Islamic History of Palestine

* In the year 570 AD, Prophet Mohammed ibn Abdallah, peace be upon him, was born in Mecca. The revelation of the Holy Koran to Prophet Mohammed began in the year 610 AD, marking the beginning of the third monotheistic religion of Islam. Islam gave a distinct and special status to the city of Jerusalem, to which the Prophet Mohammed was taken and from which he ascended to heaven in the “night journey”. The Muslims directed their prayers towards Jerusalem before they did towards Mecca.

* During the reign of Caliph Abu Baker, several armies were dispatched north. The army that was sent to Palestine was under the command of Amr ibn Alas. He defeated the Byzantines in several battles, the most important of which was Ajnadiyn in 634 AD, and took control of the southern part of the country. In 636, after the decisive battle at Yarmuk under the command of Kahled ibn Al-Walid, the Arabs completed the conquest of Palestine and the rest of Greater Syria. With regard to Jerusalem, its patriarch, Sophronius, placed a condition on the surrender of the city, demanding that it only be surrendered to the Caliph in person. Thus, Caliph Omar ibn Al-Khattab came to Jerusalem and personally gave promise to the people of their safety and that of their religion and churches. (Al-Uhdah Al-Umarriya)

* During the Umayyad rule, Abdel Malek ibn Marwan built the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque beside it. Both, along with the surrounding area, became known as Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Holy Sancturary). This site is the third holiest place in Islam after Mecca and Medina. The Umayyads began the process of Arabizing the city’s administration and developed new monetary coins – the dinar. It was during this period that the Arabic language and Islam spread rapidly.

* The end of the tenth century witnessed a general decline in the Abbassid Dynasty and a gradual takeover by the Seljuk Turkish state. During the same century, the Fatamids extended to Egypt and captured Palestine as well from the Seljuks. After that conquest, enmity between the two sides was severe.

* In 1090, the Roman Pope Urban II called for a rescue of Jerusalem from the Muslims and began preparations for the Crusades. The Crusades were a series of military campaigns sent to Palestine and the Levant to capture as much territory as possible. In 1096, the armies marched by land, reaching and surrounding the city of Jerusalem by 1099. Within one month, a small Fatamid force surrendered and the Franks occupied the city, desecrating Al-Haram Al-Sharif and massacring the population. The Crusaders then established the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, as well as the three other Emirates in the rest of Greater Syria.

* In 1144, one of the three Emirates (Al-Raha) was recaptured by the Master of Mosul, Imad al-din Zanki. He, along with his son, continued the campaign and captured several cities, including Damascus, bringing them under the control of his state. The second Crusade took place from 1147 to 1149, although with little success.

* Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyoubi ruled Egypt, annexed Syria and took control of Tiberius and began to fight against the Crusaders. In 1187, the Battle of Hittin took place against King Ghe of Jerusalem and Reynald de Chatillon, the Prince of Kerak. Salah Al-Din achieved great victory in this battle, after which he regained control of the cities and finally surrounded Jerusalem, which surrendered in the autumn of that same year. He allowed the Christian Arabs of the city to maintain their properties and to buy the properties of the departing Franks. He also forced the defeated Franks to leave the city without their weapons, but only after also paying a ransom.

* This conquest of Jerusalem led to the third Crusade, led by King Richard (the Lionhearted) of England, King Philip Augustus of France and Frederick, the Emperor of Germany. The Crusaders occupied Acre in 1192, after which the peace treaty of Al-Ramleh was reached between Salah Al-Din and King Richard. The agreement left Jerusalem under control of the Muslims while allowing the Christians to make pilgrimages to the city. The coastal strip between Jaffa and Acre remained under Frank control and the rest of the coast from Askelon south stayed under Salah Al-Din’s control.

* Salah Al-Din left Palestine and went to Damascus, where he died in 1193. Following his death, in 1197, disputes took place among his successors, enabling a new Crusade campaign to regain control of certain areas. Frederick II, Emperor of Germany, recaptured Jerusalem. Following negotiations between him and Al-Kamel Al-Ayyoubi, an agreement was reached in 1229. Under the agreement, Frederick took control of Jerusalem, under the condition that the Muslims control the Islamic holy sites. Bethlehem and Nazareth were among several cities that came under Frederick’s control, while the rest of Palestine stayed under Muslim control. Fifteen years later, Al-Saleh Ayyoubi of Egypt regained control of Jerusalem.

* In 1250, the Mamluk Dynasty was established in Egypt and its rule also extended to Palestine and Greater Syria. In 1258, the Mongols (Tartars) occupied Baghdad and destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate. They also occupied Damascus and tried to move south. However, they were defeated in the south by the Sultan of Egypt, Qutz, at the battle of Ein Jalut, near Beisan in Palestine in 1259. The Mamluks continued thereafter to recapture the areas under Frank control, but total eviction of the Crusaders was not achieved until 1291 by Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil ibn Qalawoon when he occupied Acre in 1291.

* In 1516, the Ottoman Sultan Salim II defeated the Mamluks, capturing Greater Syria and Egypt in 1517. Palestine then became part of the Ottoman Empire for the next 400 years.

* During Ottoman rule, several important developments took place, such as the establishment of the rule of Sheikh Zaher Al-Omar in the north of Palestine (1749-75). He aimed to control Palestine before he was killed near Acre.

* In 1799, Napoleon occupied southern Palestine and entered Jaffa, but his siege of Acre failed. One of the most important event in the history of Palestine in the 19th century was the campaign of Ibrahim Pasha to gain Greater Syria and Palestine in 1831. These areas remained under the control of Mohammed Ali Pasha of Egypt until 1840, when the Ottomans recaptured them.

* In the last decades of Ottoman rule, Palestine was administratively divided into provinces. Jerusalem was directly linked with the Ministry of Interior in Istanbul. Nablus and Acre were incorporated into the province of Beirut. The remainder of the country was under two governing provinces.

* Palestine dispatched deputies to the first Ottoman parliament in 1876, and during this period many Arabs called for political and administrative reforms and self-autonomy. They called for Arabic to be considered the official language. After the reinstatement of the constitution in 1908 and the policies of Turkization pursued by the government, many Arab leaders, including the leaders of Palestine, began to seek independence.