Compiled by Gp Capt Kumar Kirinde, SLAF [retd] ….. without its prolific pictroial illustrations [which may be inserted piecemeal as time passes]
ISRAEL … 1876 BC-2025 : Part I ….. A modern day nation-state with a 3,900 years history and which is one of the world’s most technologically advanced and developed countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel#, https://www.perplexity.ai, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus and Google Images
Flag and Emblem of Israel
Introduction: Israel, officially the State of Israel, is one of the most technologically advanced and developed countries globally and spends proportionally more on research and development than any other country in the world. It shares borders with Lebanon Syria, Jordan and Egypt and occupies the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip the Syrian Golan Heights. Part of the Dead Sea lies along its border with Jordan. Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, while Tel Aviv is its largest urban area and economic centre.
Israel is located in a region known as the Land of Israel,* synonymous with the Holy Land,** the Palestine region***, and Judea.****
* Land of Israel is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant which includes present-day Israel, Palestine, and Jordan.
**Holy Land is the term used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam)
***Palestine region includes present-day Israel and Palestine.
****Judea is a mountainous region of the Levant (subregion of West Asia that forms the core of the Middle East.) Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, Judea is now part of Israel and the West Bank
In antiquity it was home to the Canaanite civilisation*, followed by the kingdoms of Israel and Judah**. Situated at a continental crossroad, the region experienced demographic changes under the rule of empires from the Romans to the Ottomans.
* Canaanite civilisation was an ancient Semitic-speaking civilization of the Southern Levant during the late 2nd millennium BC.
** During the Iron Age II period (950–586 BC) two Israelite kingdoms emerged, covering much of Canaan: the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south.
in the late 19th century, (European) Antisemitism* galvanised Zionism,** which sought to establish a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine and gained British support with the Balfour Declaration.***
* Antisemitism is the prejudice or discrimination against Jews.
** Zionism is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in late 19th-century Europe to establish and support a Jewish homeland through the colonization of Palestine, a region corresponding to the Land of Israel in Judaism, an Abrahamic religion.
*** Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British Government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population.
After World War I, Britain occupied the region and established Mandatory Palestine (a geopolitical entity) in 1920. After that the increased Jewish immigration in the lead-up to the Holocaust and British foreign policy in the Middle East led to intercommunal conflict between Jews and Arabs, which escalated into a civil war in 1947 after the United Nations (UN) proposed partitioning the land between them.
After the end of the British Mandate for Palestine, Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948. Neighbouring Arab states invaded the area the next day, beginning the First Arab–Israeli War. An armistice in 1949 left Israel in control of more territory than the UN partition plan had called for and no new independent Arab state was created as the rest of the former Mandate territory was held by Egypt and Jordan, respectively the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The majority of Palestinian Arabs either fled or were expelled in what is known as the Nakba*, with those remaining becoming the main minority of the new State of Israel.
* Nakba is the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings, along with the destruction of their society and the suppression of their culture, identity, political rights, and national aspirations.
Over the following decades, Israel’s population increased greatly as the country received an influx of Jews who emigrated, fled or were expelled from the Arab world.
Following the 1967 Six-Day War*, Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and Syrian Golan Heights.
* The Six-Day War was a war fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states, primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.
After the 1973 Yom Kippur War*, Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt—returning the Sinai in 1982—and Jordan.
* The Yom Kippur War was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria. Most of the fighting occurred in the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights, territories occupied by Israel in 1967.
In 1993, Israel signed the Oslo Accords*, which established mutual recognition and limited Palestinian self-governance in parts of the West Bank and Gaza.
In the 2020s it normalised relations with several more Arab countries via the Abraham Accords*.
* Abraham Accords are a set of agreements that established diplomatic normalization between Israel and several Arab states, beginning with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Signed in Washington, D.C. on September 15, 2020, the accords were mediated by the United States under President Donald Trump.
However, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict after the interim Oslo Accords have not succeeded, and the country has engaged in several wars and clashes with Palestinian militant groups.
As at present, Israel have established and continues to expand settlements across the illegally occupied territories, contrary to international law, and has effectively annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in moves largely unrecognised internationally. Israel’s practices in its occupation of the Palestinian territories have drawn sustained international criticism—along with accusations that it has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Palestinian people—from human-rights organisations and UN officials.
History
Prehistory
The Ubeidiya prehistoric site in Israel indicates the presence of archaic humans around 1.5 million years ago.
Ubeidiya prehistoric site
The second-oldest evidence of anatomically modern humans found outside Africa is a 200,000-year-old fossil from Misliya Cave at Mount Carmel in Israel. The beginning of agriculture in the region during the Neolithic Revolution is evidenced by sites such as Nahal Oren on Mount Camel.
The southern tip of Mount Carmel at sunset
Misliya Cave Nahal Oren
Ancient History
Israelites in Egypt and Exodus
Around 1876 BC, Israelites came to Egypt seeking refuge from famine, settling there and initially lived as a privileged group due to Joseph’s prominent position and influence at Egyptian Pharaoh’s (King’s) court. Over time, the Israelite population grew substantially, which led the Egyptians to view them as a potential threat. Then the Egyptians began oppressing the Israelites, first imposing heavy taxes and labor requirements, then transitioning into systematic forced labor and slavery. The Israelites were forced into hard labor, building cities such as Pithom and Raamses for the Pharaoh.
Israeli’s engaged in hard labour in Egypt
During 1550–1200 BC, large parts of Canaan* formed vassal states of the New Kingdom of Egypt. Ancestors of the Israelites are thought to have included ancient Semitic-speaking peoples native to this area.
* Canaan was an ancient Semitic-speaking civilization and region of the Southern Levant during the late 2nd millennium BC. The Southern Levant is a geographical region that corresponds approximately to present-day Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. Early references to “Canaan” and “Canaanites” appear in ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian texts (c. 2000 BC); these populations were structured as politically independent city-states.
Tel Megiddo, the ruins of a Canaanite and later Israelite city
Egyptian territory under the New Kingdom, c. 15th century BC
Modern archaeological accounts suggest that the Israelites and their culture branched out of the Canaanite peoples through the development of a distinct monolatristic*—and later monotheistic**—religion centered on Yahweh.*** They spoke an archaic form of Hebrew, known as Biblical Hebrew. Around the same time, the Philistines**** settled on the southern coastal plain.
* Monolatry is the belief in the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of only one deity.
** Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.
*** Yahweh was an ancient Semitic deity of weather and war in the ancient Levant.
**** Philistines were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia.
Around 1260–1225 BC the Exodus* happened, an event which freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses who led them to the Promised Land**.
* The Exodus is a foundational narrative in the Hebrew Bible, recounting how the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses. Central to Judaism and influential for Christianity and Islam, the story unfolds as follows:
– Moses is chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of bondage.
– Pharaoh refuses to let them go, prompting God to send a series of ten plagues upon Egypt.
– After the final, most devastating plague, Pharaoh allows the Israelites to leave.
– The Israelites cross the Sea of Reeds (traditionally known as the Red Sea) and begin their journey towards the Promised Land.
Moses parts the Red Sea for the Israelites cross and begin their journey to the Promised Land
– On their journey, they receive the Ten Commandments and enter into a covenant with God at Mount Sinai
** Promised Land refers to a swath of territory in the Levant that was bestowed upon Abraham and his descendants by God. In the context of the Bible, these descendants are originally understood to have been the Israelites, whose forefather was Jacob, who was a son of Abraham’s son Isaac. The concept of the Promised Land largely overlaps with the Land of Israel (Zion) or the Holy Land in a biblical/religious sense and with Canaan or Palestine in a secular/geographic sense.
Establishment of Kingdoms of Israel and Judah
Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah was established in the Promised Land in 1047 BC and 930 BC respectively. The Kingdom of Israel was the more prosperous of the two and soon developed into a regional power, with a capital at Samaria.
Rule of Neo-Assyrians and Neo-Babylonians
The Kingdom of Israel was conquered around 720 BCE by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Kingdom of Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem, later became a client state of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
Neo-Assyrian Empire Neo-Babylonian Empire
It is estimated that the region’s population was around 400,000 in the Iron Age II. In 587/6 BC, following a revolt in Judah, Nebuchadnezzar II, the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, besieged and destroyed Jerusalem and the Solomon’s Temple, dissolved the kingdom and exiled much of the Judean elite to Babylon.
Jerusalem is on fire Solomon’s Temple on fire
Rule of (Persian) Achaemenids and (Greek) Macedonians, Ptolemaics and Seleucids
In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great, founder of the (Persian) Achaemenid Empire captured Babylon and he issued a proclamation allowing the exiled Judean population to return. The construction of the Second Temple was completed c. 520 BC.
Illustration on rebuilding of the Second Temple,1866 (L) and the model of Second Temple displayed within the Holyland Model of Jerusalem at the Israel Museum
The Achaemenids ruled the region as the province of Yehud Medinata*. In 332 BCE, Alexander the Great founder of the (Greek) Macedon Empire conquered the region as part of his campaign against the Achaemenid Empire. After his death, the area was controlled by the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires as a part of Coele-Syria**.
* Yehud Medinata was an autonomous province of the Achaemenid Empire. Located in Judea, the territory was distinctly Jewish, with the High Priest of Israel emerging as a central religious and political leader.
** Coele-Syria was a region of Syria in classical antiquity. The area is now part of modern-day Syria and Lebanon.
Ptolemaic Empire Seleucid Empire
Over the ensuing centuries, the Hellenisation of the region led to cultural tensions that came to a head giving rise to the Maccabean Revolt* of 167 BC.
* The Maccabean Revolt was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life.
Emergence of the Hasmonean Kingdom of Judea
The civil unrest weakened Seleucid rule, and in the late 2nd century AD the semi-autonomous Hasmonean Kingdom of Judea arose, eventually attaining full independence and expanding into neighboring regions.
Hasmonean Kingdom of Judea at its maximum extent, 140–37 BC
Rule of the Romans
The Roman Republic invaded the region in 63 BC, first taking control of Syria, and then intervening in the Hasmonean civil war, a conflict between two claimants to the Hasmonean Jewish crown. What began as an inter-Jewish conflict became a highly decisive conflict that included the Nabataean Kingdom and ended with Roman involvement that resulted in the loss of Jewish independence. The struggle between pro-Roman and pro-Parthian factions in Judea led to the Roman Senate installing Herod the Great in 37 BC as the “King of Jews” and ruler of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea (also referred to as the Kingdom of Herod), who became dynastic vassal of Rome and the kingdom, becoming a client state of the Roman Republic.
In 4 AD, the area was annexed as the Roman province of Judaea; tensions with Roman rule led to a series of Jewish–Roman wars, resulting in widespread destruction. The First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 AD) resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple and a sizable portion of the population being killed or displaced.
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In 6 to 4 BC, Jesus, also referred to as Jesus Christ, a Jewish preacher and religious leader was born in the (Roman controlled) Herodian kingdom of Judea. He, the central figure of Christianity, the world’s largest religion, died in 30 or 33 AD (aged 33 or 38) with the cause death being crucifixion as ordered by the governor of the Roman province of Judaea (formerly Herodian kingdom of Judea) after a trail for the charges; claiming to be “King of the Jews”, inciting the people and subverting the nation and forbidding tribute to Caesar.
Jesus and Pilate
Between 132–136 AD, the Bar Kokhba revolt occurred. It was a major uprising by the Jews of Judaea against the Roman Empire, marking the final and most devastating of the Jewish–Roman wars. Led by Simon bar Kokhba, the rebels established an independent Jewish state that lasted for several years. The revolt was brutally crushed the rebellion, devastating and depopulating Judea’s countryside. Jerusalem was rebuilt as a Roman colony, and the province of Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina. Jews were expelled from the districts surrounding Jerusalem. Nevertheless, there was a continuous small Jewish presence, and Galilee became its religious center.
3rd-century Kfar Bar’am synagogue in the Galilee
Early Modern Era
Rule of the Ottomans
In 1516, the Ottoman Empire conquered the Roman controlled Levant and ruled it as part of Ottoman Syria. Under the Ottoman Empire, the Levant was fairly cosmopolitan, with religious freedoms for Christians, Muslims, and Jews.
Ottoman territories which correspond with the Syrian provinces are shown in purple
Two violent incidents took place against Jews, the 1517 Safed attacks. (attacks in Safed town targeted the 300 odd Jewish households.) and the 1517 Hebron attacks (attacks targeted the Jewish population of the city of Hebron) , after the Turkish Ottomans ousted the Mamluks* during the Ottoman–Mamluk War.
*. Mamluks were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-soldiers, and freed slaves who were assigned high-ranking military and administrative duties, serving the ruling Arab and Ottoman dynasties in the Muslim world.
In 1561 the Ottoman sultan invited Sephardi Jews escaping the Spanish Inquisition to settle in and rebuild the city of Tiberias.
Under the Ottoman Empire’s millet system organised non-Muslims into autonomous communities on the basis of religion. Christians and Jews were considered dhimmi (“protected”) under Ottoman law in exchange for loyalty to the state and payment of the jizya tax.
During the 16th century, Jewish communities struck roots in the Four Holy Cities—Jerusalem, Tiberias, Hebron, and Safed.
As seen today: Hebron (L) and Safed
Jews at the Western Wall* in the 1870s
* Western Wall is an ancient retaining wall of the built-up hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. Its most famous section, known by the same name, often shortened by Jews to the Kotel or Kosel, is known in the West as the Wailing Wall, and in Arab world and Islamic world as the Buraq Wall.
In the second half of the 18th century, Eastern European Jews who were opponents of Hasidism, known as the Perushim, settled in Palestine.
Modern Era
Jewish migration and the Zionist movement
The first wave of modern Jewish migration to Ottoman-ruled Palestine, known as the First Aliyah, began in 1881, as Jews fled pogroms in Eastern Europe. The 1882 May Laws increased economic discrimination against Jews, and restricted where they could live. In response, Zionist movement* took form to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, thus offering a solution to the Jewish question of the European states.
* Zionist movement is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe to establish and support a Jewish homeland through the colonization of Palestine, a region corresponding to the Land of Israel in Judaism and central to Jewish history. Zionists wanted to create a Jewish state in Palestine with as much land, as many Jews, and as few Palestinian Arabs as possible. In 1897 First Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland and the Zionist Organization founded there.
The First Zionist Congress (1897) in Basel, Switzerland
The Jewish population of Palestine from the Ottoman rule to the beginning of the Zionist movement, known as the Old Yishuv, comprised a minority and fluctuated in size.
Antisemitism, pogroms and official policies in tsarist Russia led to the emigration of three million Jews in the years between 1882 and 1914, only 1% of whom went to Palestine. Those who went to Palestine were driven primarily by ideas of self-determination and Jewish identity, rather than as a response to pogroms or economic insecurity.
The Second Aliyah (1904–1914) began after the Kishinev pogrom; some 40,000 Jews settled in Palestine, although nearly half left eventually. Both the first and second waves of migrants were mainly Orthodox Jews. The Second Aliyah included Zionist socialist groups who established the kibbutz movement based on the idea of establishing a separate Jewish economy based exclusively on Jewish labour. Those of the Second Aliyah who became leaders of the Yishuv in the coming decades believed that the Jewish settler economy should not depend on Arab labour. This would be a dominant source of antagonism with the Arab population, with the new Yishuv’s nationalist ideology overpowering its socialist one. Though the immigrants of the Second Aliyah largely sought to create communal Jewish agricultural settlements, Tel Aviv was established as the first planned Jewish town in 1909. Jewish armed militias emerged during this period, the first being Bar-Giora in 1907. Two years later, the larger Hashomer organisation was founded as its replacement.
Zionist leader, Chaim Weizmann’s* efforts to garner British support for the Zionist movement eventually secured the Balfour Declaration of 1917*, stating Britain’s support for the creation of a Jewish “national home” in Palestine.
* Weizmann’s interpretation of the declaration was that negotiations on the future of the country were to happen directly between Britain and the Jews, excluding Arabs. As a result Jewish-Arab relations in Palestine deteriorated dramatically in the following years.
British conquest and their mandate
The end result of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and Weizmann’s interpretation of the same led to British conquest of Palestine, ruled by the Ottomans, with the assistance of the Jewish Legion, primarily Zionist volunteers in 1918. In 1920, the territory (that included modern Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria) was divided between Britain and France under the mandate system.
In March 1921, the British decided to add Transjordan to their Mandate for Palestine, in which they would implement their “Sharifian Solution” policy without applying the provisions of the mandate dealing with Jewish settlement. On 11 April 1921 the Emirate of Transjordan was established within the British Mandate but with a greater level of autonomy than the region west of the Jordan River, the Palestine region. In September 1922, the Council of the League of Nations recognised Transjordan as a state.
The British Mandate for Palestine (that included modern Israel) was named Mandatory Palestine.
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End of Part 1
