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History of Israel
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The State of Israel ( Medinat Yisrael) was established in 1948 after nearly two thousand years of Jewish dispersal, and after 55 years of efforts to create a Jewish homeland (Zionism). The 60 years since Israeli independence have been marked by conflict with neighbouring Arab states and the Palestinian-Arabs. There have also been many negotiations, and peace has been achieved with Egypt and Jordan. Israel's democracy has survived under difficult circumstances and the country has prospered despite war, ethno-religious conflict, boycotts, mass immigration and terror attacks.
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The State of Israel ( Medinat Yisrael) was established in 1948 after nearly two thousand years of Jewish dispersal, and after 55 years of efforts to create a Jewish homeland (Zionism). The 60 years since Israeli independence have been marked by conflict with neighbouring Arab states and the Palestinian-Arabs. There have also been many negotiations, and peace has been achieved with Egypt and Jordan. Israel's democracy has survived under difficult circumstances and the country has prospered despite war, ethno-religious conflict, boycotts, mass immigration and terror attacks. Since the creation of the Jewish state, the percentage of the world's Jews in Israel has grown; at present, about 40% of the world's Jewish population are Israeli residents.
Introduction: Jewish History in Israel
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 power and influence of their holy book, The Tanakh (the Old Testament).
Before the Arab conquest
The origins of Judaism are uncertain and go back to the dawn of civilization. The Israelites are thought to have come into existence between 1400 and 1100 BCE in Canaan and Egypt, developing an independent kingdom around 1050 BCE.
Around 950 BCE, the kingdom split into the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel. Israel were exiled by Assyria around 720 BCE, becoming the Lost Tribes of Israel.
In 586 BCE King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon conquered the Kingdom of Judah and exiled the population to Babylon. The Bible recounts how, in 538 BCE Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon and issued a proclamation granting the people of Judah their freedom. 50,000 Judeans, led by Zerubabel returned. A second group of 5000, led by Ezra and Nehemiah, returned to Judea in 456 BCE.
In 332 BCE Alexander the Great conquered Judea and sometime thereafter, the first translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint) was begun in Alexandria. In the second century, Antiochus IV Epiphanes tried to eradicate Judaism in favor of Hellenism leading to the 174 - 135 BCE Maccabean Revolt. The success of this revolt is celebrated in the Jewish festival of Chanukka.
In 64 BCE the Roman General, Pompey conquered Judea. The Jewish Temple in Jerusalem became the only religious structure in the Roman Empire which did not contain an effigy of the emperor and was one of the largest religious structures in the world. In 66 CE the Jews broke free of Rome , naming their new kingdom, Israel (to distinguish it from Roman-controlled Iudaea province). Israel's revolt against Roman domination was defeated and Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed by Titus in the year 70 CE and described by the Jewish historian Josephus. A second Jewish revolt in 135 CE also renamed the country "Israel," and its defeat led the emperor Hadrian to rename Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina. Jews were barred from living there and the Roman province, until then known as Iudaea Province, was renamed to Palaestina; no other revolt led to a province being renamed. The names "Palestine" (in English) and "Filistin" (in Arabic) derive from this Latin name.
There was another Jewish revolt in 351–352.
Despite persecution, key Jewish religious texts were compiled in Israel between 200 CE and 1000 CE. In the second century Israeli Rabbis decided which books could be regarded as part of the Hebrew Bible. The Jewish apocrypha were left out (including the Books of the Maccabees). Sacred Jewish texts written in Israel in this period include the Mishnah (200 CE), the Gemara (400 CE) and the Talmud (500 CE).
In 614 a Jewish revolt against Byzantine Emperor Heraclius with Persian support failed, leading to an edict expelling the Jews from Palestine.
According to Muslim tradition, in 620 Muhammed flew from Mecca to the "farthest mosque", whose location is considered to be the Temple Mount, returning the same night. In 631, the Arabs defeated Heraclius and conquered the area. Over the next few centuries, Islam became the dominant religion in the area.
After the Arab Conquest
From 636 till the Crusades, Palestine was ruled by the Rashidun, then the Damascus based Umayyad Caliphs and after that the Baghdad-based Abbasid Caliphs. In 691, Ummayad Caliph Abd al-Malik (685-705) constructed the Dome of the Rock shrine over the Foundation Stone, the holiest part of the Jewish Temple (see also Holy of Holies). The shrine is the oldest Islamic building in the world. A second building, the Al-Aqsa Mosque was erected on the Temple Mount in 705.
Between the 7th and 11th centuries, Jewish scribes, called the Masoretes and located in the Galilee and Jerusalem, established the Masoretic Text, the final text of the Hebrew Bible.
The name Palestine fell out of use under the Crusaders (1099 - 1291), who called the kingdoms they established there "Outremer" (overseas). During the Crusades, Jews in Israel were massacred, burnt alive or sold into slavery. The murder of Jews began during the Crusaders' travels across Europe and continued in the Holy Land. Ashkenazi orthodox Jews still recite a prayer in memory of the destruction caused by the Crusades. From 1260 to 1291 Israel became the frontier between Mongol invaders (who were Crusader allies) and the Mamluks of Egypt. The conflict impoverished the area and severely reduced its population. Sultan Baybars of Egypt eventually expelled the Mongols and eliminated the last Crusader Kingdom of Acre in 1291, thereby ending the Crusades.
The Egyptian Mamluks governed the area 1260 - 1517.
The collapse of the Crusades was followed by the expulsion of Jews from England (1290) and later France (1306). Muslim defeats led to expulsions of Jews from Spain (the Alhambra decree 1492) and Portugal (1497). Expulsions and religious persecution often led to movement of Jews to Israel.
Under the Ottomans (1517—1917) the area was part of the province of Syria.
During the 1648—1654 Khmelnytsky Uprising in the Ukraine over 100,000 Jews were massacred in Eastern Europe, leading to further migration. The Jewish population of Israel was concentrated in the Four Holy Cities.
In 1799 Napoleon briefly occupied the coast and offered to create a Jewish state there but the offer was rejected by the Jews.
By the 19th century, the Land of Israel was populated mostly by Muslim and Christian Arabs, as well as Jews, Greeks, Druze, Bedouins and other minorities. In 1844, Jews constituted the largest population group in Jerusalem and by 1890 an absolute majority in the city, although as a whole the Jewish population made up far less than 10% of the region.
When the British conquered the area in 1917, they named it "Palestine" and defined boundaries including modern Israel, the West-Bank and Gaza and Jordan.
The Zionist Movement
1897–1917: The Zionist Revolution
The French Revolution and the associated spread of Enlightenment ideals led to Jewish emancipation across Europe. Many Jews actively embraced the enlightenment and assimilated as ways to attain equal rights. This led to a counter-reaction by European reactionaries who sought to prevent Jews from being granted citizenship and who saw them as an alien, morally inferior non-European community. Opponents of Jewish civil rights called themselves antisemites. Scientific racism became increasingly popular as the century wore on and what had been religious prejudice now became racial prejudice. In Tzarist Russia, the government actively encouraged pogroms in an effort to divert popular resentment at the government and to drive out the Jewish population. As part of the campaign the Russian government alleged a Jewish conspiracy to achieve world domination.
A small section of the millions of Jews who fled Russia, headed for Palestine. Mikveh Israel was founded in 1870 by Alliance Israelite Universelle, followed by Petah Tikva (1878), Rishon LeZion (1882), and other agricultural communities founded by the members of Bilu and Hovevei Zion.
Antisemitism, pogroms and the growth of nationalism in Europe led to an increase in the number of Jews who considered the possibility of re-establishing themselves as an independent nation. Left-wing antisemitism and the desire to preserve their identity led some socialist Jews to seek solutions within their own community.
In 1897, the First Zionist Congress proclaimed the decision "to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine secured under public law." The movement made little political progress before the First World War and was regarded with suspicion by the Ottoman rulers of the Holy Land.
Zionism attracted religious Jews, secular nationalists and left-wing socialists. Socialists aimed to reclaim the land by working on it and formed collectives. This was accompanied by Revival of the Hebrew language.
During World War I, the British sought Jewish support in the fight against Germany. This and support for Zionism from Prime-Minister Lloyd-George led to foreign minister, Lord Balfour making the Balfour Declaration of 1917, stating that the British Government "view[ed] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people"..."it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine".
The British invasion force, led by General Allenby, included a force of Jewish volunteers (mostly Zionists), known as the Jewish Legion.
1917–1948: British Rule: The Jewish National Home
The League of Nations Mandate
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 creation of an independent 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.
Immigration Restrictions and the Growth of Inter-communal Conflict
Following Arab rioting in 1921, the British mandatory authorities enacted a system of immigration quotas to ensure 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.
Arab attacks on isolated Jewish settlements and British failure to protect the Jews, led to the creation of Haganah (Defense) a mainly socialist Jewish militia dedicated to defending Jewish settlements. Following the 1929 Arab riots, the Revisionist Zionist leader, Jabotinsky, created a right-wing militia called the Irgun Tzvai Leumi, (National Military Organization, known by its acronym "Etzel"), in the thirties this merged with Haganah.
Jewish immigration grew slowly in the 1920s. However, the increased persecution of European Jews by the European Fascist powers (such as the Third Reich) resulted in a marked increase in Jewish immigration.
Rapid Jewish migration led to a large-scale Arab rebellion in Palestine (1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine). The Jewish Agency leader, Ben-Gurion responded to the revolt with Havlagah, a policy of not responding to Arab attacks in order to prevent polarization. The Irgun Tzvai Leumi left the Haganah because of its failure to avenge Arab attacks on Jews.
Concerned that sympathy for the Palestinian Arabs would damage Anglo-Arab/Muslim relations, Britain responded by creating a Royal Commission chaired by Lord Peel. The Peel Commission recommended the partition of Palestine into two separate autonomous regions for Jews and Arabs, with Britain maintaining overall control over the territory and a population transfer to secure full separation between the communities. The proposals were rejected by the British Parliament.
In 1939, the increasing probability of major war in Europe prompted Britain to focus on Arab goodwill and prevent immigration by the growing numbers of Jews trying to enter Palestine. The result was the 1939 White Paper which restricted Jewish immigration to 75,000 over the next five years (further levels requiring Arab consent) and a promise to establish an independent Palestine under Arab majority rule within the next ten years.
The 1939 White Paper broke with the terms of the British Mandate as decreed by the League of Nations and the Balfour Declaration. Despite this, the Jewish Agency leader, Ben-Gurion, decided to support Britain in the coming conflict with Germany and Palestine's Jewish youth were called on to volunteer for the British Army (both men and women). The Etzel also supported this policy, however a small group dedicated to fighting the British broke away and formed the Lehi (Stern Gang), led by Avraham Stern. According to Arthur Koestler, Stern's parents had been on a boat the British returned to Europe in the 1930s where they were killed by the Nazis.
In March 1940 the British High Commissioner for Palestine issued an edict banning Jews from purchasing land in 95% of Palestine.
1945–1948: Jewish uprising against British rule
After the end of World War II, The British Labour Party won the elections in Britain. Labour party conferences had for years called for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. However the Labour Foreign Minister, Ernest Bevin, decided to persist with the 1939 White Paper, due to the continued importance of cordial Anglo-Arab relations to British strategic concerns throughout the region. Britain governed Transjordan, Sudan, Kuwait, the Arab Emirates, Bahrain and the Yemen. It had treaties of alliance with Iraq and Egypt.
In 1943 the USSR released the Revisionist Zionist leader, Menachem Begin from the Gulag and he migrated to Palestine, taking command of the Etzel with a policy of increased conflict against the British. Begin's family had been murdered by the Nazis. At about the same time Yitzhak Shamir escaped from the camp in Eritrea where the British had been holding him without trial and assumed command of the Lehi (Stern Gang). Shamir's parents were murdered by the Polish villagers they grew up among.
The Second World War left all surviving Jews (the minority) in central Europe as refugees, almost all wanted to leave Europe and many opted to move to Palestine. Growing illegal immigration caused the British to take counter measures against the Jewish community and in June 1946 the British arrested thousands of Jews, including the leadership of the Jewish Agency, holding them without trial.
In July 1946 the Kielce Pogrom in Poland led to 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.
The union broke up over the Eztel's July 1946 bombing of the British Military Headquarters in Palestine the King David Hotel bombing, killing 92 (most 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 decided to imprison illegal Jewish immigrants to Palestine, holding them indefinitely and without trial on Cyprus. The prisoners were mostly holocaust survivors, including children and orphans. The camps were funded by taxation of the Jewish community in Palestine. Due to fears in Cyprus that the Jews would never leave (Jewish refugees lacked citizenship or documents), prisoners subsequently began to be released and allowed to move to Palestine at a rate of 750 a month.
Intensifying hostility between the Jewish independence movement and British forces resulted in increased concern over the wider implications of British policy in Palestine. The conflict severely undermined Anglo-American and Anglo-Arab relations, both of which were vital to Britain's post-war international strategy. As a result Ernest Bevin announced the decision to refer the Palestine problem to the UN.
In July 1947 Bevin ordred an illegal immigrant ship, the Exodus 1947, to be sent back to Europe. The passengers were forcibly removed at Hamburg. In August 1947 there were anti-Jewish riots in Liverpool which spread to other major British cities, including London, Manchester, Cardiff, Derby and Glasgow.
In September 1947, one month after Partition of India, the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) recommended partition in Palestine, a suggestion ratified by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947. The result envisaged the creation of two states, one Arab and one Jewish, with the city of Jerusalem to be under the direct administration of the United Nations.
The General Assembly resolution called upon Britain to evacuate a seaport and sufficient hinterland to support substantial Jewish migration, by February 1, 1948. Neither Britain nor the UN Security Council acted to implement the resolution and Britain continued imprisoning Jews attempting to migrate, in camps on Cyprus.
1948: War of independence and statehood
Concerned that partition would severely damage Anglo-Arab/Muslim relations, Britain refused to cooperate with the UN, denying the UN access to Palestine during the interim period (a requirement of the partition decision). Final evacuation was completed by May 1948. Britain continued to hold Jews of "fighting age" and their families on Cyprus even after leaving Palestine. They were eventually released in March 1949.
Civil War
Fighting between the Arab and Jewish communities of Palestine began in November 1947, immediately after the UN decision to create a Jewish state. The Arab States declared they would greet any attempt to form a Jewish state with war. Dr Izzat Tannous, the Palestinian Arab representative to the UN declared that
We are now at war, a war in which no quarter will be asked and none will be given. It will be a battle of life and death and woe to the vanquished.
Fighting spread as the British gradually withdrew. The Arab League could not invade before the British withdrew but planned to invade the day after the British left. In this phase, before the British departure, the struggle was a civil war. Arab forces consisted of village militias buttressed by the Arab Liberation Army, a force composed largely of Arab volunteers from across the Middle-East but which included European mercenaries including British deserters, German Nazis
and veterans of the (Bosnian Moslem) Croation Waffen SS (whose commander had been the Palestinian Mufti of Jerusalem). The Jews had their militias (including many World War II veterans) and a several thousand strong professional force called the Palmach.
Initially the Arabs had the advantage as the British maintained an embargo on Palestine's seas preventing the Jews from importing arms or man power while Arab states could supply local Arabs who also occupied more strategic areas and out-numbered the Jews. The Jews, however, were better organized and believed themselves to be fighting for their lives. Jewish taxes had funded both the British army in Palestine and British support for the Arab population so the Jewish economy benefited from the British departure while the Arab economy collapsed as the war expanded. The Jews had an independent taxation system through the Jewish Agency and could raise funds more effectively.
In the early stages 100,000 Palestinian Arabs, mainly the upper-classes and better off fled to neighbouring states. Before May 1948, 150,000 more fled or were evicted during fighting as the Jews slowly overpowered the Arab forces. Jewish preparation for the Arab invasion led to the eviction of hostile Arab communities who controlled access routes. In Haifa the Arab Higher Committee (who were based in Syria) refused to allow a negotiated cease fire with the Jews or allow the Arab population to remain under Jewish control thus contributing to the departure of the city's Arab population. There was particularly heavy fighting on the road to Jerusalem, whose 100,000 strong Jewish community was cut off from the rest of the country, and this led the Jews to destroy most of the Arab villages along the narrow route they eventually established between Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv.
The impending Arab invasion provided an incentive for Palestinian-Arabs to leave in the expectation that they would soon return. In 1948 Jews were known as a nation with no military tradition who had easily been slaughtered over the preceding century, while the Arabs were a famous warrior nation and an Arab victory was widely anticipated.
State of Israel declared
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. Both U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin immediately recognized the new state.
Creation of the new state coincided with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Arab Invasion
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. Saudi-Arabia and Sudan also sent forces to participate in the invasion.
UN Secretary General Trygve Lie described this as
the first armed aggression which the world had seen since the end of the war”.
The invading Egyptian and Iraqi armies were poorly trained and equipped as the British had feared they would support the Nazis during the Second World War. The Jordanian "Arab Legion" however, was well trained and had aided the British in Palestine. Many Arab Legion forces were still in Palestine when the British left. Arab Legion commanders were high-ranking British officers (who resigned from the British Army in 1948). The Commander-in-Chief was a British General, Glubb Pasha.
The invading Arab armies were initially successful but met far harder Jewish resistance than they expected, causing them to slow their advance. On May 29, 1948 the British initiated United Nations Security Council Resolution 50 and declared an arms embargo on the region. Czechoslovakia violated the resolution supplying the Jewish state with critical military hardware to match the heavy equipment and planes available to the invading Arab states (who were supplied by Britain).
In early June, the UN declared a month-long truce.
Following the announcement of independence, the Haganah became the Israel Defense Forces and the Palmach, Etzel and Lehi were required to join and cease independent existence. During the ceasefire, Irgun attempted to bring in a private arms shipment aboard a ship called "Altalena". When they refused to unconditionally hand over the arms to the government, the ship was sunk. Several Irgun members were killed in the fighting.
Large numbers of Jewish immigrants, many of them World War II veterans and Holocaust survivors now began arriving, and many joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). When the fighting resumed, Israel gained the upper hand.
Arab supply routes were long and fragile and as the war dragged on they had problems replenishing their ammunition supplies. The Jordanian 'Arab Legion', refrained from invading Israeli territory and focused on occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Armistice
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. By that time Israel had conquered the Galilee and Negev, however the Syrians remained in control of a strip of territory along the Sea of Galilee originally allocated to the Jewish state, the Lebanese occupied a tiny area at Rosh Hanikra and the Egyptians held the Gaza strip and had some forces surrounded inside Jewish territory. The Jordanians had occupied East-Jerusalem and the West Bank.
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, 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 between 1947 and 1949 and, over the next few years 850,000 Jews left the Arab world.
At the end of the war, Egypt remained in occupation of the Gaza Strip and Transjordan annexed the "West Bank" and eastern Jerusalem, including the Old City. Except in Jordan, Arab refugees that left Palestine were settled in refugee camps and denied full citizenship and rights by the Arab countries that hosted them.
After Independence
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.
Labour Party Rule 1948–1977
1948–1953: Ben Gurion and mass immigration
Labour Zionists led by David Ben-Gurion dominated Israeli politics and the economy was run on primarily socialist lines, however all governments have been coalitions.
In 1950 the Knesset passed the Law of Return which granted all Jews and those of Jewish ancestry, and their spouses, the right to migrate to and settle in Israel and gain citizenship.
In 1950 50,000 Yemenite Jews were secretly airlifted to Israel. From 1949-1951, massacres led 30,000 Jews to flee Libya. In 1951 Iraqi Jews were granted temporary permission to leave the country and 120,000 were airlifted to Israel.
Jews also fled from Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. Jews were not permitted to live in or enter Saudi-Arabia. About 500,000 Jews left Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia by the late sixties. The property Arab Jews abandoned (much of it in city centres) is a matter of dispute.
In three years (1948 to 1951), mass immigration doubled the Jewish population (700,000 immigrants) and left an indelible imprint on Israeli society. Most immigrants were either Holocaust survivors or Jews fleeing Arab lands; the largest groups (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.
In its early years Israel sought to maintain a non-aligned position between the super-powers. Both the USA and 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), followed by a similar trial in Czechoslovakia (Slánský trial). That and the failure of Israel to get invited to the Bandung Conference (of non-aligned states), effectively ended Israeli non-alignment. At this time the United States pursued close relations with the new Arab states, particularly the Egyptian Free Officers Movement and Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia.
Israel's solution to the diplomatic isolation resulting from Arab boycotts was to establish good relations with the emerging states in Africa and with France which was then engaged in the Algerian War.
A second election was held in 1951, with little change from the previous election.
At the end of 1953, Ben Gurion retired to Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev.
1954–1955: Moshe Sharett and the 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 Egyptians planting bombs at American sites in Egypt. The plan failed when the eleven agents were arrested. Defense 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
In 1955, Czechoslovakia began supplying arms to Egypt, and France became Israel's principal 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 Nazi rocket scientists for a missile program. Some Nazi war criminals found asylum in the Arab world, including Alois Brunner.
The Sinai Campaign came about as conflict between Egypt and Israel increased in 1956. During the Fifties', hundreds of Israelis were killed in Fedayeen attacks from (Egyptian occupied) Gaza into Israeli territory. The attacks began as private initiatives by Palestinian refugees and the victims were frequently Jewish refugees from Arab countries. Fedayeen attacks led to a growing cycle of violence as Israel launched reprisal attacks against Gaza and the Egyptian government organized and sponsored the Fedayeen.
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 Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula in October 1956. Israeli forces reached the Suez canal 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 the withdrawal Israel was guaranteed freedom of access to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal and action to end attacks from Gaza. 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.
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 German rocket 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
In 1963 Yigael Yadin began excavating Massada.
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.
In 1964, Israeli Rabbinical authorities accepted that the Bene Israel of India were indeed Jewish and most of the remaining Indian Jews migrated to Israel. The 2000 strong Jewish community of Cochin had already migrated in 1954.
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, Syria, Egypt and Jordan amassed troops along the Israeli borders and Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. Nasser demanded that the UNEF leave Sinai, threatening escalation to a full war. Egyptian radio broadcasts talked of a coming genocide.
Israel responded by calling 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 national radio broadcast, Prime-Minister Levi Eshkol stammered, causing widespread fear in Israel. To calm public concern 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. East Jerusalem was immediately annexed by Israel and its population granted Israeli citizenship. Other areas occupied remained under military rule (Israeli civil law did not apply to them) pending a final settlement. The Golan was also annexed in 1981.
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. The resolution was accepted by both sides, though with different interpretations, and eventually provided the basis for peace negotiations.
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 (previously Jews were only allowed to pray at the entrance). A third Jewish holy site, Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem also became accessible.
After 1967 the USA began supplying Israel with aircraft. Anti-Semitic purges led to the final migration of the last Polish Jews to Israel.
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 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
In the 1969 election, Golda Meir became Prime Minister with the largest percentage of the vote ever won by an Israeli party. Meir was the first female prime minister of Israel and is the only woman to have headed a Middle Eastern state in modern times.
In September 1970 King Hussein of Jordan drove the Palestine Liberation Organization out of his country. On 18 September 1970 Syrian tanks invaded Jordan, intending to aid the PLO. At the request of the USA, Israel moved troops to the border and threatened Syria, causing the Syrians to withdraw.
The center of PLO activity then shifted to Lebanon, where the 1969 Cairo agreement gave the Palestinians autonomy within the south of the country. The area controlled by the PLO became known by the international press and locals as "Fatahland" and contributed to the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. The event also led to Hafez al-Assad taking power in Syria. Egyptian President Nasser died immediately after and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat.
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 applying to emigrate to Israel. Many Jews were refused exit visas and persecuted by the authorities. They became known as Prisoners of Zion.
In 1972 the US Jewish Mafia leader, Meyer Lansky who had taken refuge in Israel, was deported to the USA. At the Munich Olympics, 11 members of the Israeli team were taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists. A botched German rescue attempt led to the death of all 11 Israeli athletes and coaches. Five of the terrorists were shot and three survived unharmed. The three surviving Palestinians were released without charge by the German authorities a month later. The Israeli government responded with an assassination campaign against the organizers and a raid on the PLO headquarters in Lebanon.
The 1972 expulsion of Soviet advisors by the new Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat, led to Israeli complacency about the military threat from the Arab world. In 1973, 11 days before Yom Kippur, King Hussein repaid Israel for its assistance in September 1970 by warning Golda Meir of an impending Syrian attack. Meir ignored the warning.
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 well-planned surprise attack against the unprepared Israeli Defense 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 a strip of territory in Sinai, Israeli forces had in turn crossed the Suez Canal and were 100 kilometres from Cairo.
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 102 children hostage. Twenty-two 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: Yitzhak 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.
In November 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 in December 1991 with Resolution 46/86.
(See also Israel, Palestine and the United Nations.)
In July 1976, an Air France plane carrying 260 people was hijacked 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 French 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.
In 1976, the ongoing Lebanese Civil War led Israel to allow some South Lebanese to cross the border and work in Israel.
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. The incident became known as the Dollar Account affair.
Shimon Peres replaced him as prime minister, leading the Alignment in the subsequent elections.
In January 1977, French authorities arrested Abu Daoud, the planner of the Munich massacre, releasing him a few days later.
In March 1977 Anatoly Sharansky, a prominent Russian Zionist was sentenced to 13 years hard labour.
Likud Domination 1977–1992
1977–1981: Menachem 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. Many Labour voters voted for the Democratic Movement for Change in protest at high-profile corruption cases. The party joined in coalition with Begin and disappeared at the next election.
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.
Begin had been tortured by the KGB as a young man and one of his first acts was to instruct the Israeli secret service to "use wisdom rather than violence" in interrogations.
"In July 1977, Begin met with President Carter in Washington. Their talks revealed a wide disparity of views. Begin defended Israel’s right to establish and expand Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Carter reminded him that the United States opposed such actions as contrary to international law."
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. Sadat's 2-day visit, which included a speech before the Knesset, was a turning point in the history of the conflict. 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 March 1978, eleven armed Lebanese-Palestinians reached Israel in boats and hijacked a bus carrying families on a day outing, killing 35 people including 13 children. The attackers opposed the Egyptian-Israeli peace process. Three days later, Israeli forces crossed into Lebanon commencing Operation Litani. After passage of United Nations 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 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. The final piece of territory to be repatriated was Taba, which is adjacent to Eilat and returned in 1989.
Development of Israel by decade | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 |
|---|
| Population (millions) | 1.4 | 2.1 | 3 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 6 | | % of world's Jews | 7% | | 20% | 25% | 30% | 39% | | GDP per capita 1995 NIS | 10,100 | 16,800 | 27,800 | 36,000 | 42,400 | |
The Arab League reacted to the peace treaty by suspending Egypt from the organisation and moving its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. Sadat was assassinated in 1981 by Islamic fundamentalist members of the Egyptian army who opposed 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
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. Ariel Sharon was made defense minister. The new government annexed the Golan Heights and banned El Al from flying on the Sabbath.
In the decades following the 1948 war, Israel's border with Lebanon was quiet compared to its borders with other neighbours, however the 1969 Cairo agreement gave the PLO a free hand to attack Israel from South Lebanon. The area was governed by the PLO independently of the Lebanese Government and became known as "Fatahland" (Fatah was the largest faction in the PLO).
Palestinian irregulars constantly shelled the Israeli north, especially the town of Kiryat Shmona which was a Likud stronghold inhabited primarily by Jews who had fled the Arab world. Lack of control over Palestinian areas was an important factor in causing civil war in Lebanon.
In June 1982, the attempted assassination of the ambassador to Britain was used as a pretext for an Israeli invasion aiming to drive the PLO out of the southern half of Lebanon. Sharon connived with Chief of Staff Raphael Eitan to expand the invasion deep into Lebanon despite the cabinet having only authorized a 40 kilometer deep invasion. The invasion became known as the 1982 Lebanon War and the Israeli army occupied Beirut, the only time an Arab capital has been occupied by Israel. Some of the Shia and Christian population of South Lebanon welcomed the Israelis, as PLO forces had maltreated them, however Lebanese resentment of Israeli occupation grew over time and the Shia became gradually radicalized under Iranian guidance. Constant casualties among Israeli soldiers and Lebanese civilians led to growing opposition to the war in Israel.
In August 1982, the PLO withdrew its forces from Lebanon (moving to Tunisia). Israel helped engineer the election of a new Lebanese president, Bashir Gemayel, who agreed to recognize Israel and sign a peace treaty. Gemayal was assassinated before an agreement could be signed and the day after his assassination Phalangist Christian forces led by Elie Hobeika entered two Palestinian refugee camps and massacred the occupants. The massacres led to the biggest ever demonstration in Israel against the war, with as many as 400,000 people (almost 10% of the population) gathering in Tel-Aviv. In 1983, an Israeli public inquiry found that Mr Sharon - as defense minister of the Israeli forces - was indirectly but personally responsible for the massacres. It also recommended that he never again be allowed to hold the post (it did not forbid him from being Prime-Minister).
1984–1988: Yitzhak Shamir / Shimon 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. Peres was prime minister from 1984-1986 and Shamir from 1986-1988.
In 1984, during a severe famine in Ethiopia, 15,000 Ethiopian Jews were secretly air-lifted to Israel during a 36 hour period.
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" and buffer against attacks on its northern territory.
By July 1985 Israel's inflation, buttressed by complex index linking of salaries had reached 480% per annum and was the highest in the world. Peres introduced emergency control of prices and cut government expenditure successfully bringing inflation under control.
In 1986 Natan Sharansky, a famous Russian human rights activist and Zionist refusenik (denied an exit visa) was released from the Gulag in return for two Soviet spies.
Growing Israeli settlement and continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, led to the first Palestinian Intifada (uprising) in 1987 which lasted until the Madrid Conference of 1991, despite Israeli attempts to suppress it. 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, Shamir successfully formed a national unity coalition with the Labour Alignment.
In March 1990, Alignment leader Shimon Peres engineered a defeat of the government in a non-confidence vote and then tried to form a new government. He failed and Shamir became Prime-Minister at the head of a right-wing coalition.
In 1990, the Soviet Union finally permitted free emigration 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, and 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.
In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, triggering the Gulf War between Iraq and a large allied force, led by the United States. Iraq attacked Israel with 39 Scud missiles. Israel did not retaliate. Israel provided gas masks for both the Palestinian population and Israeli citizens.
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. Shamir opposed the idea but was forced into compliance when the Bush administration withheld its loan guarantees needed by Israel to absorb the newcomers from Soviet Union.
1992–1995: Rabin II: Oslo peace talks
In the 1992 elections, the Labour Party, led by Yitzhak Rabin, won a significant victory promising to pursue peace while promoting Rabin as a "tough general" and pledging not to deal with the PLO in any way.
On September 13 1993, Israel and the PLO signed a Declaration of Principles on the South Lawn of the White House. The declaration was a major conceptual breakthrough achieved outside of the Madrid framework which specifically barred foreign-residing PLO leaders from the negotiation process, and a pre-condition insisted upon by Itzhak Shamir. These principles established objectives relating to a transfer of authority from Israel to an interim Palestinian authority, as a prelude to a final treaty establishing a Palestinian state. The DOP established May 1999 as the date by which a permanent status agreement for the West Bank and Gaza Strip would take effect.
In February 1994, a follower of the Kach movement killed 25 Palestinian-Arabs at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron (Cave of the Patriarchs massacre). Kach had been barred from participation in the 1992 elections (on the grounds that the movement was racist). It was subsequently made illegal.
Israel and the PLO signed the Gaza-Jericho Agreement in May 1994, and the Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities in August, which began the process of transferring authority from Israel to the Palestinians.
On July 18 1994, a Jewish day centre in Argentina was blown up , killing 85 people. Argentine investigators concluded the attack was by Lebanese Hezbollah with Iranian assistance.
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 and on October 26 the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace, witnessed by US President Bill Clinton.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on September 28 1995, in Washington. The agreement was witnessed by President Bill Clinton on behalf of the United States and by Russia, Egypt, Norway and the European Union and incorporates and supersedes the previous agreements, marking 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 around 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.
Direct Elections for the Premier 1996–2005
In 1996 the Israeli electoral system was changed to allow for direct election of the Premier. It was hoped this would reduce the power of small parties to extract concessions in return for coalition agreements. Instead the system resulted in increased fracturization of Israeli politics with the larger parties winning fewer votes and the smaller parties becoming more attractive to voters. By the 2006 election the system was abandoned.
1996–1999: Binyamin Netanyahu - the peace process slows
In February 1996 Rabin's successor, Shimon Peres, called early elections. The May 1996 elections were the first featuring direct election of the prime minister and resulted in a narrow election victory for Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu. 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 continued their implementation, but his Prime Ministership saw a marked slow-down in the Peace Process.
In January 1997 Netanyahu signed the Hebron Protocol with the Palestinian Authority, resulting in the redeployment of Israeli forces in Hebron and the turnover of civilian authority in much of the area to the Palestinian Authority.
1999–2001: Ehud Barak and withdrawal from South Lebanon
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. Several thousand members of the South Lebanon Army left with the Israelis.
The UN Secretary-General 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" (however this area was governed by Syria until 1967 when Israel took control). The Sheba'a Farms provide Hezbullah with a ruse to maintain warfare with Israel. The Lebanese government did not assert sovereignty in the area (in contravention of the UN resolution) 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. Ehud Barak offered to meet most of the Palestinian teams requests for territory and political concessions, including Arab parts of east Jerusalem however Arafat abandoned the talks without making a counter proposal.
On September 28 2000, Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount, providing the Palestinians with a pretext for the launching of the al-Aqsa Intifada. Israel claims the Palestinians had planned violence far in advance of Sharon's visit. 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.
In 2001, with the Peace Process increasingly in disarray, Ehud Barak called a special election for Prime Minister. Barak hoped a victory would give him renewed authority in negotiations with the Palestinians. Instead opposition leader Ariel Sharon was elected PM. After this election the system of directly electing the Premier was abandoned.
2001–2006: Ariel Sharon and withdrawal from Gaza and the Northern West Bank
The failure of the peace process, increased Palestinian terror and occasionally attacks by Hizbullah from Lebanon, 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.
In response to a wave of suicide bomb attacks, Sharon began construction of a barrier round the West-Bank.
In January 2003 separate elections were held to the Knesset. An anti-religion party, Shinui won 15 seats making it the third largest party.
In December 2003, Ariel Sharon announced he would consider a unilateral withdrawal from parts of the occupied territories. This crystallized as a plan for total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
In 2004, the Black Hebrews were granted permanent residency in Israel. The group began migrating to Israel 25 years earlier from the United States, but were not recognized as Jews by the state and hence not granted citizenship under Israel's Law of Return. They had settled in Israel without official status. From 2004 they received citizen's rights.
In 2005, all Jewish settlers were evacuated from Gaza (some forcibly) and their homes demolished. Disengagement from the Gaza Strip was completed on September 12, 2005. Military disengagement from the northern West Bank was completed ten days later.
Following the withdrawal, the Israeli town of Sderot and other Israeli communities near the frontier became subject to constant shelling and mortar bomb attacks from Gaza.
In 2005 Sharon left the Likud and formed a new party called Kadima which accepted that the peace process would lead to creation of a Palestinian state. He was joined by many leading figures from both Likud and Labour.
On April 14, 2006, Ariel Sharon suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke and Ehud Olmert became Acting Prime Minister.
2006–2008: Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert was elected Prime Minister after his party, Kadima, won the most seats in the 2006 legislative elections.
Following the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon Hizbullah had mounted periodic attacks on Israel which did not lead to Israeli retaliation. Similarly, the withdrawal from Gaza led to incessant shelling of towns round the Gaza area with only minimal Israeli response. The failure to act led to criticism from the Israeli right and undermined the government.
On June 25, 2006, a Hamas force crossed the border from Gaza and attacked a tank, capturing wounded Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. On July 12, Hezbollah attacked Israel from Lebanon, shelled Israeli towns and attacked a border patrol, taking two dead or badly wounded Israeli soldiers. These incidents led Israel to initiate the Second Lebanon War, which lasted through August 2006. The Israeli army proved unable to prevent Hizbullah from shelling the north of Israel and the military failure led to a public inquiry.
Olmert also came under investigation for corruption and this ultimately led him to announce, on July 30, 2008, that he would be stepping down as Prime Minister following election of a new leader of the Kadimah party in September 2008. Tzippi Livni won the election, but was unable to form a coalition and he remained in office until the general election (set for February 2009).
On December 27, 2008, following the collapse of an unofficial cease-fire between Israel and Gaza and resumption of shelling of southern Israeli towns from Gaza, Israeli forces mounted a three-week campaign in Gaza leading to widespread international protests.
See also
Further reading
- Berger, Earl The Covenant and the Sword: Arab-Israeli Relations, 1948-56, London, Routledge K. Paul, 1965.
- Benny Morris 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War, Yale University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0300126969.
- Bregman, Ahron A History of Israel, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002 ISBN 0333676327.
- Butler, L.J. Britain and Empire: Adjusting to a Post-Imperial World I.B. Tauris 2002 ISBN 1-86064-449-X
- Darwin, John Britain and Decolonisation: The Retreat from Empire in the Post-War World Palgrave Macmillan 1988 ISBN 0-333-29258-8
- Davis, John, The Evasive Peace: a Study of the Zionist-Arab Problem, London: J. Murray, 1968.
- 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.
- The Peel Commission Report, (July 1937) http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/peel1.html
- O’Brian, Conor Cruise The Siege: the Saga of Israel and Zionism, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986 ISBN 0671600443.
- Oren, Michael Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 ISBN 0195151747.
- Rubinstein, Alvin Z. (editor) The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Perspectives, New York: Praeger, 1984 ISBN 0030687780.
- Lord Russell of Liverpool, If I Forget Thee; the Story of a Nation’s Rebirth, London, Cassell 1960.
- Sachar, Howard M. A History of Israel, New York: Knopf, 1976 ISBN 0394485645.
- Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (2001)
- Samuel, Rinna A History of Israel: the Birth, Growth and Development of Today’s Jewish State, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989 ISBN 0297793292.
- Schultz, Joseph & Klausner, Carla From Destruction to Rebirth: the Holocaust and the State of Israel, Washington, D.C. : University Press of America, 1978 ISBN 0819105740.
- Segev, Tom The Seventh Million: the Israelis and the Holocaust, New York: Hill and Wang, 1993 ISBN 0809085631.
- Talmon, J.L. Israel Among the Nations, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1970 ISBN 0297002279.
- Wolffsohn, Michael Eternal Guilt? : Forty years of German-Jewish-Israeli Relations, New York: Columbia University Press, 1993 ISBN 0231082746.
- Facts about Israel: History, Jerusalem: Israel Information Centre, 2003.
- Doron Geller: The Lavon Affair
External links
- Knesset Website
- IDF website
- Prime Minister's Office
- President's Website
- Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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