The History of Israel
by Krysta CardinaleIsrael is a country in Western Asia on the southeastern border of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the only Jewish state in the world and has a democratic parliament as its government. The country got its name from the Hebrew Bible. In it, Jacob gains the name Israel after wrestling with a mysterious adversary, and thus the biblical nation that Jacob than fathered was named “The Children or Israel” or the “Israelites.”
The Beginnings
The very first mention of the history of Israel would actually refer to a group of people rather than any actual place. For more than 3,000 years the Jewish people have referred to the area of Israel as their homeland. They saw it as both a Holy Land and a Promised Land. It holds many important religious sites including the remains of the First and Second Temples. Beginning in 1200 BC, Jewish states started forming sporadically throughout the region for over a millennium.
The first modern immigration in the history of Israel was in 1881. A large Jewish population moved in buying land from Arabs. After settling in and building agricultural developments, tension began forming between the Jews and the Arabs. In 1896, Theodor Herzl, an Austrian Jew, founded the Zionist movement. The main purpose of this movement was to establish a national Jewish state. In turn, this caused about 40,000 Jews to move and settle into the area.
In 1917, the British government issued the “Balfour Declaration.” This stated that a national home for the Jewish population was favored in Palestine. After World War I, from 1919 to 1929 the third and fourth waves of Jewish immigration occurred.
In 1929, the Israeli Palestinian conflict came to a head. Riots in Palestine killed over 130 Jewish people. However, this did not stop the influx, and a third wave of Jewish immigration occurred in 1933. In 1922, there was about an 11% Jewish population. Within the next twenty years, the percent increased drastically by 19%. The rise of Nazism and the Holocaust in Europe only created more immigration. By the end of World War II there were over 600,000 Jewish people in Palestine.
As the percentage of Jewish population grew in Palestine, so did the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The Great Arab Uprising lasted from 1936 to 1939. It was a general strike of the Arabs in opposition to Jewish immigration. They attacked oil pipelines, railways, Jewish settlements and individual homes. The strike continued with an assassination of Commissioner Andrews in Nazareth during the fall of 1937. The violence only continued and so did the bloodshed before it finally came to a halt in 1939. Perhaps in response to the violent Israeli Palestinian conflict, the British declared the White Paper Act. It limited Jewish immigration and land purchases, and stated that only 75,000 Jews were allowed to immigrate to Palestine over the period of the war. The Jewish people saw this as a betrayal, and the Arabs were not pleased either; wanting the Jewish immigration to stop completely.
Establishing a Defense
The tension between the Jews and Arabs only continued to mount. With no outside form of help the Jewish population decided to help themselves. They formed the “Haganah.” The Haganah was mainly a defensive system established to protect Jewish settlements. Several of its members split, and formed the Irgun in 1931. This group was much more aggressive in nature, and retaliated against the attacks of the Arab population. A third group split off of this called the Lehi or the “Stern Gang.” This group was the most extreme. These groups had a great impact on the events following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Some of their effects included the establishment of the Israel Defense Forces, and the forming of political parties that are still currently used there.
The Modern Nation of Israel
The story of modern Israel began in 1900’s. Palestine, which had been under Ottoman Turk rule for centuries, was mandated to the British by the League of Nations after World War I. Aware of the persecution the Jews were suffering in Eastern Europe, British statesman, Lord Balfour, suggested that a Jewish homeland be established in Palestine. During the time of British occupation, Jewish immigration to Palestine was limited. The British were concerned with keeping a balance in population and land acquisition between Jews and Arabs. The British tried to manage an impossible situation.
Wearied by the terrible toll of World War II, Britain turned the problem of Palestine back to the United Nations. With fighting increasing to large-scale battles, the UN approved in November 1947 a resolution to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. The Zionists accepted it, but the Arabs rejected it.
On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish leader David Ben-Gurion proclaimed a rebirth of the nation. On this day, one battle ended but another began. The Jewish struggle to have their own homeland was won, but living there in peace was not. Five Arab nations, Trans Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq, mobilized with the goal of liquidating the newly formed Jewish state. So, the war of independence started, which lasted several months and left thousands dead. Ironically, it was the Arabs who ousted the Palestinians out of Israel, so that they would not get hurt in the fighting.
The boundaries of the land were based solely on demographics and the new frontiers were indefensible. Riots broke out with continued killing of Jews, Arabs, and the British. Six months later, and the day after the state of Israel was declared, the British withdrew their last high commissioner from Palestine and all restrictions on immigrations were lifted.
For the Jewish people, Israel was again their homeland. And despite the bombs and gunfire nothing could stop them from nurturing, building their country, and continuing a history of Israel. Forty-five years later, after numerous attempts to reconcile the differences of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, a historic moment occurred.
“We, who have fought against you, the Palestinians, we say to you today, in a loud and a clear voice, enough of blood and tears. Enough.”
-Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995), Israeli prime minister. (September 14, 1993). Speech at the White House, after signing the Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement
In a groundbreaking accord, Israel agreed to Palestinian self rule in the occupied territories, and the PLO agreed to recognize the legitimate existence of modern Israel. The modern nation of Israel had been reborn on May 14th, 1948 and created the world’s only Jewish state.
