National Day of the Principality of Monaco

Monaco, officially Principality of Monaco, French Principauté de Monaco, sovereign principality located along the Mediterranean Sea in the midst of the resort area of the Côte d’Azur (French Riviera). The city of Nice, France, lies 9 miles (15 km) to the west, the Italian border 5 miles (8 km) to the east. Monaco’s tiny territory occupies a set of densely clustered hills and a headland that looks southward over the Mediterranean. Many unusual features, however, have made Monaco among the most luxurious tourist resorts in the world and have given it a fame far exceeding its size. Many visitors to Monaco alternate their hours between its beaches and boating facilities, its international sports-car races, and its world-famous Place du Casino, the gambling centre in the Monte-Carlo section that made Monte-Carlo an international byword for the extravagant display and reckless dispersal of wealth. The country has a mild Mediterranean climate with annual temperatures averaging 61 °F (16 °C) and with only about 60 days of rainfall. Monthly average temperatures range from 50 °F (10 °C) in January to 75 °F (24 °C) in August. Evidences of Stone Age settlements in Monaco are preserved in the principality’s Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology. In ancient times the headland was known to the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans. In 1191 the Genoese took possession of it, and in 1297 the long reign of the Grimaldi family began. The Grimaldis allied themselves with France except for the period from 1524 to 1641, when they were under the protection of Spain. In 1793 they were dispossessed by the French Revolutionary regime, and Monaco was annexed to France. With the fall of Napoleon I, however, the Grimaldis returned; the Congress of Vienna (1815) put Monaco under the protection of Sardinia. The principality lost the neighbouring towns of Menton and Roquebrune in 1848 and finally ceded them to France under the terms of the Franco-Monegasque treaty of 1861. The treaty did restore Monaco’s independence, however, and in 1865 a customs union was established between the two countries. Another treaty that was made with France, in 1918, contained a clause providing that, in the event that the Grimaldi dynasty should become extinct, Monaco would become an autonomous state under French protection. A revision to the constitution in 2002 added females and their legitimate children to the line of succession. In 1997 the Grimaldi family commemorated 700 years of rule, and in 1999 Prince Rainier III marked 50 years on the throne. Upon his death in April 2005, he was succeeded by his son, Albert; Albert formally assumed the throne on July 12, 2005. The principality joined the United Nations in 1993. Though not a member of the European Union (EU), Monaco phased out the French franc for the single European currency of the euro by 2002. Monaco’s refusal to impose income taxes on its residents and on international businesses that have established headquarters in the principality led to a severe crisis with France in 1962. A compromise was reached by which French citizens with less than five years residence in Monaco were taxed at French rates and taxes were imposed on Monegasque companies doing more than 25 percent of their business outside the principality. In the early 21st century, some European nations criticized Monaco’s loose banking regulations, claiming that the principality sheltered tax evaders and money launderers. In 2002 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) added Monaco to its “blacklist” of uncooperative tax havens. The principality was removed from the blacklist in 2009 after committing to OECD transparency standards. Monaco’s constitution of 1911 provided for an elected National Council, but in 1959 Prince Rainier III suspended part of the constitution and dissolved the National Council because of a disagreement over the budget. In 1961 he appointed instead a national assembly. The aforementioned crisis of 1962 with France led him to restore the National Council and to grant a new, liberal constitution. The council comprises 18 members, elected by universal suffrage for a term of five years. Government is carried on by a minister of state (who must be a French citizen) and three state councillors acting under the authority of the prince, who is the official chief of state. Legislative power is shared by the prince and the National Council. Since 1819 the judicial system has been based on that of France; since 1962 the highest judicial authority has been the Supreme Tribunal. A substantial portion of the government’s revenues comes from taxes on commercial transactions; additional revenue is drawn from franchises on radio, television, and the casino, from state-operated monopolies on tobacco and postage stamps, from sales taxes, and from the taxes imposed since 1962. Monaco’s chief industry is tourism, and its facilities make it one of Europe’s most luxurious resorts. Once a winter attraction, it now draws summer visitors as well to its beaches and expanded mooring facilities. Business conferences are especially important. The social life of Monte-Carlo revolves around the Place du Casino. The casino was built in 1861, and in 1967 its operations were taken over by the principality. Banking and finance and real estate are other important components of the diverse services sector. More than one-fourth of Monaco’s population is composed of French citizens, and a smaller but significant number are Italian, Swiss, and Belgian. Only about one-fifth of the population claims Monegasque descent. Most of the people are Roman Catholics. The official language is French. The four sections, or quartiers, of Monaco are the town of Monaco, or “the Rock,” a headland jutting into the sea on which the old town is located; La Condamine, the business district on the west of the bay, with its natural harbour; Monte-Carlo, including the gambling casino; and the newer zone of Fontvieille, in which various light industries have developed. In Monaco are the Roman Catholic cathedral, the prince’s Genoese and Renaissance palace, and the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, built in 1910. The casino itself contains a theatre designed by the 19th-century French architect Charles Garnier, which is the home of the Opéra de Monte Carlo. During the 1920s many of the works of the famous Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev were given their premieres there. There is also a Monte-Carlo national orchestra. The best known of the automobile events held in the principality are the Monte-Carlo Rally and the Grand Prix de Monaco. More …Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Monaco  

2024/11/19

Monaco - The secrets of a true luxury stay - LUXE.TV

2024/11/18

Birthday of the Head of State, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said

Oman, country occupying the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula at the confluence of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. Much of the country’s interior falls within the sandy, treeless, and largely waterless region of the Arabian Peninsula known as the Rubʿ al-Khali. The region is still the domain of Bedouin nomads, although today it is also crisscrossed by oil and gas pipelines. In contrast to the stark interior, the coastal regions are much more hospitable. Oman’s lush northern coast lies between the sea and inland mountains. This verdant, fertile region is known for its grapes and other produce, as is the Dhofar region in the country’s south. The capital, Muscat, lies along the northern coast. Blending modern and traditional architecture, the city commands a view of the Gulf of Oman and serves as a port and commercial centre. Renowned in ancient times for its frankincense and metalworking, Oman occupies a strategically important location, for which it has long been a prize for empire builders. In the 16th century Muscat was seized by Portugal, which held the city until 1650. During the 18th century the Āl Bū Saʿīd dynasty expelled a Persian occupation and established Omani control over much of the Persian Gulf. The Āl Bū Saʿīd weathered much political turbulence but preserved its hold on power into the 21st century—largely by maintaining close relations with the United Kingdom—but the dynasty was slow to open the country to innovation. Significant modernization did not begin until after the coup in 1970 that brought Qaboos bin Said (Qābūs ibn Saʿīd) to power, at which point Oman rapidly began to develop an advanced economy. The once insular country now actively encourages tourism, and travelers come from afar to enjoy its hospitality and unspoiled landscapes. Land Slightly smaller in area than the country of Poland, Oman is bounded to the southwest by Yemen, to the south and east by the Arabian Sea, to the north by the Gulf of Oman, to the northwest by the United Arab Emirates, and to the west by Saudi Arabia. A small exclave, the Ruʾūs al-Jibāl (“the Mountaintops”), occupies the northern tip of the Musandam Peninsula at the Strait of Hormuz; this territory gives Oman its only frontage on the Persian Gulf. Its offshore territories include Maṣīrah Island to the east and Al-Ḥallāniyyah Island (the largest of the five Khuriyyā Muriyyā Islands) 25 miles (40 km) off the south coast. Relief Northern Oman is dominated by three physiographic zones. The long, narrow coastal plain known as Al-Bāṭinah stretches along the Gulf of Oman. The high, rugged Ḥajar Mountains extend southeastward, parallel to the gulf coast, from the Musandam Peninsula to a point near Cape al-Ḥadd at the easternmost tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Much of the range reaches elevations above 4,800 feet (1,463 metres); Mount Shams (“Sun Mountain”), at an elevation of 9,777 feet (2,980 metres), is the country’s highest point. The great central divide of Wadi Samāʾil separates the Ḥajar into a western and an eastern range. An inland plateau falls away to the southwest of the Ḥajar Mountains into the great Rubʿ al-Khali (“Empty Quarter”) desert, which the sultanate shares with Saudi Arabia and Yemen. These zones can be further subdivided into several unofficial regions: Al-Bāṭinah; the mountains and associated valleys of the Eastern Ḥajar and Western Ḥajar ranges; the Oman interior area, or Al-Jaww (the central foothills and valleys on the inland side of the Ḥajar Mountains and the historic heartland of Oman); Al-Ẓāhirah (the semidesert plain west of the interior Oman area, next to the United Arab Emirates, including Al-Buraimi oasis); Al-Sharqiyyah (sandy plains lying east of interior Oman behind the Ḥajar Mountains); and Jaʿlān (fronting the Arabian Sea south of Cape al-Ḥadd). The southern region of Dhofar (Ẓufār) is separated from the rest of Oman by several hundred miles of open desert. Dhofar’s coastal plain is fertile alluvial soil, well watered by the southwest monsoon. Wooded mountain ranges, rising to about 5,000 feet (1,500 metres), form a crescent there behind a long, narrow coastal plain, on which the provincial capital of Ṣalālah is located. Behind the mountains, gravel plains gradually merge northward into the Rubʿ al-Khali. Drainage There are no permanent bodies of fresh water in the country. Intermittent streams are a product of seasonal storms and generally abate quickly. Some effort has been made in recent years to construct dams in an effort to preserve runoff and control flooding. Climate The climate is hot and dry in the interior and hot and humid along the coast. Summer temperatures in the capital of Muscat and other coastal locations often climb to 110° F (43° C), with high humidity; winters are mild, with lows averaging about 63° F (17° C). Temperatures are similar in the interior, although they are more moderate at higher elevations. Dhofar is dominated by the summer monsoon, making Ṣalālah’s climate more temperate than that of northern Oman. Rainfall throughout the country is minimal, averaging only about 4 inches (100 mm) per year, although precipitation in the mountains is heavier. Plant and animal life Because of the low precipitation, vegetation is sparse except where there is irrigation, which is provided by an ancient system of water channels known as aflāj (singular: falaj). The channels often run underground and originate in wells near mountain bases. The aflāj collectively were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2006. Acacia trees form most of what little natural vegetation exists, and the soil is extremely rocky; plant species are protected in nature preserves. The government also protects rare animal species, such as the Arabian oryx, Arabian leopard, mountain goat, and loggerhead turtle. Oman’s birdlife is extraordinarily diverse and includes such species as the glossy ibis, Egyptian vulture, Barbary falcon, and Socotra cormorant. People - Ethnic groups More than half of Oman’s population is Arab. However, large numbers of ethnic Baloch—who migrated to Oman from Iran and Pakistan over the past several centuries—live near the coast in Al-Bāṭinah. The Muscat-Maṭraḥ urban area has long been home to significant numbers of ethnic Persians and to merchants of South Asian ancestry, some of whom also live along Al-Bāṭinah. Notable among the latter are the Liwātiyyah, who originally came from Sindh (now in Pakistan) but have lived in Oman for centuries. Several large Arab groups predominate along Dhofar’s coastal plain. The inhabitants of the Dhofar mountains are known as jibālīs, or “people of the mountains.” They are ethnically distinct from the coastal Arabs and are thought to be descendants of people from the Yemen highlands. Languages Arabic is the official language, and Modern Standard Arabic is taught in schools. In addition, a number of dialects of vernacular Arabic are spoken, some of which are similar to those spoken in other Persian Gulf states but many of which are not mutually intelligible with those of adjacent regions. The jibālīs, for example, speak older dialects of South Arabic. These differ greatly from most other dialects, which are derived from North Arabic (as is Modern Standard Arabic). English, Persian, and Urdu are also spoken, and there are a number of Swahili-speaking Omanis born in Zanzibar and elsewhere in East Africa who returned to Oman after 1970. Various South Asian languages are also spoken. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Oman

2024/11/18

Independence Day of the Republic of Latvia

Latvia, country of northeastern Europe and the middle of the three Baltic states. Latvia, which was occupied and annexed by the U.S.S.R. in June 1940, declare its independence on August 21, 1991. The U.S.S.R. recognized its sovereignty on September 6, and United Nations membership followed shortly thereafter. Latvia was admitted to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) in 2004. The capital and chief city is Riga. LandLatvia lies along the shores of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga, and it is bounded by Estonia to the north, Russia to the east, Belarus to the southeast, and Lithuania to the south.  Relief, drainage, and soils Latvia is essentially an undulating plain, with fairly flat lowlands alternating with hills. The eastern part of the country is more elevated, its most prominent feature being the Central Vidzeme Upland, which reaches a maximum elevation of 1,020 feet (311 metres). In the southeast the highest point is Lielais Liepukalns (947 feet [289 metres]), which is part of the Rāzna National Park territory. The Kurzeme (Courland) Upland in the west is divided by the Venta River into western and eastern parts. Between the Central Vidzeme and Latgale uplands in the southeast lies the East Latvian Lowland, partly crossed by moraine ridges that impede drainage. There are numerous peat bogs in this area. Latvia contains a multitude of rivers that drain into the Baltic Sea. The largest are the Western Dvina, locally called the Daugava (with a total length of 222 miles [357 km] in Latvia), the Gauja (Russian: Gauya), the Venta, and the Lielupe. Amid the hills, many of which are forested, are numerous lakes, some measuring up to about 12 square miles (30 square km). Latvia’s soils are predominantly podzolic, though calcareous soils characterize the Semigallia (Zemgale) Plain, located just east of the Eastern Kurzeme Uplands. Swampy soils are found in some areas, particularly the East Latvian Lowland. Erosion is a problem in the more intensely cultivated hilly areas.  Climate The climate is influenced by the prevailing southwesterly winds coming from the Atlantic. Humidity is high, and the skies are usually cloudy; there are only about 30 to 40 days of sunshine per year. Average precipitation usually exceeds 20 inches (about 500 mm) on the lowlands and may approach or exceed 30 inches (about 760 mm) on the uplands. The frost-free season lasts about 125 to 155 days. Summers are often cool and rainy. The mean temperature in June is in the mid-60s F (about 17 °C), with occasional jumps into the mid-90s F (about 34 °C). Winter sets in slowly and lasts from the middle of December to the middle of March. The mean January temperature ranges from the upper 20s F (near −2 °C) on the coast to the lower 20s F (about −7 °C) in the east. There are occasional extreme temperature drops into the −40s F (about −40 °C). Plant and animal life More than half of Latvia is covered with forests, meadows, pastures, swamps, and wasteland. Forests account for more than one-third of the total area, and about one-tenth of the forests are cultivated. The larger forest tracts are in the northern part of the Kurzeme Peninsula, along the banks of the Western Dvina, and in the northeast, where conifers (pine and spruce) predominate. Of the deciduous species, birch, aspen, and alder are the most prevalent. Meadows are found both in the river valleys and among the hills. Latvia’s fauna consists of squirrels, foxes, hare, lynx, and badgers. Somewhat less common are ermines and weasels. Conservation measures have resulted in an increase in the number of deer and elk, and beavers have been reintroduced to Latvia. The country’s bird population includes the nightingale, oriole, blackbird, woodpecker, owl, grouse, partridge, finch, tomtit, quail, and lark. Storks and herons are usually found in the marshes and meadows.  People - Ethnic groups, languages, and religion Before Soviet occupation in 1940, ethnic Latvians constituted about three-fourths of the country’s population. Today they make up about three-fifths of the population, and Russians account for about one-fourth. There are small groups of Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles, Lithuanians, and others. The official language of Latvia is Latvian; however, nearly one-third of the population speaks Russian. Smaller numbers speak Romany, the Indo-Aryan language of the Roma (Gypsies), and Yiddish, a Germanic language. The majority of Latvians adhere to Christianity—mainly Lutheranism, Roman Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy. About one-fourth of Latvians consider themselves nonreligious. Latvia had a significant Jewish population—estimated at more than 90,000 in the 1930s—until the Soviet and German occupations during World War II, when tens of thousands of Latvian Jews fled the country, were deported to prison camps or concentration camps, or were killed. Nazi forces were responsible for between 65,000 and 75,000 of these deaths. By war’s end, only several thousand Latvian Jews remained. Settlement patterns Latvia’s rural population decreased after World War II, largely because of poor socioeconomic and political conditions, while its urban population increased steadily. By the early 2000s more than two-thirds of the country’s population lived in urban areas. Riga is the most populous city, followed by Daugavpils and Liepāja.  Demographic trends A major challenge for Latvia in the early 1990s was to offset the aging of its population, a serious problem that had existed even before the country’s independence and that was the result largely of birth rates that were not high enough to ensure population replacement. An attempt was also made to increase the percentage of the population made up of ethnic Latvians by encouraging them to have larger families and by instituting stronger immigration controls. However, because of the unstable political and economic situation of the early post-Soviet period, most families postponed having more children. In fact, at the onset of the 21st century, Latvia had the lowest birth rate of the Baltic states as well as one of the lowest life expectancies in all of Europe. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Latvia

2024/11/18

Latvia. The only video you need to watch

What is Latvia? Where is Latvia? Who are Latvian people? Video originally made by

2024/11/17

Visit Palestine

Palestine is a charming East Texas town that boasts more than 1800 historic sites, including the award-winning Main Street District. Home to the Texas State ...

2024/11/17

Palestine Independence Day

Palestine, area of the eastern Mediterranean region, comprising parts of modern Israel and the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip (along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea) and the West Bank (west of the Jordan River). The term Palestine has been associated variously and sometimes controversially with this small region, which some have asserted also includes Jordan. Both the geographic area designated by the name and the political status of it have changed over the course of some three millennia. The region (or at least a part of it) is also known as the Holy Land and is held sacred among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Since the 20th century it has been the object of conflicting claims of Jewish and Arab national movements, and the conflict has led to prolonged violence and, in several instances, open warfare. The word Palestine derives from Philistia, the name given by Greek writers to the land of the Philistines, who in the 12th century bce occupied a small pocket of land on the southern coast, between modern Tel Aviv–Yafo and Gaza. The name was revived by the Romans in the 2nd century ce in “Syria Palaestina,” designating the southern portion of the province of Syria, and made its way thence into Arabic, where it has been used to describe the region at least since the early Islamic era. After Roman times the name had no official status until after World War I and the end of rule by the Ottoman Empire, when it was adopted for one of the regions mandated to Great Britain; in addition to an area roughly comprising present-day Israel and the West Bank, the mandate included the territory east of the Jordan River now constituting the Hashimite Kingdom of Jordan, which Britain placed under an administration separate from that of Palestine immediately after receiving the mandate for the territory. The name Palestine has long been in popular use as a general term to denote a traditional region, but this usage does not imply precise boundaries. The perception of what constitutes Palestine’s eastern boundary has been especially fluid, although the boundary frequently has been perceived as lying east of the Jordan River, extending at times to the edge of the Arabian Desert. In contemporary understanding, however, Palestine is generally defined as a region bounded on the east by the Jordan River, on the north by the border between modern Israel and Lebanon, on the west by the Mediterranean Sea (including the coast of Gaza), and on the south by the Negev, with its southernmost extension reaching the Gulf of Aqaba. The strategic importance of the area is immense: through it pass the main roads from Egypt to Syria and from the Mediterranean to the hills beyond the Jordan River. Settlement depends closely on water, which is almost never abundant. Precipitation, which arrives in the cool half of the year, decreases in amount in general from north to south and from the coast inland. Perennial rivers are few, and the shortage of water is aggravated by the porous nature of the limestone rocks over much of the country. For further reading on the political units most closely associated with Palestine, see the articles Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon. Land Coastal lowlands of varying widths front the Mediterranean. The most northerly is the Plain of ʿAkko (Acre), which extends with a breadth of 5 to 9 miles (8 to 14 km) for about 20 miles (32 km) from the Lebanon border in the north to the Carmel promontory, in Israel, in the south, where it narrows to a mere 600 feet (180 metres). Farther southward the lowland opens out rapidly into the Plain of Sharon, about 8 miles (13 km) wide and extending south to the latitude of Tel Aviv–Yafo. Once covered with marshes, the Sharon plain was reclaimed in the post-Exilic and Hellenistic period and is now a settled area. Fields and fruit groves are laid out between scattered sandstone ridges, on which villages have grown up. South of the spur of low hills that approaches the coast at about Yafo (Jaffa), the plain widens into a fertile region known in biblical times as Philistia, a district of orange groves, irrigated orchards, and fields of grain. Farther northward the Plain of Esdraelon (ʿEmeq Yizreʿel), formed by subsidence along lines of faults, separates the hills of southern Galilee from the mountains of Samaria. The plain, 16 miles (26 km) wide at most, narrows to the northwest, where the Qishon River breaks through to the Plain of ʿAkko, and to the southeast, where the Ḥarod River—which rises at the Spring of Ḥarod—has carved the plain into the side of the Jordan Valley. Covered with rich basaltic soils washed down from the Galilean hills, Esdraelon is important both for its fertility and for the great highway it opens from the Mediterranean to the lands across the Jordan. The maritime plain connects with Esdraelon by the pass of Megiddo and several lesser routes between the mountain spurs of Carmel and Gilboaʿ. The hill country of Galilee is better-watered and more thickly wooded than that of Samaria or Judaea. North of the Bet Netofa Valley (Plain of Asochis) is Upper Galilee, with elevations of 4,000 feet (1,200 metres), a scrub-covered limestone plateau that is thinly populated. To the south, Lower Galilee—with its highest peak, Mount Tabor (1,929 feet [588 metres])—is a land of east-west ridges enclosing sheltered vales like that of Nazareth, with rich basaltic soils. Samaria, the region of the ancient kingdom of Israel, is a hilly district extending from the Plain of Esdraelon to the latitude of Ramallah. Its mountains—Carmel, Gilboaʿ, Aybāl (Ebal), and Al-Ṭūr (Gerizim)—are lower than those of Upper Galilee, while its basins, notably those of the ʿArrābah Plain and Nāblus, are wider and more gently contoured than their equivalents in Judaea. Samaria is easily approached from the coast across the Plain of Sharon and from the Jordan by the Fāriʿah valley. The city of Jerusalem has expanded rapidly along the mountain ridges. From Ramallah in the north to Beersheba in the south, the high plateau of Judaea is a rocky wilderness of limestone, with rare patches of cultivation, as found around Al-Bīrah and Hebron. It is separated from the coastal plain by a longitudinal fosse and a belt of low hills of soft chalky limestone, about 5 to 8 miles (8 to 13 km) wide, known as Ha-Shefela. The Judaean plateau falls abruptly to the Jordan Valley, which is approached with difficulty along the wadis Qelt and Muqalliq. The Jordan Valley is a deep rift valley that varies in width from 1.5 to 14 miles (2.5 to 22 km). In its northern section the bed of the drained Lake Ḥula and of Lake Tiberias (the Sea of Galilee) are blocked by natural dams of basalt. Descending to about 1,310 feet (400 metres) below sea level—the lowest land depth on the Earth’s surface—the valley is exceedingly dry and hot, and cultivation is restricted to irrigated areas or rare oases, as at Jericho or at ʿEn Gedi by the shore of the Dead Sea. The Negev, a desertlike region, is triangular in shape with the apex at the south. It extends from Beersheba in the north, where 8 inches (200 mm) or more of precipitation falls annually and grain is grown, to the port city of Elat on the Red Sea, in the extremely arid south. It is bounded by the Sinai Peninsula on the west and the northern extension of the Great Rift Valley on the east. People The social geography of modern Palestine, especially the area west of the Jordan River, has been greatly affected by the dramatic political changes and wars that have brought this small region to the attention of the world. In the early 21st century, Israeli Jews constituted roughly half of the population west of the Jordan, while Palestinian Arabs—Muslim, Christian, and Druze—and other smaller minorities accounted for the rest. The Jewish population is increasingly composed of persons born in Israel itself, although millions of immigrants have arrived since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. The Arab population is descended from Arabs who lived in the area during the mandate period and, in most cases, for centuries before that time. The majority of both Jews and Arabs are now urbanized. According to Jewish nationalists (Zionists), Judaism constitutes a basis for both religious and national (ethnic) identity. Palestinian nationalists usually emphasize that their shared identity as Arabs transcends the religious diversity of their community. Both Muslim Arabs, constituting about 18 percent of the Israeli population, and Christian Arabs, about 2 percent, identify themselves in the first instance as Arabs. The Arab majority resident in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the still larger number of Arab Palestinians living outside the area (many in nearby countries such as Lebanon) have strongly opposed Israeli control and feared an eventual annexation of the West Bank and Gaza by Israel. Many ideological Jewish Israeli settlers support such an annexation and think those lands properly belong to Israel. In 2005 Arab concerns were partially assuaged when Israel completed its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and handed over control of the territory to the Palestinians, but the Israeli settlement population in the West Bank nearly doubled between 2005 and 2019. Both Zionists and Palestinian Arab nationalists have at various times since the 19th century claimed rightful possession of the area west of the Jordan River. The rivalry between the two groups and their claims have been major causes of the numerous Arab-Israeli conflicts and the continuing crises in the region. Some members of each group still make such sweeping and mutually exclusive claims to complete control of the area, whereas others are more willing to seek a peaceful compromise solution. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine

2024/11/15

The Secret Of Palestine

Hope you guys enjoy this insight of the place. The secret of Palestine is, in fact, its beauty! Make sure to leave a like and a comment on what you think about this video.

2024/11/14

Poland.pl

Jabłonki - a celebration of the best of Poland · Michniów, one of 817 Polish villages that ceased to exist · Paderewski, a legendary piano virtuoso · Food trucks.

2024/11/13