[marktwain]

And you know this how? Palistine was a minor backwater.

The West had been at war with the Islamics for 1300 years. Slave raiding on the Mediterranean by Muslims had only been stopped when the French occupied Algeria in the 1850's. I suppose you could say that Palestine, or as it was called back then, The Holy Land, was an integral part of how Christendom finally started fighting back against the Muslims, starting in 1095.

[PAR35]

And you know this how?

History is my hobby.