Where is Roberg?

To understand Israel, it is very important to understand history.  Now I understand that most of you don’t read this blog in order to learn the history of an area; you’re probably more interested in learning about “real life”.  The problem is, a person can not understand “real life” in Israel without having at least a basic understanding of the history of Israel.  I will do my best to make it very short, and very simple, which will be a challenge considering I’ll be attempting to explain 4,000 years of history in a land full to the brim with history.  (One word of caution:  because I am trying to simplify things, there is a danger of oversimplifying.  If you disagree with the way I’ve explained something or don’t understand it, please add a comment and I will try to explain or fix the problem.)

For our purposes, let’s start with the beginning of Judaism.  While the Egyptians, Greeks, Indians, and Chinese all believed in many gods, the Jews were the first people to believe in only one all-powerful, all-knowing God (monotheism).  They were also the first to believe that God spoke to people through prophets, or people who explain the will of God.  The first prophet was Abraham, and he was followed by others, such as Moses.One of the main teachings of Judaism is that a savior will come at the end of the world and bring the Jewish people to heaven.  During Roman times, Jesus claimed to be that savior.  While some Jews accepted him, others rejected him, and a conflict began to grow.  The Romans, who did not like anything that disturbed the rule of law and order, put Jesus on trial and found him guilty.  He was beaten and then forced to carry a cross through the streets of Jerusalem to the place he would be crucified with two other people convicted of crimes.

After Jesus was crucified, he was taken off the cross and buried.  According to the Bible, when some women went to his grave a few days later, his body was gone and an angel told them that he was resurrected (brought back to life to join God in heaven).  Christians believe that Jesus will return some day in the future, and will accept all of his believers into heaven, just like the Jewish messiah.

After the death of Jesus, there were still conflicts and revolts.  After one revolt too many, the Jews were kicked out by the Romans.  Most of them moved to countries in Europe like Russia, Germany, and Spain.   For hundreds of years, the Jews had to live as a minority (a small group) in these other countries.  Sometimes they were treated very well, but at other times they were mistreated.  As the years passed, Jews accepted the language and some of the traditions of the nations they were living in, even though they were mistreated at times.

In the late 1800s, after one particularly harsh period of mistreatment, a man named Theodore Herzl proposed the idea of Zionism, which called for making a country just for the Jews.  As the idea of Zionism spread, some Jews began to move back to the land of Israel that they had been kicked out of almost 1,700 years ago.  The problem was that other people, who called the land Palestine and were therefore called Palestinians, had made Israel their home for about 1,000 years.  When the Jews began to migrate into their lands, the Palestinians were unhappy.  (Think about the anti-immigrant felling in the U.S. today and you will have some idea of how the Palestinians felt.)  The defeat of Germany during WWI and the rise of the Nazi party in Germany during the 1930s encouraged even more support for Zionism among European Jews.  As more Jewish immigrants moved into Palestine (aka Israel), conflicts began to grow.

As Europe plunged into WWII (1939-1945), the Jewish people were caught in the Holocaust.  During the Holocaust, 11 million people, including 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jews, were killed for their beliefs.  When all of the horrors of the Holocaust became clear at the end of the war, many people decided that the Jews deserved to move back to the land (Israel) that they had lived on thousands of years ago.

The problem was that the Palestinians felt like their land was being given away without their consent.  The newly created United Nations proposed a partition (to break apart) plan, meaning that the land of Palestine / Israel would be split between the Jews and the Arabs.  The Jews accepted the plan, but the Palestinians rejected it.  The Palestinians did not see any reason that they should have to give up their land just because the Jews had lived there hundreds of years ago.

As a result, there was a war between the Jews and the Palestinians over the land in 1948.  The Jews won and created the first Jewish homeland in over 2,000 years.  Meanwhile, the Palestinians that were unable or unwilling to fight fled to neighboring countries and were put into refugee camps that had very difficult living conditions.  Stuck in the camps, some Palestinians vowed revenge against Israel and asked for help from their neighbors.  More wars between the new country of Israel and its neighbors followed (1957, 1967, 1973), and Israel won each of them, in part because of the financial and military support provided by the United States.

To add to the complex situation, Israel occupied new lands on their borders, known as the “occupied territories” of the Golan Heights, West Bank, and Gaza Strip.  While many Israelis see the occupied territories as rewards for winning the wars, their occupation has brought even more Palestinians (who speak Arabic and are mostly, though not all, Muslim) under the control of the Israeli government.

Since the end of the first war between the Palestinians and the Jews/Israelis in 1948, the peace process has had its ups and downs.  Many questions remain unresolved, but one seem the most important at this moment in history:  1. what will happen to the occupied territories?  2. when will the Palestinians get a country of their own?

Until these questions are answered, peace in the Middle East will be very difficult to attain.

I hope that helped you understand the situation in Israel.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Filed under: Background, Israel, Travel, overview