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Israel

__Demography__ ˙ Capital: Jerusalem ˙ Languages: Hebrew and Arabic ˙ 2010 population estimate: 7,587,000 ˙ Currency: shekel ˙ Ethnic breakdown: –75.4% Jewish –20.6% Arab –4% minority

__History__

1897: First Zionist Congress met in Basle, Switzerland, discussing the need for a Jewish homeland (zionists: people supporting a movement in response to anti-Semitism to reestablish a Jewish homeland in the land of Palestine)

1903 and 1905: Kishinev Pogroms (pogrom: organized attack directed negatively at Jews)

1917: British issued the Balfour Declaration- "His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." The British tried to satisfy everyone (all Jews and non-Jews) in their accepting of Jews into Palestine ^1 but would later find out that this was not possible

1939- The White Paper of 1939: Stated that between 1940 and 1944 there would only be 75,000 Jewish immigrants (into the so-called Jewish homeland). -After this, the Arab majority would decide on the number of Jewish immigrants. -The White Paper of 1939 also stated that the government of Palestine would be ruled by the Arab and Jewish citizens of Palestine, in proportion to how many there were (this gave Arabs a majority in the “Jewish” homeland)

1942: The Biltmore Program- Zionist leaders convened in New York to discuss post-war plans of gaining independence from the British mandate

After the Holocaust, survivors sought refuge because they had nowhere to go after the terror. They all wanted to go to their homeland, Israel, but the British controlled it, so they went to Palestine but many were turned away and even put in interment camps. Underground armies like the Haganah started collecting weapons to fight a war for independence from the British mandate.

1947: UN Partition Plan- the UN drew up a plan dividing Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state, which Jews accepted but Arabs rejected. They felt all of Palestine should belong to them. OR The UN partition plan for a Jewish and Arab state side by side is rejected by the Arabs The Little Traitor

1948: Israel gains independence from the British Mandate. Once the British have left, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia all attack Israel.

1949: Israel and surrounding Arab countries agree to an armistice agreement (this was not a peace agreement, just an agreement to stop fighting). Israel gains about 50% more land than originally allotted to them by the UN.

1956: The Suez Campaign- After the Egyptians closed the straits of Tiran and Suez to Israeli ships and many border raids, Israel retaliated, with the support of the British and the French, by invading and occupying the Sinai Peninsula. It was also an attempt to prevent the Egyptians from using weapons acquired from the Soviets.

1964: PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) founded, an organization against Israel.

1967: Six-Day War: between Israel and Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. Israel gained the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.

1973: Yom Kippur War (aka Ramadan War)- between Israelis and Arabs backing Syria and Egypt, fought on the holiest day of the year for Jews and the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims. When both side's allies (the US and the Soviet Union) pitched in to help, it almost became an international crisis because they were the world's two nuclear superpowers. The Israelis won.

1979: Egypt and Israel sign a peace treaty.

1982: Massive Israeli invasion of Lebanon to fight the PLO.

1993: The Oslo Accords was signed, creating a Palestinian Authority with some level of control over the Gaza strip and the West Bank. This also called for the IDF to cut back on its presence in these two territories.

1994: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was killed for his attempts at Israeli-Palestinian peace (he was killed by an Israeli), and was replaced by Shimon Peres

1997: Israelis and Palestinians reach an agreement on a redeployment of troops into the West Bank city of Hebron

2000: Israeli-Syrian peace talks fail as a result of the Syrians’ rejection of the Israeli offer

2006: Islamist radical group Hamas won control of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and the leader of the party refuses to recognize Israel. He also vowed never to give up the claim to all of Palestine.

July 2006: Hezbollah terrorists cross the border and attack an Israeli patrol, killing 3 and capturing 2 soldiers. Hezbollah begins to fire rockets into the north of Israel (i.e Haifa, Tiberias), and Israel retaliates by bombing and shelling Lebanon in order to hit rocket stores. This continues until the middle of August, when a ceasefire was enacted.

2007: Hamas and Fatah agree to share the power, and continue to refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist. The US and Israel insist that they recognize Israel’s right to existence and disarm all terrorist groups.

March 2007: United government sworn in.

June 2007: Hamas ousts Fatah from Gaza Strip in a bloody manner

November 2007: Israelis and Palestinians meet in Annapolis, MD to discuss a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The two-state solution originally suggested by the UN Partition was brought up.

2008-2009: Operation Cast Lead: Upon the expiration of a six month truce between the Gaza Strip and Israel, Israel stepped up the blockade of Gaza and the Palestinians began shooting rockets into Israeli cities and towns. The blockade caused a food and electricity shortage in Gaza. As a result of a ceasefire, Israel finished its withdrawal from Gaza on January 21, 2009.

2009: President Barack Obama speaks historically in Cairo about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the need for the Palestinians to recognize Israel’s right to exist, and the possibility of a two-state solution. The President also called for Israel to stop building settlements in the occupied territories.

2010: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approves the building of 1600 new homes in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian part of Jerusalem. This put a road block in the peace process, and was announced while Vice President Biden was visiting Israel. The US is against the building of these new settlements, because they were about to help restart peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. This puts a definite halt to any of those until Israel agrees not to build the homes.



The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are not included in the State of Israel, but they are disputed territories under the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement (continued effort for a peaceful Israeli-Palestinian coexistence)

Links

Current event: Israeli Rightists Stir Tensions in East Jerusalem

Bibliography

1. "Balfour Declaration." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 29 Apr. 2010 .

Zionism and the History of Israel

CIA World Factbook- Israel