The predominance of the Jewish people only became effective with the formation of the State of Israel in 1948, although history has recorded the presence of Jews in that region (Palestine) since 100,000 years ago. This presence was assumed in the 13th century a. C., becoming Israel a flourishing State in century X a. Under the reigns of David and Solomon. However, the death of this last sovereign caused the division of the State, with the North being called Israel and the South by Judea. This separation allowed the Assyrians, first, and the Babylonians, later, to destroy the kingdoms of Israel and Judea (625 BC – 587 BC), while forcing the Jews to leave Palestine. However, the Persian leader Cyrus II allowed the Jews to return to those regions, which again gained independence in 141 a. Ç., when they were under the control of the Seleucids. But this statute lasted a short time, since in 65 a. C., and following a civil war, the Romans invaded and conquered Palestine. To the Roman domain, ended in 135 d. A., The Muslim dominion that followed, besides the Christian Crusades in the 11th and 12th centuries, saw its control being threatened by the Ottoman Empire, which controlled Palestine from 1517 to 1799 and from 1840 until the First World War, from which the territory passed to the British administration. However, at the end of the 19th century, Zionism emerged in Eastern and Central Europe, a Jewish nationalist trend fed by Jewish intellectuals based in Germany, Austria and France. This current found a great receptivity with the existing Jewish communities, not only in those countries, but in Russia, where the Jewish reception of these ideals was enormous. However, the repression by Tsar Alexander II (1855-81) caused the community to break up, forcing Jews to emigrate to Western Europe and the United States, where they began a process of westernization that seconded Zionism. But from this exodus came the first Jewish settlers in Palestine, creating the basis for the consequent Jewish colonization in that territory, which grew due to the migrations caused, not only by the persecutions made in Russia after the 1905 Revolution, but also by the growing anti-Semitic spirit registered in the pre-World War I period in the Ottoman Empire as well as in Germany and Austria. At the same time, the Zionist movement has undergone some changes caused by the division that the2 in the highlands of Uganda provoked. This initiative was accepted by some Zionists (who created the Jewish Territorial Organization in that region), against the will of the majority, who insisted on the colonization of Palestine. With the death of Zionist leader Theodor Herzl in 1904, the division within the movement was even greater, thereby losing weight with the Jewish community. At the same time, other currents were gaining strength, such as the one that argued that the Jews were already part of the societies where they were established, or the one that was based on the conviction that the return of the Jews would take place with divine help, or, finally, the one that affirmed that Jews could exist as distinct national groups in the Diaspora (state of dispersion).
After the Second World War, the Zionist movement gained support from the United States, which proved to be fundamental to the political defeat of the Arab world (represented by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan (at the time called Transjordan), Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen) and for the establishment of the State of Israel, declared on May 14, 1948 (with immediate recognition from the United States and the Soviet Union), despite armed opposition by neighboring countries.
David Ben-Gurion, leader of the Jewish Agency and Israeli Prime Minister in the Provisional Government, saw his Labor Party (Mapai) win the 1949 parliamentary elections (Knesset), becoming the dominant party in the subsequently formed parliamentary coalition . Mapai (which became the Israeli Labor Party after the union in 1968 with the Ahdut Avodah – almost left-wing – and Rafi – created by ex-Mapai members in 1965) remained in power until 1977, being led, consecutively, by David Ben-Gurion (1949-53 and 1955-63), Moshe Sharett (1953-55), Levi Eshkol (1963-69), Golda Meir (1969-74) and Yitzhak Rabin (1974 -77). From 1977 onwards, the right-wing Likud party was in power, either through a coalition government with the Labor Party (1984-87), or in isolation (1977-84 and 1987-92).
Israel was able to survive as a state with great difficulty, mainly due to the action of neighboring Arab countries, with which it has lived in a climate of tension, or even of war, almost permanent. In 1956 he participated alongside France and England in the attack on Egypt, taking control of Sinai and Gaza until 1957, when, under pressure from the international community, he gave those regions back to Egypt. Ten years later, as a result of several Egyptian and Syrian provocations, Israel started the briefest and most effective war in memory, the so-called Six Day War: on June 5, Israeli aviation completely destroyed Egyptian aviation, which was caught in the ground; in the following days, the Egyptian army was crushed, at the same time as Israel conquered the Golan Heights from Syria; lastly, and because Jordan had decided to support Egypt.
The defeat of the Arabs caused, on the other hand, the growth of PLO terrorist demonstrations, claiming the right to independence. In response, Israel decided to militarily attack Jordan’s headquarters, headquartered in Jordan, causing King Hussein to send the Jordanian army to expel the Palestinians, who have taken root in southern Lebanon.
Egypt and Syria again became involved in a war with Israel, through a coordinated military policy and guided by a surprise strategy. The fighting began on the Egyptian-Israeli and Syrian-Israeli borders on October 6, 1973, and, despite the initial disadvantage caused by the surprise factor, the Israeli army quickly reorganized, achieving a victory even greater than that achieved in 1967. But, already in 1977, due to the pressure exerted by the United States, talks began between Egypt and Israel, which culminated in the signing of the Camp David Peace Accords.
Having fixed the issue with Egypt, Israel elected Lebanon as an enemy, with the aim of destroying the PLO headquarters. Thus, on June 6, 1982, Israel, with the support of Lebanese Phalangists, invaded Lebanon which, despite Syrian support, saw its army defeated, as did the Palestinian forces. In 1983, Israel and Lebanon, with the support of the United States, signed an agreement for the withdrawal of Israeli troops, an agreement which, despite opposition from Syria and many of the Lebanese who forced the Libyan government to back down in the decisions taken, is respected by Israel. A few years later, more precisely on December 8, 1987, a popular uprising was born in the Gaza Strip, which was called Intifada, a movement based on the realization of different types of boycotts of Israel, popular demonstrations, attacks on Israeli residents and a stone war waged by the youngest against Israeli soldiers. This Palestinian movement provoked a policy of military repression on the part of Israel, even causing Jordan to abdicate its claims on East Jerusalem and the Western Strip. However, in August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, and this invasion led the international community, led by the United States, to intervene militarily in January 1991, in order to liberate Kuwait. Before, during and after the Gulf War, Israel stayed away from any direct intervention in the conflict under pressure from the United States, which ensured that country’s defense against Iraqi attacks. At the end of that year, a period of talks began between Israel and the PLO, which would eventually lead to the signing of the Declaration of Principles, where, not only did the Israelis and Palestinians recognize each other, but it also predicted Israel’s departure from the occupied territories of the Gaza Strip and Jericho. However, transposing the peace agreements signed on September 14, 1993 into the field proved to be more difficult than previously thought, there were so many incidents caused by the most extremist groups, both Palestinians and Israelis.
In 1994, Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan signed a peace agreement between the two countries. The following year, Rabin and Arafat signed the Taba agreement, which included the transfer of control from the Western Strip to the Palestinians. In November of the same year, Rabin was murdered by a radical Jewish student in his position against peace accords. This tragic event came to undermine Middle East peace relations, with divided opinions about the handing over of territories to the Palestinians. Rabin was replaced by Shimon Peres. New conflicts have arisen, calling into question any peace agreement. One of Shimon Peres’ actions was to close the borders between Israel and the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. He also pressured Arafat to punish Palestinian bomb organizers.
In the elections for the new Israeli prime minister in May 1996, Netanyahu was elected. He rejected any negotiations regarding Jerusalem and the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
In January 1997, after months of negotiations, Palestinians and Israelis reached an agreement (already outlined in the Oslo agreement): the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Hebron, in the Western Strip. A series of bomb attacks preceded the agreement and, in the middle of the same year, the Israeli Government decided to stop the territorial negotiations agreed in 1993, alleging the Palestinian failure to control Islamic militias. In December of the same year, a new attempt at territorial agreements related to the Gaza Strip began. In 1998 peace talks took place in the USA. The Palestinians agreed with the American proposal to keep 13% more of the territory, against the proposal of 10.5 to 12% of the Israelis, but Netanyahu remained uncompromising. In May of the same year, new talks took place in London, between Netanyahu, Arafat and Madeleine Albright (American Secretary of State), and again without resolution. After American pressure, the so-called Wye Agreement was signed in October 1998, which included the withdrawal of more Israeli forces from the Western Strip and the opening of a Palestinian airport in the Gaza Strait.
In 1999 new early elections were held in Israel and Netanyahu was defeated and replaced by Ehud Barak, who pledged to respect the previous agreement after it was revised.
The visit of Pope John Paul II, in 2000, was essential to calm the differences, both political and religious, by asking for forgiveness in the name of Christianity for the anti-Semitic actions committed in the past. In the same year, new attempts at peace negotiations took place at Camp David (USA), between Arafat and Barak, but inconclusive. The negotiations were aimed at the Palestinian state’s declaration of independence on September 13, a date considered by Barak as a limit for peace negotiations. For Israelis Jerusalem is indivisible and for Palestinians East Jerusalem would be the Palestinian capital. To date, no agreement has been reached and Arafat has decided to postpone the declaration of independence. The conflicts that ensued later led Barak to step down. Elections in February 2001 gave Ariel Sharon the victory. The new prime minister stated that his priority would be Israel’s security. Arafat expressed a willingness to continue the peace negotiations. Armed conflicts continued, some of them extremely violent. The assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in a hotel in East Jerusalem has sparked a series of clashes, thereby aggravating any attempt at a peace deal. The terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, also worsened the rupture in peace agreements in the Middle East. it provoked a series of confrontations, thus aggravating any attempt at a peace agreement. The terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, also worsened the rupture in peace agreements in the Middle East. it provoked a series of confrontations, thus aggravating any attempt at a peace agreement. The terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, also worsened the rupture in peace agreements in the Middle East.
In 2002 Netanyahu challenged Sharon in the elections for party chief Likud, but lost. Sharon was re-elected in the general elections in 2003. A new peace agreement was presented by the USA, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations for the creation of a Palestinian state and the restoration of peace until 2005. In that same year, a major decision in this regard was made in Council of Ministers by Ariel Sharon, the withdrawal of Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip. This attitude led to the resignation of Benjamin Netanyahu, the finance minister of the Sharon government and his great opponent within the party, for believing that this decision only contributes to the increase in Islamic terrorism. For Israel democracy and rights, please check homeagerly.
Ariel Sharon’s term ended in 2006 due to serious health problems. A stroke caused him to fall into a coma in January. In April, he was declared unfit for office and officially replaced by his successor Ehud Olmert.
Countryaah.com: Offers a full list of airports in the country of Israel, sorted by city location and acronyms.
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