Gaza was important to the Egyptian Pharoahs. Gaza's ancient history uncovered By Alan Johnston BBC News, Gaza All through the heat of summer archaeologists dug and sifted through the dunes on the edge of Gaza City. Gradually walls, homes, and the outlines of alleyways emerged from the sand. These were the bones of the ancient Greek city of Antidon. And they were testimony to the extraordinary richness of Gaza's past. Not only the Greeks passed this way. The Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, the Persians, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Turks, the British and many others left their mark on Gaza. It has been described as one of the world's oldest living cities. Layers of civilisation lie beneath its busy streets and crowded ranks of badly made apartment blocks. Heritage 'overlooked' It is a heritage almost entirely overlooked. There is another face of Gaza - there is culture and archaeology and history Khalid Abdul Shafi, UNDP in Gaza Around the world, Gaza is seen only as a deeply troubled place - a bloody arena in the Palestinians' confrontation with Israel. But efforts are being made now to present a fuller picture. The Palestinian Authority has approved a plan to build a national archaeological museum in Gaza. Land has been set aside, and the United Nations is helping to develop the project. "People around the world have looked at Gaza through the TV as a place of violence and anarchy," says the head of the United Nations Development Programme in Gaza, Khalid Abdul Shafi. "Yes there was violence. But there is another face of Gaza - there is culture and archaeology and history." Shaped by location Population pressure in the tiny Gaza Strip is intense, and no doubt numerous potential archaeological sites have been built over and lost. "But still, according to specialists, what is under ground and under the sea is more, much more, than what has been discovered to date," says Mr Abdul Shafi. "There is an opportunity to discover things and put them in a place like a national museum, and this is what we're aiming for." For more than 3,500 years Gaza's history has been shaped by its location. It sits on the route linking North Africa with the greener lands of the Levant to the north. This made Gaza strategically important first to the Egyptian Pharaohs, and then to many others who sought to wield power in the region. "It's found itself the target of constant sieges - constant battles," says Gerald Butt, the author of the definitive history of the area, Gaza at the Crossroads. "The people have been subject to rule from all over the globe. Right through the centuries Gaza's been at the centre of the major military campaigns in the Eastern Mediterranean." For example, anyone wanting to attack the magnificent Pharaonic civilisation on the Nile needed to take Gaza first. It was the last place their troops would have easy access to water before the long hard march across the sands of the Sinai peninsula. Centre of civilisation Today on Gaza's main highway battered taxis go hammering past donkey carts - blaring their horns at pedestrians. It looks unremarkable enough now, but it is actually one of the world's oldest roads. The chariots of the armies of the Pharaohs and Alexander the Great, the cavalry of the Crusaders, and even Napoleon Bonaparte all rode this route, which is now named after the famous Muslim General, Salah al-Din. Gaza has also known times of peace and prosperity. In the age when Alexandria's famous library was earning it a reputation as a centre of civilisation, just across the Sinai, Gaza was also known as a place of learning and scholarship. And Gaza used to be the port at the end of a trade route that connected the Arabian peninsula with the Mediterranean world. The city did business in fish, slaves and highly valuable frankincense - produced in the mountains of what are now Yemen and Oman. Gaza endures But if the proposed new museum is built it will reveal a recurring pattern of invasion and conquest, long periods of occupation by foreign armies, and their eventual withdrawal. And in the past few months, people here have witnessed one more turn of that historic cycle. In line with Israel's plan to "disengage" from the Gaza Strip, it abandoned the settlements that it had built here in breach of international law. The Israeli troops who had occupied Gaza for decades withdrew. It was a reminder that for thousands of years, armies have come and armies have gone - and battered, ancient Gaza has endured. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4365440.stm
More on Ancient Gaza: Gaza's ancient treasures revealed By Imogen Foulkes BBC News, Geneva A new exhibition showing off the archaeological riches of the Gaza Strip has just opened in the Swiss city of Geneva. The exhibition, called "Gaza at the Crossroads of Civilisations", contains more than 500 artefacts dating back more than 5,000 years. They reflect the diverse civilisations which at one time or another all spent time in Gaza. Curators at Geneva's museum of art and history, which organised the exhibition, say Gaza's modern problems have so overshadowed its rich past that most people today are completely unaware that Gaza has any archaeological treasures at all. "Gaza was built up by many civilisations," explained curator Marc-Andre Haldimann. "Starting from Egypt, then Mesopotamia, then Greek and Roman civilisations, Persian and Arabic, all overlapping and mixing together." continued....... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6600235.stm
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...wtFehAtBNiF8-2rSQ&sig2=5icgP6V-VxRR5KmmVeC-Yw I don't know what kind of b.s. you are trying to sell, but there is the truth, and then there is the made-up story.
Gaza is historically very important in that part of the world. It main road of that world, the sea road, ran from Cairo to Damascus, right through Gaza. But Gaza is not particularly important in the Bible. It's mentioned [as Azzah, a city of the Philistines] only in passing in the first five books [which Jews call the Torah], in Deuteronomy. It's mentioned in Joshua, saying that Joshua never controls Gaza [it is described as a city he could not subdue]. Then [King] David never controls Gaza. So if you make a list of the 50, 100 places of most significance in the Bible, Gaza would not be on that list. Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Jud...A-Few-Square-Miles-Of-Sand.aspx#ixzz1GQN2Y9vN I guess all those Israeli scholars and archeologists are trying to trick you again. LOLOL
When the Middle East was used as a land route from Europe to Africa it was lots more important than now, what with shipping and air travel, it no longer has the bang for the buck that it used to have.
Well don't reduce Judaism to gross idolatry. Go back and read the Bible. God promises the land to Abraham, but then God in the 6th century, with Nebuchadnezzar, rips the Israelites from the land and sends them off into exile. And they didn't collapse and die at that point. They did the greatest thing in human history: They invented Judaism. It was invented when they were off the land, and God says that living on the land is not the most important thing. The most important thing is living in proximity to the divine. And you can do that on the land, or off the land. That is the overwhelming message of the Bible, and that is what the theme of my new book is: Identity is not connected to soil. It is connected to your relationship with God. Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Jud...w-Square-Miles-Of-Sand.aspx?p=2#ixzz1GQPfPmZR
That was overturned later.. Israel was not given TransJordan, The West Bank, the Golan Heights, Shaaba Farms in Lebanon or Gaza. Israel never had any history claim to Gaza or Jordan.. The Decapolis was Greek.. Galillee was Galillee of the Gentiles and the Canaanites never left.
Israel was created in 1948, after UN Resolution 181 partitioned the territory of the British Mandate for Palestine into two states for Jews and Palestinian Arabs. The Arabs objected to the creation of the Jewish state and fought a war against it. The Arab side lost the war, and the Palestinian state never really came into being. The territory allotted to the Palestinian state by the UN partition resolution was taken over by Israel and Jordan. About 780,000 Palestinians became refugees.
The League of Nations didn't create Israel. Israel was created in 1948, after UN Resolution 181 partitioned the territory of the British Mandate for Palestine into two states for Jews and Palestinian Arabs. The Arabs objected to the creation of the Jewish state and fought a war against it.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/res181.asp United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 November 29, 1947 Boundaries: B. THE JEWISH STATE The north-eastern sector of the Jewish State (Eastern Galilee) is bounded on the north and west by the Lebanese frontier and on the east by the frontiers of Syria and Trans-jordan. It includes the whole of the Huleh Basin, Lake Tiberias, the whole of the Beisan Sub-District, the boundary line being extended to the crest of the Gilboa mountains and the Wadi Malih. From there the Jewish State extends north-west, following the boundary described in respect of the Arab State. The Jewish section of the coastal plain extends from a point between Minat El-Qila and Nabi Yunis in the Gaza Sub-District and includes the towns of Haifa and Tel-Aviv, leaving Jaffa as an enclave of the Arab State. The eastern frontier of the Jewish State follows the boundary described in respect of the Arab State. The Beersheba area comprises the whole of the Beersheba Sub-District, including the Negeb and the eastern part of the Gaza Sub-District, but excluding the town of Beersheba and those areas described in respect of the Arab State. It includes also a strip of land along the Dead Sea stretching from the Beersheba-Hebron Sub-District boundary line to 'Ein Geddi, as described in respect of the Arab State. C. THE CITY OF JERUSALEM The boundaries of the City of Jerusalem are as defined in the recommendations on the City of Jerusalem. (See Part III, section B, below).
He's not the only Law professor.. The Jews came as refugees seeking sanctuary and turned viciously on the Arabs who lived there long before the threats from Hitler. Have you ever read the following? It was published in the US in November of 1947.. http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/kabd_eng.html
I suppose the OP is some sort of confused attempt at claiming Jews never lived in Gaza or something, Two things are certain, though, and that is Egyptians were not Arab then, most aren't today, and Arabs are the only occupier of that land that have never done anything worthwhile with it, so whatever point is being made exists only in the head of the poster. In any case, Arab rule didn't last long; the Seljuks came along shortly after Muhummad died, and it passed to Turkish hands.
Is that all the response you wish to make? Shouldnt you instead tell us that the Jewish came wishing to exist in peaceful coexistence with the local population?
If you believe the Bible, Arabs were around by the time of Isaac. And of course the Book of Ezra refers to Arabs. Arabs were around long before Islam and archeologists can attest that they did "do something" with the land. Perhaps you didn't know that all the bedouin tribes carried their gods around with them in boxes on litters. Only the settled Canaanites didn't do that.
Hi all - my first post. Yep - I think one can safely ignore. take the bible with a large pnch of salt. The question is roughly when did the "Jews" identify /started calling themselves as "Jews". Playng along with myths, - the "Hebrews " supposedly run away Egyptian slaves/wanderers - invaded the land of Canaan , - first called themselves Israelites , subsquently breakup of their "Israel " settled in Judea - presumeable thereafter known as Jews I would'nt swear to it and would welcome correction. thanks.
Its highly debateable whether the incoming European Jews wished to "coextist" with local non-Jews. The Zionist came with a plan based on Herzl's "Der Judenstaat" to establish a Jewish majority in Palestine where at late 19th century the majority population was non-Jewish, hence the need to reduce the numbers of non-Jews. Pls . Correct me if I've been misinformed. (wink)
Judaism was invented during and after the Babylonian exile... It kept them from being assimilated into the more sophisticated Babylonian culture. That period invented Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy to give the exiles a history and identity.
Thanks Margot for clearing up whether we should pay any attention to that bible thingy, I for one was getting pretty confused with the whole religion and way to govern my life bit. I'll just go back to coveting my neighbors ass . Its ok everyone Margot says we can all worship pagan idols now, thanks
Come on now, youve always coveted your neighbours possessions. You want the West Bank for your own people dont you?
