#Israel - has only been an Independent state since 14th May 1948

Like many people I had prior knowledge of Israel and Palestine but for my own interest and peace of mind - and with the focus of being in Israel, I have set down below what I understand to be the main staging points in the emergence and formation of Israel to how it is now. I do so without judgement or comment.

However before doing so I am going to research a fundamental question that has been puzzling me. " what is a Jew ?" The answer I have come up with is as follows :

Jews or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah. Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the ethnic religion of the Jewish people, although its observance varies from strict to none.

Research appears to show Jews were an ethnic and religious group living in the Levant from 13th century BC. Gradually these peoples dispersed under pressure in 3 main groups to Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and N Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula and subsequently spread further from there as we know. The Jews maybe total 20 million now. 

An interesting question is are all Jews linked by DNA ? From what I have read and there is a lot of qualifiction - and given time scales involved the answer seems to be a broad yes - especially in the 3 main groups referred to above.

Back to my main topic ! 

THE MAIN STAGING POINTS TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PRESENT DAY ISRAEL

• Palestine - historically an undefined area but taken to be largely the area that is now Israel plus the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestine is not to be confused with todays State of Palestine.
• The Palestine area above is at least in part referred to as The Holy Land. The Holy Land is held sacred by Jews, Christians and Muslims. (a separate explanation to follow)
• The name Palestine might have come from the Philistines who occupied some of the land in the 12th century BC
• Many peoples have lived in this area over history and it has been subject to many wars, occupations and control as below. Much was focused on control of the ancient city of Jerusalem.
• 1200 to 586 BC the Israelites.
• 538 to 63 BC The Persians
• 63 BC to 212 AD The Romans - Jesus's time.
• 313 - 636 The Byzantines - Greeks.
• 636 to 1099 Arab rule.
• 1099 to 1291 The Crusades and Saladin - Christians striving to overturn Arab - Muslim rule.they 
• 1291 - !917 Palestine was controlled as part of the Ottoman Empire (essentially a Turkish empire).
• Jews Christians and Muslims lived throught but numbers dwindled and it is estimated to 200000 at the beginning of the 16th century.

Please stay with me - this is where it gets particularly interesting and relevant to today. 

• Zionism - refers to the nationalist movement of Jews in the 19th century to establish a Jewish homeland. It came with the realisation that Jews needed to have a permanent home and Theodor Herzl particularly was very active on the international stage to promote the idea. The idea became very popular and gained a lot of support.
• So the Ottomans  - the Turks controlled Palestine until 1917 and the end of the first world War. 
• 1918 - 1948 By the end of the war the Ottoman Empire ended as they had allied with Germany.
•  The League of Nations was formed (a forerunner of the United Nations). Britain was granted the role of running Palestine on the basis that it worked to secure a permanent home for the Jews and the area of Palestine could stand on its own two feet.
• By the end of the 2nd World War Briain was exhausted. They could find no agreed  solution and the mandate was due to expire and to leave a vacuum.
• The United Nations General Assembly voted through a plan for a partition of Palestine - the 2 nation solution was drafted with a shared Jerusalem. This was enthusiastically accepted by the Jews but rejected by the Arabs. In this time many Jews from the world (having lived through the Holocaust) made their way to what they hoped/expected would become their permanent homeland.
• 1948 . On 14th May 1948 on the day the British Mandate ceased Israel declared its independence. Israel was created led by David Ben Gurion.
• Within hours the Palestine Arabs supported by surrounding Arab countries retaliated against the declaration and the first Arab Israeli war had begun.
• The Arabs were larger in number and Jordan the best equipped but they could not get their act together. The new Israel with arms support from the US particularly - defeated the Arab coalition. Armistices were signed to find peace.
• The peace agreements left Gaza and the West Bank to the Arabs - Jerusalem partioned and shared - East Jerusalem being controlled by Jordan - the West by Israel.
• This armistice and agreements never really held and there were constant troubles/ issues.
• This was the basic position until 1967.
• In 1967 the Six Day War occurred. Nasser in Egypt worked with the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Army) to encourage raids on Jewish settlements. Israel retaliated. Things escalated. On 5th June Israel made a preemptive strike against the Egyptian airforce on the ground and decimated it in 170 minutes. Jordan joined in with the Syrians but within a few days Israel had secured East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza as well the strategically very important Golan Heights that separated Israel and Syria. Israel dominated their Arab neighbours and within 6 days the war was over.
• The outcome - was the need to redraw the map of the Middle East as Israel kept the areas they had won.
• A new reality dawned both socially, politically and internationally. One million Arabs were now cut off from Jordan. Jordan was their main market and were now effectively dependent on Israel.
• At the same time Jewish settlers established permanent homes in some of the new territories.
• 1973 Yom Kippur War. The Arabs backed with weapons from the USSR and the Israelis with support from the US stepped up preparations for war. On 6th Oct Egypt and Syria attacked disputed Israelis territory. Despite heavy losses Israel reversed the situation and on 25th Oct a ceasefire was signed.
• Thereafter The PNA, Hamas and Hezbollah have emerged from Arab dominated areas within Israel - the latter 2 particularly have taken up arms to attack Israel with bombs and rockets. Israeli forces have always retaliated hard and ceasefire followed. Some Arabs do not recognise Israels right to exist.

As of today I am not sure what the situation is. It could be described as stalemate. Israel is not going to give up land they believe is important to their security even though there is some international pressure to do so. Some Arabs do not recognise Israels right to exist. Israel spends over 5% of its GDP on its military and is formidable. It has also pursued a policy of striking back hard. Therefore any progress to give the Palestinians more autonomy seems to me will only come by political agreement although there will be flare ups. This is a most intractable situation. I cannot see how a 2 state solution is ever going to be achieved. However there appears to be some signs of hope. Yesterday I went to Nazareth. It is the Israeli town with the largest Arab % - 22%. There they seem to live peacefully. Similarly many Arabs and Israelis believe the way-forward is integration particularly as Israel is gradually becoming a secular country.

POST SCRIPT

October 2023 - Hamas coming out of Gaza in a surprise attack kill over 1300 Israeli citizens in a calculated terrorist acts to destabilize any positive trend towards Arab Israeli cooperation within Israel and the West Bank/Gaza. Speculation is Hamas are being bankrolled by Iran who have a wider geo political plan. Israel says this is their 9/11

Israel at the time of writing are working to fulfill their subsequent stated objective - to wipe out Hamas as a force in Gaza.

Many Palestinians will be caught up in the Israeli action although this is not their stated aim.. 

It is a shocking situation.