Dr. Iyad Abu-Jeib Palestine Basic Information Page

Last modified: Thursday, 23-Feb-2017 23:54:35 IST

Introduction.
Palestine (in the Western World it is called Historic Palestine recently and it was called Palestine by the whole world before 1948) consists of all area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. But, in some eras Palestine used to consist of this Palestine and parts of what is called now Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Total Land Area: 27,009 sq km. The area of the West Bank (which includes East Jerusalem) is about 6,000 sq km and the area of the post 1948 Gaza Strip is between 360 sq km and 370 sq km. (Gaza Strip before 1948 was much bigger.)

Population: There are now (beginning of 2017) about 13 million Palestinians in the world. Out of this number, there are about 7 millions live in Palestine. Out of this number, there are about 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank (which includes East Jerusalem), about 2 millions in Gaza Strip and about 2 millions in the 1948 areas.

Major Cities: Jerusalem, Tel Alrrabei (called now Tel Aviv), Jaffa, Acre, Tiberias, Haifa, Hebron, Bethlehem, Gaza City (aka Hashem's Gaza, where Hashem is the grandfather of Prophet Mohammad), Nablus, Ramallah, Nazareth, Ramla, Beir Alssabei, Asqalan, Shafa Amr, Safad, Alkhalsa (called now Naharya), and Um Alrashrash (called now Eilat). I think all major Palestinian cities are ancient cities from the Canaanite era, Roman era, Byzantine era, Muslim era) except Ramallah which is about five hundred years old. But, the adjacent Albeerah city is ancient. By the way, there are names, towns and places in the United States that are called after Palestine or Palestinian cities or other things associated with Palestine. There are towns called Palestine, Bethlehem, Hebron, etc. By the way, for those who don't know, many places, towns, cities or states in the United States are named after places/towns/cities/counties in other parts of the world. The new ones in the United States carry the name names or they add the word "New" added to the name. For example, we have York and England in the United Kingdom and New York and New England in the United States. We have also New Holland. As another note, many regions or states in the United States used to belong to other countries such as Manhattan (sold by the Dutch), New Orleans (sold by the French), Alaska (sold by the the Russians), and parts of of California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming (used to belong to Mexico).

Natural Resources: Potash, magnesium, bromine, gas and oil fields, precious lime stone, marble, Dead Sea mud, beauty and medical products.

Brief Information about Palestine.

Palestine is rich of ruins from different eras and holy sites. For ruins in the West Bank and Gaza, see . By the way, about one third of the Canaanite, Christian and Islamic ruins in Palestine were destroyed in 1948.
It is rich of wild life. There are mammals that are unique and native to Palestine. Some of those are extinct now and some are endangered.
Palestine's national bird is Palestine Sunbird.
There are new mammals and plants still being discovered in Palestine.
There are 42 types of snakes in Palestine. The last one was discovered this century. One of the snakes is "Vipera Palaestinae".
The last Palestinian tiger was killed in the wild in 1968.
Palestine has the lowest point on dry land in the world which is in the Dead Sea region. It is about 418 m below sea level.
The highest mountain in Palestine is the Meron (Jarmaq) Mountain which is about 1208 m above sea level. It is in the North (Galilee region). The highest mountain the West Bank is Jabal Nabi Younis (Prophet Jonah Mountain) near Halhould, Hebron, which is about 1020 m above sea level. The highest mountain in Jerusalem is the Mount of Olives (the name is before Jesus Christ) which is about 826 above sea level. Regarding Gaza Strip, it is a little bit above the sea level.
Many prophets were born in Palestine or lived in it or passed through it or were buried in it. Moses didn't enter Palestine. He died while he was looking at its landscape.
It has the oldest inhabited city in the world which is Jericho.
It is the birth place of Jesus Christ (born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth) and it has the baptist site. It also has the Church of the Nativity (in Bethlehem) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (in Jerusalem). It also has the Alaqsa Mosque (third holiest Muslim site) and the Dome of the Rock (both are in Jerusalem). Jerusalem is also the place in which one of the miracles of Prophet Mohammad took place. Gaza on the other hand, is the hometown of Shafi'i who is the founder of one of the four schools of Islamic law in Sunni Islam.
It is the origin of the famous Arabic sweet called Kunafa which is native to the city of Nablus. Baklava on the other hand was invented about 2000 years ago by the people who lived between the Degla River and Euphrates River in Syria and Iraq.
Contrary to other beliefs, the first place in which humans started growing plants was Jericho. The started growing palm trees.
Gaza delayed Napoleon's army and resisted him strongly.
Gaza delayed Alexander's army and resisted him strongly. He was wounded there.
Acre resisted Napoleon's army strongly. He was unable to occupy it.
One of the most famous cities in Palm trees is the city of Deir Albalah in Gaza Strip. It's dates are very sweet.
Some Palestinian immigrants became important figures in some countries (one of them became a President).
A viable 2000 year old palm seed was discovered in Palestine. It was planted successfully in 2005.
The place in the West Bank that has the most annual rainfall is Salfit. The average there is about 700 mm. I recall here that no place in Palestine is tropical or subtropical. Tropical areas receive at least 2000 mm of rainfall. But, it happened in the winter of 1968/1969 that Mount Meron (Jarmaq) had about 1700 mm of rain. The highest annual rate of rainfall in Palestine is in the north which is about 1100 mm and the lowest is in the south which is about 100 mm.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Palestine was in 1942 which is 54 Celsius and the lowest was about -14 Celsius in 1950.