A Brief History of Israel

The presence of Jews in Israel dates back as early as 3,400 years ago and they have been dispersed and return went back from exile several times over the course of its history. Israel was under the rule of various empires during its earliest civilizations including the Assyrian, Babylonian, Byzantine, Greeks, Persians, Romans, and Sassanian. In 66 CE the Jews were liberated from Rome calling their new kingdom Israel. After some years Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus and a second Jewish revolt broke in 135 causing Jews being prevented from living in their own land. The Byzantine Empire conquered Israel in 636 CE. For more than 6 centuries, the control of the land was with the Umayyads, Abbasids, and Crusades. At the era of the Crusades, Jews in Israel were slaughtered, burnt alive, or traded as slaves. The Mamluk Sultanate took power of Israel in 1260. The region became a part of the Ottoman Empire in 1516 until the 20th century. In 1917, the British captured Israel and named it “Palestine”.

In 1947, the separation of Palestine into 2 states was approved by the United Nation, one Jewish and one Arab. The state of Israel declared independence in agreement with the UN decision that resulted to a war with the neighboring Arab states. In late 1950s, Israel tied a secret union with France and the UK to recapture the Suez Canal. Israel has been part of a series of wars specifically with Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. In 1967, the said countries joined forces and attacked Israeli borders, barred UN peacemakers and obstructed Israel’s access to the Red Sea. The 1977 Knesset elections made a defining moment in the nation’s political history when Menachem Begin’s Likud part won over the Labor Party. During early 1990s, Israel began promoting peace with its neighbors through the initiatives of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin with 2 important peace treaties being signed – the Oslo Accords, and Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. In May of 2008, Israel also confirmed a possible peace agreement with Syria.