History of Israel

This article is about the modern State of Israel, not Zionism. For Palestine, see (disambiguation).

Palestine Post headline announcing declaration of independence. An online copy is available from http://info.jpost.com/1998/Supplements/1948/

The State of Israel (Hebrew: Medinat Yisrael) was established in 1948 after thousands of years of Jewish dispersal. The Zionist enterprise, with its goal of creating a Jewish national home in Eretz Yisrael, was set in motion by Theodor Herzl in 1897, at the First Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland.

Historical background

Main articles: Jewish history, Land of Israel, History of the Jews in the Land of Israel, and History of Palestine

Jewish ties to Israel before the formation of the Zionist movement

Evidence of a Jewish presence in Israel dates back 3,400 years, to the formation of the religion. The name "Jews" derives from their origin in Judah. Over the course of this long history, the Jews have several times been dispersed and then returned from exile, buttressed by the remarkable power and influence of their holy book, The Tanakh (the Old Testament). The yearning to return to Eretz Yisrael became a universal Jewish theme after the Jewish-Roman wars, which saw the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in the year 70 CE and the subsequent exile of the Jews. A second Jewish revolt in 135 led to the renaming of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina and Judah became known as Palestine until the Crusades. With the destruction of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th century, the British restored the use of the name "Palestine", however the creation of the Jewish state of Israel means that the name used for the territory may vary.

Jews continued to see the Land of Israel as their spiritual home and the Promised Land. While their numbers were smaller, there has never been a time over the last three millennia when there were no Jews in Eretz Yisrael. For generations, however, the theme of the ingathering of the exiles and the re-establishment of the kingdom of Israel was religious in tone due to the belief that the Jewish people would return to Zion with the coming of the Messiah, i.e., through divine intervention. Some Jewish leaders proposed or attempted to return, but they were a minority.

The Crusades were devastating for the Jewish presence in Palestine. Jews were massacred, burnt alive or sold into slavery. The murder of Jews began during the Crusader's travels across Europe and continued in the Holy Land. After the Arab reconquest in the thirteenth century, Sultan Baybars ravished the land to ensure it could not sustain a large population and would not be attractive to invaders. It remained poor under the Ottomans, who took over in the 16th century and ruled it until the 20th.

Between the 13th and 19th centuries, the number of those who made the aliyah (literally "ascent", Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel) rose mainly due to the resurgence of messianic fervor among the Jews of Spain, France, Italy, the Germanic states, Russia and North Africa. During this period, Jewish immigration was also spurred by a general decline in the status of Jews across Europe and an increase in religious persecution. The expulsion of Jews from England (1290) France (1391), Austria (1421) and Spain (the Alhambra decree 1492) were seen by many as a sign of approaching redemption and contributed to the messianic spirit of the time.

By the mid-19th century, the Land of Israel was a part of the Ottoman Empire and a province of Syria, populated mostly by Muslim and Christian Arabs, as well as Jews, Greeks, Druze, Bedouins and other minorities. By 1844, Jews constituted the largest population group (and by 1890 an absolute majority) in a few cities, most notably Jerusalem (although as a whole, the Jewish population made up far less than 10% of the total).

THERE IS NO SUCH THING As ISRAEL........JEWS ARE ALL PUNKS..........PALESTINE IS WHAT THE COUNTRY IS CALLEEDD

1917-1945: British Mandate: The Jewish National Home

After World War I, the League of Nations formally assigned the Palestine mandate to the United Kingdom, endorsing the terms of the Balfour Declaration and additionally requiring the British to set up the Jewish Agency that would administer Jewish affairs in Palestine. An additional treaty was signed with the USA (which did not join the League of Nations) in which the USA endorsed the terms of the mandate.

Following the Jaffa riots, the British mandatory authorities enacted a system of immigration quotas to insure that Jewish immigration did not disrupt Palestine's economy. An exception was made for Jews with over 1000 Pounds in cash (a large sum in those days), or professionals with over 500 Pounds, who would be allowed in despite the quotas. A decision was made to remove Transjordan from the mandate and allow an independent state to be created there.

Jewish immigration grew slowly in the 1920s, but the pace stepped up as Hitler rose to power and Germany became a hotbed of anti-Semitism. With fewer countries willing to admit the Jews, an increasing number headed for Palestine. Arab sources claim this sparked the 1936-1939 Arab uprising, a contention not borne out by the findings of the Peel Commission.

As anti-Semitism spread, the importance of oil led to greater Arab influence. In 1938, as a result of the British policy of appeasement, hundreds of thousands of Czech Jews were stripped of their citizenship. Concerned that Palestine would be inundated by Jews, thus angering the Arabs, the British Government issued the 1939 White Paper which limited Jewish migration to 15,000 a year until 1944, after which Jewish migration was to cease. British restrictions and Jewish desperation to leave Europe led to illegal Jewish migration, mostly in small ships sailing to Palestine.

1945-1948: Jewish uprising against British rule

After the end of World War II, The British Labour Party won the elections in Britain with a manifesto which included a promise to create a Jewish state in Palestine and rescind the 1939 White Paper. However the Labour Foreign Minister, Ernest Bevin, decided to persist with existing policy.

Following the near-extermination of European Jews by the Nazis, the American Jewish community mobilized in massive numbers to support their European brethren, most of whom were desperate to leave the continent and many of whom wished to go to Palestine.

The hundreds of thousands of Jews still alive in Europe were in desperate need of assistance, having lost their possessions and had families and friends murdered. Most were desperate to leave Europe. The British government faced American pressure to allow Jews to enter Palestine, the Palestine mandate had also been endorsed by a special treaty with the USA which gave the USA some say over British actions in Palestine.

In response, the British decided to allow an Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry to investigate possible solutions to the problem of re-locating Jewish refugees. The committee recommended that 100,000 Jews be immediately allowed entry to Palestine and the British government reneged on its promise to Truman, rejecting further Jewish immigration.

In 1946 widespread publicity surrounding the Kielce Pogrom in Poland resulted in a massive wave of Jews seeking to escape Europe (such pogroms were still taking place in Eastern Europe ). In Palestine, Jewish militias (the Haganah, Etzel and Lehi) decided to form a unified Jewish resistance movement against the British. Meanwhile illegal immigration activity grew leading to British counter measures against the Jewish community.

Following a British raid on the headquarters of the Jewish Agency, the Jewish Resistance responded by blowing up the British Military Headquarters in Palestine in the King David Hotel bombing, killing 91 (many of them civilians).

In the days following the attack, Tel-Aviv was placed under curfew and over 120,000 were interrogated by CID. The British government took the decision to imprison illegal Jewish immigrants to Palestine on Cyprus, including children. The camps were to be funded by taxation of the Jewish community in Palestine.

A situation thus developed of a growing British-Jewish conflict in Palestine, fought against a background of Jews trying to leave Europe, large numbers of them seeking to head for Palestine, with growing support from the American Jewish community.

As a result of this conflict the United States Congress refused to ratify loans that were vital to preventing British bankruptcy and the British government took the decision to refer the Palestine to the United Nations. During the UN discussions on the future of Palestine, a ship called the Exodus 1947, left a harbour in France and the British government forcibly returned the Jews on board to British occupied Germany. In November 1947 the UN voted to partition Palestine and create two states, one Arab and one Jewish, with the city of Jerusalem to be under the direct administration of the United Nations.

Although the UN partition decision required Britain to allow unrestricted Jewish use of a port within the Jewish section of Palestine, Britain refused to implement the decision. This meant that Jewish migration remained restricted and Jews continued to be imprisoned on Cyprus. It also meant that while Britain was selling arms to the surrounding Arab states, some of which were then delivered to the Palestinians, the Jews could not import arms. In Transjordan, the forty British officers who commanded the Arab Legion, resigned their commissions in the British Army and became Jordanian soldiers, including the Commander in Chief of the Jordanian Army, General Glubb.

1948: War of independence and statehood

See also: Declaration of Independence (Israel), 1947-1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine, and 1948 Arab-Israeli War

1948 Arab-Israeli War
Part of the Arab-Israeli conflict
David Ben Gurion (First Prime Minister of Israel) publicly pronouncing the Declaration of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948. Tel Aviv, Israel, beneath a large portrait of Theodore Herzl, founder of modern political Zionism
Date November 1947–March 1949 Location Middle East Result Israeli victory, Tactical and strategic Arab failure, 1949 Armistice Agreements Territorial changes State of Israel established from captured territories, Jordanian occupation of West Bank, Egyptian occupation of the Gaza Strip
Belligerents
Israel Haganah File:Pantani.jpgIrgun File:Lehilogo.jpgLehi Palmach Foreign Volunteers	Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Holy War Army, Arab Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
Yaakov Dori, Yigael Yadin	John Bagot Glubb, Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, Hasan Salama, Fawzi Al-Qawuqji, Ahmed Ali al-Mwawi
Strength
Israel: 29,677 initially rising to 115,000 by March 1949	Egypt: 10,000 initially rising to 20,000 Iraq: 5,000 initially rising to 15–18,000 Syria: 2,500–5,000 Transjordan: 6,000–12,000 Lebanon: 1,000 initially rising to 2,000 Saudi Arabia: 800–1,200 Yemen: unknown Arab Liberation Army: 3,500-6,000
Casualties and losses
6,373 KIA (4,000 troops and about 2,400 civilians)	Unknown (between 10,000 and 15,000)

While the Jews of Palestine accepted the UN partition decision, both the Arab leadership in Palestine and the Arab League rejected it. The resolution called for an international force to oversee its implementation but Britain refused to implement the resolution or allow entry to UN forces. As the date of British departure approached, violence mounted across the country.

Fighting began before the formal British departure. Estimates for the number of fighters on each side vary between historians and in the early stages of the conflict most fighters were part-time volunteers. The number of men under arms was not static but grew as the conflict progressed. The number of Palestinian fighters is hard to estimate, but is estimated at around 10,000. By May 1948 the number of Yishuv fighters was around 30,000. According to Morris 'By April-May the Haganah was conducting brigade-size offensives, [...] by mid-May it had thoroughly beaten the Palestinian militias and their foreign auxiliaries.'

On May 14, 1948, the last British forces left Haifa, and the Jewish Agency, led by David Ben-Gurion, declared the creation of the State of Israel, in accordance with the 1947 UN Partition Plan. U.S. President Harry S. Truman immediately recognized the new state, followed hours later by Soviet premier Joseph Stalin. Arab League members Egypt, TransJordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq declared war and announced their rejection of the UN partition decision. They claimed the right of self-determination for the Arabs of Palestine over the whole of Palestine and charged that a quarter of a million Arabs had fled Palestine due to 'Zionist aggression'. They were joined by Saudi-Arabia and Yemen.

On the northern front, the Syrian army was blocked in Deganya. The Jordanian 'Arab Legion', commanded by British officers, refrained from invading Israeli territory and focussed on occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Iraqis held an area adjacent to the modern West-Bank but did little else. On the Southern front, Haganah forces managed to block the invading Egyptian armies in the Ashdod area, and Irgun forces halted the Egyptians advancing on Jerusalem, at Ramat Rachel.

On May 29, 1948 the British initiated United Nations Security Council Resolution 50 and declared an arms embargo on the region. However Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia violated it. This was critical in allowing the Jewish state to acquire military hardware to match that available to the invading Arab states.

In early June, the UN declared a month-long truce. Large numbers of Jewish immigrants, many of them World War II veterans and Holocaust survivors began arriving, and many joined the newly-created Israel Defense Forces (IDF). When the fighting resumed, Israel gained the upper hand.

In March 1949, after many months of battle, a permanent ceasefire went into effect and Israel's interim borders, later known as the Green Line, were established. Following the ceasefire declaration, Britain released over 2,000 Jewish prisoners it was holding on Cyprus and recognized the state of Israel. On May 11, 1949, when the war ended, Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations.

The war for Israel's Independence was the costliest in its history. Out of a Jewish population of 650,000, some 6,000 men and women were killed in the fighting, including 4,000 soldiers in the IDF. The exact number of Arab losses is unknown but the estimates ranged from 10,000 to 15,000 people.

According to United Nations figures, 711,000 Palestinians left Israeli-controlled territory in 1948 and 1949. From his study of the Israeli archives, Benny Morris discovered that the main direct cause of this exodus was military attacks by the Haganah and the IDF. He also confirmed former revelations that after the first truce, the IDF proceeded to massive expulsions of Arabs during operations Dani and Hiram. These conclusions of Morris are now widely accepted among scholars. Morris also concluded the exodus was «made by war, not by design», but there still remains a controversy whether or not there was an official or unofficial policy behind these expulsions and whether this policy was applied as early as April 1948 or even December 1947.

As a result of the war of 1948 and the birth of Israel, several hundreds of thousands of Jews fled Arab lands, and most of them settled in Israel.

History of Israel

The new state established a 120-seat parliament, the Knesset, which first met in Tel Aviv but moved to Jerusalem after the 1949 ceasefire. In January 1949, Israel held its first elections. The first President of Israel was Chaim Weizmann. David Ben-Gurion was elected prime minister.

From 1948 until 1977 all governments were led by Mapai and the Alignment, predecessors of the Labour Party. Early on, a religious status quo agreement was reached between Ben-Gurion and the Rabbinate. One component of the agreement was the exemption of yeshiva students from military service.

1948 - 1953: Ben Gurion and mass immigration

In the early years, Labour Zionists led by David Ben-Gurion dominated Israeli politics and the economy was run on primarily socialist lines.

In 1950 the Knesset passed the Law of Return which granted all Jews the right to immigrate to Israel.

Over the next few years, virtually the entire Jewish populations of Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt were driven out. Jews were not permitted to live in or enter Saudi-Arabia. All the Jews of Algeria left in the early sixties as did most of the Jews of Tunisia and Morocco. The estimated total number of Jews who fled the Arab world was over a million. The property they left behind (much of it in city centres) is a matter of dispute.

In addition, various Nazi war criminals were granted asylum in Egypt and Syria.

From 1948 to 1951, mass immigration brought some 700,000 Jews to Israel, doubling the population and leaving an indelible imprint on Israeli society. Most immigrants to Israel in the early years were either Holocaust survivors or Jews fleeing Arab lands; the largest groups in the first 3 years (over 100,000 each) were from Iraq, Romania and Poland, although immigrants arrived from all over Europe and the Middle East.

From 1948 to 1958, the population rose from 800,000 to two million. During this period, food, clothes and furniture were rationed in what became known as the Austerity Period (Tkufat haTsena). Immigrants were mostly refugees with no possessions and were housed in temporary camps known as ma'abarot.

By 1952, over 200,000 immigrants were living in temporary tents or pre-fabricated shacks built by the government. Most of the financial aid Israel received were private donations from Jews outside the country (mainly in the USA).

The need to solve the economic crisis led Ben-Gurion to sign a reparations agreement with West Germany. During the Knesset debate some 5,000 demonstrators gathered and riot police had to cordon the building. During the debate, the Herut leader Menachem Begin and Ben-Gurion called each other fascists and Begin branded Ben-Gurion a "hooligan."

Dalia Ofer estimates that by 1952 about 400,000 Israelis were Jews who had been severely displaced by the Holocaust, and the Israeli government's demand for German reparations was in lieu of the expenses involved in resettling them. Israel received several billion marks and in return Israel agreed to open diplomatic relations with Germany.

Foreign Relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Israel

In its early years Israel sought to maintain a non-aligned position between the super-powers. The USSR had widespread support in Israel, however in 1952 an anti-semitic public trial was staged in Moscow of a group of Jewish doctors accused of trying to poison Stalin (the Doctors' plot). That and the failure of Israel to get invited to the Bandung Conference (of non-aligned states), effectively ended Israeli non-alignment.

Israel's solution to the diplomatic isolation resulting from Arab boycotts was to establish good relations with the United States and the emerging states in Africa. and Asia. On January 9, 1950, the Israeli government extended recognition to the People's Republic of China, but diplomatic relations were not established until 1992.

A second election was held in 1951, giving much the same result.

At the end of 1953, Ben Gurion retired to Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev.

1954 - 1955: Sharett and the Lavon Affair

Main article: Lavon Affair

In January 1954 Moshe Sharett became Prime-Minister of Israel, however his government was brought down by the Lavon Affair, a crude plan to disrupt US-Egyptian relations, involving Egyptian Jews planting bombs at American sites in Egypt. The plan failed when the eleven agents were arrested. Some maintain that Israel did not do enough to protect its agents, prompted by allegations of torture and mistreatment by the Egyptian authorities. Defence Minister Lavon was blamed despite his denial of responsibility.

In the aftermath of the affair the government resigned and Ben-Gurion returned to the post of Prime-Minister winning the 1955 election.

1955 - 1963: Ben-Gurion II: Sinai Campaign & Eichmann Trial

Main article: 1956 Suez War

In 1955, Czechoslovakia began supplying arms to Egypt, and France became Israel's principle arms supplier.

Rudolph Kastner, a minor political functionary, was accused of collaborating with the Nazis and sued his accuser. Kastner lost the trial and was assassinated two years later. In 1958 the Supreme Court exonerated him.

The Egyptian government began recruiting former Nazis for a missile program using chemical warheads.

The Sinai Campaign came about as conflict between Egypt and Israel increased in 1956. Hundreds of Israeli were killed in Fedayeen attacks from (Egyptian occupied) Gaza into Israeli territory. Initially these attacks were mostly private initiatives, but under Nasser, the Government sponsored the attacks, and Israel responded with reprisal attacks against Gaza.

In 1956 Egypt blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba, and closed the Suez canal to Israeli shipping. The canal was then nationalized, to the dismay of its British and French shareholders. In response, France and the United Kingdom entered into a secret agreement with Israel to take back the canal by force.

In accordance with this agreement (which was not officially admitted until very much later), Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula in October 1956. Israeli forces reached the canal in short order and then French and British forces stepped in on the pretext of restoring order. It is believed the French also agreed to build a nuclear plant for the Israelis and that by 1968 this was able to produce nuclear weapons.

The Israeli, French and United Kingdom forces were victorious, but withdrew in March 1957 due to pressure from the United States and USSR. The United Nations established the UN Emergency Force (UNEF) to keep peace in the area. In return for withdrawal Israel was guaranteed freedom of access to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. In practice the Suez Canal remained closed to Israeli shipping.

In October 1957 a deranged man threw a handgrenade inside the Knesset wounding Ben-Gurion.

Ben-Gurion was once again victorious in the 1959 elections.

File:Eichmann2.jpg

Eichmann in a bullet-proof glass booth during the public trial

In May 1960 the Mossad located Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief administrators of the Nazi Holocaust, in Argentina and kidnapped him to Israel. In 1961 he was put on trial and after several months found guilty and sentenced to death. He was hanged in 1962 and is the only person ever sentenced to death by an Israeli court.

Testimonies by Holocaust survivors at the trial and the extensive publicity which surrounded it has led the trial to be considered a turning point in public awareness of the Holocaust.

In 1961 a Herut non-confidence motion over the Lavon affair led to Ben-Gurion's resignation. Ben-Gurion declared that he would only accept office if Lavon was fired from the position of the head of Histadrut, Israel's labor union organization (due to his role in the Lavon Affair). His demands were accepted and he won the 1961 election.

In 1962 the Mossad began assassinating (former) Nazi scientists working in Egypt after one of them reported the missile program was designed to carry chemical warheads. This action was condemned by Ben-Gurion and led to the Mossad director, Isser Harel's resignation.

In 1963 Ben-Gurion quit again over the Lavon scandal. His attempts to make his party Mapai support him over the issue failed, and Ben-Gurion left the party to form Rafi. Levi Eshkol became leader of Mapai and the new Prime-Minister.

1963 - 1969: Levi Eshkol and the Six-Day War

Main article: Six-Day War

In 1964, Egypt, Jordan and Syria developed a unified military command. Israel completed work on a national water carrier, a huge engineering project designed to transfer Israel's allocation of the Jordan river's waters towards the south of the country in realization of Ben-Gurion's dream of mass Jewish settlement of the Negev desert. The Arabs responded by trying to divert the headwaters of the Jordan and this led to growing conflict between Israel and Syria.

Levi Eshkol

In the 1965 elections Levi Eshkol was victorious.

Until 1966, Israel's principal arms supplier was France, however in 1966, following the withdrawal from Algeria, De Gaulle announced France would cease supplying Israel with arms (and refused to refund money paid for 50 warplanes ).

In 1966 security restrictions placed on Arab citizens of Israel were lifted and efforts began to integrate them into the country's life. Black and white TV broadcasts began.

In 1967, the united Arab military command amassed troops along the Israeli borders, while Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran and Nasser insisted that the UNEF leave Sinai. Syrian and Egyptian forces mobilized toward Israel's border, threatening escalation to a full war while Egyptian radio broadcasts talked of a coming genocide.. Israel was forced to call up its civilian reserves, bringing much of the Israeli economy to a halt.

The Israelis set up a national unity coalition including for the first time Menachem Begin's party, Herut in a coalition. During a radio broadcast by Prime-Minister Levi Eshkol, he stammered, causing widespread concern in Israel. To calm public fears Moshe Dayan (Chief of Staff during the Sinai war) was appointed defense minister. On the morning before Dayan was sworn in June 5 1967, the Israeli air force launched pre-emptive attacks destroying first the Egyptian air force and then later the same day destroying the air forces of Jordan and Syria. Israel then defeated (almost successively) Egypt, Jordan and Syria. By June 11 the Arab forces were routed and all parties had accepted the cease-fire called for by UN Security Council Resolutions 235 and 236.

Israel gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the formerly Jordanian-controlled West Bank of the Jordan River, including East Jerusalem. On November 22, 1967, the Security Council adopted Resolution 242, the "land for peace" formula, which called for the establishment of a just and lasting peace based on Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967 in return for the end of all states of belligerency, respect for the sovereignty of all states in the area, and the right to live in peace within secure, recognized boundaries.

File:Cave of the Patriarchs.jpg

The Enclosure of the Cave of the Patriarchs

For the first time since the end of the British Mandate, Jews could visit the Old City of Jerusalem and pray at the Western Wall to which they had been denied access by the Jordanians (in contravention of the 1949 Armistice agreement). In Hebron, Jews gained access to the Cave of the Patriarchs (the second most holy site in Judaism) for the first time since the 14th Century.. A third Jewish holy site, Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem also became accessible.

After 1967 the USA began supplying Israel with aircraft.

In early 1969, fighting broke out between Egypt and Israel along the Suez Canal. In retaliation for repeated Egyptian shelling of Israeli positions along the Suez Canal, Israeli planes made deep strikes into Egypt in the 1969-1970 "War of Attrition". The United States helped end these hostilities in August 1970, but subsequent U.S. efforts to negotiate an interim agreement to open the Suez Canal and achieve the disengagement of forces were unsuccessful.

In as much as the 1949 Armistice lines were no longer direct borders, and Israel now had the responsibility of administration of Golan, Gaza, West Bank, and Sinai, the opportunity to unite divided Jerusalem was taken, and formal annexation completed. In the late seventies, Israel also formally annexed the Golan. Gaza and the West Bank, overwhelmingly Palestinian, remained as administrative territories, pending a final settlement. Sinai, remained in a military occupation, although its sparse population required little administration.

In late 1969, Levi Eshkol died in office, of a heart attack, and was succeeded by Golda Meir.

1969 - 1975: Golda Meir and Yom Kippur War

Main article: Yom Kippur War

Golda Meir

In the 1969 election, Golda Meir became Prime Minister with the largest percentage of the vote ever won by an Israeli party.

In September 1970 King Hussein of Jordan drove the PLO out of his country. The center of PLO activity now shifted to Lebanon.

During 1971, violent demonstrations by the Israeli Black Panthers, made the Israeli public aware of resentment among Mizrahi Jews at ongoing discrimination and social gaps.

Increased Soviet antisemitism contributed to a wave of Jews braving offical sanction and applying to emmigrate to Israel. Many Jews were refused exit visas and became known as Prisoners of Zion. The most famous was Natan Sharansky.

In 1972, 11 members of the Israeli team to the Munich Olympics were kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists. All the Israeli hostages and some of the terrorists were shot by members of the German security forces (apparently in a botched rescue attempt). The unharmed Palestinian hijackers were released by the Germans one month later. The Israeli government responded with an assassination campaign against the organizers.

The expulsion of Soviet advisors by the new Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat, led to Israeli complacency about the military threat from the Arab world.

The Yom Kippur War began on October 6, 1973 (the Jewish Day of Atonement), the holiest day in the Jewish calendar and a day when adult Jews are required to fast. The Syrian and Egyptian armies launched a surprise attack against the unprepared Israeli Defence Forces. For the first few days there was a great deal of uncertainty about Israel's capacity to repel the invaders, however the Syrians were repulsed and, although the Egyptians captured some territory in Sinai, Israeli forces crossed the Suez Canal and were heading towards Cairo when a cease fire was agreed. Although the war's results were generally favourable to Israel, it cost over 2,000 dead and resulted in a heavy arms bill. The war generally made Israelis more aware of their vulnerability. Following the war, both Israelis and Egyptians showed greater willingness to negotiate. On January 18, 1974, following extensive diplomacy by US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, a Disengagement of Forces agreement was signed with the Egyptian government, and on May 31, with the Syrian government.

On the international scene, the war led the Saudi Government to initiate the oil embargo against countries trading with Israel. As a result many African and Asian countries broke off relations with Israel. Israel was banned from participation in the Asian Games.

In May 1974, Palestinians attacked a School in Ma'alot, holding 100 children hostage. 26 children were killed. In November 1974 the PLO was granted observer status at the UN and Yasser Arafat addressed the General Assembly.

Later that year the Agranat Commission, appointed to assess responsibility for Israel's lack of preparedness for the war, exonerated the government of responsibility and held the Chief of Staff and head of military intelligence responsible. Despite the report, public anger at the Government, led to Golda Meir's resignation.

1975 - 1976: Rabin I: Operation Entebbe, start of Religious Settlements

Following Meir's resignation, Yitzhak Rabin (Chief of Staff during the Six Day War) became prime minister.

Modern Orthodox Jews (Religious Zionist followers of the teachings of Rabbi Kook), formed the Gush Emunim movement and began an organized drive to settle the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

On November 10, 1975, the United Nations General Assembly, under the guidance of Austrian Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, adopted Resolution 3379 which asserted Zionism to be a form of racism. The General Assembly rescinded this resolution on December 16, 1991 with Resolution 46/86. (See also Zionism and racism, Israel, Palestine and the United Nations.)

In July 1976, an Air France plane carrying 260 People was kidnapped by Palestinian and German terrorists and flown to Uganda, then ruled by Idi Amin Dada. There, the Germans separated the Jewish passengers from the Non-Jewish passengers, releasing the non-Jews. The hijackers threatened to kill the remaining, 100-odd Jewish passengers (and the crew who had refused to leave). Despite the distances involved, Rabin ordered a daring rescue operation in which the kidnapped Jews were freed. UN Secretary General Waldheim described the raid as "a serious violation of the national sovereignty of a United Nations member state" (meaning Uganda). Waldheim subsequently turned out to be a former Nazi officer, whose name appeared on a 1947 list of wanted war criminals submitted to the UN by Yugoslavia.

At the end of 1976, Rabin resigned after it emerged that his wife maintained a dollar account in the United States (illegal at the time), which had been opened while Rabin was Israeli ambassador.

Shimon Peres replaced him as prime minister, leading the Alignment in the subsequent elections.

1977 - 1981: Begin I: The Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty

In a surprise result, the Likud led by Menachem Begin won the 1977. elections. This was the first time in Israeli history that the government was not led by the left. Mizrahi anger at discrimination was a key factor in the victory and was to play an important role in Israeli politics for many years. Moroccan born David Levy made a major contribution to winning Mizrahi support for Begin.

In addition to starting a process of healing the Mizrahi-Ashkenazi divide, Begin's government included Ultra-Orthodox Jews and was instrumental in healing the Zionist - Ultra-Orthodox rift. Begin's liberalization of the economy led to hyper-inflation but enabled Israel to begin receiving US financial aid. Begin actively supported Gush Emunim's efforts to settle the West Bank, thus laying the grounds for intense conflict with the Palestinian population of the occupied territories.

In November 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat broke 30 years of hostility with Israel by visiting Jerusalem at the invitation of Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. During a 2-day visit, which included a speech before the Knesset, the Egyptian leader created a new psychological climate in the Middle East in which peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours seemed a realistic possibility. Sadat recognized Israel's right to exist and established the basis for direct negotiations between Egypt and Israel.

Following Sadat's visit, 350 Yom Kippur war veterans organized the Peace Now movement to encourage Israeli governments to make peace with the Arabs.

In September 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter invited President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin to meet with him at Camp David, and on September 11 they agreed on a framework for peace between Israel and Egypt and a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. It set out broad principles to guide negotiations between Israel and the Arab states. It also established guidelines for a West Bank-Gaza transitional regime of full autonomy for the Palestinians residing in these territories and for a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The treaty was signed on March 26, 1979, by Begin and Sadat, with President Carter signing as witness. Under the treaty, Israel returned the Sinai peninsula to Egypt in April 1982. In 1989, the governments of Israel and Egypt concluded an agreement that resolved the status of Taba, a resort area on the Gulf of Aqaba.

The Arab League reacted to the peace treaty by suspending Egypt from the organisation and moving its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. Sadat was later assassinated by members of the Egyptian army which had opposed his efforts to make peace with Israel.

Following the agreement Israel and Egypt became the two largest recipients of US military and financial aid (Iraq has now overtaken them by a large margin).

1981 - 1983: Begin II: The First Lebanon War

See also: Israel-Lebanon conflict

On the 30th June 1981, the Israeli air-force destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor that France was building for Iraq.

Three weeks later, Begin was victorious yet again in the 1981 elections.

In the decades following the 1948 war, Israel's border with Lebanon was quiet compared to its borders with other neighbours. After the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan in 1970, however, Lebanon became the centre of their operations and hostilities on Israel's northern border increased. This helped lead to civil war in Lebanon. The Israeli north, especially the town of Kiryat Shmona, was subject to constant shelling by Palestinian forces in Lebanon.

In March 1978, after the Coastal Road Massacre, Israeli forces crossed into Lebanon commencing Operation Litani. After passage of Security Council Resolution 425, calling for Israeli withdrawal and the creation of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon peace-keeping force (UNIFIL), Israel withdrew its troops.

In June 1982, after the attempted assassination of the ambassador to Britain, Israel invaded the southern half of Lebanon during the 1982 Lebanon War to drive out the PLO, initially from Southern Lebanon and then altogether. The Israeli army occupied Beirut, the only time an Arab capital has been occupied by Israel.

While a few Lebanese did at first welcome the Israelis, almost all Lebanese came to resent Israeli occupation. Heavy Israeli casualties and a lack of clear goals led to increasing disquiet at the war among Israelis as well.

In August 1982, the PLO withdrew its forces from Lebanon (moving to Tunisia). The Lebanese president, Bashir Gemayel, agreed to recognize Israel and sign a peace treaty but was assassinated before any agreement was signed. The following day Christian forces entered two Palestinian refugee camps and massacred the occupants.

The massacre led to massive demonstrations in Israel against the war. An inquiry, appointed to investigate Israeli responsibility for the massacre, concluded that Defence Minister Sharon bore some moral responsibility and recommended that he never again be allowed to hold the post (it did not forbid him from being Prime-Minister).

1984 - 1988: Shamir/Peres rotation government and first Intifada

In September 1983, Begin resigned and was succeeded by Yitzhak Shamir as prime minister. The 1984 election was inconclusive and led to a power sharing agreement between Shimon Peres of the Alignment and Shamir of Likud.

Acting as finance minister Peres successfully brought Israel's rampant inflation under control.

In 1984, during a severe famine in Ethiopia, thousands of Ethiopian Jews were secretly air-lifted to Israel.

In June 1985, Israel withdrew most of its troops from Lebanon, leaving a residual Israeli force and an Israeli-supported militia in southern Lebanon as a "security zone," which Israel considered a necessary buffer against attacks on its northern territory. Israel finally withdrew from this zone in 2000, during the Prime Ministership of Ehud Barak, fulfilling UN Security Council Resolution 425. Lebanon has since claimed a small area of the Golan Heights called "Shebaa Farms" which Israel captured from Syria in 1967.

Main article: First Intifada.

In response to the continuing Israeli settlement and occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip regions, Palestinians began the first Intifada (uprising) in 1987. Israel responded with strong military and police resistance, but failed to end the fighting. The first intifada continued until 1991. Concern at Human Rights abuses by Israeli troops led a group of Israelis to form B'Tselem, an organization devoted to improving awareness and compliance with Human Rights requirements in Israel.

1988 - 1992: Shamir II: The Gulf War and Soviet immigration

The Alignment and Likud remained neck and neck in the 1988 elections but Shamir successfully formed a coalition.

Main article: Gulf War

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, triggering the Gulf War between Iraq and a large allied force, led by the United States. Iraq, seeking to inflame Arab public opinion and draw Arab states out of the alliance (and possibly to Iraq's side), attacked Israel with 39 Scud missiles. Under pressure from the United States, Israel did not retaliate. Instead, it accepted U.S. assistance in deflecting the attacks. One man in the Ramat Khen neighbourhood in Ramat Gan was killed by a MIM-104 Patriot anti-missile missile which went astray. Between 7 and 13 people died from asphyxiation due to gas mask misuse. Statistical analysis suggests that 30-80 excess deaths occurred, mostly from heart attacks due most likely to "emotional stress and breathing difficulties" (Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 273(15), 19 April 1995, pp 1208-1210). Israel provided gas masks for both the Palestinian population and Israeli citizens.

In 1990, the Soviet Union finally permitted free emmigration of Soviet Jews to Israel. Prior to this, Jews trying to leave the USSR faced persecution, those who succeeded arrived as refugees.

Over the next few years some one million Soviet citizens migrated to Israel, there was concern that some of the new immigrants had only a very tenuous connection to Judaism and many were accompanied by non-Jewish relatives.

Additional concerns centered on the ability of these immigrants to adapt to Israeli culture and find suitable employment.

1992 - 1995: Rabin II: Oslo peace talks

Main article: Peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The coalition's victory in the Gulf war opened new possibilities for regional peace, and in October 1991 the U.S. President, George H.W. Bush and Soviet Union Premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, jointly convened a historic meeting in Madrid of Israeli, Lebanese, Jordanian, Syrian, and Palestinian leaders. This meeting became the foundation for ongoing bilateral and multilateral negotiations designed to bring lasting peace and economic development to the region.

In the 1992 elections, the Labour Party, led by Yitzhak Rabin, won a significant victory with a manifesto promising to pursue peace.

On September 13, 1993, Israel and the PLO signed a Declaration of Principles (DOP) on the South Lawn of the White House. The declaration was a major conceptual breakthrough achieved under the Madrid framework. It established an ambitious set of objectives relating to a transfer of authority from Israel to an interim Palestinian authority. The DOP established May 1999 as the date by which a permanent status agreement for the West Bank and Gaza Strip would take effect. Israel and the PLO subsequently signed the Gaza-Jericho Agreement on May 4, 1994, and the Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities on August 29, 1994, which began the process of transferring authority from Israel to the Palestinians.

On July 25, 1994 Jordan and Israel signed the Washington Declaration which formally ended the state of war that had existed between them since 1948. On October 26, 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a historic peace treaty at a border post between the two countries, witnessed by US President Bill Clinton, accompanied by US Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Israel ceded a small amount of contested land to Jordan, and the countries opened official diplomatic relations, with open borders and free trade.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the historic Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on September 28, 1995, in Washington, D.C.. The agreement, witnessed by President Bill Clinton on behalf of the United States and by Russia, Egypt, Norway, and the European Union, incorporates and supersedes the previous agreements and marked the conclusion of the first stage of negotiations between Israel and the PLO.

The agreement allowed the PLO leadership to relocate to the occupied territories and granted autonomy to the Palestinians with talks to follow regarding final status. In return the Palestinians recognized Israel's right to exist and promised to abstain from use of terror.

However the agreement was opposed by Hamas and other Palestinian factions which launched suicide bomber attacks at Israel. Rabin had a barrier constructed round Gaza to prevent attacks.

Tensions in Israel, arising from the continuation of terrorism and anger at loss of territory, led to the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin by a right-wing Jewish radical on November 4, 1995.

1996 - 1999: Netanyahu and Wye accords

In February 1996 Rabin's successor, Shimon Peres, called early elections. Those elections were held in May 1996 and were the first featuring direct election of the prime minister, resulted in a narrow election victory for Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu and his centre-right National Coalition (Likud) and the defeat of Peres and his left-of-centre Labor/Meretz government. On the run up to the election the polls showed that Peres would win a comfortable margin, but a spate of suicide bombings reinforced the Likud position for security. Hamas claimed responsibility for most of the bombings.

Despite his stated differences with the Oslo Accords, Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed to continue their implementation, but his Prime Ministership saw a marked slow-down in the Peace Process. (Netanyahu supporters argue that this slow-down was in response to Palestinian terrorism.)

Prime Minister Netanyahu signed the Hebron Protocol with the Palestinian Authority on January 15, 1997. The Protocol resulted in the redeployment of Israeli forces in Hebron and the turnover of civilian authority in much of the area to the Palestinian Authority.

At the Wye River Conference Center in Maryland, agreement was reached on October 23, 1998. The Wye Agreement is based on the principle of reciprocity and meets the essential requirements of both the parties, including unprecedented security measures on the part of the Palestinians and the further redeployment of Israeli troops in the West Bank. The agreement also permits the launching of the permanent status negotiations as the May 4, 1999 expiration of the period of the Interim Agreement.

1999 - 2001: Barak and Camp David

In the election of July 1999, Ehud Barak of the Labour Party became Prime Minister.

On March 21 2000 Pope John Paul II arrived in Israel for a historic visit.

In 2000, Israel unilaterally withdrew its remaining forces from the "security zone" in southern Lebanon. The UN Secretary-General had concluded that, as of June 16, 2000, Israel had withdrawn its forces from Lebanon in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 425. Lebanon claims that Israel continues to occupy Lebanese territory called "Sheba'a Farms"; but the UN insists that Sheba'a Farms is Syrian, not Lebanese, territory. After the withdrawal the Lebanese government did not assert sovereignty in the area which came under the control of Hezbollah.

In the Fall of 2000, talks were held at Camp David to reach a final agreement on the Israel/Palestine conflict. Although Israel offered to meet most of the Palestinian requests for territory and political concessions, including Arab parts of east Jerusalem, Arafat chose to walk out of the talks.

On September 28 2000, Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount, sparking widespread Palestinian riots. This marked the beginning of the al-Aqsa Intifada. Israel claims that the Palestinians had been planning violence far in advance of Sharon's visit, and that his visit was used as an excuse for the planned violence to be launched. In his book The High Cost of Peace, Yossef Bodansky describes the event: "When Sharon expressed interest in visiting the Temple Mount, Barak ordered GSS chief Ami Ayalon to approach Jibril Rajoub with a special request to facilitate a smooth and friendly visit... Rajoub promised it would be smooth as long as Sharon would refrain from entering any of the mosques or praying publicly... Just to be on the safe side, Barak personally approached Arafat and once again got assurances that Sharon's visit would be smooth..." (p354)

In October 2000, Palestinians destroyed Joseph's Tomb, a Jewish shrine in Nablus. They also stoned worshippers at the Western Wall and attacked another Jewish shrine, Rachel's Tomb.

With the Peace Process increasingly in disarray, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak called a special election for Prime Minister. Barak was hoping that a victory for him would give him renewed authority in negotiations with the Palestinians. But Barak's hopes were not to be, and in 2001, opposition leader Ariel Sharon was elected PM in a special election for Prime Minister in 2001. After this election the system of directly electing the Premier was abandoned.

2001 - 2006: Sharon and unilateral disengagement

The failure of the peace process and increased Palestinian terror led much of the Israeli public and political leadership to lose confidence in the Palestinian Authority as a peace partner. Most felt that many Palestinians view the peace treaty with Israel as a temporary measure only. However many Israelis were anxious to disengage from the Palestinians.

The approved barrier route as of May 2005

In response to intensified bomb attacks, Sharon began construction of a barrier round the West-Bank (the idea had been debated for several years).

On December 18, 2003, then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced he would consider a unilateral withdrawal from parts of the occupied territories in order to make it easier for long term management of the ongoing intifada. This was crystallized as a plan for total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, while maintaining most of the settlements in the West Bank. The US government announced its support for the plan on April 14, 2004. The first phase of the plan regarding the work of technical committees to work out logistical details was approved by the Israeli cabinet on June 6, 2004.

In 2004, the Black Hebrews were granted permanent residency in Israel.

On October 26, 2004, Sharon's withdrawal plan was ratified by the Israeli parliament. The civilians were evacuated from Gaza (some forcibly) and the residential buildings demolished after August 15, and the disengagement from the Gaza Strip was completed on September 12 2005, when the last Israeli soldier left the Gaza strip. The military disengagement from the northern West Bank was completed ten days later.

Following the withdrawal, the Israeli town of Sderot was subject to constant shelling from Gaza.

In 2005 Sharon left the Likud and formed a new party called Kadima. He was joined by many leading figures from both Likud and Labour.

2006 - Present: Olmert and Second Lebanon War

After Ariel Sharon suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke, the powers of the office were passed to Ehud Olmert, who was the designated Acting Prime Minister. On April 14, 2006,

Olmert was elected Prime Minister after his party, Kadima, won the most seats in the 2006 legislative elections.

On 25 June 2006, a Hamas force crossed the border from Gaza and attacked a tank, kidnapping a wounded Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. On 12 July Hizbullah attacked Israel from Lebanon, shelled Israeli towns and attacked a border patrol, kidnapping two wounded Israeli soldiers.

Bibliography

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• Bethell, Nicholas The Palestine Triangle: the Struggle Between the British, the Jews and the Arabs, 1935-48, London: Deutsch, 1979 ISBN 023397069X.
• Bregman, Ahron A History of Israel, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002 ISBN 0333676327.
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• Eytan, Walter The First Ten Years: a Diplomatic History of Israel, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1958
• Israel Office of Information Israel’s Struggle for Peace, New York, 1960.
• Herzog, Haim The Arab-Israeli Wars: War and Peace in the Middle East from the War of Independence to Lebanon, London: Arms and Armour; Tel Aviv, Israel: Steimatzky, 1984 ISBN 0853686130.
• Laqueur, Walter Confrontation : the Middle-East War and World Politics, London: Wildwood House, 1974, ISBN 0704500965.
• Laqueur, Walter & Barry Rubin (editors) The Israel-Arab Reader: a Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict, New York, N.Y. : Penguin Books, 1984 ISBN 0-14-022588-9.
• Lucas, Noah The Modern History of Israel, New York: Praeger, 1975.
• Gilbert, Martin Israel : A History, New York: Morrow, 1998 ISBN 0688123627.
• O’Brian, Conor Cruise The Siege: the Saga of Israel and Zionism, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986 ISBN 0671600443.
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• Facts about Israel: History, Jerusalem: Israel Information Centre, 2003.

Further reading on Lavon Affair

• Doron Geller: The Lavon Affair [1]
• List of books and articles covering the affair [2]
• Jack Riemer: Author unravels the scandal that brought down Ben-Gurion [3]
• Israeli government's summary (in Hebrew) [4]

Arab-Israeli peace diplomacy and treaties

• Paris Peace Conference, 1919
• Faisal-Weizmann Agreement (1919)
• 1949 Armistice Agreements
• Camp David Accords (1978)
• Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty (1979)
• Madrid Conference of 1991
• Oslo Accords (1993)
• Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace (1994)
• Camp David 2000 Summit
• History of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs
• List of Middle East peace proposals
• International law and the Arab-Israeli conflict

See also

• History of Levant
• History of the Jews in the Land of Israel

External links

• The Jewish History Resource Center Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• NAAMZ, Israeli Advocacy Group
• Israel GenWeb - Jewish Genealogy Resources
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• Zionism: Historical Source Documents and texts
• "Zionism" — from the Jewish Virtual Library
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• The UNISPAL web site contains the full texts of hundreds of official documents, including those of the League of Nations and the United Nations, the British government, the Israeli government, the Palestinian authority, and many others.
• Economic History of Israel from EH.NET's Encyclopedia
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