巴勒斯坦作为一个“过境国”，南北走向、东西走向皆然，这是它的另一显著特征。该国作为贸易、工业、技术与货币流通的交汇点，以及农业创新的枢纽，其重要性怎么强调都不为过。著名的“海路”（Via Maris，亦称“海道”或“非利士人之路”）同样重要。从历史上看，巴勒斯坦充分利用了其作为“过境国”的地缘政治位置，服务于国际贸易，并连接着三大洲。非利士人和腓尼基人都曾控制黎凡特沿海的大部分地区，即非利士（Philistia）和腓尼基（Phoenicia，今黎巴嫩）。《出埃及记》中将“非利士人之地的道路”（Via Maris，或称非利士人之路）描述为“通往非利士人之地的道路”（旧约：“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).

关于这条道路的大部分证据来自埃及和亚述的史料。连接埃及与巴勒斯坦并经由加沙的那段路线,在埃及史料中被称为"荷鲁斯之路"。它是一条自早期青铜时代起就存在的重要国际贸易与交通线,沿该国沿海地带延伸。它是从埃及通往黎凡特最重要的历史通道,在各个历史时期都把埃及与巴勒斯坦及肥沃新月地带联系在一起。沿这条路线,该国大部分重要城市相继兴起,包括加沙(古埃及在巴勒斯坦的行政首府)、阿什杜德(伊斯杜德)、阿斯凯隆('Asqalan)、约帕(雅法)、坦图尔(坦图拉),以及后来的凯撒利亚-巴勒斯提那。

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.

它沿北西奈和巴勒斯坦的沿海平原前行，直至坦图尔（Tantur），然后转向东北，另有替代道路经瓦迪·阿拉（Wadi ‘Ara）进入伊本·阿米尔平原（即埃斯德雷隆平原，Marj Ibn ‘Amer / Plain of Esdraelon），再经过他博山（Mount Tabor）向北通往今天的叙利亚。其中一支从坦图尔沿腓尼基海岸向北延伸。这条巴勒斯坦的国际贸易干道与该地区的其他贸易路线交错纵横，包括从雅法到耶路撒冷的道路、从北部的伊本·阿米尔平原到东部约旦河谷的道路，以及从南方富庶的港口城市加沙到东部富裕贸易城镇佩特拉（其识字的纳巴泰阿拉伯人原称之为Raqmu）的道路，还有通往阿拉伯半岛和也门的长途香料与乳香贸易路线。纳巴泰阿拉伯人的贸易在巴勒斯坦南部和阿拉伯半岛北部蓬勃发展。不足为奇的是，出于实际需要，最早的阿拉伯文字体（又称库法体）在这些巴勒斯坦和阿拉伯的重要贸易路线的影响下，以及阿拉伯近东地区城市化的推进中逐渐演变形成。该字体源自纳巴泰阿拉米文和原始阿拉伯文字，而这两者又可追溯至腓尼基字母。

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.