Question: Why is Israel called “The Holy Land” on most maps these days?
Because of the History; and what the Bible says, regarding God’s future occupation of Jerusalem.
The Future?
What is evident to even the casual observer, and the regular news broadcasts, is that Jerusalem is an unusually special place! Its geographical location is such that it sits on the cross-roads of the old land trade routes from east to west, and north and south; and has been a disputed site for millennia in the ebb and flow of local powers, as they waxed and waned. Since the Roman occupation and the dispersion of the Jews from their Land, of which Jerusalem was their Capital, various peoples have had dominion there, all of them defined as Gentiles by Biblical definition.
Since 1917 and the taking of Jerusalem by General Allenby (ably assisted and maneuvered by T.E. Lawrence, of Arabia fame) much turmoil and conflict has ensued between the various factions. Despite the WW1 victory releasing the whole area from the control of the Ottomans (some WW1 historians attribute much credit to Allenby and Lawrence, and go as far as to say that without the victory in Palestine, the Germans would not have conceded!)
See:
Jerusalem (study)
Jerusalem and 1967 (study & comment)
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