Jews have long considered Israel to be their national home — as a Holy Land and a Promised Land. The Land of Israel holds a special place in Jewish religious obligations, including the remains of the Second Temple. It is also the place where Christianity was born, and contains many other sites of great spiritual significance in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. A series of Jewish kingdoms and states existed intermittently in the region for over a millennium until the failure of the Great Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire ended up with widescale expulsion of Jews from their homeland and beloved capital, Jerusalem

In 1947, following increasing levels of violence by militant groups, alongside unsuccessful efforts to reconcile the Jewish and Arab populations, the British government withdrew from the Palestine Mandate. Fulfillment of the 1947 UN Partition Plan would have divided the mandated territory into two states, Jewish and Arab, giving about half the land area to each state. Under this plan, Jerusalem was intended to be an international region under UN administration to avoid conflict over its status. Immediately following the adoption of the Partition Plan by the United Nations General Assembly, the Palestinian Arab leadership rejected the plan to create the as-yet-unnamed Jewish state and launched a guerilla war.

On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was proclaimed. Hoping to annihilate the new Jewish state, the armies of six Arab nations attacked the fledgling state (see: Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948, 1948 Arab-Israeli War). Israel captured an additional 26% of the Mandate territory west of the Jordan river and annexed it to the new state. Jordan captured about 21% of the Mandate territory (which became known as the West Bank), including parts of Jerusalem that included the old city and eastern environments and separated the city into West and East Jerusalem. Jordan's annexation of those territories in 1950 was recognized only by the United Kingdom and Pakistan. The Gaza Strip was captured by Egypt and came under its control. - from Wikipedia.org

On the early of Sep. 1994, President Yasser Arafat issued a Presidential Decree No. 87/94 to establish the Palestinian Civil Aviation Authority and appointed Mr. Fayez Zedan as the chairman. Mr. Zedan was assigned to initiate the organizational infrastructure for aviation in Palestine including the formation of the structural and executive administrations of the the Aviation Authority, building airports, establishing and operating the Palestinian Airline Company.

The recently opened Gaza Airport offers scheduled flights to nearby countries. Direct air travel is also available through Lod Airport.  Jordan and Egypt have open borders with palestine. By sea, Palestine can only be reached through ferries from Haifa, Israel. There are regular ferries to/from Haifia, Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt.