Israel Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==History== {{Main|History of Israel}} {{For timeline|Timeline of Israeli history}} [[Early expansions of hominins out of Africa]] into the [[Prehistory of the Levant|Levant]], where Israel is located, dates back at least 1.5 million years based on traces found at the [[Ubeidiya prehistoric site]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Tchernov |first=Eitan |author-link=Eitan Tchernov |date=1988 |title=The Age of 'Ubeidiya Formation (Jordan Valley, Israel) and the Earliest Hominids in the Levant |journal=[[Paléorient]] |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=63–65 |doi=10.3406/paleo.1988.4455 }}</ref> while the [[Skhul and Qafzeh hominins]], dating back 120,000 years, are some of the earliest traces of [[anatomically modern human]]s outside of Africa.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rincon |first=Paul |date=14 October 2015 |title=Fossil teeth place humans in Asia '20,000 years early' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34531861 |work=BBC News |access-date=4 January 2017 |archive-date=17 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817113912/http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34531861 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Natufian culture]] emerged in the [[southern Levant]] by the 10th millennium BCE,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bar-Yosef |first=Ofer |author-link=Ofer Bar-Yosef |date=7 December 1998 |title=The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/anthropology/v1007/baryo.pdf |journal=[[Evolutionary Anthropology (journal)|Evolutionary Anthropology]] |volume=6 |issue=5 |pages=159–177 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1998)6:5<159::AID-EVAN4>3.0.CO;2-7 |s2cid=35814375 |access-date=4 January 2017 |archive-date=16 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210716132937/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/anthropology/v1007/baryo.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> followed by the [[Ghassulian]] culture by around 4,500 BCE.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Steiglitz |first1=Robert |title=Migrations in the Ancient Near East |journal=Anthropological Science |date=1992 |volume=3 |issue=101 |page=263 |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ase1993/101/3/101_3_263/_pdf |access-date=12 June 2020 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326034549/https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ase1993/101/3/101_3_263/_pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> === Bronze and Iron Ages === {{Main|History of ancient Israel and Judah}} {{further|Canaan|Israelites|Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Judah}} Early references to "Canaanites" and "Canaan" appear in Near Eastern and Egyptian texts (''c.'' 2000 BCE); these populations were structured as politically independent, territorially based [[city-state]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Canaanites |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195393361/obo-9780195393361-0216.xml |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=obo |language=en |archive-date=3 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403082451/https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195393361/obo-9780195393361-0216.xml |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Glassman |first=Ronald M. |title=The Political Structure of the Canaanite City-States: Monarchy and Merchant Oligarchy |date=2017 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51695-0_49 |work=The Origins of Democracy in Tribes, City-States and Nation-States |pages=473–477 |editor-last=Glassman |editor-first=Ronald M. |access-date=2023-12-01 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-51695-0_49 |isbn=978-3-319-51695-0}}</ref> During the [[Late Bronze Age]] (1550–1200 BCE), large parts of Canaan formed [[vassal state]]s paying tribute to the [[New Kingdom of Egypt]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Braunstein |first1=Susan L. |year=2011 |title=The Meaning of Egyptian-Style Objects in the Late Bronze Cemeteries of Tell el-Farʿah (South) |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=364 |issue=364 |pages=1–36 |doi=10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0001 |jstor=10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0001 |s2cid=164054005}}</ref> As a result of the [[Late Bronze Age collapse]], Canaan fell into chaos, and Egyptian control over the region collapsed.<ref>Dever, William G. ''Beyond the Texts'', Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2017, pp. 89–93</ref><ref>S. Richard, "Archaeological sources for the history of Palestine: The Early Bronze Age: The rise and collapse of urbanism", ''The Biblical Archaeologist'' (1987)</ref> A people named Israel appear for the first time in the [[Merneptah Stele]], an [[ancient Egypt]]ian inscription which dates to about 1200 BCE.<ref name="NollMerneptah">K.L. Noll, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hMeRK7B1EsMC&pg=PA139 ''Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: A Textbook on History and Religion,''] A&C Black, 2012, rev.ed. pp. 137ff.</ref><ref name="ThompsonMerneptah">[[Thomas L. Thompson]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=RwrrUuHFb6UC&pg=PA275 ''Early History of the Israelite People: From the Written & Archaeological Sources,''] Brill, 2000 pp. 275–276: 'They are rather a very specific group among the population of Palestine which bears a name that occurs here for the first time that at a much later stage in Palestine's history bears a substantially different signification.'</ref>{{refn|group=fn |The [[Israel (name)|personal name "Israel"]] appears much earlier, in material from [[Ebla]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hasel |first=Michael G. |date=1 January 1994 |title=Israel in the Merneptah Stela |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=296 |issue=296 |pages=45–61 |doi=10.2307/1357179 |jstor=1357179 |s2cid=164052192}}<br/>* {{Cite book |last=Bertman |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1C4NKp4zgIQC&q=ebla%20israel%20ishmael%20abraham&pg=PA317 |title=Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia |date=14 July 2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-518364-1}}<br/>* {{cite book |author1=Meindert Dijkstra |title=Between Evidence and Ideology Essays on the History of Ancient Israel read at the Joint Meeting of the Society for Old Testament Study and the Oud Testamentisch Werkgezelschap Lincoln, July 2009 |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-18737-5 |editor1-last=Becking |editor1-first=Bob |editor1-link=Lester L. Grabbe |page=47 |chapter=Origins of Israel between history and ideology |quote=As a West Semitic personal name it existed long before it became a tribal or a geographical name. This is not without significance, though is it rarely mentioned. We learn of a maryanu named ysr"il (*Yi¡sr—a"ilu) from Ugarit living in the same period, but the name was already used a thousand years before in Ebla. The word Israel originated as a West Semitic personal name. One of the many names that developed into the name of the ancestor of a clan, of a tribe and finally of a people and a nation. |editor2-last=Grabbe |editor2-first=Lester}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lemche |first1=Niels Peter |year=1998 |title=The Israelites in History and Tradition |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |url={{Google books|JIoY7PagAOAC|page=PA35|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |page=35|isbn=978-0-664-22727-2}}</ref> Ancestors of the [[Israelites]] are thought to have included [[ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]] native to this area.<ref name="Miller1986">{{Cite book |last1=Miller |first1=James Maxwell |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00mill |title=A History of Ancient Israel and Judah |last2=Hayes |first2=John Haralson |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-664-21262-9}}</ref>{{rp|78–79}} Modern archaeological accounts suggest that the Israelites and their culture branched out of the Canaanite peoples through the development of a distinct [[Monolatry|monolatristic]]—and later [[Monotheism|monotheistic]]—religion centered on [[Yahweh]].<ref>Mark Smith in "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "Despite the long regnant model that the Canaanites and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period (c. 1200–1000 BCE). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. Given the information available, one cannot maintain a radical cultural separation between Canaanites and Israelites for the Iron I period." (pp. 6–7). Smith, Mark (2002) "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" (Eerdman's)</ref><ref>Rendsberg, Gary (2008). "Israel without the Bible". In Frederick E. Greenspahn. The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship. NYU Press, pp. 3–5</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gnuse |first1=Robert Karl |title=No Other Gods: Emergent Monotheism in Israel |date=1997 |publisher=Sheffield Academic Press Ltd |isbn=978-1-85075-657-6 |pages=28, 31}}</ref> They spoke an archaic form of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], known as [[Biblical Hebrew]].<ref>Steiner, Richard C. (1997), "Ancient Hebrew", in Hetzron, Robert (ed.), ''The Semitic Languages'', Routledge, pp. 145–173, {{ISBN|978-0-415-05767-7}}</ref> Around the same time, the [[Philistines]] settled on the southern [[Israeli coastal plain|coastal plain]].{{sfn|Killebrew|2005|p=230}}{{sfn|Shahin|2005|p=6}} Modern [[archaeology]] has largely discarded [[Historicity of the Bible|the historicity]] of the narrative in the [[Torah]] concerning the [[Patriarchs (Bible)|patriarchs]], [[The Exodus]] and the tales of conquest in the [[Book of Joshua]], and instead views the narrative as the Israelites' [[national myth]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Dever |first=William |title=What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It? |year=2001 |publisher=Eerdmans |isbn=978-3-927120-37-2 |url={{Google books|6-VxwC5rQtwC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |pages=98–99 |quote=After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible "historical figures" [...] archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus has similarly been discarded as a fruitless pursuit.}}</ref> However, some elements of these traditions do appear to have historical roots.<ref>{{harvnb|Faust|2015|p=476}}: "While there is a consensus among scholars that the Exodus did not take place in the manner described in the Bible, surprisingly most scholars agree that the narrative has a historical core, and that some of the highland settlers came, one way or another, from Egypt.."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Redmount|2001|p=61}}: "A few authorities have concluded that the core events of the Exodus saga are entirely literary fabrications. But most biblical scholars still subscribe to some variation of the Documentary Hypothesis, and support the basic historicity of the biblical narrative."</ref><ref name=":03">{{cite book |last=Dever |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-VxwC5rQtwC |title=What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It? |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2001 |isbn=978-3-927120-37-2 |pages=98–99 |quote=After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible "historical figures" [...] archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus has similarly been discarded as a fruitless pursuit.}}</ref> [[File:Kingdoms of Israel and Judah map 830.svg|thumb|Map of [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel]] and [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] in the 9th century BCE]] There is debate about the earliest existence of the [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|Kingdoms of Israel and Judah]] and their extent and power. While it is unclear if there was ever a [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|United Kingdom of Israel]],<ref name="lipschits">{{cite book |last1=Lipschits |first1=Oded |title=The Jewish Study Bible |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-997846-5 |editor1-last=Berlin |editor1-first=Adele |edition=2nd |language=en |chapter=The History of Israel in the Biblical Period |editor2-last=Brettler |editor2-first=Marc Zvi |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yErYBAAAQBAJ |access-date=1 December 2018 |archive-date=9 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409160917/https://books.google.com/books?id=yErYBAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Kuhrtp438">{{cite book |last=Kuhrt |first=Amiele |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientneareastc00akuh/page/438 |title=The Ancient Near East |publisher=Routledge |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-415-16762-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientneareastc00akuh/page/438 438]}}</ref> historians and archaeologists agree that the northern [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] existed by {{Abbr|ca.|circa}} 900 BCE<ref name="Finkelstein">{{cite book |last1=Finkelstein |first1=Israel |title=The Bible unearthed: archaeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its stories |last2=Silberman |first2=Neil Asher |date=2001 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-86912-4 |edition=1st Touchstone }}</ref>{{rp|169–195}}<ref name="Wright">{{cite web|last1=Wright|first1=Jacob L.|date=July 2014|title=David, King of Judah (Not Israel)|url=http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2014/07/wri388001.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301164250/http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2014/07/wri388001.shtml|archive-date=1 March 2021|access-date=15 May 2021|website=The Bible and Interpretation}}</ref> and the [[Kingdom of Judah]] by {{Abbr|ca.|circa}} 850 BCE.<ref name="Finkelstein, Israel, (2020)">Finkelstein, Israel, (2020). [https://books.google.com/books?id=wH3-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 "Saul and Highlands of Benjamin Update: The Role of Jerusalem"], in Joachim J. Krause, Omer Sergi, and Kristin Weingart (eds.), ''Saul, Benjamin, and the Emergence of Monarchy in Israel: Biblical and Archaeological Perspectives'', SBL Press, Atlanta, GA, p. 48, footnote 57: "...They became territorial kingdoms later, Israel in the first half of the ninth century BCE and Judah in its second half..."</ref><ref name="Pitcher">[https://books.google.com/books?id=tu02muKUVJ0C&pg=PA229 The Pitcher Is Broken: Memorial Essays for Gosta W. Ahlstrom, Steven W. Holloway, Lowell K. Handy, Continuum, 1 May 1995] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409160404/https://books.google.com/books?id=tu02muKUVJ0C&pg=PA229 |date=9 April 2023 }} Quote: "For Israel, the description of the battle of Qarqar in the Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III (mid-ninth century) and for Judah, a Tiglath-pileser III text mentioning (Jeho-) Ahaz of Judah (IIR67 = K. 3751), dated 734–733, are the earliest published to date."</ref> The Kingdom of Israel was the more prosperous of the two and soon developed into a regional power;<ref>{{harvnb|Finkelstein|Silberman|2002|pp=146–7}}: Put simply, while Judah was still economically marginal and backward, Israel was booming. ... In the next chapter we will see how the northern kingdom suddenly appeared on the ancient Near Eastern stage as a major regional power.</ref> during the [[Omride Dynasty|Omride dynasty]], it controlled [[Samaria]], [[Galilee]], the upper [[Jordan Valley]], the [[Sharon plain|Sharon]] and large parts of the [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Israel.|first=Finkelstein|title=The forgotten kingdom: the archaeology and history of Northern Israel|isbn=978-1-58983-910-6|page=74|oclc=949151323}}</ref> [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]], the capital, was home to one of the largest Iron Age structures in the Levant.<ref name=":04">{{Cite book |last=Finkelstein |first=Israel |title=The Forgotten Kingdom: the archaeology and history of Northern Israel |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-58983-911-3 |pages=65–66; 73; 78; 87–94 |oclc=880456140}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Finkelstein |first=Israel |date=1 November 2011 |title=Observations on the Layout of Iron Age Samaria |journal=Tel Aviv |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=194–207 |doi=10.1179/033443511x13099584885303 |issn=0334-4355 |s2cid=128814117}}</ref> The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]].<ref name="Broshi 2001 174">{{cite book |last=Broshi |first=Maguen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etTUEorS1zMC&pg=PAPA174 |title=Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-84127-201-6 |page=174 |access-date=1 December 2018 |archive-date=10 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210203455/https://books.google.com/books?id=etTUEorS1zMC&pg=PAPA174 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Kingdom of Judah, with its capital in [[Jerusalem]], later became a [[client state]] of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]]. It is estimated that [[Demographic history of Palestine (region)|the region's population]] was around 400,000 in the [[Iron Age II]].<ref name=":42">Broshi, M., & Finkelstein, I. (1992). [https://www.academia.edu/40790691/M_Broshi_and_I_Finkelstein_The_Population_of_Palestine_in_Iron_Age_II_BASOR_287_1992_pp_47_60 "The Population of Palestine in Iron Age II"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305224039/https://www.academia.edu/40790691/M_Broshi_and_I_Finkelstein_The_Population_of_Palestine_in_Iron_Age_II_BASOR_287_1992_pp_47_60 |date=5 March 2023 }}. ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'', ''287''(1), 47–60.</ref> In 587/6 BCE, following a [[Judah's revolts against Babylon|revolt in Judah]], King [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|besieged and destroyed Jerusalem]] and Solomon's Temple,<ref>{{harvnb|Finkelstein|Silberman|2002|p=307}}: "Intensive excavations throughout Jerusalem have shown that the city was indeed systematically destroyed by the Babylonians. The conflagration seems to have been general. When activity on the ridge of the City of David resumed in the Persian period, the-new suburbs on the western hill that had flourished since at least the time of Hezekiah were not reoccupied."</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lipschits |first=Oded |date=1999 |title=The History of the Benjamin Region under Babylonian Rule |journal=Tel Aviv |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=155–190 |doi=10.1179/tav.1999.1999.2.155 |issn=0334-4355}}</ref> dissolved the kingdom and exiled much of the Judean elite to [[Babylon]], beginning the [[Babylonian captivity]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wheeler |first=P. |date=2017 |title=Review of the book Song of Exile: The Enduring Mystery of Psalm 137, by David W. Stowe |journal=The Catholic Biblical Quarterly |volume=79 |issue=4 |pages=696–697 |doi=10.1353/cbq.2017.0092 |s2cid=171830838}}</ref> The defeat was recorded in the [[Babylonian Chronicles]].<ref name="BabylonianChronicles">{{cite web |title=British Museum – Cuneiform tablet with part of the Babylonian Chronicle (605–594 BCE) |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cuneiform_nebuchadnezzar_ii.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030154541/https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cuneiform_nebuchadnezzar_ii.aspx |archive-date=30 October 2014 |access-date=30 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=ABC 5 (Jerusalem Chronicle) – Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/abc5/jerusalem.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505195611/https://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/abc5/jerusalem.html |archive-date=5 May 2019 |access-date=26 March 2020 |website=livius.org}}</ref> After [[Fall of Babylon|capturing Babylon]] in 539 BCE, [[Cyrus the Great]], founder of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], issued a [[Edict of Cyrus|proclamation]] allowing the exiled Judean population to return to Judah.<ref name="rennert">{{cite web |title=Second Temple Period (538 BCE to 70 CE) Persian Rule |url=http://www.biu.ac.il/js/rennert/history_4.html |access-date=15 March 2014 |publisher=Biu.ac.il |archive-date=16 January 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990116222939/http://www.biu.ac.il/js/rennert/history_4.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>''Harper's Bible Dictionary'', ed. by Achtemeier, etc., Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1985, p. 103</ref> === Classical antiquity === {{Main|Second Temple period}} {{further|Yehud (province)|Hasmonean dynasty|Herodian dynasty|Judaea (Roman province)|Syria Palaestina}} The construction of the [[Second Temple]] was completed {{Circa|520 BCE}}.<ref name="rennert" /> The Achaemenids ruled the region as the province of [[Yehud Medinata]],<ref name="Grabbe355">{{cite book |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MnE5T_0RbMC&dq=%22gave%2Bthe%2BJews%2Bpermission%2Bto%2Breturn%2Bto%2BYehud%2Bprovince%2Band%2Bto%2Brebuild%2Bthe%22&pg=PAPA355 |title=A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: Yehud – A History of the Persian Province of Judah v. 1 |publisher=T & T Clark |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-567-08998-4 |page=355 |access-date=1 December 2018 |archive-date=19 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219070639/https://books.google.com/books?id=-MnE5T_0RbMC&pg=PAPA355&dq=%22gave%2Bthe%2BJews%2Bpermission%2Bto%2Breturn%2Bto%2BYehud%2Bprovince%2Band%2Bto%2Brebuild%2Bthe%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> which had a population of around 30,000 in the 5th to 4th centuries BCE.<ref name="Finkelstein" />{{rp|308}} In 332 BCE, [[Alexander the Great]] of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedon]] conquered the region as part of his [[Wars of Alexander the Great|campaign against the Achaemenid Empire]]. After his death, the area was controlled by the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic]] and [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] empires as a part of [[Coele-Syria]]. Over the ensuing centuries, the [[Hellenization]] of the region led to cultural tensions that came to a head during the reign of [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes|Antiochus IV]], giving rise to the [[Maccabean Revolt]] of 167 BCE. The civil unrest weakened Seleucid rule and in the late 2nd century the semi-autonomous [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean Kingdom of Judea]] arose, eventually attaining full independence and expanding into neighboring regions.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Helyer |first1=Larry R. |title=The World of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts |last2=McDonald |first2=Lee Martin |publisher=Baker Academic |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8010-9861-1 |editor-last=Green |editor-first=Joel B. |pages=45–47 |chapter=The Hasmoneans and the Hasmonean Era |oclc=961153992 |quote=The ensuing power struggle left Hyrcanus with a free hand in Judea, and he quickly reasserted Jewish sovereignty... Hyrcanus then engaged in a series of military campaigns aimed at territorial expansion. He first conquered areas in the Transjordan. He then turned his attention to Samaria, which had long separated Judea from the northern Jewish settlements in Lower Galilee. In the south, Adora and Marisa were conquered; (Aristobulus') primary accomplishment was annexing and Judaizing the region of Iturea, located between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains |editor-last2=McDonald |editor-first2=Lee Martin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ben-Sasson |first=H.H. |title=A History of the Jewish People |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-674-39731-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2kSovzudhFUC&pg=PA226 |page=226 |quote=The expansion of Hasmonean Judea took place gradually. Under Jonathan, Judea annexed southern Samaria and began to expand in the direction of the coast plain... The main ethnic changes were the work of John Hyrcanus... it was in his days and those of his son Aristobulus that the annexation of Idumea, Samaria and Galilee and the consolidation of Jewish settlement in Trans-Jordan was completed. Alexander Jannai, continuing the work of his predecessors, expanded Judean rule to the entire coastal plain, from the Carmel to the Egyptian border... and to additional areas in Trans-Jordan, including some of the Greek cities there.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ben-Eliyahu |first=Eyal |title=Identity and Territory: Jewish Perceptions of Space in Antiquity |date=30 April 2019 |isbn=978-0-520-29360-1 |page=13 |publisher=Univ of California Press |oclc=1103519319 |quote=From the beginning of the Second Temple period until the Muslim conquest—the land was part of imperial space. This was true from the early Persian period, as well as the time of Ptolemy and the Seleucids. The only exception was the Hasmonean Kingdom, with its sovereign Jewish rule—first over Judah and later, in Alexander Jannaeus's prime, extending to the coast, the north, and the eastern banks of the Jordan. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSyDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 }}</ref> [[File:Israel-2013-Aerial 21-Masada.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Masada]] fortress, the location of a [[Siege of Masada|1st-century Roman siege]]]] The [[Roman Republic]] invaded the region in 63 BCE, first [[Third Mithridatic War|taking control of Syria]], and then intervening in the [[Hasmonean Civil War]]. The [[Roman–Parthian Wars|struggle]] between pro-Roman and pro-[[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] factions in Judea led to the installation of [[Herod the Great]] as a [[Herodian dynasty|dynastic vassal]] of [[Ancient Rome|Rome]]. In 6 CE, the area was annexed as the [[Judea (Roman province)|Roman province of Judaea]]; tensions with Roman rule led to a series of [[Jewish–Roman wars]], resulting in widespread destruction. The [[First Jewish–Roman War]] (66–73 CE) resulted in the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple]] and a sizable portion of the population being killed or displaced.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Seth |title=The ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhammad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6pkAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-107-04127-1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=85–86 |oclc=863044259 |quote=The year 70 ce marked transformations in demography, politics, Jewish civic status, Palestinian and more general Jewish economic and social structures, Jewish religious life beyond the sacrificial cult, and even Roman politics and the topography of the city of Rome itself. [...] The Revolt's failure had, to begin with, a demographic impact on the Jews of Palestine; many died in battle and as a result of siege conditions, not only in Jerusalem. [...] As indicated above, the figures for captives are conceivably more reliable. If 97,000 is roughly correct as a total for the war, it would mean that a huge percentage of the population was removed from the country, or at the very least displaced from their homes. Nevertheless, only sixty years later, there was a large enough population in the Judaean countryside to stage a massively disruptive second rebellion; this one appears to have ended, in 135, with devastation and depopulation of the district.}}</ref> A second uprising known as the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] took place during 132–136 CE. Initial successes allowed the Jews to form an independent state, but the Romans massed large forces and brutally crushed the rebellion, devastating and depopulating Judea's countryside.<ref name=":8" /><ref>Werner Eck, "Sklaven und Freigelassene von Römern in Iudaea und den angrenzenden Provinzen", Novum Testamentum 55 (2013): 1–21</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Raviv |first1=Dvir |last2=Ben David |first2=Chaim |date=2021 |title=Cassius Dio's figures for the demographic consequences of the Bar Kokhba War: Exaggeration or reliable account? |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |language=en |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=585–607 |doi=10.1017/S1047759421000271 |s2cid=245512193 |s2cid-access=free |issn=1047-7594 |quote=Scholars have long doubted the historical accuracy of Cassius Dio's account of the consequences of the Bar Kokhba War (Roman History 69.14). According to this text, considered the most reliable literary source for the Second Jewish Revolt, the war encompassed all of Judea: the Romans destroyed 985 villages and 50 fortresses, and killed 580,000 rebels. This article reassesses Cassius Dio's figures by drawing on new evidence from excavations and surveys in Judea, Transjordan, and the Galilee. Three research methods are combined: an ethno-archaeological comparison with the settlement picture in the Ottoman Period, comparison with similar settlement studies in the Galilee, and an evaluation of settled sites from the Middle Roman Period (70–136 CE). The study demonstrates the potential contribution of the archaeological record to this issue and supports the view of Cassius Dio's demographic data as a reliable account, which he based on contemporaneous documentation.|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Mor |first=Menahem |title=The Second Jewish Revolt |date=18 April 2016 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31463-4 |pages=483–484 |doi=10.1163/9789004314634 |quote=Land confiscation in Judaea was part of the suppression of the revolt policy of the Romans and punishment for the rebels. But the very claim that the sikarikon laws were annulled for settlement purposes seems to indicate that Jews continued to reside in Judaea even after the Second Revolt. There is no doubt that this area suffered the severest damage from the suppression of the revolt. Settlements in Judaea, such as Herodion and Bethar, had already been destroyed during the course of the revolt, and Jews were expelled from the districts of Gophna, Herodion, and Aqraba. However, it should not be claimed that the region of Judaea was completely destroyed. Jews continued to live in areas such as Lod (Lydda), south of the Hebron Mountain, and the coastal regions. In other areas of the Land of Israel that did not have any direct connection with the Second Revolt, no settlement changes can be identified as resulting from it.}}</ref><ref>Oppenheimer, A'haron and Oppenheimer, Nili. ''Between Rome and Babylon: Studies in Jewish Leadership and Society''. Mohr Siebeck, 2005, p. 2.</ref> Jerusalem was rebuilt as a [[Colonia (Roman)|Roman colony]] ([[Aelia Capitolina]]), and the province of Judea was renamed [[Syria Palaestina]].<ref name="H.H. Ben-Sasson, 1976, page 334">H.H. Ben-Sasson, ''[https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_the_Jewish_People/2kSovzudhFUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA334 A History of the Jewish People]'', Harvard University Press, 1976, {{ISBN|978-0-674-39731-6}}, page 334: "In an effort to wipe out all memory of the bond between the Jews and the land, Hadrian changed the name of the province from Judaea to Syria-Palestina, a name that became common in non-Jewish literature."</ref><ref name="Ariel Lewin p. 33">Ariel Lewin. ''[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Archaeology_of_Ancient_Judea_and_Pal/zlToSqE0k_cC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA33 The archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine]''. Getty Publications, 2005 p. 33. "It seems clear that by choosing a seemingly neutral name – one juxtaposing that of a neighboring province with the revived name of an ancient geographical entity (Palestine), already known from the writings of Herodotus – Hadrian was intending to suppress any connection between the Jewish people and that land." {{ISBN|978-0-89236-800-6}}</ref> Jews were expelled from the districts surrounding Jerusalem,<ref>Eusebius, ''Ecclesiastical History''. 4:6.3-4</ref><ref name=":02" /> and joined communities in the diaspora.<ref name="Kessler20102">{{cite book |author=Edward Kessler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=87Woe7kkPM4C&pg=PA72 |title=An Introduction to Jewish-Christian Relations |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-70562-2 |page=72 |quote=Jews probably remained in the majority in Palestine until some time after the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century. [...] In Babylonia, there had been for many centuries a Jewish community which would have been further strengthened by those fleeing the aftermath of the Roman revolts.}}</ref> Nevertheless, there was a continuous small Jewish presence and [[Galilee]] became its religious center.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cohn-Sherbok |first=Dan |title=Atlas of Jewish History |publisher=Routledge |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-415-08800-8 |page=58}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Lehmann |first=Clayton Miles |date=18 January 2007 |title=Palestine |url=http://sunburst.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/palestin.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130407005423/http://sunburst.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/palestin.htm |archive-date=7 April 2013 |access-date=9 February 2013 |website=Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces |publisher=University of South Dakota}}</ref> Jewish communities also continued to reside in the southern [[Hebron Hills]] and on the coastal plain.<ref name=":02" /> === Late antiquity and the medieval period === {{further|Diocese of the East|Bilad al-Sham|Kingdom of Jerusalem}} [[File:Ruins of the Ancient Synagogue at Bar'am.jpg|thumb|3rd-century [[Kfar Bar'am synagogue]] in the Galilee<ref>Judaism in late antiquity, Jacob Neusner, Bertold Spuler, Hady R Idris, Brill, 2001, p. 155</ref>]] With the transition to [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine rule]] under [[Emperor Constantine]], [[Early Christianity]] displaced the more tolerant [[Roman Paganism]].<ref>The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey 2018</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=הר |first=משה דוד |title=ארץ-ישראל בשלהי העת העתיקה: מבואות ומחקרים |publisher=יד יצחק בן-צבי |year=2022 |isbn=978-965-217-444-4 |editor-link=Moshe David Herr |volume=1 |publication-place=ירושלים |pages=210–212 |language=he |trans-title=Eretz Israel in Late Antiquity: Introductions and Studies |chapter=היהודים בארץ-ישראל בימי האימפריה הרומית הנוצרית |trans-chapter=The Jews in the Land of Israel in the Days of the Christian Roman Empire}}</ref> With the [[conversion of Constantine]] in the 4th century, the situation for the Jewish majority in Palestine "became more difficult".<ref name="Kessler20102" /> A series of laws were passed that discriminated against Jews and Judaism, and Jews were persecuted by both the church and the authorities.<ref name=":3" /> Many Jews had emigrated to flourishing [[Jewish diaspora|Diaspora]] communities,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Ehrlich |first=Michael |title=The Islamization of the Holy Land, 634–1800 |publisher=Arc Humanities Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-64189-222-3 |pages=3–4 |oclc=1302180905 |quote=The Jewish community strove to recover from the catastrophic results of the Bar Kokhva revolt (132–135 CE). Although some of these attempts were relatively successful, the Jews never fully recovered. During the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, many Jews emigrated to thriving centres in the diaspora, especially Iraq, whereas some converted to Christianity and others continued to live in the Holy Land, especially in Galilee and the coastal plain. During the Byzantine period, the three provinces of Palestine included more than thirty cities, namely, settlements with a bishop see. After the Muslim conquest in the 630s, most of these cities declined and eventually disappeared. As a result, in many cases the local ecclesiastical administration weakened, while in others it simply ceased to exist. Consequently, many local Christians converted to Islam. Thus, almost twelve centuries later, when the army led by Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in the Holy Land, most of the local population was Muslim.}}</ref> while locally there was both Christian immigration and local conversion. By the middle of the 5th century, there was a Christian majority.<ref name="CHJ2">{{cite book |author=David Goodblatt |title=The Cambridge History of Judaism |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8 |editor=Steven Katz |volume=IV |pages=404–430 |chapter=The Political and Social History of the Jewish Community in the Land of Israel, c. 235–638 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |quote=Few would disagree that, in the century and a half before our period begins, the Jewish population of Judah () suffered a serious blow from which it never recovered. The destruction of the Jewish metropolis of Jerusalem and its environs and the eventual refounding of the city... had lasting repercussions. [...] However, in other parts of Palestine the Jewish population remained strong [...] What does seem clear is a different kind of change. Immigration of Christians and the conversion of pagans, Samaritans and Jews eventually produced a Christian majority}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bar |first=Doron |date=2003 |title=The Christianisation of Rural Palestine during Late Antiquity |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=401–421 |doi=10.1017/s0022046903007309 |issn=0022-0469 |quote=The dominant view of the history of Palestine during the Byzantine period links the early phases of the consecration of the land during the fourth century and the substantial external financial investment that accompanied the building of churches on holy sites on the one hand with the Christianisation of the population on the other. Churches were erected primarily at the holy sites, 12 while at the same time Palestine's position and unique status as the Christian 'Holy Land' became more firmly rooted. All this, coupled with immigration and conversion, allegedly meant that the Christianisation of Palestine took place much more rapidly than that of other areas of the Roman empire, brought in its wake the annihilation of the pagan cults and meant that by the middle of the fifth century there was a clear Christian majority.}}</ref> Towards the end of the 5th century, [[Samaritan revolts]] erupted, continuing until the late 6th century and resulting in a large decrease in the Samaritan population.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kohen |first=Elli |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-9qJRP20MIC&pg=PA26 |title=History of the Byzantine Jews: A Microcosmos in the Thousand Year Empire |publisher=[[University Press of America]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7618-3623-0 |pages=26–31 |access-date=30 March 2023 |archive-date=19 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219070638/https://books.google.com/books?id=r-9qJRP20MIC&pg=PA26#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> After the [[Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem]] and the short-lived [[Jewish revolt against Heraclius]] in 614 CE, the Byzantine Empire [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628|reconsolidated control of the area]] in 628.<ref>{{cite web |title=Roman Palestine |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine/Roman-Palestine |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=30 March 2023 |archive-date=30 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030111546/https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine/Roman-Palestine |url-status=live }}</ref> In 634–641 CE, the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] [[Muslim conquest of the Levant|conquered the Levant]].<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":102">{{Cite journal |last1=לוי-רובין |first1=מילכה |last2=Levy-Rubin |first2=Milka |date=2006 |title=The Influence of the Muslim Conquest on the Settlement Pattern of Palestine during the Early Muslim Period / הכיבוש כמעצב מפת היישוב של ארץ-ישראל בתקופה המוסלמית הקדומה |journal=Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and Its Yishuv / קתדרה: לתולדות ארץ ישראל ויישובה |issue=121 |pages=53–78 |jstor=23407269 |issn=0334-4657}}</ref><ref name=":Ellenblum20102">{{Cite book |last=Ellenblum |first=Ronnie |title=Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-511-58534-0 |oclc=958547332 |quote=From the data given above it can be concluded that the Muslim population of Central Samaria, during the early Muslim period, was not an autochthonous population which had converted to Christianity. They arrived there either by way of migration or as a result of a process of sedentarization of the nomads who had filled the vacuum created by the departing Samaritans at the end of the Byzantine period [...] To sum up: in the only rural region in Palestine in which, according to all the written and archeological sources, the process of Islamization was completed already in the twelfth century, there occurred events consistent with the model propounded by Levtzion and Vryonis: the region was abandoned by its original sedentary population and the vacuum was apparently filled by nomads who, at a later stage, gradually became sedentarized}}</ref> Over the next six centuries, control of the region transferred between the [[Umayyad]], [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]], [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid]] [[caliphate]]s, and subsequently the [[Seljuks]] and [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid]] dynasties.<ref name="MosheGil2">{{cite book |last=Gil |first=Moshe |title=A History of Palestine, 634–1099 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-521-59984-9}}</ref> The population drastically decreased during the following several centuries, dropping from an estimated 1 million during Roman and Byzantine periods to about 300,000 by the early Ottoman period, and there was a steady process of [[Arabization]] and [[Islamization]] brought on by non-Muslim emigration, Muslim immigration, and local conversion.<ref name=":Ellenblum20102" /><ref name=":102" /><ref name=":Broshi1979">{{Cite journal |last=Broshi |first=Magen |date=1979 |title=The Population of Western Palestine in the Roman-Byzantine Period |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=236 |issue=236 |pages=1–10 |doi=10.2307/1356664 |issn=0003-097X |jstor=1356664 |s2cid=24341643}}</ref><ref name=":42"/> The end of the 11th century brought the [[Crusades]], [[The Pope|papally]]-sanctioned incursions of Christian [[crusaders]] intent on wresting [[Jerusalem]] and the [[Holy Land]] from Muslim control and establishing [[Crusader States]].<ref>{{OED|crusades}}</ref> The Ayyubids pushed back the crusaders before Muslim rule was fully restored by the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk sultans of Egypt]] in 1291.<ref name="GudrunKramer">{{cite book |last=Kramer |first=Gudrun |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpalesti00krea/page/376 |title=A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-691-11897-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofpalesti00krea/page/376 376]}}</ref> === Modern period and the emergence of Zionism === {{main|Ottoman Syria|Jerusalem Sanjak|Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem}} {{further|Old Yishuv|Zionism}} [[File:Jews at Western Wall by Felix Bonfils, 1870s.jpg|thumb|Jews at the [[Western Wall]] in the 1870s]] In 1516, the region was conquered by the [[Ottoman Empire]]; it was ruled as a part of [[Ottoman Syria]] for the next four centuries. In 1660, a [[Druze power struggle (1658–1667)#Lebanon and Galilee campaign|Druze revolt]] led to the destruction of [[1660 destruction of Safed|Safed]] and [[1660 destruction of Tiberias|Tiberias]].<ref>Joel Rappel, History of Eretz Israel from Prehistory up to 1882 (1980), vol. 2, p. 531. "In 1662 Sabbathai Sevi arrived to Jerusalem. It was the time when the Jewish settlements of Galilee were destroyed by the Druze: Tiberias was completely desolate and only a few of former Safed residents had returned...."</ref> In the late 18th century, local Arab [[Sheikh]] [[Zahir al-Umar]] created a de facto independent Emirate in the Galilee. Ottoman attempts to subdue the Sheikh failed, but after Zahir's death the Ottomans regained control of the area. In 1799 governor [[Jazzar Pasha]] repelled an [[Siege of Acre (1799)|assault on Acre]] by troops of [[Napoleon]], prompting the French to abandon the Syrian campaign.<ref>{{cite web |title=Palestine – Ottoman rule |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine#ref45065 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=27 November 2018 |archive-date=4 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204202215/https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine#ref45065 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1834, a [[Peasants' revolt in Palestine|revolt by Palestinian Arab peasants]] against Egyptian conscription and taxation policies under [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali]] was suppressed; Muhammad Ali's army retreated and Ottoman rule was restored with British support in 1840.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Macalister |first1=R. A. Stewart |last2=Masterman |first2=E. W. G. |year=1906 |title=The Modern Inhabitants of Palestine |page=[https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme38pale#page/40/mode/1up 40] |journal=Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund |url=https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme38pale#page}}</ref> Shortly after, the [[Tanzimat]] reforms were implemented across the Ottoman Empire. Since the existence of the [[Jewish diaspora]], many Jews have aspired to [[Aliyah|return]] to "Zion".<ref>{{harvnb|Rosenzweig|1997|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wKuU3ZBS7gEC&pg=PA1 1]}}. "Zionism, the urge of the Jewish people to return to Palestine, is almost as ancient as the Jewish diaspora itself. Some Talmudic statements ... Almost a millennium later, the poet and philosopher Yehuda Halevi ... In the 19th century ..."</ref> The Jewish population of Palestine from the outset of Ottoman rule to the beginning of the Zionist movement, known as the [[Old Yishuv]], comprised a minority and fluctuated in size. During the 16th century, Jewish communities struck roots in the [[Four Holy Cities]]—[[Jerusalem]], [[Tiberias]], [[Hebron]], and [[Safed]]—and in 1697, Rabbi Yehuda Hachasid led a group of 1,500 Jews to Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite book |title=Miraculous journey: a complete history of the Jewish people from creation to the present |last=Eisen |first=Yosef |year=2004 |publisher=Targum Press |isbn=978-1-56871-323-6 |page=700}}</ref> In the second half of the 18th century, Eastern European Jews who were [[Misnagdim|opponents]] of [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidism]], known as the [[Perushim]], settled in Palestine.<ref>{{cite book |title=Hastening redemption: Messianism and the resettlement of the land of Israel |last=Morgenstern |first=Arie |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-530578-4 |page=304}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Jews in Palestine in the Eighteenth Century: Under the Patronage of the Istanbul committee of Officials for Palestine |last=Barnai |first=Jacob |year=1992 |publisher=University Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-8173-0572-7 |page=320}}</ref> [[File:THEODOR HERZL AT THE FIRST ZIONIST CONGRESS IN BASEL ON 25.8.1897. תאודור הרצל בקונגרס הציוני הראשון - 1897.8.25.jpg|thumb|The [[First Zionist Congress]] (1897) in [[Basel]], Switzerland]] The first wave of modern Jewish migration to [[Southern Syria|Ottoman-ruled Palestine]], known as the [[First Aliyah]], began in 1881, as Jews fled [[pogrom]]s in Eastern Europe.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Halpern|first=Ben|title=Zionism and the creation of a new society |url=https://archive.org/details/zionismcreationn00halp|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford University Press|others=Reinharz, Jehuda |year=1998|isbn=978-0-585-18273-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/zionismcreationn00halp/page/n61 53]–54|oclc=44960036}}</ref> The ensuing [[May Laws]] of 1882 increased economic discrimination against the Jews, and restricted where they could live.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mandel |first=Neville J. |date=1974 |title=Ottoman Policy and Restrictions on Jewish Settlement in Palestine: 1881-1908: Part I |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=10 |issue=3 |url=https://ismi.emory.edu/documents/Readings/Mandel,%20Neville%20J.%20Ottoman%20Policy.pdf |pages=312–332 |doi=10.1080/00263207408700278 |issn=0026-3206 |access-date=1 December 2023 |archive-date=3 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203103201/https://ismi.emory.edu/documents/Readings/Mandel,%20Neville%20J.%20Ottoman%20Policy.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Levine|first=Aaron|date=2014|title=Russian Jews and the 1917 Revolution|url=https://psource.sitehost.iu.edu/PDF/Archive%20Articles/Spring2014/2014%20-%20Spring%20-%203%20-%20Levine%20Aaron.pdf|page=14|access-date=7 December 2023|archive-date=8 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308091831/https://psource.sitehost.iu.edu/PDF/Archive%20Articles/Spring2014/2014%20-%20Spring%20-%203%20-%20Levine%20Aaron.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> In response political [[Zionism]] began to take form, with some of its activists founding movements such as the [[Bilu (movement)|Bilu]], and [[Lovers of Zion]], while [[Leon Pinsker]] published the pamphlet [[Auto-Emancipation]] (1882), which urged Jews to seek national independence.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Early Zionist Settlement in Palestine|url=https://sites.rutgers.edu/jewish-agriculture/a-world-of-jewish-farming/early-zionist-settlement-in-palestine/|website=[[Rutgers University]]|access-date=8 December 2023|archive-date=8 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208234340/https://sites.rutgers.edu/jewish-agriculture/a-world-of-jewish-farming/early-zionist-settlement-in-palestine/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Leibovitz|first=Liel|title=Auto-Emancipation, Leo Pinsker (1882)|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/auto-emancipation-leo-pinsker-1882|magazine=[[Tablet (magazine)|Tablet]]|date=September 17, 2013|access-date=9 December 2023|archive-date=9 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209004445/https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/auto-emancipation-leo-pinsker-1882|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Theodor Herzl]] is credited with founding political Zionism,<ref>{{harvnb|Kornberg|1993}}. "How did Theodor Herzl, an assimilated German nationalist in the 1880s, suddenly in the 1890s become the founder of Zionism?"</ref> a movement that sought to establish a [[Jewish state]] in the Land of Israel, thus offering a solution to the so-called [[Jewish question]] of the European states.{{sfn|Herzl|1946|p=11}} In 1896, Herzl published {{Lang|de|[[Der Judenstaat]]}} (''The Jewish State''); the following year he presided over the [[First Zionist Congress]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Chapter One |url=http://www.jewishagency.org/israel/content/23396 |website=The Jewish Agency for Israel1|access-date=21 September 2015 |date=21 July 2005|archive-date=10 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210124104/http://www.jewishagency.org/israel/content/23396}}</ref> The [[Second Aliyah]] (1904–1914) began after the [[Kishinev pogrom]]; some 40,000 Jews settled in Palestine, although nearly half left eventually. Both the first and second waves of migrants were mainly [[Orthodox Jews]],<ref>{{harvnb|Stein|2003|p=88}}. "As with the First Aliyah, most Second Aliyah migrants were non-Zionist orthodox Jews ..."</ref> although the Second Aliyah included [[Labor Zionism|Zionist socialist]] groups who established the ''[[kibbutz]]'' movement based on the idea of establishing a separate Jewish economy based exclusively on Jewish labor.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moris |first1=Beni |title=Righteous victims: a history of the Zionist-Arab conflict, 1881 - 2001 |date=2001 |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York, NY |isbn=9780679744757 |edition=1. Vintage Books |quote=Many of these newcomers possessed a mixture of socialist and nationalist values, and they eventually succeeded in setting up a separate Jewish economy, based wholly on Jewish labor.}}</ref>{{sfn|Romano|2003|p=30}} Those of the Second Aliyah who would go on to become the leaders of the Yishuv in the coming decades believed that the settler economy should not depend on Arab labor. This "conquest of labor" would be a dominant source of antagonism with the Arab population, with the new Yishuv's nationalist ideology overpowering its socialist one.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moris |first1=Beni |title=Righteous victims: a history of the Zionist-Arab conflict, 1881 - 2001 |date=2001 |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York, NY |isbn=9780679744757 |edition=1. Vintage Books |quote=Another major cause of antagonism was the labor controversy. The hard core of Second Aliyah socialists, who were to become the Yishuv’s leaders in the 1920s and 1930s, believed that the settler economy must not depend on or exploit Arab labor... But, in reality, rather than “meshing,” the nationalist ethos had simply overpowered and driven out the socialist ethos... There were other reasons for the “conquest of labor.” The socialists of the Second Aliyah used the term to denote three things: overcoming the Jews’ traditional remove from agricultural labor and helping them transform into the “new Jews”; struggling against employers for better conditions; and replacing Arabs with Jews in manual jobs.}}</ref> Though the immigrants of the Second Aliyah largely sought to create communal Jewish agricultural settlements, the period saw the establishment of [[Tel Aviv]] as the first planned Jewish town in 1909. This period also saw the emergence of Jewish armed militias, the first being [[Bar-Giora (organization)|Bar-Giora]] in 1907. Two years later, the larger [[Hashomer]] organization was founded as its replacement. === British Mandate for Palestine === {{main|Mandatory Palestine}} {{further|Yishuv|Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine|1948 Palestine war}} {{see also|Balfour Declaration|United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|Jewish land purchase in Palestine}} [[Chaim Weizmann|Chaim Weizmann's]] efforts to garner British support for the Zionist movement would eventually secure the [[Balfour Declaration]] in 1917.<ref>{{Cite book |first=James |last=Gelvin |author-link=James L. Gelvin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfIFVze1MqQC&pg=PA81 |title=The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |orig-year=2002 |edition=3 |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-521-85289-0 |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=9 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009012922/https://books.google.com/books?id=wfIFVze1MqQC&pg=PA81#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> British Foreign Secretary [[Arthur Balfour]] sent the Balfour Declaration to [[Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild|Lord Rothschild]], a leader of the British Jewish community, stating Britain's support for the creation of a Jewish "[[Homeland for the Jewish people|national home]]" in Palestine.<ref name=macintyre>{{cite news |last=Macintyre |first=Donald |title=The birth of modern Israel: A scrap of paper that changed history |work=The Independent |access-date=20 March 2012 |date=26 May 2005 |url=http://maof.rjews.net/english/37-english/19351-the-birth-of-modern-israel-a-scrap-of-paper-that-changed-history |archive-date=14 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114031304/http://maof.rjews.net/english/37-english/19351-the-birth-of-modern-israel-a-scrap-of-paper-that-changed-history |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Making of the Modern Near East 1792–1923 |last=Yapp |first=M.E. |author-link=Malcolm Yapp |year=1987 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-582-49380-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/makingofmodern00yapp/page/290 290] |url=https://archive.org/details/makingofmodern00yapp/page/290 }}</ref> Weizmann interpretation of the declaration entailed that negotiations on the future of the country were to happen directly between Britain and the Jews, excluding Arab representation. His famous announcement at the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris peace conference]] would reflect this interpretation, stating that the goal "[t]o make Palestine as Jewish as England is English." The years that followed would see Jewish-Palestinian relations deteriorate dramatically.<ref name="Avi Shlaim">{{cite book |author=Avi Shlaim |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HBBbY9rMxSAC&pg=PA |title=The Iron Wall |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-393-32112-8 |pages= |chapter=PROLOGUE: THE ZIONIST FOUNDATIONS}}</ref> In 1918, the [[Jewish Legion]], a group primarily of Zionist volunteers, assisted in the British [[Sinai and Palestine Campaign|conquest of Palestine]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title = Jewish Legion|encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Judaica|url = http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CCX2587510141|year = 2007|publisher = Macmillan Reference|access-date = 6 August 2014|first = Joseph B.|last = Schechtman|page = 304|volume = 11|archive-date = 8 March 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210308102952/https://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CCX2587510141|url-status = live}}</ref> In 1920, the territory was divided between Britain and France under the [[League of Nations mandate|mandate system]], and the British-administered area (including modern Israel) was named [[Mandatory Palestine]].<ref name="GudrunKramer"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/leagcov.asp#art22 |title=The Covenant of the League of Nations |website=Article 22 |access-date=18 October 2012 |archive-date=26 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726080156/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/leagcov.asp#art22 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>"Mandate for Palestine," ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'', Vol. 11, p. 862, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972</ref> Arab opposition to British rule and Jewish immigration led to the [[1920 Palestine riots]] and the formation of a Jewish militia known as the [[Haganah]] ("The Defense" in Hebrew) as an outgrowth of Hashomer, from which the [[Irgun]] and [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]] paramilitaries later split.<ref>{{harvnb|Scharfstein|1996|p=269}}. "During the First and Second Aliyot, there were many Arab attacks against Jewish settlements ... In 1920, [[Hashomer]] was disbanded and [[Haganah]] ("The Defense") was established."</ref> In 1922, the [[League of Nations]] granted Britain the [[Mandate for Palestine]] under terms which included the Balfour Declaration with its promise to the Jews, and with similar provisions regarding the Arab Palestinians.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1922mandate.html |title=League of Nations: The Mandate for Palestine, July 24, 1922 |journal=Modern History Sourcebook |date=24 July 1922 |access-date=27 August 2007 |archive-date=4 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804221156/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1922mandate.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Demographic history of Palestine (region)|population of the area]] was predominantly Arab and Muslim, with Jews accounting for about 11%,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=J. V. W. |title=A Survey of Palestine: Prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry |edition=Reprint |volume=I |year=1991 |orig-date=1946 |publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies |isbn=978-0-88728-213-3 |oclc=311797790 |page=148 |chapter=Chapter VI: Population |url=http://www.palestine-studies.org/books.aspx?id=543&href=details |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827011258/http://www.palestine-studies.org/books.aspx?id=543&href=details |archive-date=2013-08-27}}</ref> and Arab Christians about 9.5% of the population.<ref>{{cite web|title=Report to the League of Nations on Palestine and Transjordan, 1937 |publisher=British Government |url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/7BDD2C11C15B54C2052565D10057251E |access-date=14 July 2013 |year=1937 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923061547/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/7BDD2C11C15B54C2052565D10057251E |archive-date=23 September 2013}}</ref> [[File:"Jews and Arabs in Grim Struggle for Holy Land" article (1938).jpg|thumb|"Jews and Arabs in Grim Struggle for Holy Land", article from 1938]] The [[Third Aliyah|Third]] (1919–1923) and [[Fourth Aliyah]]s (1924–1929) brought an additional 100,000 Jews to Palestine. The [[Hitler's rise to power|rise of Nazism]] and the increasing persecution of Jews in 1930s Europe led to the [[Fifth Aliyah]], with an influx of a quarter of a million Jews. This was a major cause of the [[1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine|Arab revolt of 1936–39]]. The revolt, which involved significant intercommunal fighting among the Arabs{{Citation needed|date=April 2024|reason=A citation needs to be provided to show there was significant infighting.}}, was suppressed by British security forces and Zionist militias. Several hundred British security personnel and Jews were killed, while 5,032 Arabs were killed, 14,760 were wounded, and 12,622 were detained.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEt5PWCTMJMC&q=irgun%2520and%2520haganah%2520in%2520the%25201936+riots&pg=PAPA374|title=A History of Zionism: From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel|access-date=15 October 2015|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|author=Walter Laqueur|year=2009|isbn=978-0-307-53085-1|archive-date=19 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219070659/https://books.google.com/books?id=hEt5PWCTMJMC&pg=PAPA374&dq=%22irgun%2Band%2Bhaganah%2Bin%2Bthe%2B1936%2Briots%22&q=irgun%2520and%2520haganah%2520in%2520the%25201936+riots#v=onepage&q=irgun%2520and%2520haganah%2520in%2520the%25201936%20riots&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hughes |first1=M |year=2009 |title=The banality of brutality: British armed forces and the repression of the Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936–39 |url=http://v-scheiner.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/7251/4/The%20banality%20of%20brutality.pdf |journal=English Historical Review |volume=CXXIV |issue=507 |pages=314–354 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cep002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160221163210/http://v-scheiner.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/7251/4/The%20banality%20of%20brutality.pdf |archive-date=21 February 2016}}</ref><ref>Levenberg, Haim (1993). ''Military Preparations of the Arab Community in Palestine: 1945–1948.'' Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7146-3439-5, pp. 74-76</ref> An estimated ten percent of the adult male [[Palestinian people|Palestinian Arab]] population was killed, wounded, imprisoned or exiled.<ref>[[Walid Khalidi|Khalidi, Walid]] (1987). ''From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem Until 1948''. Institute for Palestine Studies. {{ISBN|978-0-88728-155-6}}</ref> The British introduced restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine with the [[White Paper of 1939]]. With countries around the world turning away [[Jewish refugees]] fleeing [[the Holocaust]], a clandestine movement known as [[Aliyah Bet]], was organized to bring Jews to Palestine. By the end of [[World War II]], 31% of the total population of Palestine was Jewish.<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, Village Statistics, 1945.</ref> The UK found itself facing a Jewish [[Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine|insurgency]] over immigration restrictions and continued conflict with the Arab community over limit levels. The Haganah joined Irgun and Lehi in an armed struggle against British rule.{{sfn|Fraser|2004|p=27}} At the same time, hundreds of thousands of Jewish [[Holocaust survivors]] sought a new life far from their destroyed communities in Europe. The Haganah attempted to bring tens of thousands of Jewish refugees to Palestine by ship in a programme called [[Aliyah Bet]]. Most of the ships were intercepted by the [[Royal Navy]] and the refugees placed in detention camps in [[Atlit detainee camp|Atlit]] and [[Cyprus internment camps|Cyprus]].<ref name="Golani2013">{{cite book |author=Motti Golani |title=Palestine Between Politics and Terror, 1945–1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mp7BAgAAQBAJ&pg=PAPA130 |year=2013 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=978-1-61168-388-2 |page=130 |access-date=1 December 2018 |archive-date=19 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219073858/https://books.google.com/books?id=Mp7BAgAAQBAJ&pg=PAPA130#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Michael J |title=Britain's Moment in Palestine:Retrospect and Perspectives, 1917–1948 |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-72985-7 |page=474 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DLPpAgAAQBAJ&q=British%2520detention%2520camps%2520at%2520atlit%2520and+cyprus&pg=PAPA474 |access-date=1 December 2018 |archive-date=19 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219070640/https://books.google.com/books?id=DLPpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PAPA474&dq=%22British%2Bdetention%2Bcamps%2Bat%2Batlit%2Band%2Bcyprus%22&q=British%2520detention%2520camps%2520at%2520atlit%2520and+cyprus#v=onepage&q=British%2520detention%2520camps%2520at%2520atlit%2520and%20cyprus&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> [[File:UN Palestine Partition Versions 1947.jpg|thumb|upright|[[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|UN Map]], "Palestine plan of partition with economic union"]] On 22 July 1946, Irgun [[King David Hotel bombing|bombed]] the British administrative headquarters for Palestine, killing 91.<ref>The Terrorism Ahead: Confronting Transnational Violence in the Twenty-First | By Paul J. Smith | M.E. Sharpe, 2007 | p. 27</ref><ref>''Encyclopedia of Terrorism'', [[Harvey W. Kushner]], Sage, 2003 p. 181</ref><ref name="brtca_irgun">[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/293947/Irgun-Zvai-Leumi#ref112521 Encyclopædia Britannica] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417201023/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/293947/Irgun-Zvai-Leumi#ref112521 |date=17 April 2015 }} article on the Irgun Zvai Leumi</ref><ref>The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945–1951: Arab Nationalism, the United States, and Postwar Imperialism. William Roger Louis, Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 430</ref><ref name="tclarke81">[[Thurston Clarke|Clarke, Thurston]]. ''By Blood and Fire'', G.P. Puttnam's Sons, 1981</ref><ref name="bethell">{{Cite book|first=Nicholas|last=Bethell|title=The Palestine Triangle|publisher=Andre Deutsch|year=1979}}</ref> The attack initially had the approval of the Haganah. It was conceived as a response to [[Operation Agatha]] (a series of raids, including one on the [[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]], by the British) and was the deadliest directed at the British during the Mandate era.<ref name="tclarke81"/><ref name="bethell"/> The Jewish insurgency continued throughout 1946 and 1947 despite concerted efforts by the British military and [[Palestine Police Force]] to suppress it. British efforts to mediate a negotiated solution with Jewish and Arab representatives also failed as the Jews were unwilling to accept any solution that did not involve a Jewish state and suggested a partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, while the Arabs were adamant that a Jewish state in any part of Palestine was unacceptable and that the only solution was a unified Palestine under Arab rule. In February 1947, the British referred the Palestine issue to the newly formed [[United Nations]]. On 15 May 1947, the [[General Assembly of the United Nations|UN General Assembly]] resolved that a [[United Nations Special Committee on Palestine|Special Committee]] be created "to prepare ... a report on the question of Palestine."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F5A49E57095C35B685256BCF0075D9C2 |title=A/RES/106 (S-1) |date=15 May 1947 |website=General Assembly resolution |publisher=United Nations |access-date=12 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806072438/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F5A49E57095C35B685256BCF0075D9C2 |archive-date=6 August 2012 }}</ref> The Report of the Committee<ref>{{cite web |url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/07175DE9FA2DE563852568D3006E10F3 |title=A/364 |date=3 September 1947 |website=Special Committee on Palestine |publisher=United Nations |access-date=12 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610173759/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/07175DE9FA2DE563852568D3006E10F3 |archive-date=10 June 2012 }}</ref> [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|proposed a plan]] to replace the British Mandate with "an independent Arab State, an independent Jewish State, and the City of Jerusalem [...] the last to be under an International Trusteeship System."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/2248AF9A92B498718525694B007239C6 |publisher=United Nations |date=20 April 1949 |access-date=31 July 2007 |title=Background Paper No. 47 (ST/DPI/SER.A/47) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103014616/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/2248AF9A92B498718525694B007239C6 |archive-date=3 January 2011 }}</ref> Meanwhile, the Jewish insurgency continued and peaked in July 1947, with a series of widespread guerrilla raids culminating in [[the Sergeants affair]], in which the Irgun took two British sergeants hostage as attempted leverage against the planned execution of three Irgun operatives. After the executions were carried out, the Irgun killed the two British soldiers, hanged their bodies from trees, and left a booby trap at the scene which injured a British soldier. The incident caused widespread outrage in the UK.<ref name=Hoffman>Hoffman, Bruce: ''Anonymous Soldiers'' (2015)</ref> In September 1947, the British cabinet decided to evacuate Palestine as the Mandate was no longer tenable.<ref name=Hoffman/> On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly adopted [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|Resolution 181 (II)]].<ref name="181(II)">{{cite web |url=https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/7F0AF2BD897689B785256C330061D253 |title=Resolution 181 (II). Future government of Palestine |date=29 November 1947 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=21 March 2017 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010090147/https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/7F0AF2BD897689B785256C330061D253 }}</ref> The plan attached to the resolution was essentially that proposed in the report of 3 September. The [[Jewish Agency]], the recognized representative of the Jewish community, accepted the plan, which assigned 55–56% of Mandatory Palestine to the Jews. At the time, the Jews were about a third of the population and owned around 6–7% of the land. Arabs constituted the majority and owned about 20% of the land, with the remainder held by the Mandate authorities or foreign landowners.<ref>Avneri, Aryeh L. (1984). ''The Claim of Dispossession: Jewish Land-Settlement and the Arabs, 1878–1948.'' Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0-87855-964-0. Retrieved 2 May 2009, p. 224.</ref><ref>Stein, Kenneth W. (1987) [Original in 1984]. The Land Question in Palestine, 1917–1939. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-4178-5. pp. 3-4, 247</ref><ref>[[Nathan Thrall]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=1oXZDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA227 ''The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219070639/https://books.google.com/books?id=1oXZDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA227#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=19 December 2023 }}, [[Henry Holt and Company]] 2017 {{isbn|978-1-627-79710-8}} pp. 41,227 n.9.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Imseis|2021|pp=13–14}}: 'As to territorial boundaries, under the plan the Jewish State was allotted approximately 57 percent of the total area of Palestine even though the Jewish population comprised only 33 percent of the country. In addition, according to British records relied upon by the ad hoc committee, the Jewish population possessed registered ownership of only 5.6 percent of Palestine, and was eclipsed by the Arabs in land ownership in every one of Palestine's 16 sub-districts. Moreover, the quality of the land granted to the proposed Jewish state was highly skewed in its favour. UNSCOP reported that under its majority plan "[t]he Jews will have the more economically developed part of the country embracing practically the whole of the citrus-producing area"—Palestine's staple export crop—even though approximately half of the citrus-bearing land was owned by the Arabs. In addition, according to updated British records submitted to the ad hoc committee's two sub-committees, "of the irrigated, cultivable areas" of the country, 84 per cent would be in the Jewish State and 16 per cent would be in the Arab State".'</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Morris|2008|p=75}}: "The night of 29–30 November passed in the Yishuv's settlements in noisy public rejoicing. Most had sat glued to their radio sets broadcasting live from Flushing Meadow. A collective cry of joy went up when the two-thirds mark was achieved: a state had been sanctioned by the international community."</ref><ref name="Morris2008396">{{harvnb|Morris|2008|p=396}}: "The immediate trigger of the 1948 War was the November 1947 UN partition resolution. The Zionist movement, except for its fringes, accepted the proposal."</ref><ref>Matthews, John: [http://booksand-ebooks.com/political-commentary/israel-palestine-land-division Israel-Palestine land division] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005145922/http://booksand-ebooks.com/political-commentary/israel-palestine-land-division |date=5 October 2023 }}</ref> The [[Arab League]] and [[Arab Higher Committee]] of Palestine rejected it,<ref>{{harvnb|Imseis|2021|pp=14–15}}: 'Although the Zionists had coveted the whole of Palestine, the Jewish Agency leadership pragmatically, if grudgingly, accepted Resolution 181(II). Although they were of the view that the Jewish national home promised in the Mandate was equivalent to a Jewish state, they well understood that such a claim could not be maintained under prevailing international law..Based on its own terms, it is impossible to escape the conclusion that the partition plan privileged European interests over those of Palestine's indigenous people and, as such, was an embodiment of the Eurocentricity of the international system that was allegedly a thing of the past. For this reason, the Arabs took a more principled position in line with prevailing international law, rejecting partition outright . .This rejection has disingenuously been presented in some of the literature as indicative of political intransigence,69 and even hostility towards the Jews as Jews'</ref> and indicated that they would reject any other plan of partition.<ref>{{harvnb|Morris|2008}}, p. 66: at 1946 "The League demanded independence for Palestine as a "unitary" state, with an Arab majority and minority rights for the Jews.", p. 67: at 1947 "The League's Political Committee met in Sofar, Lebanon, on 16–19 September, and urged the Palestine Arabs to fight partition, which it called "aggression," "without mercy." The League promised them, in line with Bludan, assistance "in manpower, money and equipment" should the United Nations endorse partition.", p. 72: at December 1947 "The League vowed, in very general language, "to try to stymie the partition plan and prevent the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.""</ref>{{sfn|Bregman|2002|pp=40–41}} On 1 December 1947, the Arab Higher Committee proclaimed a three-day strike, and [[1947 Jerusalem riots|riots broke out in Jerusalem]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Palestine 1948 |last=Gelber |first=Yoav |year=2006 |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |isbn=978-1-902210-67-4 |page=17}}</ref> The situation spiralled into a [[1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine|civil war]]; just two weeks after the UN vote, Colonial Secretary [[Arthur Creech Jones]] announced that the British Mandate would end on 15 May 1948, at which point the British would evacuate. As Arab militias and gangs attacked Jewish areas, they were faced mainly by the [[Haganah]], as well as the smaller Irgun and Lehi. In April 1948, the Haganah moved onto the offensive.{{sfn|Morris|2008|p=77–78}}<ref>{{cite book |title=War in Palestine, 1948: Israeli and Arab Strategy and Diplomacy |last=Tal |first=David |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-7146-5275-7 |page=471}}</ref> During this period 250,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled, due to [[Causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodus|numerous factors]].{{sfn|Morris|2008}} === State of Israel === {{main|History of Israel (1948–present)}} ==== Establishment and early years ==== {{further|Israeli Declaration of Independence}} [[File:Declaration of State of Israel 1948.jpg|thumb|right|[[David Ben-Gurion]] declaring the [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|establishment of Israel]] on 14 May 1948]] On 14 May 1948, the day before the expiration of the British Mandate, [[David Ben-Gurion]], the head of the Jewish Agency, [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|declared]] "the establishment of a Jewish state in [[Eretz-Israel]], to be known as the State of Israel."<ref>Clifford, Clark, "Counsel to the President: A Memoir", 1991, p. 20.</ref> The only reference in the text of the Declaration to the borders of the new state is the use of the term ''Eretz-Israel'' ("[[Land of Israel]]").{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} The following day, the armies of four Arab countries—[[Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]], [[Syrian Republic (1946–63)|Syria]], [[Jordan|Transjordan]] and [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]]—entered into parts of what had been British Mandatory Palestine, launching the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]];<ref>{{cite book |trans-quote=The entry into (the) war of the Arab countries poses a complex legal problem. The crossing of the borders can constitute an act of aggression or a threat against peace, justifying a condemnation and an intervention by the United Nations, but if the armies penetrate only the Arab part of the partition plan, they can be considered as called on (to do so) by the population and at this stage their '''intervention''' would not in itself be a threat against the peace. That would only start were the Jewish part attacked. Now, the Arab armies do directly threaten Jewish territory at certain points while in others the Jews have already largely taken up positions in Arab territory. |quote=L'entrée en guerre des pays arabes pose un problem juridique complexe. Le franchissement des frontières peut constituer un acte d'aggression ou une menace contre la paix, justifiant une condannation et une intervention des Nations unies, mais si les armées pénètrent seulement dans la partie arabe du plan de partage, elles peuvent être considérées comme appelées par la population et à ce stade leur intervention ne serait pas par elle-même une menace contre la paix. Elle ne commencerait qu'avec l'attaque de la partie juive. Or, en certains points, les armées arabes menacent directement le territoire juif et dans d'autres les Juifs se sont déjà largement installés en territoire arabe. |author-link=Henry Laurens (scholar) |author=Henry Laurens |title=La Question de Palestine |publisher=[[Fayard]] |place=Paris |year=2007 |volume=3 |page=104}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Arab–Israeli conflict: The Palestine War 1948 |last=Karsh |first=Efraim |year=2002 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-1-84176-372-9|page=50}}</ref>{{sfn|Ben-Sasson|1985|p=1058}} contingents from [[Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen|Yemen]], [[Morocco]], [[Saudi Arabia]] and [[Sudan]] joined the war.{{sfn|Morris|2008|p=205}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics, and Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present |last=Rabinovich |first=Itamar |author2=Reinharz, Jehuda |year=2007 |publisher=Brandeis |isbn=978-0-87451-962-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780874519624/page/74 74] |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780874519624/page/74 }}</ref> The apparent purpose of the invasion was to prevent the establishment of the Jewish state; some Arab leaders talked about "driving the Jews into the sea".<ref name="Morris2008396"/><ref>{{cite book |title=War in Palestine, 1948: Israeli and Arab Strategy and Diplomacy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vs2PAgAAQBAJ&pg=PAPR4 |author=David Tal |year=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-77513-1 |page=469 |quote=some of the Arab armies invaded Palestine in order to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, Transjordan... |access-date=1 December 2018 |archive-date=19 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219070640/https://books.google.com/books?id=Vs2PAgAAQBAJ&pg=PAPR4#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Morris|2008|p=187}}: "A week before the armies marched, Azzam told Kirkbride: "It does not matter how many [Jews] there are. We will sweep them into the sea." ... Ahmed Shukeiry, one of Haj Amin al-Husseini's aides (and, later, the founding chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization), simply described the aim as "the elimination of the Jewish state." ... al-Quwwatli told his people: "Our army has entered ... we shall win and we shall eradicate Zionism""</ref> According to [[Benny Morris]], Jews were worried that the invading Arab armies held the intent to slaughter them.<ref>{{harvnb|Morris|2008|p=198}}: "the Jews felt that the Arabs aimed to reenact the Holocaust and that they faced certain personal and collective slaughter should they lose"</ref> The Arab league stated the invasion was to restore order and prevent further bloodshed.<ref name=cablegram>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S/745 |title=PDF copy of Cablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to the Secretary-General of the United Nations: S/745: 15 May 1948 |publisher=Un.org |date=9 September 2002 |access-date=13 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107030419/http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S%2F745 |archive-date=7 January 2014 }}</ref> After a year of fighting, a [[1949 Armistice Agreements|ceasefire was declared]] and temporary borders, known as the [[Green Line (Israel)|Green Line]], were established.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Arab–Israeli conflict: The Palestine War 1948 |last=Karsh |first=Efraim |year=2002 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-1-84176-372-9}}</ref> Jordan [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|annexed]] what became known as the [[West Bank]], including [[East Jerusalem]], and Egypt [[Occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt|occupied]] the [[Gaza Strip]]. The UN estimated that more than 700,000 Palestinians were [[1948 Palestinian exodus|expelled by or fled]]—what would become known in Arabic as the ''[[Nakba]]'' ("catastrophe").<ref>{{cite book |last=Morris|first=Benny|author-link=Benny Morris|title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited|isbn=978-0-521-00967-6 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=602 |year=2004 }}</ref> Some 156,000 remained and became [[Arab citizens of Israel]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lib.cet.ac.il/pages/item.asp?item=13336|title=עיצוב יחסי יהודים - ערבים בעשור הראשון|website=lib.cet.ac.il|access-date=2 September 2021|archive-date=8 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221008065301/https://lib.cet.ac.il/pages/item.asp?item=13336|url-status=live}}</ref> [[File:Raising the Ink Flag at Umm Rashrash (Eilat) (3x4).jpg|thumb|150px|right|Raising of the [[Ink Flag]] on 10 March 1949, marking the end of the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War|1948 war]]]] Israel [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 273|was admitted]] as a member of the UN on 11 May 1949.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/1ce874ab1832a53e852570bb006dfaf6/0b3ab8d2a7c0273d8525694b00726d1b |publisher=The United Nations |title=Two Hundred and Seventh Plenary Meeting |date=11 May 1949 |access-date=13 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912101430/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/1ce874ab1832a53e852570bb006dfaf6/0b3ab8d2a7c0273d8525694b00726d1b |archive-date=12 September 2007 }}</ref> An Israeli-Jordanian attempt at negotiating a peace agreement broke down after the [[British government]], fearful of the Egyptian reaction to such a treaty, expressed their opposition to the [[Government of Jordan|Jordanian government]].<ref>{{cite book|author=William Roger Louis|title=The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945–1951: Arab Nationalism, the United States, and Postwar Imperialism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATQQ0FMS1FQC&pg=PAPA579|year=1984|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-822960-5|page=579|quote=The transcript makes it clear that British policy acted as a brake on Jordan. "King Abdullah was personally anxious to come to agreement with Israel", Kirkbride stated, "and in fact it was our restraining influence which had so far prevented him from doing so". Knox Helm confirmed that the Israelis hoped to have a settlement with Jordan, and that they now genuinely wished to live peacefully within their frontiers, if only for economic reasons.|access-date=1 December 2018|archive-date=19 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219070639/https://books.google.com/books?id=ATQQ0FMS1FQC&pg=PAPA579#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In the early years of the state, the [[Labor Zionism|Labor Zionist]] movement led by Prime Minister [[David Ben-Gurion]] dominated [[Politics of Israel|Israeli politics]].{{sfn|Lustick|1988|pp=37–39}}<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/iltoc.html |title=Israel (Labor Zionism) |journal=Country Studies |access-date=12 February 2010 |archive-date=10 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710212220/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/iltoc.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Immigration to Israel during the late 1940s and early 1950s was aided by the Israeli Immigration Department and the non-government sponsored [[Mossad LeAliyah Bet]] ({{Abbr|lit.|literally|class=small}} "Institute for [[Aliyah Bet|Immigration B]]").<ref>{{cite book | author = Anita Shapira | title = Land and Power | pages = 416, 419 | publisher = Stanford University Press | year = 1992}}</ref> The latter engaged in clandestine operations in countries, particularly in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, where the lives of Jews were believed to be in danger and exit was difficult. Mossad LeAliyah Bet was disbanded in 1953.<ref>Segev, Tom. 1949: The First Israelis. "The First Million". Trans. Arlen N. Weinstein. New York: The Free Press, 1986. Print. pp. 105–107</ref> The immigration was in accordance with the [[One Million Plan]]. Some immigrants held Zionist beliefs or came for the promise of a better life, while others moved to escape persecution or were expelled.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Forgotten Millions: The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands |last=Shulewitz |first=Malka Hillel |year=2001 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=978-0-8264-4764-7}}</ref><ref>Laskier, Michael "Egyptian Jewry under the Nasser Regime, 1956–70" pp. 573–619 from ''Middle Eastern Studies'', Volume 31, Issue # 3, July 1995 p. 579.</ref> An [[Aliyah#Early statehood (1948–1960)|influx of Holocaust survivors]] and [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries|Jews from Arab and Muslim countries]] to Israel during the first three years increased the number of Jews from 700,000 to 1,400,000. By 1958, the population had risen to two million.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_02&CYear=2016 |title=Population, by Religion |date=2016 |publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics |access-date=4 September 2016 |archive-date=18 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918223343/http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_02&CYear=2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> Between 1948 and 1970, approximately 1,150,000 Jewish refugees relocated to Israel.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bard|first=Mitchell|title=The Founding of the State of Israel|year=2003|publisher=Greenhaven Press|page=15}}</ref> Some new immigrants arrived as refugees and were housed in temporary camps known as ''[[ma'abarot]]''; by 1952, over 200,000 people were living in these tent cities.<ref>{{cite book |title=Immigrants in Turmoil: Mass Immigration to Israel and Its Repercussions in the 1950s and After |last=Hakohen |first=Devorah |year=2003 |publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-2969-6}}; for ma'abarot population, see p. 269.</ref> [[Ashkenazi Jews|Jews of European background]] were often treated more favorably than Jews from [[Mizrahi Jews|Middle Eastern]] and [[Sephardi Jews|North African]] countries—housing units reserved for the latter were often re-designated for the former, so Jews newly arrived from Arab lands generally ended up staying longer in transit camps.<ref>Clive Jones, Emma Murphy, [https://books.google.com/books?id=A144y7qwRJMC&pg=PA37 ''Israel: Challenges to Identity, Democracy, and the State,''] [[Routledge]] 2002 p. 37: "Housing units earmarked for the Oriental Jews were often reallocated to European Jewish immigrants; Consigning Oriental Jews to the privations of ''ma'aborot'' (transit camps) for longer periods."</ref>{{sfn|Segev|2007|pp=155–157}} During this period, food, clothes and furniture had to be rationed in what became known as the [[Austerity in Israel|austerity period]]. The need to solve the crisis led Ben-Gurion to sign a [[Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany|reparations agreement with West Germany]] that triggered mass protests by Jews angered at the idea that Israel could accept monetary compensation for the Holocaust.{{sfn|Shindler|2002|pp=49–50}} ==== Arab–Israeli conflict ==== {{main|Arab–Israeli conflict}} During the 1950s, Israel was frequently [[List of attacks against Israeli civilians before 1967|attacked]] by [[Palestinian fedayeen]], nearly always against civilians,<ref>{{cite book |author=Kameel B. Nasr|title=Arab and Israeli Terrorism: The Causes and Effects of Political Violence, 1936–1993|url={{Google books|QRXURzwdXS4C|page=PA40|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|year=1996|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-3105-2|pages=40– |quote=Fedayeen to attack...almost always against civilians}}</ref> mainly from the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip,{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=58}} leading to several Israeli [[reprisal operations]]. In 1956, the UK and France aimed at regaining control of the [[Suez Canal]], which Egypt had nationalized. The continued blockade of the Suez Canal and [[Straits of Tiran]] to Israeli shipping, together with increasing Fedayeen attacks against Israel's southern population and recent Arab threatening statements, prompted Israel to attack Egypt.<ref>{{cite book|author=Isaac Alteras|title=Eisenhower and Israel: U.S.-Israeli Relations, 1953–1960|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ydRHCPWngioC&pg=PAPA192|year=1993|publisher=University Press of Florida|isbn=978-0-8130-1205-6|pages=192–|quote=the removal of the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran at the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba. The blockade closed Israel's sea lane to East Africa and the Far East, hindering the development of Israel's southern port of Eilat and its hinterland, the Nege. Another important objective of the Israeli war plan was the elimination of the terrorist bases in the Gaza Strip, from which daily fedayeen incursions into Israel made life unbearable for its southern population. And last but not least, the concentration of the Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula, armed with the newly acquired weapons from the Soviet bloc, prepared for an attack on Israel. Here, Ben-Gurion believed, was a time bomb that had to be defused before it was too late. Reaching the Suez Canal did not figure at all in Israel's war objectives.|access-date=1 December 2018|archive-date=19 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219071150/https://books.google.com/books?id=ydRHCPWngioC&pg=PAPA192|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Dominic Joseph Caraccilo|title=Beyond Guns and Steel: A War Termination Strategy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FDA8dQyaQ9MC&pg=PAPA113|date=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-39149-1|pages=113–|quote=The escalation continued with the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran, and Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal in July 1956. On October 14, Nasser made clear his intent:"I am not solely fighting against Israel itself. My task is to deliver the Arab world from destruction through Israel's intrigue, which has its roots abroad. Our hatred is very strong. There is no sense in talking about peace with Israel. There is not even the smallest place for negotiations." Less than two weeks later, on October 25, Egypt signed a tripartite agreement with Syria and Jordan placing Nasser in command of all three armies. The continued blockade of the Suez Canal and Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, combined with the increased fedayeen attacks and the bellicosity of recent Arab statements, prompted Israel, with the backing of Britain and France, to attack Egypt on October 29, 1956.|access-date=1 December 2018|archive-date=19 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219071150/https://books.google.com/books?id=FDA8dQyaQ9MC&pg=PAPA113|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Alan Dowty|title=Israel/Palestine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9iFxq6NPPgEC&pg=PAPA102|year=2005|publisher=Polity|isbn=978-0-7456-3202-5|pages=102–|quote=Gamal Abdel Nasser, who declared in one speech that "Egypt has decided to dispatch her heroes, the disciples of Pharaoh and the sons of Islam and they will cleanse the land of Palestine....There will be no peace on Israel's border because we demand vengeance, and vengeance is Israel's death."...The level of violence against Israelis, soldiers and civilians alike, seemed to be rising inexorably.|access-date=1 December 2018|archive-date=19 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219071150/https://books.google.com/books?id=9iFxq6NPPgEC&pg=PAPA102#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Israel joined [[Protocol of Sèvres|a secret alliance]] with the UK and France and overran the [[Sinai Peninsula]] in the [[Suez Crisis]], but was pressured to withdraw by the UN in return for guarantees of Israeli shipping rights.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5195582.stm|title=Suez Crisis: Key players|date=21 July 2006|access-date=19 July 2018|language=en-GB|archive-date=26 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026234223/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5195582.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://sunnycv.com/steve/20th/suez.html |title=The Suez Crisis |last=Schoenherr |first=Steven |date=15 December 2005 |access-date=31 May 2013 |archive-date=30 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140430091614/http://sunnycv.com/steve/20th/suez.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Suez Crisis |last=Gorst |first=Anthony |author2=Johnman, Lewis |year=1997 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-11449-3}}</ref> The war resulted in significant reduction of Israeli border infiltration.<ref>{{cite book|author=Benny Morris|title=Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881–1998|url={{Google books|jGtVsBne7PgC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|date=25 May 2011|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-78805-4|pages=300, 301|quote=[p. 300] In exchange (for Israeli withdrawal) the United states had indirectly promised to guarantee Israel's right of passage through the straits (to the Red sea) and its right to self defense if the Egyptian closed them....(p 301) The 1956 war resulted in a significant reduction of...Israeli border tension. Egypt refrained from reactivating the Fedaeen, and...Egypt and Jordan made great effort to curb infiltration}}</ref> [[File:1961-04-13 Tale Of Century - Eichmann Tried For War Crimes.ogv|thumb|U.S. newsreel on the trial of [[Adolf Eichmann]]]] In the early 1960s, Israel captured Nazi war criminal [[Adolf Eichmann]] in Argentina and brought him to Israel for [[Eichmann trial|trial]].{{sfn|Bascomb|2009|p=219–229}} Eichmann remains the only person executed in Israel by conviction in an [[Israeli judicial system|Israeli civilian court]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Shlomo Shpiro |title=No place to hide: Intelligence and civil liberties in Israel |journal=Cambridge Review of International Affairs |volume=19 |issue=44 |pages=629–648 |year=2006 |s2cid=144734253 |doi=10.1080/09557570601003361}}</ref> During the spring and summer of 1963 Israel was engaged in a diplomatic standoff with the United States due to the Israeli [[Nuclear weapons and Israel|nuclear programme]].<ref name="Haaretz2019">{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-a-standoff-with-the-u-s-almost-blew-up-israel-s-nuclear-program-1.7193419|title=How a Standoff with the U.S. Almost Blew up Israel's Nuclear Program|newspaper=Haaretz|date=3 May 2019|last1=Cohen|first1=Avner|access-date=11 November 2019|archive-date=2 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202173023/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-a-standoff-with-the-u-s-almost-blew-up-israel-s-nuclear-program-1.7193419|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2019-05-02/battle-letters-1963-john-f-kennedy-david-ben-gurion-levi-eshkol-us-inspections-dimona |title=The Battle of the Letters, 1963: John F. Kennedy, David Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol, and the U.S. Inspections of Dimona {{pipe}} National Security Archive |date=29 April 2019 |access-date=11 November 2019 |archive-date=11 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191111141328/https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2019-05-02/battle-letters-1963-john-f-kennedy-david-ben-gurion-levi-eshkol-us-inspections-dimona |url-status=live }}</ref> Since 1964, Arab countries, concerned over Israeli plans to divert waters of the [[Jordan River]] into the [[Israeli coastal plain|coastal plain]],<ref>"The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East", by Richard B. Parker (1993 Indiana University Press) p. 38</ref> had been trying to divert the headwaters to deprive Israel of water resources, provoking [[War over Water (Jordan river)|tensions]] between Israel on the one hand, and Syria and Lebanon on the other. [[Arab nationalist]]s led by Egyptian President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] refused to recognize Israel and called for its destruction.<ref name="RoutledgeAtlas">{{Harvnb|Gilbert|2005|p=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Syria and Israel: From War to Peacemaking |last=Maoz |first=Moshe |year=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-828018-7 |page=70 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/5/newsid_2654000/2654251.stm |title=On This Day 5 Jun |date=5 June 1967 |publisher=BBC |access-date=26 December 2011 |archive-date=14 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714044705/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/5/newsid_2654000/2654251.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1966, Israeli-Arab relations had deteriorated to the point of battles taking place between Israeli and Arab forces.{{sfn|Segev|2007|p=178}} [[File:Six Day War Territories.svg|thumb|Territory held by Israel: {{legend|#ffffd0|before the [[Six-Day War]]}} {{legend|#f7d3aa|after the war}} The [[Sinai Peninsula]] was returned to Egypt in 1982.]] In May 1967, Egypt massed its army near the border with Israel, expelled [[United Nations Emergency Force|UN peacekeepers]], stationed in the Sinai Peninsula since 1957, and blocked Israel's access to the Red Sea.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gat |first=Moshe |title=Britain and the Conflict in the Middle East, 1964–1967: The Coming of the Six-Day War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ntLdA8QIgXIC&q=On+the+night+of+May+22-23,+Nasser+declared+the+Gulf+of+Aqaba+closed+to+Israeli+shipping&pg=PA202 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2003 |page=202 |isbn=978-0-275-97514-2 |access-date=4 October 2020 |archive-date=19 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219071151/https://books.google.com/books?id=ntLdA8QIgXIC&q=On+the+night+of+May+22-23,+Nasser+declared+the+Gulf+of+Aqaba+closed+to+Israeli+shipping&pg=PA202 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[[John Quigley (academic)|John Quigley]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=0zEi3qGWLFIC&pg=PA32 ''The Six-Day War and Israeli Self-Defense: Questioning the Legal Basis for Preventive War''], Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 32.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Samir A. Mutawi|title=Jordan in the 1967 War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9bBJusRJIMC|year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-52858-0|page=93|quote=Although Eshkol denounced the Egyptians, his response to this development was a model of moderation. His speech on 21 May demanded that Nasser withdraw his forces from Sinai but made no mention of the removal of UNEF from the Straits nor of what Israel would do if they were closed to Israeli shipping. The next day Nasser announced to an astonished world that henceforth the Straits were, indeed, closed to all Israeli ships|access-date=17 September 2021|archive-date=31 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031043157/https://books.google.com/books?id=g9bBJusRJIMC|url-status=live}}</ref> Other Arab states mobilized their forces.{{sfn|Segev|2007|p=289}} Israel reiterated that these actions were a ''[[casus belli]]'' and, on 5 June, launched a [[Operation Focus|pre-emptive strike]] against Egypt. Jordan, Syria and Iraq attacked Israel. In a [[Six-Day War]], Israel captured and occupied the West Bank from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the [[Golan Heights]] from Syria.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2006|p=126}}. "Nasser, the Egyptian president, decided to mass troops in the Sinai{{nbsp}}... ''casus belli'' by Israel."</ref> Jerusalem's boundaries were enlarged, incorporating [[East Jerusalem]], and the 1949 [[Green Line (Israel)|Green Line]] became the administrative boundary between Israel and the [[Israeli-occupied territories|occupied territories]].{{sfn|Shlay|Rosen|2010|pp=362–363}} Following the 1967 war and the "[[Three Nos]]" resolution of the Arab League, Israel faced attacks from the Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula during the 1967–1970 [[War of Attrition]], and from Palestinian groups targeting Israelis in the occupied territories, in Israel, and around the world. Most important among the various Palestinian and Arab groups was the [[Palestinian Liberation Organization]] (PLO), established in 1964, which initially committed itself to "armed struggle as the only way to liberate the homeland".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/magazine/13PALESTINIANS.html |title=The Interregnum |last=Bennet |first=James |date=13 March 2005 |work=The New York Times Magazine |access-date=11 February 2010 |archive-date=16 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416021652/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/magazine/13PALESTINIANS.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Palestinian groups launched [[Palestinian political violence|attacks]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Research on Terrorism: Trends, Achievements and Failures |last=Silke |first=Andrew |year=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-7146-8273-0 |page=149 (256 pp.) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rSpfNJQ4CbAC&q=palestinian+terror+1970s&pg=PA149 |access-date=8 March 2010 |archive-date=19 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219071201/https://books.google.com/books?id=rSpfNJQ4CbAC&q=palestinian+terror+1970s&pg=PA149#v=snippet&q=palestinian%20terror%201970s&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Routledge Atlas of the Arab–Israeli Conflict: The Complete History of the Struggle and the Efforts to Resolve It |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-28116-4 |page=82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UNvJ1FOwiAwC&q=palestinian+terror+1970s&pg=PA82 |access-date=8 March 2010 |archive-date=19 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219071251/https://books.google.com/books?id=UNvJ1FOwiAwC&q=palestinian+terror+1970s&pg=PA82#v=onepage&q=palestinian%20terror%201970s&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/world/middleeast/27habash.html |title=George Habash, Palestinian Terrorism Tactician, Dies at 82 |first1=Edmund |last1=Andrews |author-link=Edmund Andrews (reporter) |first2=John |last2=Kifner |author-link2=John Kifner |newspaper=The New York Times |date=27 January 2008 |access-date=29 March 2012 |archive-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313121747/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/world/middleeast/27habash.html |url-status=live }}</ref> including [[Munich massacre|a massacre of Israeli athletes]] at the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] in Munich. The Israeli government responded with an [[Operation Wrath of God|assassination campaign]] against the organizers of the massacre, a [[1972 Israeli air raid in Syria and Lebanon|bombing]] and a [[1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon|raid on the PLO headquarters in Lebanon]]. On 6 October 1973, the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched [[Operation Badr (1973)|a surprise attack]] against Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights, opening the [[Yom Kippur War]]. The war ended on 25 October with Israel repelling Egyptian and Syrian forces but having suffered over 2,500 soldiers killed in a war which collectively took 10–35,000 lives in about 20 days.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/6/newsid_2514000/2514317.stm |title=1973: Arab states attack Israeli forces |work=On This Day |publisher=BBC News |access-date=15 July 2007 |date=6 October 1973 |archive-date=14 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714014851/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/6/newsid_2514000/2514317.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> An [[Agranat Commission|internal inquiry]] exonerated [[Fifteenth government of Israel|the government]] of responsibility for failures before and during the war, but public anger forced Prime Minister [[Golda Meir]] to resign.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/lexicon/eng/agranat_eng.htm |title=Agranat Commission |publisher=Knesset |year=2008 |access-date=8 April 2010 |archive-date=29 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229175926/http://knesset.gov.il/lexicon/eng/agranat_eng.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=February 2023}} In July 1976, an airliner was hijacked in flight from Israel to France by Palestinian guerrillas and landed at [[Entebbe International Airport]], Uganda. Israeli commandos [[Operation Entebbe|rescued]] 102 out of 106 Israeli hostages. ==== Peace process ==== {{main|Israeli–Palestinian peace process}} The [[1977 Israeli legislative election|1977 Knesset elections]] marked a major turning point in Israeli political history as [[Menachem Begin]]'s [[Likud]] party took control from the [[Labor Party (Israel)|Labor Party]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bregman|2002|pp=169–170}}: "In hindsight we can say that 1977 was a turning point ..."</ref> Later that year, Egyptian President [[Anwar El Sadat]] made a trip to Israel and spoke before the [[Knesset]] in what was the first recognition of Israel by an Arab head of state.{{sfn|Bregman|2002|pp=171–174}} Sadat and Begin signed the [[Camp David Accords]] (1978) and the [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty]] (1979).{{sfn|Bregman|2002|pp=186–187}} In return, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and agreed to enter negotiations over an autonomy for Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.{{sfn|Bregman|2002|pp=186–187}} On 11 March 1978, a PLO guerilla raid from Lebanon led to the [[Coastal Road massacre]]. Israel responded by launching an [[1978 South Lebanon conflict|invasion of southern Lebanon]] to destroy PLO bases. Most PLO fighters withdrew, but Israel was able to secure southern Lebanon until a [[United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon|UN force]] and the Lebanese army could take over. The PLO soon resumed its [[Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon|insurgency]] against Israel. In the next few years, the PLO infiltrated the south and kept up a sporadic shelling across the border. Israel carried out numerous retaliatory attacks. Meanwhile, Begin's government provided incentives for Israelis to [[Israeli settlements|settle]] in the [[Israeli occupation of the West Bank|occupied West Bank]], increasing friction with the Palestinians there.<ref>{{cite book|title=A history of the modern Middle East |last=Cleveland |first=William L. |year=1999 |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=978-0-8133-3489-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernm00clev/page/356 356] |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernm00clev/page/356 }}</ref> The [[Jerusalem Law]] (1980) was believed by some to reaffirm Israel's 1967 annexation of Jerusalem by government decree, and [[UN Security Council Resolution 478|reignited international controversy]] over the [[Positions on Jerusalem|status of the city]]. No Israeli legislation has defined the territory of Israel and no act specifically included East Jerusalem therein.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lustick |first=Ian |year=1997 |title=Has Israel Annexed East Jerusalem? |journal=Middle East Policy |volume=V |issue=1 |pages=34–45 |issn=1061-1924 |oclc=4651987544 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4967.1997.tb00247.x |url=https://www.sas.upenn.edu/polisci/sites/www.sas.upenn.edu.polisci/files/Lustick_Has%20Israel%20Annexed%20Jerusalem_1997.pdf |access-date=1 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091120090306/http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol5/9701_lustick.asp |archive-date=20 November 2009 }}</ref> In 1981 Israel [[Golan Heights Law|effectively annexed]] the [[Golan Heights]].<ref name="bbc_golan_profile">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14724842 |title=Golan Heights profile |date=27 November 2015 |work=BBC News |access-date=6 January 2017 |archive-date=17 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617170912/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14724842 |url-status=live }}</ref> The international community largely rejected these moves, with the UN Security Council declaring both the Jerusalem Law and the Golan Heights Law null and void.<ref>{{cite book | last=Hillier | first=T. | title=Sourcebook on Public International Law | publisher=Routledge | year=1998 | isbn=978-1-135-35366-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DmuPAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA242 | access-date=12 October 2021 | archive-date=19 December 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219071301/https://books.google.com/books?id=DmuPAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA242#v=onepage&q&f=false | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1=Monacella | first1=R. | last2=Ware | first2=S.A. | title=Fluctuating Borders: Speculations about Memory and Emergence | publisher=RMIT University Press | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-921166-48-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7r4wd57FqIC&pg=RA1-PA62 | access-date=12 October 2021 | archive-date=19 December 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219071154/https://books.google.com/books?id=q7r4wd57FqIC&pg=RA1-PA62#v=onepage&q&f=false | url-status=live }}</ref> Several waves of [[Ethiopian Jews]] [[Aliyah from Ethiopia|immigrated]] to Israel since the 1980s, while between 1990 and 1994, [[1990s Post-Soviet aliyah|immigration from the post-Soviet states]] increased Israel's population by twelve percent.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Economics/Papers/1996/pdfs/96-28.pdf |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |date=November 2001 |title=The Impact of Mass Migration on the Israeli Labor Market |last=Friedberg |first=Rachel M. |pages=1373–1408 |issue=4 |doi=10.1162/003355301753265606 |volume=116 |hdl=10419/102605 |citeseerx=10.1.1.385.2596 |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=23 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923025501/http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Economics/Papers/1996/pdfs/96-28.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> On 7 June 1981, during the [[Iran–Iraq War]], the Israeli air force [[Operation Opera|destroyed]] Iraq's sole [[Osirak|nuclear reactor]] under construction just outside [[Baghdad]], to impede Iraq's nuclear weapons programme. Following a series of PLO attacks in 1982, Israel [[1982 Lebanon War|invaded]] Lebanon to destroy the PLO bases.{{sfn|Bregman|2002|p=199}} In the first six days, the Israelis destroyed the military forces of the PLO in Lebanon and decisively defeated the Syrians. An Israeli government inquiry—the [[Kahan Commission]]—would later hold Begin and several Israeli generals indirectly responsible for the [[Sabra and Shatila massacre]] and hold [[Defense Minister of Israel|Defense minister]] [[Ariel Sharon]] as bearing "personal responsibility".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schiff |first1=Ze'ev |author-link=Ze'ev Schiff |last2=Ehud |first2=Yaari |author-link2=Ehud Yaari |title=Israel's Lebanon War |year=1984 |page=[https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa0000schi/page/284 284] |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=978-0-671-47991-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa0000schi}}</ref> Sharon was forced to resign.<ref>{{cite book |last=Silver |first=Eric |title=Begin: The Haunted Prophet |publisher=[[Random House]] |year=1984 |page=[https://archive.org/details/beginhauntedprop00silv/page/239 239] |isbn=978-0-394-52826-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/beginhauntedprop00silv}}</ref> In 1985, Israel responded to a Palestinian [[Larnaca yacht killings|terrorist attack]] in [[Cyprus]] by [[Operation Wooden Leg|bombing]] the PLO headquarters in Tunisia. Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon in 1986, but maintained a [[Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon|borderland buffer zone]] in southern Lebanon until 2000, from where Israeli forces [[South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000)|engaged in conflict]] with [[Hezbollah]]. The [[First Intifada]], a Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule,<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict |last=Tessler |first=Mark A. |year=1994 |publisher=Indiana University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofisraeli00tess_0/page/677 677] |isbn=978-0-253-20873-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofisraeli00tess_0}}</ref> broke out in 1987, with waves of uncoordinated demonstrations and violence in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Over the following six years, the Intifada became more organized and included economic and cultural measures aimed at disrupting the Israeli occupation. More than a thousand people were killed.<ref>{{harvnb|Stone|Zenner|1994|p=246}}. "Toward the end of 1991 ... were the result of internal Palestinian terror."</ref> During the 1991 [[Gulf War]], the PLO supported [[Saddam Hussein]] and Iraqi missile [[Iraqi rocket attacks on Israel|attacks against Israel]]. Despite public outrage, Israel heeded American calls to refrain from hitting back.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE7DB173EF93AA35751C1A967958260 |title=After 4 Years, Intifada Still Smolders |work=The New York Times |date=9 December 1991 |access-date=28 March 2008 |last=Haberman |first=Clyde |archive-date=17 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717180855/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/09/world/after-4-years-intifada-still-smolders.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn |Mowlana |Gerbner |Schiller |1992 |p=111}} [[File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Foreign Min. Peres and King Hussein.jpg|thumb|[[Shimon Peres]] (left) with [[Yitzhak Rabin]] (center) and King [[Hussein of Jordan]] (right), prior to signing the [[Israel–Jordan peace treaty]] in 1994]] In 1992, [[Yitzhak Rabin]] became prime minister following [[1992 Israeli legislative election|an election]] in which his party called for compromise with Israel's neighbours.{{sfn|Bregman|2002|p=236}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bc.edu/dam/files/research_sites/cjl/texts/cjrelations/resources/education/Israel_Palestine/cold_war_ends.htm |publisher=[[Boston College]] |title=From the End of the Cold War to 2001 |access-date=20 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827235024/http://www.bc.edu/dam/files/research_sites/cjl/texts/cjrelations/resources/education/Israel_Palestine/cold_war_ends.htm |archive-date=27 August 2013 }}</ref> The following year, [[Shimon Peres]] on behalf of Israel, and [[Mahmoud Abbas]] for the PLO, signed the [[Oslo Accords]], which gave the [[Palestinian National Authority]] (PNA) the right to govern [[West Bank Areas in the Oslo II Accord|parts of the West Bank]] and the Gaza Strip.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1990-2000/Oslo |publisher=U.S. Department of State |title=The Oslo Accords, 1993 |access-date=30 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122102530/http://history.state.gov/milestones/1990-2000/Oslo |archive-date=22 January 2010 }}</ref> The PLO also [[Israel–Palestine Liberation Organization letters of recognition|recognized]] Israel's right to exist and pledged an end to terrorism.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Israel-PLO%20Recognition%20-%20Exchange%20of%20Letters%20betwe |publisher=Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs |title=Israel–PLO Recognition – Exchange of Letters between PM Rabin and Chairman Arafat – Sept 9, 1993 |access-date=31 March 2010 |archive-date=16 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716184929/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Israel-PLO%20Recognition%20-%20Exchange%20of%20Letters%20betwe |url-status=live }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2023}} In 1994, the [[Israel–Jordan peace treaty]] was signed, making Jordan the second Arab country to normalize relations with Israel.<ref>{{harvnb|Harkavy|Neuman|2001|p=270}}. "Even though Jordan in 1994 became the second country, after Egypt to sign a peace treaty with Israel ..."</ref> Arab public support for the Accords was damaged by the continuation of Israeli settlements<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/settlement-info-and-tables/stats-data/sources-of-population-growth-total-israeli-population-and-settler-population-1991-2003 |title=Sources of Population Growth: Total Israeli Population and Settler Population, 1991–2003 |access-date=20 March 2012 |publisher=Foundation for Middle East Peace |website=Settlements information |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826051148/http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/settlement-info-and-tables/stats-data/sources-of-population-growth-total-israeli-population-and-settler-population-1991-2003 |archive-date=26 August 2013 }}</ref> and [[Israeli checkpoint|checkpoints]], and the deterioration of economic conditions.<ref>{{cite book|title=Negotiating Arab-Israeli peace: American leadership in the Middle East |last=Kurtzer |first=Daniel |author2=Lasensky, Scott |year=2008 |publisher=United States Institute of Peace Press |isbn=978-1-60127-030-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/negotiatingarabi0000kurt/page/44 44] |url=https://archive.org/details/negotiatingarabi0000kurt/page/44 }}</ref> Israeli public support for the Accords waned after [[List of Palestinian suicide attacks|Palestinian suicide attacks]].<ref>{{cite book|title=A history of the modern Middle East |last=Cleveland |first=William L. |year=1999 |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=978-0-8133-3489-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernm00clev/page/494 494] |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernm00clev/page/494 }}</ref> In November 1995, Yitzhak Rabin [[assassination of Yitzhak Rabin|was assassinated]] by [[Yigal Amir]], a far-right Jew who opposed the Accords.<ref>{{cite news |title=Israel marks Rabin assassination |publisher=BBC News |date=12 November 2005 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4431728.stm |access-date=12 May 2010 |archive-date=17 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117220054/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4431728.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> During [[Benjamin Netanyahu|Benjamin Netanyahu's]] premiership at the end of the 1990s, Israel agreed to [[Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron|withdraw]] from [[Hebron]],{{sfn|Bregman|2002|p=257}} though this was never ratified or implemented,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20151002002611/http://www.ijcv.org/index.php/ijcv/article/view/14/14 Hanne Eggen Røislien, "Living with Contradiction: Examining the Worldview of the Jewish Settlers in Hebron"], 2 October 2015 ''[[International Journal of Conflict and Violence]]'', Vol.1 (2) 2007, pp.169–184</ref> and signed the [[Wye River Memorandum]], giving greater control to the PNA.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://1997-2001.state.gov/www/regions/nea/981023_interim_agmt.html|publisher=[[U.S. Department of State]]|title=The Wye River Memorandum|date=23 October 1998|access-date=30 March 2010|archive-date=4 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104074037/http://1997-2001.state.gov/www/regions/nea/981023_interim_agmt.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Ehud Barak]], [[1999 Israeli general election|elected]] Prime Minister in 1999, withdrew forces from Southern Lebanon and conducted negotiations with PNA Chairman [[Yasser Arafat]] and U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] at the [[2000 Camp David Summit]]. Barak offered a plan for the establishment of a [[Palestinian state]], including the entirety of the Gaza Strip and over 90% of the West Bank with Jerusalem as a shared capital.{{sfn|Gelvin|2005|p=240}} Each side blamed the other for the failure of the talks. ==== 21st century ==== {{further|Iran–Israel proxy conflict}} {{Update section|date=March 2023|reason=the events of the last two decades outside of conflict is barely covered}} [[File:Rocket Attacks fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip by year.png|thumb|upright=1.25|[[Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel|Rocket attacks fired at Israel]] from the Gaza Strip, 2001-2021<ref name="pinfold">{{cite journal|last1=Pinfold|first1=Rob Geist|year=2023|title=Security, Terrorism, and Territorial Withdrawal: Critically Reassessing the Lessons of Israel's "Unilateral Disengagement" from the Gaza Strip|url=https://academic.oup.com/isp/article/24/1/67/6762979|journal=International Studies Perspectives|volume=24|issue=1|pages=67–87|doi=10.1093/isp/ekac013|institution=King’s College London, UK and Charles University, Czech Republic|doi-access=free|access-date=2 November 2023|archive-date=17 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231017014412/https://academic.oup.com/isp/article/24/1/67/6762979|url-status=live}}</ref>]] In late 2000, after a controversial visit by Likud leader [[Ariel Sharon]] to the [[Temple Mount]], the [[Second Intifada]] began. It would continue for the next four and a half years. [[Palestinian suicide attacks|Suicide bombings]] were a recurrent feature of the Intifada.<ref>Sela-Shayovitz, R. (2007). Suicide bombers in Israel: Their motivations, characteristics, and prior activity in terrorist organizations. ''International Journal of Conflict and Violence (IJCV)'', ''1''(2), 163. "The period of the second Intifada significantly differs from other historical periods in Israeli history, because it has been characterized by intensive and numerous suicide attacks that have made civilian life into a battlefront."</ref> Some commentators contend that the Intifada was pre-planned by Arafat due to the collapse of peace talks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/114827/the-big-myth-he-caused-second-intifada |title=The big myth: that he caused the Second Intifada |last=Gross |first=Tom |date=16 January 2014 |newspaper=The Jewish Chronicle |access-date=22 April 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304193513/http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/114827/the-big-myth-he-caused-second-intifada |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Hong |first=Nicole |date=23 February 2015 |title=Jury Finds Palestinian Authority, PLO Liable for Terrorist Attacks in Israel a Decade Ago |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/jury-finds-palestinian-authority-plo-liable-for-terrorist-attacks-in-israel-a-decade-ago-1424715529 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=22 April 2016 |archive-date=14 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414204555/http://www.wsj.com/articles/jury-finds-palestinian-authority-plo-liable-for-terrorist-attacks-in-israel-a-decade-ago-1424715529 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=jewishweek>{{cite news |url=http://jewishweek.org/news/newscontent.php3?artid=3846 |title=PA: Intifada Was Planned |last=Ain |first=Stewart |date=20 December 2000 |newspaper=The Jewish Week |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013083338/http://jewishweek.org/news/newscontent.php3?artid=3846 |archive-date=13 October 2007}}</ref><ref name=atlantic>{{cite news |title=In a Ruined Country |first=David |last=Samuels |date=1 September 2005 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/09/in-a-ruined-country/304167/ |newspaper=The Atlantic |access-date=27 March 2013 |archive-date=30 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830024459/http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200509/samuels |url-status=live }}</ref> Sharon became prime minister in a [[2001 Israeli prime ministerial election|2001 election]]; he carried out his plan to [[Israeli disengagement from Gaza|unilaterally withdraw]] from the Gaza Strip and spearheaded the construction of the [[Israeli West Bank barrier]],<ref>{{cite news|title=West Bank barrier route disputed, Israeli missile kills 2 |newspaper=USA Today |date=29 July 2004 |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-07-29-west-bank_x.htm |access-date=1 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020225835/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-07-29-west-bank_x.htm |archive-date=20 October 2012}}</ref> ending the Intifada.<ref>See for example:<br/>* {{cite news |title=Years of rage |first1=Amos |last1=Harel |first2=Avi |last2=Issacharoff |date=1 October 2010 |url=http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/years-of-rage-1.316603 |newspaper=Haaretz |access-date=12 August 2012 |archive-date=2 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702094014/http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/years-of-rage-1.316603 |url-status=live }}<br/>* {{cite news |title=Losing Faith in the Intifada |first=Laura |last=King |date=28 September 2004 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=http://articles.latimes.com/2004/sep/28/world/fg-intifada28 |access-date=12 August 2012 |archive-date=21 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921132644/http://articles.latimes.com/2004/sep/28/world/fg-intifada28 |url-status=live }}<br/>* {{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52801-2004Sep26.html |title=From Jenin To Fallujah? |last=Diehl |first=Jackson |date=27 September 2004 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=12 August 2012 |archive-date=3 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203212546/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52801-2004Sep26.html |url-status=live }}<br/>* {{cite web |url=http://www.jcpa.org/text/Amidror-perspectives-2.pdf |title=Winning Counterinsurgency War: The Israeli Experience |last=Amidror |first=Yaakov |website=Strategic Perspectives |publisher=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs |access-date=12 August 2012 |archive-date=11 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811130134/http://www.jcpa.org/text/Amidror-perspectives-2.pdf |url-status=live }}<br/>* {{cite web |last=Frisch |first=Hillel |url=http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/perspectives57.html |title=The Need for a Decisive Israeli Victory Over Hamas |date=12 January 2009 |website=Perspectives Papers on Current Affairs |publisher=Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies |access-date=12 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614054502/http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/perspectives57.html |archive-date=14 June 2012 }}<br/>* {{cite web |url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA449421 |title=The "Defensive Shield" Operation as a Turning Point in Israel's National Security Strategy |last=Buchris |first=Ofek |date=9 March 2006 |website=Strategy Research Project |publisher=United States Army War College |access-date=12 August 2012 |archive-date=7 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007044643/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA449421 |url-status=live }}<br/>* {{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50910-2004Jun17.html |title=Israel's Intifada Victory |last=Krauthammer |first=Charles |date=18 June 2004 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=12 August 2012 |archive-date=19 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919235122/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50910-2004Jun17.html |url-status=live }}<br/>* {{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3558676,00.html |title=2nd Intifada forgotten |last=Plocker |first=Sever |date=22 June 2008 |work=Ynetnews |access-date=12 August 2012 |archive-date=19 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819220413/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3558676,00.html |url-status=live }}<br/>* {{cite web |last=Ya'alon |first=Moshe |date=January 2007 |url=http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/PolicyFocus64.pdf |title=Lessons from the Palestinian 'War' against Israel |website=Policy Focus |publisher=Washington Institute for Near East Policy |access-date=12 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811130133/http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/PolicyFocus64.pdf |archive-date=11 August 2012 }}<br/>* {{cite news |date=20 September 2010 |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3957131,00.html |title=Letting the IDF win |last=Hendel |first=Yoaz |work=Ynetnews |access-date=12 August 2012 |archive-date=24 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924144858/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3957131,00.html |url-status=live }}<br/>* {{cite book |author1=Zvi Shtauber |author2=Yiftah Shapir |title=The Middle East strategic balance, 2004–2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7C-ZDXrfOgC&pg=PAPA7 |access-date=12 February 2012 |year=2006 |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |isbn=978-1-84519-108-5 |page=7 |archive-date=19 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219072213/https://books.google.com/books?id=t7C-ZDXrfOgC&pg=PAPA7 |url-status=live }}</ref> Between 2000 and 2008, 1,063 Israelis, 5,517 Palestinians and 64 foreign citizens had been killed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.btselem.org/statistics/fatalities/before-cast-lead/by-date-of-event |title=Fatalities before Operation "Cast Lead" |publisher=B'Tselem |access-date=14 January 2017 |archive-date=20 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120010413/https://www.btselem.org/statistics/fatalities/before-cast-lead/by-date-of-event |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2006, a Hezbollah artillery assault on Israel's northern border communities and a [[2006 Hezbollah cross-border raid|cross-border abduction]] of two Israeli soldiers precipitated the month-long [[Second Lebanon War]].<ref name="UN1701">{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sc8808.doc.htm |title=Security Council Calls for End to Hostilities between Hizbollah, Israel, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 1701 (2006) |website=[[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701]] |date=11 August 2006 |access-date=28 June 2017 |archive-date=30 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130025538/http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sc8808.doc.htm |url-status=live }}<br />Escalation of hostilities in Lebanon and in Israel since Hizbollah's attack on Israel on 12 July 2006</ref><ref name="HRTZ_Harel">{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/hezbollah-kills-8-soldiers-kidnaps-two-in-offensive-on-northern-border-1.192965 |title=Hezbollah kills 8 soldiers, kidnaps two in offensive on northern border |access-date=20 March 2012 |last=Harel |first=Amos |date=13 July 2006 |newspaper=Haaretz |archive-date=13 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513084315/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/hezbollah-kills-8-soldiers-kidnaps-two-in-offensive-on-northern-border-1.192965 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2007, the Israeli Air Force [[Operation Outside the Box|destroyed]] a nuclear reactor in Syria. In 2008, [[2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire|a ceasefire]] between [[Hamas]] and Israel collapsed. The [[Gaza War (2008–2009)|2008–2009 Gaza War]] lasted three weeks and ended after Israel announced a unilateral ceasefire.<ref>{{cite news |first = Jason |last = Koutsoukis |title = Battleground Gaza: Israeli ground forces invade the strip |url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/battleground-gaza/2009/01/04/1231003847085.html |work = Sydney Morning Herald |date = 5 January 2009 |access-date = 5 January 2009 |archive-date = 8 January 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090108013919/http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/battleground-gaza/2009/01/04/1231003847085.html |url-status = live }}</ref><ref name=ravid>{{cite news |last=Ravid |first=Barak |title=IDF begins Gaza troop withdrawal, hours after ending 3-week offensive |newspaper=Haaretz |access-date=20 March 2012 |date=18 January 2009 |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/idf-begins-gaza-troop-withdrawal-hours-after-ending-3-week-offensive-1.268326 |archive-date=17 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140817072019/http://www.haaretz.com/news/idf-begins-gaza-troop-withdrawal-hours-after-ending-3-week-offensive-1.268326 |url-status=live }}</ref> Hamas announced its own ceasefire, with its own conditions of complete withdrawal and opening of [[Blockade of the Gaza Strip|border crossings]]. Despite neither the [[Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel|rocket launchings]] nor Israeli [[Military operations of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict|retaliatory strikes]] having completely stopped, the fragile ceasefire remained.<ref>{{cite news |first=Yuval |last=Azoulay |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/two-idf-soldiers-civilian-lightly-hurt-as-gaza-mortars-hit-negev-1.266841 |title=Two IDF soldiers, civilian lightly hurt as Gaza mortars hit Negev |newspaper=Haaretz |date=1 January 2009 |access-date=20 March 2012 |archive-date=2 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702082345/http://www.haaretz.com/news/two-idf-soldiers-civilian-lightly-hurt-as-gaza-mortars-hit-negev-1.266841 |url-status=live }}</ref> In what Israel described as a response to [[List of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel in 2012|more than a hundred Palestinian rocket attacks]] on southern Israeli cities,<ref name="pound">{{cite news |title=Gaza groups pound Israel with over 100 rockets |first1=Yaakov |last1=Lappin |first2=Tovah |last2=Lazaroff |url=http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Gaza-groups-pound-Israel-with-over-100-rockets |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |date=12 November 2012 |access-date=27 March 2013 |archive-date=14 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414151101/https://www.jpost.com/Defense/Gaza-groups-pound-Israel-with-over-100-rockets |url-status=live }}</ref> Israel began [[2012 Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip|an operation in the Gaza Strip]] in 2012, lasting eight days.<ref>{{cite news |author=Stephanie Nebehay |date=20 November 2012 |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/palestinians-israel-humanitarian-idUSL5E8MK6MG20121120 |title=UN rights boss, Red Cross urge Israel, Hamas to spare civilians |work=Reuters |access-date=20 November 2012 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305052435/http://www.reuters.com/article/palestinians-israel-humanitarian-idUSL5E8MK6MG20121120 |url-status=live }}<br/>* {{cite news |title=Hamas leader defiant as Israel eases Gaza curbs |first=Nidal |last=al-Mughrabi |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-israel-hamas-idUSBRE8AD0WP20121124 |publisher=Reuters |date=24 November 2012 |access-date=8 February 2013 |archive-date=14 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114184249/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-israel-hamas-idUSBRE8AD0WP20121124 |url-status=live }}<br/>* {{cite news |url=http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=291779 |title=Israeli air strike kills top Hamas commander Jabari |work=The Jerusalem Post |access-date=14 November 2012 |archive-date=14 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114141727/http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=291779 |url-status=live }}</ref> Israel started another [[2014 Gaza War|operation]] in Gaza following an [[List of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel in 2014|escalation of rocket attacks]] by Hamas in July 2014.<ref>{{cite news|title=Israel and Hamas Trade Attacks as Tension Rises|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/world/middleeast/israel-steps-up-offensive-against-hamas-in-gaza.html|work=The New York Times|date=8 July 2014|access-date=16 February 2017|archive-date=22 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222154524/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/world/middleeast/israel-steps-up-offensive-against-hamas-in-gaza.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In May 2021, another [[2021 Israel–Palestine crisis|round of fighting]] took place in Gaza and Israel, lasting eleven days.<ref>{{cite news |title=Israel and Hamas agree Gaza truce, Biden pledges assistance |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-official-predicts-ceasefire-soon-israel-gaza-fight-goes-2021-05-19/ |publisher=Reuters |date=21 May 2021 |access-date=26 May 2021 |archive-date=31 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531014137/https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-official-predicts-ceasefire-soon-israel-gaza-fight-goes-2021-05-19/ |url-status=live }}</ref> By the 2010s, the [[Arab–Israeli alliance|increasing regional cooperation]] between Israel and [[Arab League]] countries have been established, culminating in the signing of the [[Abraham Accords]]. The Israeli security situation shifted from the traditional [[Arab–Israeli conflict]] towards the [[Iran–Israel proxy conflict]] and [[Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war|direct confrontation with Iran during the Syrian civil war]]. On 7 October 2023, Palestinian militant groups from Gaza, led by [[Hamas]], launched [[2023 Hamas attack on Israel|a series of coordinated attacks]] on Israel, leading to the start of the [[2023 Israel–Hamas war]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Martínez |first1=Andrés R. |last2=Bubola |first2=Emma |title=What We Know About the Hamas Attack and Israel's Response |url=https://www.nytimes.com/article/israel-gaza-hamas-what-we-know.html |access-date=10 October 2023 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=10 October 2023 |archive-date=8 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231008143358/https://www.nytimes.com/article/israel-gaza-hamas-what-we-know.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On that day, approximately 1300 Israelis, predominantly civilians, were killed in communities near the Gaza Strip border and [[Re'im music festival massacre|during a music festival]]. [[Kidnappings during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war|Over 200 hostages]], including elders, women, and children as young as 9 months, were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip.<ref name="Gillett">{{cite news |last1=Gillett |first1=Francesca |date=8 October 2023 |title=How an Israel music festival turned into a nightmare after Hamas attack |agency=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67047034 |url-status=live |access-date=8 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231008143208/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67047034 |archive-date=8 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Tabachnick |first1=Cara |date=8 October 2023 |title=Israelis search for loved ones with posts and pleas on social media |publisher=[[CBS News]] |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israelis-search-loved-ones-posts-pleas-social-media-hamas-attack/ |url-status=live |access-date=8 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231008061931/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israelis-search-loved-ones-posts-pleas-social-media-hamas-attack/ |archive-date=8 October 2023}}</ref><ref name="natureparty">{{cite news |author=Amanda Borschel-Dan |date=7 October 2023 |title=Thousands flee rocket and gunfire at all-night desert 'Nature Party'; dozens missing |work=[[The Times of Israel]] |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-flee-rocket-and-gunfire-at-all-night-desert-nature-party-dozens-missing/ |url-status=live |access-date=8 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007231525/https://www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-flee-rocket-and-gunfire-at-all-night-desert-nature-party-dozens-missing/ |archive-date=7 October 2023}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page