History Matters

In school, history was one of those subjects that I always ran away from. Reading out stories from the history book for my little neighbour was always a lot of fun, but studying from the same book for the exam was equally dreadful. The day I decided to write the blog posts on Israel, I had decided not to write anything on its history. A country has a lot of other things to write on, so why history. But as I read more and more, I was pulled deeper, with endless questions in my head. History, be it a country's or a person's is very important to know and understand. It defines the reasons for why things are the way they are today.

So, I will now try to give a brief account of Israel’s history and I hope I do justice to it.

The State of Israel came into official existence on 14th May, 1948, under the UN (Resolution 181) General Assembly. The state at present has a majority of Jewish population, about 5.8 million Jews, who constitute about 75% of the population.

Jews had started migrating to Palestine, an Arab nation, since the early 1880s and the emergence of the Zionist movement. Generally, five main waves of immigration (Aliyah) are identified.

[Zionist movement is a Jewish political movement formed in the 19th century for the purpose of bringing Jews back to Zion (i.e, Jerusalem, the land of Israel).

According to the Bible, Israel was the second name of Jacob, who was the son of Isaac and Rebekah and the grandson of Abraham and Sarah]

The first Aliyah was between 1882 and 1903 and comprised mainly of Russian and Romanian Jews. It was a reaction to a series of anti-Semitic pogroms in southern Russia. It was these people who settled the first major towns and owned agricultural holdings in an area in Palestine which till now had been relatively sparsely populated and economically poorly developed.

[Anti- Semitism is the belief or behaviour hostile toward Jews just because they are Jewish. It may take the form of religious teachings that proclaim the inferiority of Jews, or political efforts to isolate, oppress, or otherwise injure them. It may also include prejudiced or stereotyped views about Jews]

The second Aliyah was between 1904 and 1914. This group also consisted of Jews from Russia who were dissatisfied with the slow pace of social reforms and had become victims of anti-Semitic attacks as a consequence of the 1905 Revolution.

The third Aliyah was between 1919 and 1923, predominantly from Poland and Russia. Their migration was motivated by the Balfour Declaration and also the Zionist movement, which now aspired towards an independent Jewish state.

[In 1917, Britain issued the Balfour Declaration. The declaration was a letter addressed to Lord Rothschild, based on a request of the Zionist organization in Great Britain. The declaration stated Britain's support for the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine, without violating the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities. The declaration was the result of lobbying by the small British Zionist movement, who had emigrated from Russia to Britain, but it was motivated by British strategic considerations]

The fourth, between 1924 and 1931, was also primarily from the Soviet Union and Poland. The Polish Jews in particular suffered from anti-Semitism in Polish government policy, which excluded them from important segments of the economy. The prospects for economic development for Jews in Palestine by this time had significantly improved, and a Jewish infrastructure had been established.

The fifth Aliyah, between 1932 and 1939, involved coming in of about 2, 00, 000 Jews to the Palestinian land. They included Jews from Middle Eastern countries with large Jewish communities such as Yemen and Iraq. Between 1939 and 1945, a large number of European Jews from Poland, Germany, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia also succeeded in fleeing from Nazi terror.

Flashback into earlier history will probably explain things in a better way.

The people of Israel (the Jews) trace their origin to Abraham, who established the belief that there is only one God, the creator of the universe. Abraham, his son Isaac, and grandson Jacob (Israel), are referred to as the patriarchs of the Israelites. All three patriarchs lived in the Land of Canaan (the same as Palestine, later Israel)

The name Israel is derived from the name given to Jacob. The name Jew is derived from Yehuda (Judah), one of the 12 sons of Jacob (Reuben, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Yisachar, Zevulun, Yosef, Binyamin).

The descendants of Abraham crystallized into a nation in about 1300 BC after their migration from Egypt under the leadership of Moses (Moshe in Hebrew). After 40 years in the Sinai desert, Moses led them to the Land of Israel that is cited in The Bible as the land promised by God to the descendants of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel).

The people of modern day Israel share the same language and culture shaped by the Jewish heritage and religion passed through generations starting with the founding father Abraham. The rule of Israelites in the land of Israel starts with the conquests of Joshua (1250 BC). The period from 1000-587 BC is known as the "Period of the Kings". The most noteworthy king was King David (1010-970 BC), who made Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and his son Solomon (970-931 BC), who built the first Temple in Jerusalem as prescribed in the Old Testament.

In 587 BC, Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar's army captured Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and exiled the Jews to Babylon (modern day Iraq).

The year 587 BC marks a turning point in the history of the region. From this year onwards, the region was ruled or controlled by a succession of superpowers of the time in the following order: Babylonian, Persian, Greek Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Empires, Islamic and Christian crusaders, Ottoman Empire, and the British Empire.

This more or less brings us back to from where we started, the end of the British Empire in the area, and the area being divided into regions of Israel and Palestine. This is quite similar to what the British had done to India, their policy of divide and rule.

This decision of dividing the state is still a cause of conflict in the area. There have been four major wars in the area since the division: The 1948 War of Independence, the 1956 Sinai War, the 1967 Six Day War, the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The Israel-Palestine is one of the most sensitive and talked about areas in the world today.

If anyone wants to read further or in greater detail, they can refer to: http://www.mideastweb.org/briefhistory.htm and also look at the internal links on the website.