazarian theory.

Sources

Ancient

https://www.worldhistory.org/levant/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Levant

Biblical Narrative:

https://www.bibleref.com/

https://biblehub.com/

https://quran.com/

https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Hebrew_Index.htm

https://greekreporter.com/2023/10/09/palestinians-ancient-philistines/

https://www.worldhistory.org/Philistines/

https://www.britannica.com/place/Canaan-historical-region-Middle-East

https://www.bibleodyssey.org/articles/abraham/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Israel-Old-Testament-kingdom

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-two-kingdoms-of-israel

https://www.ted.com/talks/nathaniel_pearson_the_splendid_tapestry_how_dna_reveals_truths_ancient_lasting

https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/new-jerusalem/

https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/19831/what-is-the-new-jerusalem

https://www.gotquestions.org/life-Ezra.html

Middle Ages

Alexander the Great:

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/first-rulers-mediterranean/

https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Alexander-the-Great7-Conquest-of-Levant.pdf

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/07/26/335332220/the-long-history-of-the-gaza-tunnels

https://www.worldhistory.org/timeline/Alexander_the_Great/

https://www.history.com/news/alexander-the-great-key-battles-empire

https://blog.bibleodyssey.org/articles/alexander-the-great/

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/alex/hd_alex.htm

https://www.historyhit.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-alexander-the-greats-empire/

Roman Palestine:

http://pdfs.jta.org/1938/1938-04-19_016.pdf

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Maccabees

https://www.museumofthebible.org/magazine/featured/who-are-the-maccabees

https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195393361/obo-9780195393361-0031.xml

https://bible-history.com/maps/the-roman-empire

https://www.jstor.org/stable/30098202

https://www.palestinianhistorytapestry.org/tapestry/0170-the-roman-conquest-of-judea-in-63-bce/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesus/Jewish-Palestine-at-the-time-of-Jesus

Johns, Kieren. "The Roman-Jewish Wars: Jewish Resistance vs Roman Might" TheCollector.com, December 20, 2023, https://www.thecollector.com/roman-jewish-wars-history/

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1894/early-christianity/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_church_buildings

https://enterthebible.org/time-period/judea-during-roman-rule

Islamic Rule

Muhammad and the Rightly-Guided Caliphs:

https://www.pbs.org/muhammad/ma_jews.shtml

https://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period4-1.htm

https://islamichistory.org/the-rightly-guided-caliphs/

https://www.muslimsholytravel.co.uk/blog/history-reign-of-four-caliphs-muslims-conquest-and-the-spread-of-islam/

https://www.welcometopalestine.com/history-of-palestine/the-rise-of-islam/

https://alkhair.org/letters-from-the-prophet/

https://www.jstor.org/stable/20846971