The whole region is practically an isolated oasis, with a productive
climate due to proximity to the sea.
All communication between the Babylonians, the Chaldeans and the
Assyrians on the one hand, and the Egyptians on the other, was by the
way of Palestine. Thus the Holy Land was at the very center of the
ancient world. It is this position with its fundamental significance in
history which renders it unique among the lands of the earth. It has
always been the refuge of the drifting populations of Arabia. Never
sought for itself alone, except by the Crusaders, it has been over-run
constantly by invaders from the north seeking Egypt, or by the return
attack. Thus the Hittites, Ethiopians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Scythians,
Parthians, Persians, Seljuk Turks, and Mongols in turn devastated it.
Alexander passed through to Egypt in 322 B. C.; the wars of the
Seleucids and Ptolemies passed over it; Pompey in 65 B. C. brought it
under the Roman Empire; the Crusaders established themselves there from
1098 to 1187; Napoleon in 1799 abandoned his first ambition on its soil.
Yet its destiny was typified by the Arab conquest in 634 A. D.; there is
everything to attract the desert tribes, but nothing for others except
the religious sentiment of Christians.