History of Israel
Israel is associated with the
earliest stage
in the history of humanity by the "Galilee Skull", while recent
excavations
in Jericho have produced the oldest evidence of organized city
life.
The first known inhabitants
of Israel in
historic times were the Canaanites from whom the land long took its
name.
By c. 3000-2500 BCE the inhabitants seem to have been largely Semitic
speaking;
they introduced the use of bronze and developed cities. The Bible
mentions
seven tribes which dominated the country. The long struggle for its
control
between the South (Egypt) and the North (Assyria), which - in varying
political
forms - was to dominate the local scene down to the 19th cent. had
already
begun at this time. The country was now divided into large numbers of
warring
city-states ruled over by petty "kings."
It first enters into Jewish
history with
the immigration of Abraham whose descendants continued to consider it
their
home. The Tel El Amarna letters throw much light on conditions in
Canaan
in the 15th cent. BCE and on the conquests of the Semitic "Habiru,"
perhaps
denoting or comprising incursions by the Israelite tribes. The
Israelite
tribes gave the country (henceforth "the land of Israel") its unity and
historic significance. Except during the brief Crusading interlude
(1099-1187),
the concept of "Palestine" has in fact existed only in relation to
Israelite
and Jewish history. The Israelites' invasion was a slow and difficult
process:
they first established themselves in the plains, and only gradually
obtained
control of the hill-country; the process was completed with the capture
by King David of Jerusalem in c. 1000 BCE. Meanwhile, the disunited and
sometimes warring Israelite tribes, ruled over by regional Judges, were
the prey of other invaders from the north and east. The most dangerous
were the Philistines, sea-invaders from the Aegean, near Greece, who
obtained
firm control of the Maritime Plain in the 12th cent. BCE and thence
pushed
inland.
For a time, it seemed
probable that they
would subdue the whole country. But the threat forged union on the
Israelite
tribes at last, largely through the spiritual dominance of the Prophet
Samuel and the military genius of King Saul who established a monarchy
embracing the entire country. His work was completed by his son-in-law
King David who finally crushed the Philistine menace and extended the
boundaries
of the state in all directions. The latter's son King Solomon raised
the
kingdom to a great pitch of magnificence by his maritime enterprises,
his
lavish court, and his ambitious buildings, including the Temple at
Jerusalem
to serve as a religious center. The heavy taxation which all this
necessitated
resulted in widespread discontent, and after King Solomon's death, the
northern tribes revolted.
Henceforth, the Land of
Israel was divided
for many years into two rival and sometimes warring states -- the
smaller
kingdom of Judah in the south [from which derives the word "Jew"], and
the larger, more luxurious and more powerful kingdom of Israel (or
Shamron-Samaria)
to the north. The latter, weakened by internal dissensions between
rival
dynasties and recurrent wars with the kingdom of Syria (Damascus),
succumbed
in 721 to the Assyrians, its inhabitants being to a great extent
deported
and replaced by new settlers.
The kingdom of Judah, more
secluded geographically
and more staunch spiritually and politically, for the moment escaped
but
succumbed in 586 before the Babylonians (Iraq). Jerusalem was now
destroyed,
large numbers of the inhabitants deported, and the monarchy abolished.
An attempt to renew organized political life in subordination to
Babylonia
under Gedaliah, a member of the old royal house, was ended by his
assassination
(582 BCE).
On the overthrow of the
Babylonian Empire,
the Persian (Iranian) king Cyrus permitted the children of the exiles,
who had continued to cherish the recollection of their former land, to
return and set up an autonomous center in the former territory (539).
Reestablishment
proved a long and painful process, and the center became, to some
extent,
firmly established only with the advent from the Persian court of the
Prohpet
Ezra and Nehemiah. The mixed population of the northem part of the
country
(Samaritans) were excluded from participation in the southern colony,
which,
it was feared, they would contaminate or even dominate.
Henceforth, Judea (as the
southern part
was to be termed) was a semi-autonomous Persian (Iranian) vassal state,
administered by the high priest of the Jerusalem Temple, while the
Samaritans
had their center on Mt. Gerizim. The invasions of Alexander the Great,
which replaced Persian by Greek dominance, resulted in the
establishment
of Greek colonies along the coastal plain and around the Jordan valley
and in giving the entire country a European rather than Asiatic
orientation.
The general political circumstances were, however, unchanged under the
alternate
control of the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria.
This continued until in the
2nd cent. BCE
the attempt of Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria to hellenize (adopt Greek
culture)
the country by force, religiously as well as culturally, led to the
Hasmonean
revolt (165), the miracle of Hannuka and the reestablishment for the
first
time since 586 of full independence under the Hasmonean house (142)
which
converted the rule of High Priests into a monarchy (104). Successive
wars
of conquest, particularly under John Hycanus (135-104), extended
its rule over the whole of historic Land of Israel.
Henceforth, though the
Greeks were strong
on the coastal plain, etc. and the Samaritans in the central
hill-country,
almost all the Land of Israel was Jewish, Galilee in particular being
now
a center of patriotic sentiment. In 63 BCE, the expansion of the Romans
in the Middle East brought the Land of Israel into their political
orbit.
For a period of many centuries, it was part of the Roman Empire,
whether
administered nominally by members of the Hasmonean dynasty, by the
house
of Herod, or directly by the Roman procurators and proconsuls.
There were interludes only
in 55-49, when
it was a vassal kingdom under Parthian control, and during the two
great
Jewish revolts of 66-70 CE and 132-5. These resulted in the
depopulation
of great parts of the country, non-Jewish settlers being introduced and
many districts, particularly in the south, losing their Jewish
character.
Although the Romans
ultimately regained
political reign, They sacked the city of Jerusalem and expelled the
bulk
of the Jewish survivors from the country. The cost of victory was
shattering, though, it is said that as many as 580,000 men were slain,
Romans as well
as Jews. It was after the debacle that Hadrian changed the name of the
city of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina, ordered the building of a temple
of Jupiter on the Jewish Temple site and "forbade any Jew, on pain of
death,
to appear within sight of the city." Jews began to migrate to the
southern coast of Arabia and what is modern day Yemen. See "After
the destruction of the Temple, the Jews fled to Arabia."
Nevertheless, a solid
Jewish life continued
to maintain itself (after 135, principally in Galilee) based as
formerly
on agriculture and increasingly controlled by the intellectual leaders
and the "Patriarchs" (presidents of the Sanhedrin) whose authority was
in due course recognized by the Roman government also. This was the
period
of the intense intellectual life reflected in the Mishnah, Palestinian
Talmud, and Midrash. But increasing areas of the country now had a
distinctly
pagan aspect: for example the new administrative center on the coast,
Caesarea,
in which the Jews were a minority to Romans, was one of the hubs of
Roman-Greek
intellectual life, and some cities of the Decapolis in the North were
centers
of philosophical study.
The Christianization of the
Roman Empire
in the 4th cent., the moral pressure and waves of violence which
succeeded
it, and the anti-Jewish legislation henceforth adopted by the emperors
resulted in the complete undermining of the position of Jews in
Palestine,
now a focus of Christian piety. The abolition of the Patriarchate in
425
reflected as well as stimulated this process. Although the Jewish
element
in the population remained strong and there was considerable
intellectual
activity (evidenced in the development of poetry, the Midrash, and the
Masorah), Jews were now a minority in the country, henceforth in most
respects
indistinguishable from any other Roman (or in due course Byzantine)
province.
The Jews assisted the
Persian (Iranian)
invaders in 614/28 and suffered when they were ejected. Under the
Moslems,
who conquered the country in 635/40, their role was unimportant, though
an attempt was made to revive intellectual life by the establishment of
a Gaonate, in imitation of that of Babylonian (Iraqi) Jewry. Under the
Ummayad caliphs, ruling from Damascus, the country prospered. Palestine
was, however, neglected when the Abbasid dynasty transferred its
capital
to more distant Baghdad. Henceforth, once again it became the perennial
bone of contention of the rival rulers of Egypt and Iraq, the
consequent
depopulation finally reducing the Jewish population to a minority.
The incursion of the
Crusaders in 1099
was followed by the setting up of a western feudal state in the country
which lasted, in a turmoil of war, only until 1187, and in 1291, the
last
Christian stronghold (at Acre) fell. The incursion of the Tatars in the
13th cent. added to the devastation. The country was now under Egyptian
rule and without political importance.
In 1517, it was conquered
(with Egypt)
by Turkey for whom it was usually a remote and unimportant province
regarded
as little more than a source of revenue. This was the period of the
renewal
of the Jewish settlement on any scale-in part through the arrival after
1492 of Jewish refugees from Spain and Portugal, in part through the
emergence
of Safed as the great kabbalistic center, and, to a minor extent,
through
the attempt of Joseph Nasi (and after him Solomon Ibn Yaish) to
establish
an autonomous center around Tiberias.
Connection between Israel
and the Diaspora
was maintained by the emissaries from the "Four Holy Cities" of
Jerusalem,
Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron who traveled abroad to collect alms for the
maintenance of the Jewish institutions. Local pashas were frequently
corrupt
and oppressive (e.g. Muhammad Ibn Farukh, Pasha of Jerusalem, who
barbarously
maltreated the Jews there in 1625). On the other hand, local rulers who
established a firmer government (e.g. the Beduin sheikh Dahir al-Urnar,
who rebuilt Tiberias in 1740 with Jewish participation led by R Hayyim
Abulafia, or Ahmed al-Jazzar, governor of Acre 1775-1804) were unable
to
perpetuate it.
In the late 18th cent., the
Jewish settlement
was greatly reinforced by an Ashkenazi (European) Jewish refugees --
first
of Hasidim (1777), followed by Mitnaggedim (Perushim) whose early
settlements
were mainly in Galilee.
Napoleon's campaign in
1799, in the course
of which he called on the Jews to rally to his armies and help free the
Holy Land from the Turks, proved only a momentary disturbance. The firm
administration of Mehemet Ali of Egypt, which made a promising
beginning
in 1831, was ended by the Powers (England, Austria, Prussia, Russia)
after
onlv 9 years. The establishment of more peaceful conditions in the
Mediterranean
in the 19th cent., accompanied by a vast improvement in communications,
opened up Palestine more and more to outside influence. Its importance
in international politics was enhanced both by the cutting of the Suez
Canal and by the southerly advance of Russia. Visitors to and settlers
in the Land of Israel now became more common.
Religious institutions of
all faiths were
established in great profusion. The Jewish population rapidly
increased.
The restrictions on the settlement of Jews in Jerusalem were removed,
that
city attaining before long a Jewish majority. Sir Moses Montefiore and
others began to attempt the founding of Jewish agricultural colonies.
In
1882, the Bilu settlers initiated a new chapter in the history of
colonization
backed up by the resources of Baron Edmond de Rothschild , while the
second
wave of Europen refugees, sparked by Russian pogroms from 1904 onward
placed
Jewish rural life in Israel, supported by a Hebrew-speaking culture, on
a firm social basis.
The British campaigns of
1917-8, in the
course of World War I, led to the termination of Turkish rule. The
administration
was now entrusted by the League of Nations to Great Britain as the
Mandatory
Power with the object of implementing the Balfour Declaration for the
creation
of a Jewish National Home in what is now Israel and Jordan, Sir
Herbert Samuel becoming the first High Commissioner (1920-5).
But in 1922, in an attempt
to to appease
Arab objections, and after obtaining the necessary assurances that
peace
would follow, an arrangement negotiated by Winston Churchill, then the
British colonial secretary, detached Transjordan from the historic
Palestine,
setting it up as a separate emirate in which Jewish settlement was
forbidden.
See History of Jordan, Jordan as Palestine
The British administration,
at first enthusiastically
hailed by the Jewish population, proved to be temporizing. Jewish
political
rights were restricted, Arab objections sometimes favored if not
fostered,
and immigration and expansion arbitrarily limited. See Britain's
role in bringing in illegal Arabs and keeping out Jews, trying to
create
an artificial Arab majority in Palestine 1920-1948
Nevertheless, the labor of
the Jewish immigrants
and the influx of Jewish capital into the country after 1918 -
sometimes
restricted, sometimes lavish, but never ceasing - changed the face of
the
country. New settlements were founded, swamps drained, forests planted,
and cities created or vastly expanded (e.g. Tel Aviv). The condition of
the Arab population, especially in the towns, was also benefited
enormously,
though in the countryside effendi landowners rather than the
hard-working
peasant enjoyed the advantage. This attracted hundreds of thousands of
Arab immigrants from Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Transjordan to Israel
seeking
better means of employment.
This economic expansion was
given a powerful
stimulus after the beginning of Nazi persecution in Europe in 1933
when,
in spite of all obstacles, Jewish refugees, and the consequent
investment
of capital, increased still further.
In 1936, Arab intifada
stimulated by the
German and especially Italian Fascist governments, led by Haj
Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem anxious to embarrass
England
in the Middle East, developed into guerilla warfare which lasted
sporadically
for some three years, but the development of the country continued
without
interruption. Owing to the increasing restrictions imposed by the
British
authorities, "illegal immigration," of refugees carefully organized,
assumed
considerable proportions from 1940. By 1936, the total population of
Palestine
(Israel and Jordan) was 1,367,000 of whom (in Israel) 384,000 were
Jews.
The British obstruction,
even after the
European tragedy of 1939-45, of the Jewish right of settlement in
Israel
guaranteed by the Balfour Declaration, led to an intensification of
activity
for the establishment of a fully autonomous Jewish state. From 1945
onward,
there was increasing tension, mounting bloodshed, and the beginning of
large-scale clashes with the British forces, used to prevent Jewish
refugees,
as well as with the Arab guerrillas.
Ultimately, the British
government referred
the problem to the United Nations which recommended the division of
Palestine
into independent Arab and Jewish states (Nov. 1947). The British
Mandate
terminated on May 15, 1948. The previous day the state of Israel had
been
proclaimed An Arab Invasion 1948
followed and a war against the Arab coalition resulted in the extension
of the area of the state beyond the boundaries proposed by the United
Nations.
It comprised the whole of the coastal plain, Galilee, part of Samaria,
and the Negev, together with the new parts of Jerusalem and a
"corridor"
leading up to it. The remainder of the country - including the Old City
of Jerusalem and virtually the whole of Transjordan became the Kingdom
of Jordan, and Egypt invaded the Gaza Strip.
The character of the
country was changed
by the flight of the majority of the Arab migrant workers and the
arrival
by 1958 of a million Jewish refugees, extensive soil conservation, the
foundation of settlements, extension of irrigation schemes,
establishment
of industries, etc. In particular, great expanses of the Negev have
been
systematically developed and settled, resulting in the extension of the
effective area of the Land of Israel for the first time in the modern
period
over much of the south, including an outlet to the
Indian
Ocean, via the Red Sea, at Elath
1. The
Standard Jewish Encyclopedia,
1959
This page was produced
by Joseph
E. Katz
Middle Eastern Political
and Religious
History Analyst
Brooklyn, New York
E-mail
to a friend
|