Palestine a matsayin ƙasar "hanyar wucewa" daga Arewa zuwa Kudu da kuma daga Yamma zuwa Gabas wata alama ce mai ban mamaki. Muhimmancin ƙasar sosai a matsayin mahaɗar kasuwanci, masana'antu, fasaha da harkokin kuɗi, da kuma sabbin hanyoyin noma, da muhimmancin sanannen Via Maris (wato "Hanyar Teku"), wacce ake kira kuma Hanyar Filistiyawa, ba za a iya cewa ya yi ƙasa da ƙima ba. A tarihi, Palestine ta yi amfani sosai da matsayinta na yanki a fannin siyasa da ƙasa a matsayin "ƙasar hanyar wucewa" mai hidimta wa cinikayyar ƙasa da ƙasa da kuma haɗa nahiyoyi uku daban-daban. Duka Filistiyawa da Finikiyawa sun mallaki yawancin gaɓar tekun Levant ta Filistiya da Finikiya (Lebanon ta zamani), kuma Hanyar Filistiyawa, ko Via Maris, an bayyana ta a littafin Fitowa a matsayin "hanyar ƙasar Filistiyawa" (Tsohon Alkawari: "derech Eretz Plishtim": 13:17).

Palestine as a ‘transit country’ from North to South and from West to East is another striking feature. The great importance of the country as a juncture of trade, industry, technology and monetarism, as well as agricultural innovation, and the importance of the famous Via Maris (the ‘Way of the Sea’), also known as Way of the Philistines, can hardly be overstated. Historically Palestine fully exploited its geo-political position as a ‘transit country’ serving international trade and linking three different continents. Both the Philistines and Phoenicians controlled much of the Levantine coast of Philistia and Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) and the Way of the Philistines, or Via Maris, was described in Exodus as the ‘way of the Land of the Philistines’ (Old Testament: ‘derech Eretz Plishtim’: 13:17).

Yawancin shaidun da suka shafi wannan hanya sun fito ne daga majiyoyin Masar da na Assuriya. Sashen da ke haɗa Masar da Falasdinu ta Gaza an bayyana shi a majiyoyin Masar da sunan ‘Hanyar Horus’. Hanya ce mai muhimmanci ta cinikayya da zirga-zirgar ƙasashen duniya, wadda take bi ta gaɓar tekun ƙasar, tun daga farkon zamanin Tagulla. Ita ce mafi muhimmanci a tarihi daga Masar zuwa yankin Levant, kuma ta haɗa Masar da Falasdinu da Fertile Crescent a dukkan zamanun tarihi. A kan hanyarta ne mafi yawan muhimman garuruwan ƙasar suka taso, ciki har da Gaza (babban birnin mulki na gwamnatin Masar ta dā a Falasdinu), Ashdod (Isdud), Ascalon ('Asqalan), Joppa (Jaffa), Tantur (Tantura) da kuma daga baya Caesarea-Palaestina.

Much of the evidence concerning this route comes from Egyptian and Assyrian sources. The section connecting cementing Egypt with Palestine via Gaza was described in Egyptian sources as the ‘Way of Horus’. It was an important international trade and traffic route running through the country’s coastline dating from the early Bronze Age. It was the most important historic route from Egypt to the Levant, and linked Egypt with Palestine and the Fertile Crescent throughout all historical periods; along its route most of the important cities in the country sprang up, including Gaza (ancient Egypt’s administrative capital of Palestine), Ashdod (Isdud), Ascalon (‘Asqalan), Joppa (Jaffa), Tantur (Tantura) and later Caesarea-Palaestina.

Ya bi gaɓar teku ta filin arewacin Sinai da Filistin har zuwa Tantur, sannan ya juya zuwa arewa maso gabas, tare da hanyoyi madadin ta Wadi ‘Ara zuwa Marj Ibn ‘Amer (Filin Esdraelon), sannan ya wuce Dutsen Tabor zuwa arewa zuwa Siriya ta yau. Wani reshe ya ci gaba daga Tantur zuwa arewa tare da gaɓar tekun Foeniciya. Wannan babbar hanyar cinikayya ta ƙasa da ƙasa ta Filistin an haɗa ta da wasu hanyoyin ciniki a cikin ƙasar, ciki har da daga Yafa zuwa Ƙudus, daga Marj Ibn ‘Amer a arewa zuwa kwarin Kogin Jordan a gabas, da kuma daga birnin tashar jiragen ruwa mai arziki na Gaza a kudu zuwa garin cinikayya mai wadata na Petra (wanda asalinsa Larabawan Nabatawa masu ilimin rubutu suka sani da Raqmu) a gabas, da kuma ta hanyar cinikin kayan yaji mai nisa da hanyar turare ta Larabawa da Yemen. Cinikin Larabawan Nabatawa ya bunƙasa a fadin kudancin Filistin da arewacin Larabci. Ba abin mamaki ba ne, saboda dalilai na aiki, cewa tsarin rubutun Larabci na farko (wanda kuma aka sani da rubutun Kufi) – wanda ya samo asali daga rubutun Aramaic na Nabatawa da na farko na Larabci, waɗanda kuma za a iya gano su zuwa haruffan Foeniciya – ya bunƙasa ƙarƙashin tasirin waɗannan muhimman hanyoyin cinikayya na Filistin da Larabawa da kuma yaɗuwar birane a Gabas ta Tsakiya ta Larabawa.

It followed the coastal plain of North Sinai and Palestine until Tantur before veering north-eastwards, with alternative roads through Wadi ‘Ara into Marj Ibn ‘Amer (the Plain of Esdraelon), then passing by Mount Tabor and northwards towards present-day Syria. One branch continued from Tantur northwards along the Phoenician coast. This international trade highway of Palestine was criss-crossed by other trading routes in the country, including from Jaffa to Jerusalem, from Marj Ibn ‘Amer in the north to the Jordan valley in the east and from the rich port city of Gaza in the south to the wealthy trading town of Petra (originally known to its literate Nabataean Arabs as Raqmu) in the east and via the long-distance spice trade and incense route of Arabia and the Yemen. The Nabataean Arab trade flourished across southern Palestine and northern Arabia. Not surprisingly, for practical reasons the earliest form of Arabic script (also known as the Kufi script) – which evolved from the Nabataean Aramaic and proto-Arabic scripts, which, in turn, can be traced to the Phoenician alphabet – evolved under the impact of these important trade routes of Palestine and Arabia and the growing urbanisation of the Arab Near East.