Rental Cars israel - History of israel
The area’s rich, complicated history all began when Abraham led a group of nomads into the mountains of Canaan around 1800 BC. By 1023 BC the Israelites formed a kingdom, captured Jerusalem and made it the capital. Solomon built some of the most important sites at this time. The Romans took over Israel in 63 BC under the control of Pontius Pilate – the same time when Jesus lived and spread the word of God in Israel. In 331 AD Emperor Constantine permitted the previously illegal religion of Christianity and many holy buildings and churches sprang up over Israel. In 638 Jerusalem was declared a Holy City of Islam due to the fact that Mohammed had ascended to heaven from the Temple Mount. This started a Christian uprising in 1099 which led to a 100 years of Christian rule, ending in 1291 when the Islamic Mamelukes took control and subsequently placed it under the domain of the Ottoman Empire. At the time Jews continued to spread across Europe, North America and the Middle East while control of Israel changed hands many times. In 1878 the first Jewish colony was founded.
By the 19th C the Ottomans were losing their grip. At the same time the Zionist movement emerged with the aim of building a separate Jewish nation in Palestine giving the Jews a sense of identity, bringing together the scattered Jewish nation. At the same time, the Arab population of Palestine was becoming strongly nationalistic and anti-European.
After WWI through the Balfour Declaration, Britain was granted mandate by the League of Nations to rule the country. This marked the beginning of the Israeli – Arab conflict as Britain struggled to balance power and keep commitment to the Jews and the Arabs. In 1947 a resolution was passed to divide the country between the Arabs and Jews. The United Nations favoured the creation of a separate state Jewish state carved out of Palestine. The Palestinians refused to accept this and in 1948 the British fled. Violent wars resulted and in 1949 Jewish leaders inaugurated the State of Israel. The Israelis set out to colonise most of the country at this stage, which led to further war and widespread opposition with the surrounding Arab states.
In 1967 Israel went to war with Egypt, then Jordan and Syria. After six days the Israelis had won and took over the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. During this six-day war Israel managed to defeat a combined force of several Arab countries. Efforts to recover these areas in the 1973 Yom Kippur War were countered by Israel’s aggressive defense. Many Palestinians, now driven from their traditional land, became stateless refugees with many landing up in refugee camps in Lebanon and others moving further afield. At this time a flood of Jewish immigrants headed in, while 500,000 Palestinians headed out.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) was formed with Yasser Arafat at the head whose aim was to highlight the plight of the Palestinian people and free their homeland. Meanwhile, Israel signed a peace deal with Egypt. The Camp David Accord laid out provisions to return occupied land to Egypt.
In 1987 a Palestinian uprising, ‘the Intifada’, sparked change by bringing the plight of the Palestinians to the world’s attention. In 1991 Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitsak Rabin shook hands on the White House lawn and agreed to work towards peace. Israel agreed to relinquish control of the Gaza strip and West Bank, which would then come under Palestinian control. Palestinians took control of a further six major towns as well.
In 1995 Rabin was assassinated by Jewish Fundamentalists who were angered by the sell-out to Palestine. Right wing leader Binyamin Netanyahu came into power and pushed the country towards yet another war. In 1999 Ehud Barak took power and Israel was given the chance to embrace peace as they withdrew from the ‘Security Zone’ in South Lebanon. Israeli soldiers were however forced into a hasty retreat under heavy fire which ignited tensions once again.
In response to this violence, many Israelis became hardened, electing right-winger Ariel Sharon as prime minister in the elections of early February 2001. During 2002 violence prevailed with Palestinian suicide bombers killing hundreds of innocent civilians and Israel occupying West Bank cities in military attacks. Sharon was fortunate in having a pro-Israeli Bush administration in the White House allowing him to pursue his objectives.
Jerusalem is now at the heart of the Israel–Palestine dispute and is hotly contested. It may be one city, but the political, legal and cultural divisions are still tangible. Since 1967 Israel has considered Jerusalem the capital of the Jewish state; however the Palestinians also consider Jerusalem their true capital and this remains the focus of a bitter power struggle.
