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Palestine
It was also under Romans rule that the country was re-named Palaestina, from Philistia. The name Palaestina became Palestine in English. By the 5th Century, Jerusalem's official status within the church hierarchy was also enhanced. Coinciding with the appointment of the city's bishop, Juvenal, as Patriarch, Jerusalem was made a patriarchate, joining Rome, Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria.

Numerous influences thus laid claim to Palestine; Hellenistic, Christian and Byzantine during this period. And although Palestine fell briefly to the Persians in 614, fifteen years later, in 629, the Emperor Heraclius restored Byzantine rule. But within a decade, in 638, Jerusalem surrendered again, this time to the forces of a rising power on the stage of history -- the Muslim Arabs.


Muslim Palestine, 638-1099 CE
The Umayyads, 638-750 CE
With the rise of Islam, Palestine was soon acquired by Muslims under the Umayyads in 638 CE. For the first time in its long history, Jerusalem had been spared a bloodbath. Eager to be rid of their Byzantine overlords, whilst recognising the Muslims reputation for mercy and compassion, the people of Jerusalem handed over the city after a brief siege. Only one condition was made: that their terms of surrender be negotiated by the Caliph Umar (RA) in person. In return for surrender, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius, was granted a writ of privileges which guaranteed the right of Christians to maintain their holy places and pursue their customs unhindered. Umar entered Jerusalem on foot. There was no bloodshed. Those who wanted to leave were allowed to do so with all their goods, whilst those who chose to stay were guaranteed the protection of their lives, property and places of worship. Thus began 1300 years of Muslim presence in what became known as Filastin.
The new rulers did not impose their religion upon the indigenous Palestinians but most of them converted to Islam in little over a century, whilst those Christians and Jews that chose not to, were allowed considerable autonomy their own affairs along with religious freedom and security. Under Muslim rule, the Jews were permitted back into Palestine with Jewish communities and were allowed to prosper. It was in this first century of Islamic rule in Jerusalem, that Abd Al-Malik ibn Al Marwan, a leading caliph of the dynasty, built the Dome of the Rock, inaugurated in 691.
Jerusalem was recognized as the third holiest city in Islam, after Mecca and Medina, and as a destination for pilgrimage. This was so because the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had first designated his followers to face Jerusalem when praying (which later changed to Mecca). It is also the site where the prophet Muhammed (pbuh) ascended to Heaven on his night journey (al-Miraj) from the area in Jerusalem where the Dome of the Rock was later built. The city was therefore, after Makkah and Medina, the third holiest city of Islam. Thus Palestine in being part of the expanding Muslim empire, ruled from Damascus by the Umayyads, profited from both trade and from its religious significance.
The Abbasids, 750-1099CE
The Umayyad Dynasty was and succeeded by the Abbasids (approximately 750 CE), who transferred their capital from nearby Damascus to distant Baghdad. Jerusalem's political and economic importance, which in part had derived from its proximity to the centre of power, thus declined. The population shrank and with it the size of the city. Jerusalem's importance as a religious centre, however, was still remained intact. Palestine shared in the golden age of Islam and all benefited from its message of tolerance with all three monotheistic religions perceiving Jerusalem as a holy city, yearned for it and pilgrimaging to the sacred sites within its walls.
The Crusades, 1099 CE
On 15 July 1099 Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders after a five-week siege and the victors proceeded to massacre the city's Muslims and Jews. After 460 years of Muslim rule the Crusaders restored Jerusalem to Christian hands, and declared the city the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The city's populations underwent a significant change. Western culture now took centre-stage, with French the day-to-day language and Latin the language of prayer. The Jewish and Muslim inhabitants were replaced by European and Eastern Christians, and Jerusalem once more assumed a Christian character, as Christian traditions were renewed and churches and monasteries rebuilt. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the prime destination of the Crusaders, was magnificently restored in stone, in Romanesque fashion.
The palace of the Patriarch ofJerusalem stood west of the church. To the south was the quarter occupied by the Hospitalers (warrior knights who initially undertook to protect and guide pilgrims, and to lodge them in their vast Jerusalem hospice, and eventually became part of the Kingdom's defences). The holy sites on the Temple Mount were declared Christian. The Temple Mount was the seat of the Templars, an order of monastic knights whose names derived from their location.
Muslim Rule, 1187-1917 CE
Salah al-Din ibn Ayyub, 1187 CE
In 1187 Jerusalem fell to Saladin (Salah-al-Din ibn Ayyub), putting an end to the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. The great golden cross that rose above the Dome of the Rock was toppled and shattered, to be replaced by the crescent, the symbol of Islam. The city was gradually restored by Saladin, who built numerous public structures. Saladin rebuilt the city fortifications and expanded them to include Mount Zion. In 1212 his nephew Al-Mu'azim Issa, ruler of Damscus, continued the building and added inscriptions in his honour in the walls. Seven years later, however, in 1219 he pulled down the walls, fearing that the Crusaders were liable to return to Jerusalem and make use of the fortifications. Jerusalem remained an unprotected, unwalled city until Sulayman the Magnificent rebuilt its defences. Following Saladin's victory Jews returned to Jerusalem, and were joined by immigrants from the Maghreb, France and Yemen.
 
The Mamelukes, 1250-1517 CE
In 1260 the Mameluke rulers of Egypt conquered Palestine and became the new masters of Jerusalem. While Mameluke Jerusalem bore prime religious importance, politically it was insignificant. The Mamelukes were soldiers who had been brought to Egypt as property of the ruler from the Central Asian steppes. Since they had been brought into the fold of Islam, they felt a deep commitment to that religion. This was reflected in intensive building in Jerusalem, which has left its mark on the Old City to this day, particularly around the Temple Mount.
 
The Ottomans, 1517-1917 CE
When the Ottoman Turks defeated the Mameluke forces in 1517, Palestine came under the rule of an empire that was to dominate the entire Near East for the next 400 years. At the outset, particularly during the reign of Sultan Sulayman, better known as Sulayman the Magnificent, Jerusalem flourished. Walls and gates, which had lain in ruins since the Ayyubid period, were rebuilt. The ancient aqueduct was reactivated and public drinking fountains were installed. After Sulayman's death, however, cultural and economic stagnation set in, Jerusalem again became a small, unimportant town. For the next 300 years its population barely increased, while trade and commerce were frozen; Jerusalem became a backwater.
The 19th century witnessed far-reaching changes, along with the gradual weakening of the Ottoman Empire. Political change in Jerusalem and indeed throughout the country was accelerated under a policy of Europeanization. European institutions in Jerusalem, particularly those of a religious character, enjoyed growing influence. Foreign consulates, merchants and settlers, grew in both numbers and power, which led to further innovations and modernizing in Palestine.
For the first time in more than a thousand years, settlement began outside the city walls with many Jewish and Muslim neighbourhoods taking springing up. The city's skyline portrayed a new Palestine at once depicting European influence: European-style buildings, bell towers, and monumental structures such as the Russian Compound and the Notre Dame de France Pilgrims' Hostel.


The British Mandate, 1917-1948 CE

In December 1917, Jerusalem surrendered to British forces, bringing four centuries of Ottoman-Turk rule to a close. It was through the proclamation of the Balfour Declaration two months earlier on November 2, 1917, that gave the Zionist movement its long-sought legal status. The qualification that: nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine seemed a relatively insignificant obstacle to the Zionists, especially since it referred only to those communities': civil and religious rights, not to political or national rights. The subsequent British occupation gave Britain the ability to carry out that pledge and provide the protection necessary for the Zionists to realize their aims.

In fact, the British had contracted three mutually contradictory promises for the future of Palestine. The Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 with the French and Russian governments proposed that Palestine be placed under international administration. The Husayn-McMohan Correspondence, 1915-1916, on whose basis the Arab revolt was launched, implied that Palestine would be included in the zone of Arab independence. In contrast, the Balfour Declaration encouraged the colonization of Palestine by Jews, under British protection. British officials recognized the irreconcilability of these pledges but hoped that a modus vivendi could be achieved, both between the competing imperial powers, France and Britain, and between the Palestinians and the Jews. Instead, these contradictions set the stage for the three decades of conflict-ridden British rule in Palestine.
Initially, many British politicians shared the Zionists' assumption that gradual, regulated Jewish immigration and settlement would lead to a Jewish majority in Palestine, whereupon it would become independent, with legal protection for the Arab minority .The assumption that this could be accomplished without serious resistance was shattered at the outset of British rule. Britain thereafter was caught in an increasingly untenable position, unable to persuade either Palestinians or Zionists to alter their demands and forced to station substantial military forces in Palestine to maintain security.
The Palestinians had assumed that they would gain some form of independence when Ottoman rule disintegrated; whether through a separate state or integration with neighbouring Arab lands. These hopes were bolstered by the Arab revolt, the entry of Faysal Ibn Husayn into Damascus in 1918, and the proclamation of Syrian independence in 1920. Their hopes were dashed, however, when Britain imposed direct colonial rule and elevated the yishuv to a special status. Moreover, the French ousted Faysal from Damascus in July 1920, and British compensation-in the form of thrones in Transjordan and Iraq for Abdullah and Faysal, respectively-had no positive impact on the Arabs in Palestine. In fact, the action underlined the different treatment accorded Palestine and its disadvantageous political situation. These concerns were exacerbated by Jewish immigration: the yishuv comprised 28 percent of the population by 1936 and reached 32 percent by 1947 (click here for Palestine's population distribution per district in 1946). The British umbrella was critically important to the growth and consolidation of the yishuv, enabling it to root itself firmly despite Palestinian opposition. Although British support diminished in the late 1930s, the yishuv was strong enough by then to withstand the Palestinians on its own. After World War II, the Zionist movement also was able to turn to the emerging superpower, the United States, for diplomatic support and legitimisation.
The Palestinians' responses to Jewish immigration, land purchases, and political demands were remarkably consistent. They insisted that Palestine remain an Arab country, with the same right of self-determination and independence as Egypt, Transjordan, and Iraq. Britain granted those countries independence without a violent struggle since their claims to self-determination were not contested by European settlers. The Palestinians argued that Palestinian territory could not and should not be used to solve the plight of the Jews in Europe, and that Jewish national aspirations should not override their own rights.
Palestinian opposition peaked in the late 1930s: the six-month general strike in 1936 was followed the next year by a widespread rural revolt. This rebellion welled up from the bottom of Palestinian society-unemployed urban workers, displaced peasants crowded into towns, and debt-ridden villagers. It was supported by most merchants and professionals in the towns, who feared competition from the yishuv. Members of the elite families acted as spokesmen before the British administration through the Arab Higher Committee, which was formed during the 1936 strike. However, the British banned the committee in October 1937 and arrested its members, on the eve of the revolt.
Only one of the Palestinian political parties was willing to limit its aims and accept the principle of territorial partition: The National Defence Party, led by Raghib al-Nashashibi (mayor of Jerusalem from 1920 to 1934), was willing to accept partition in 1937 so long as the Palestinians obtained sufficient land and could merge with Transjordan to form a larger political entity. However, the British Peel Commission's plan, announced in July 1937, would have forced the Palestinians to leave the olive- and grain- growing areas of Galilee, the orange groves on the Mediterranean coast, and the urban port cities of Haifa and Acre. That was too great a loss for even the National Defence Party to accept, and so it joined in the general denunciations of partition.
During the Palestine Mandate period the Palestinian community was 70 percent rural, 75 to 80 percent illiterate, and divided internally between town and countryside and between elite families and villagers. Despite broad support for the national aims, the Palestinians could not achieve the unity and strength necessary to withstand the combined pressure of the British forces and the Zionist movement. In fact, the political structure was decapitated in the late 1930s when the British banned the Arab Higher Committee and arrested hundreds of local politicians. When efforts were made in the 1940s to rebuild the political structure, the impetus came largely from outside, from Arab rulers who were disturbed by the deteriorating conditions in Palestine and feared their repercussions on their own newly acquired independence.
The Arab rulers gave priority to their own national considerations and provided limited diplomatic and military support to the Palestinians. The Palestinian Arabs continued to demand a state that would reflect the Arab majority's weight-diminished to 68 percent by 1947. They rejected the United Nations (U.N.) partition plan of November 1947, which granted the Jews statehood in 55 percent of Palestine, an area that included as many Arab residents as Jews. However, the Palestinian Arabs lacked the political strength and military force to back up their claim. Once Britain withdrew its forces in 1948 and the Jews proclaimed the state of Israel, the Arab rulers used their armed forces to protect those zones that the partition plans had allocated to the Arab state. By the time armistice agreements were signed in 1949, the Arab areas had shrunk to only 23 percent of Palestine. The Egyptian army held the Gaza Strip, and Transjordanian forces dominated the hills of central Palestine. At least 726,000 of the 1.3 million Palestinian Arabs fled from the area held by Israel. Emir Abdullah subsequently annexed the zone that his army occupied, renaming it the West Bank.
Dispossession and the State of Israel, 1948
After World War II, Britain was unable to maintain control over Palestine and transferred responsibility to the United Nations (UN). The UN decided that the only means of resolving the escalating conflict between Jews and Arabs was to partition the land into two states. Although Jews constituted only one-third of the population and owned less than 7 percent of the land, the UN partition plan assigned 55 percent of Palestine's territory to the Jewish state. In March 1948, Zionist forces launched major operations throughout Palestine. Their attacks were brutal. Through terror, psychological warfare, and direct conquests, Palestine was dismembered, many of its villages destroyed, and many of its people expelled as refugees. By the time the British withdrawal had been completed, Palestinian resistance had been largely broken. British evacuation and the Zionist leaders' proclamation of the Israeli state on 15 May 1948—forcibly created beyond the area allotted to the Jewish community in the UN partition plan—prompted military intervention by the neighboring Arab states, precipitating the first Arab-Israeli war.
Palestine was divided into three parts. The 1949 armistice agreements gave Israel control over 78 percent of the territory of British Mandate Palestine. Jordan occupied and annexed East Jerusalem and the hill country of central Palestine, thereafter known as the "West Bank" of the Jordan River. Egypt took temporary control of the coastal plain around the city of Gaza, later referred to as the Gaza Strip. Both Jordan and Egypt held on to these respective territories until the 1967 war, during which Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian Arab state provided for in the United Nations partition plan was never established.
Source: http://www.palestineremembered.com; http://www.palestinecenter.org/)

PALESTINIAN CULTURE
With the destruction of traditional Palestinian society in 1948, much of Palestinian culture has ceased to exist. As Edward Said has noted, to write of Palestinian culture is to write of dispossession and exile. But organisations have been founded in order to preserve what Palestinian culture remains, with many crafts still practised in various refugee camps throughout Palestine.

• Cultural influences

Palestine was by geographic location a bridge - between Asia and Africa, and between the desert and the sea - and by cultural position, a crossroads. Thus the civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, Byzantium, the Crusaders and the Arab and Ottoman empires, have all left their mark over the centuries forming Palestinian culture, through the mingling of empires, cultures and nationalities. Arab society in Palestine prior to 1948 consisted of three main groups: the townspeople baladin, the settled farmers fellahin, and the nomadic Bedouin tribes. Some 80% of the Arab population depended on agriculture, with over eight hundred villages scattered from the coastal plains to the Jordan River. Many were economically and socially independent, and difficulties in communication and environment produced strong individualistic traits within the communities: different dialects, different crops and food, different clothes. Within the family structure roles were well defined. Women were required to look after, not only houses and children, but played a significant part in agricultural activities. In some regions they were expected to work in the fields and hold responsibilities for the harvest. In other regions there was less emphasis on agricultural participation and more time for leisure, and it was in these villages that the art of embroidery was developed.

• Costumes
   

Click on images to enlarge

Embroidery is one of the most important women's craft in Palestine. Its origin goes back more than four thousand years to the Canaan period. In the past, women's traditional costumes were designed by using embroidery needle work. It was possible to recognize a woman's hometown or village from the geometrical designs or gaily-coloured flowers embroidered on her dress. These designs were embroidered with various coloured threads in cross-stitch. Traditional costume for men in Palestine was of simple design and was similar in style to that worn by men throughout the Arab world. In contrast, women's costumes, and in particular those costumes for special occasions, were regionally and stylistically diverse with great emphasis placed on ornamentation. The detailed visual elements of these costumes reflected a correspondingly detailed meaning system concerned with identity and status.
Historically both the Bedouin and the fellahin women made their own costumes. While Bedouin women usually bought their garment fabrics readymade, village women wove and dyed some of their fabrics. The majority were usually bought in the towns or direct from the various weaving centres in Palestine. Women would then assemble the garment and decorate it in the style of their region or village. Among both Bedouin and fellahin societies, costumes would then be passed to younger members of the family. When finally outgrown or too worn to be used, a garment might be turned into household rags. Fine embroidery pieces, such as were found on the qabbeh - the embroidered chest panel of a woman's dress - were often kept to be re-sewn onto new garments.

• Refugee Camp Embroidery Projects

Embroidery projects set up to assist Palestinian refugee women with income, as well as to maintain and promote traditional Palestinian culture, appeared as early as the 1950s. Most, however, were established in the mid 1980s, when the need for such projects was finally recognised by the international aid community. While some of these projects are still tied to foreign organizations, many are now managing on their own and are especially in need of international markets for their products.
There are several different categories of embroidery project - those established and maintained by foreign aid organisations, those that were established by foreign aid but are now run locally, and those set up and run by one of the various Palestinian women's organisations or societies. The latter group have a long history in Palestine, where the women's movement began in the early years of the 20th century. Mainly social and charitable organisations with humanitarian objectives were established at that time, which contributed greatly in promoting the role of Palestinian women in the educational, social, economic and political spheres.