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VOTING |
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| DESCRIPTION |
| Palestine is the ancient name of a Middle Eastern country situated on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Its size has varied greatly throughout its history and its exact borders are even now in dispute.
Its location at the junction of trade routes linking three continents has meant that it was a melting pot for religious and cultural influences. It has also, unfortunately, been a natural battleground for the region's powerful states and thus subject to domination by them, the first of these being Egypt in the third millennium BC.
When Egyptian power began to wane in the 14th century BC, the country was again invaded: this time by Hebrews, who were a Semitic tribe from Mesopotamia, and by Philistines (from whom the country took its name), an Indo-European people.
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| POPULATION |
| 8.5 million (5.8 million in Israel; 2.7 million in Gaza and the West Bank) |
| LANGUAGES SPOKEN |
| Hebrew, Arab & English
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Arab Nations |
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