The History of Israel

The Arch of Titus in Rome, photographed by Karl Erickson.

A guest blogger joins us today to share two fascinating timelines of the history of Israel.  More information may be added later...

Israeli History

2000 BC  12 loosely-connected groups of Semitic peoples (now called the 12 tribes of Israel) entered the Land of Canaan

1800-1500 BC Abraham established a Semitic population in the Holy Land, of Semitic peoples called Hebrews or Israelites, who came from Mesopotamia

            Some Hebrews went on to Egypt & were later led back to Canaan by Moses

1000 BC  First king of the Israelites was Saul. His successor David unified the 12 groups into the Kingdom of Israel

957 BC First Temple constructed by Saul (destroyed 586 BC by Babylonians,) 538 BC Second Temple Started, rededicated 165 BC

63 BC  This land fell to the Romans

70 AD  Siege of Jerusalem, Romans destroyed Herod's Temple, as the Temple was now known.

66 AD & 132 AD Jewish revolts against Romans

135 AD Romans forced most Jews to leave, began calling it Palestine, now ruled by Romans & later by the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empires

AD 600's Arabs conquered the region, which was now ruled by the Ottoman Turks to 1917

Mid-1800's European & US Jews formed the Zionist Movement to return to their Holy Land, still controlled by Turkish Ottoman empire

11-9-17   British Balfour Declaration gave Britain a mandate to occupy the land, due to the skirmishes between Arabs and arriving Jews.

12-9-1917  British forces expelled Ottoman Turks from Jerusalem

12-11-1917 British General Allenby entered Jerusalem

1919 Paris (Versailles) Peace Conference created League of Nations & awarded Britain the Palestine mandate as part of post-war partitions.

1920   Palestine became a mandated territory of Britain. Periodic Arab riots 1917-1947.

11-29-47 The UN divided Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state. Jews were given a thin strip of central coastline, an inland

                 wedge of Galilee, and the barren Negev Desert.

                 The Jews accepted this. The Arabs rejected it, being dissatisfied with less than everything.

5-14-48    The nation of Israel was declared and the British left Palestine.

5-15-48    Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq & Jordan attacked Israel & their defeat resulted in the Jews expanding their land holdings

11-30-48  Jerusalem hastily carved up during a temporary ceasefire. Jews hoped for a permanent peace treaty, but Arabs didn't accept that.

early 1949  Israel had defeated the Arabs, & controlled half the land planned by the UN for the new Arab state as war spoils & protective borders.

                  The Arab nations signed armistices, but never treaties, refusing to recognize Israel, hoping for victory and all of Palestine.

1949-1953  “The Ingathering of the Exiles” by Israel. Arab Fedayeen terrorists continually cross borders & kill Israeli civilians.

1950       The Knesset passed the Law of Return offering a home to nearly all Jews everywhere

10-29-56  Israel invaded Egypt due to Nassar having seized, nationalized & closed the Suez Canal, and the unrelenting fedayeen attacks.

                 The invasion was intended to re-open the Straits of Tiran @ Sharm el Shek

                 U.S. Threatens to stop all aid if “Israeli aggression” not stopped with return to “armistice lines.”

11-5-56    Suez War. Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula due to the Suez Crisis. British & French control Suez Canal.

                UN set up a peacekeeping force in Gaza and the Sinai.

1964   PLO founded, a confederation of Palestinian Arab groups. Russia arming the Arabs.

5-67     The UN removed its peacekeeping force in Gaza and the Sinai. The Russians armed Nassar with tanks, fighterjets, and bombers.

             Egypt sent large numbers of troops with Russian tanks into the Sinai, closed Straits of Tiran & blocked Israeli port of Eilat, essentially declaring war

6-5-67 Israel launched a preemptive air attack against Egypt, seeing war as imminent and unavoidable.

            Syria and Jordan then attacked Israel. Israel defeated all 3 in the 6-Day War & Jerusalem fell under exclusive Jewish rule

            for the first time in 3000 years. The U.N. Brokered a ceasefire.

           Israel now occupied Jerusalem, The Sinai, the Gaza Strip, Syria's Golon Heights & Jordan's West Bank, land invaded and occupied in 1948

               by Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

           These lines are what some refer to as “The 1967 Line” seized by Israel in defensive wars, east of which some now call occupied territory.

9-1-67   Khartoum Declaration by Arab governments: no recognition, peace, or negotiations with Israel, goal of ethnic cleansing

1969    Yasser Arafat president of the PLO for 35 years until 2004, ruining the Palestinians' chances of a homeland.

1970     Nassar's War of Attrition against Israeli civilians, border fighting along Suez Canal.

9-5-72   Eleven Israeli athletes murdered at Olympic Games in the Munich Massacre

3-73    I visit Israel 3-4-73 to 3-26-73 from the Sinai Desert in the south to a Kibbutz (Moshav) 1 hour by bus and 1 hours' walk north of Tiberias.

10-6-73    The Yom Kippur War launched by Egypt & Syria in a failed attempt to take back the Sinai

10-24-73   Cease-fire along the Suez Canal.

12-21-73   Geneva Conference to disengage forces toward a peace path.

1975 Israel withdrew from about 1/3 of the Sinai.

7-4-76    Entebbe hostage rescue, 100 people rescued Entebbe Airport, Uganda by Israeli commandos

1977      Egypt's Anwar Sadat visited Israel and spoke to Knesset.

1978 Israel invaded southern Lebanon to stop PLO attacks coming from there.

9-17-78  Camp David Accords, Anwar el Sadat, Menachem Begin, Jimmy Carter.

1979      Peace treaty signed between Israel and Egypt (condemned by the UN as they weren't included), effective January 1980

              Israel still technically at war with its other Arab neighbors.

              Israel withdraws from the second third of the Sinai.

6-7-81   Destruction of Iraqi nuclear reactor by Israeli jets

10-6-81  Anwar Sadat murdered by an Egyptian Islamic Jihadist because he'd gone to Israel and brokered peace.

4-82       Israel withdraws from the final piece of the Sinai, leaves it to Egypt

1982      Israel invaded south Lebanon again, to try to stop PLO attacks from there

1985      Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon, except for a small security zone along the Lebanon border.

12-27-85   Palestinian guerillas kill 19 people in Rome and Vienna airports.

12-9-87 to 1991 1^st Intifada uprising in Gaza Strip and West Bank

8-2-90    U.S. First Gulf War began, Saddam Hussein scud missiles attack Israel.

1991       Madrid Conference.

1993       Oslo Accords, Rabin and Arafat. Without the West Bank Israel (60 miles wide) would be only about 20 miles wide at its center

9-93       An agreement signed by Israel & PLO recognizing each other & for the start of self-government plan for Gaza Strip & West Bank

10-26-94 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty

11-4-95  Yitzhak Rabin murdered at celebration of Oslo Accords by Zionist Israeli because of his attempts to make peace.

7-11-2000  Camp David 2000 Summit, Arafat rejects Israeli land give-away offers which had included most occupied Arab lands

9-2000 to 2005 2^nd Intifada following Arafat's refusal of land offer.

7-12-2006  Lebanon War, Israel invades southern Lebanon for 34 days to stop Hezbollah raids & missile attacks.

6-10-07     Battle of Gaza, Hamas militants defeat Fatah Palestinians & seize control of the Gaza Strip.

12-6-17     Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, some call for 3^rd Intifada

12-13-17    Organization Of Islamic Cooperation, Muslim group at summit meeting in Istanbul, declare East Jerusalem the Palistinian capital

5-15-2018   Israel has been continuously attacked and at war for 70 years.