Isreal Profile

Israel is a country located in southwest Asia. It is bordered by several countries and two bodies of water. To the west is Egypt which occupies the entire western border of Israel. The majority of the eastern border is occupied by the country of Jordan. To the north east is Syria and on the north side of Israel is Lebanon. Israel has coastline on the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, as well as the Dead Sea. Israel has declared its capital as the city of Jerusalem although the United Nations does not recognize it as the capital. Israel is bordered by countries that are made up of Arab and largely Islamic religions. It is an extremely young country by most standards, being formed only fifty nine years ago in 1948. Although it is so young the conflict and struggle between those who inhabit the territory is deeply rooted and dates back to biblical times. Because of the great tension surrounding the entire region, the acting government has an immense task of building a country that is economically and socially stable and so far has succeeded.

The history of Israel is extremely chaotic. Control of the region has been a fight since before the time of Christ. Before the region became Israel it was known as Palestine. The control of Palestine changed hands about seven different times dating back to somewhere around 1200 B.C. The Roman Empire controlled Palestine for around 300 years after Persian rule fell. But shortly after Constantine the Great permitted Christianity to be practiced in 313 A.D. the region was taken over by Arab armies. The conquest of the land by the Muslims led to control of the region for about 1300 years. The Muslim rule was peaceful and religions were not forced on the people of the region. The Muslim control lasted until about 1500 A.D. when Palestine was taken over by the Ottoman Empire. Since Muslim power lasted so long the country was populated for the most part by Arabs. The Jewish population was extremely scarce and was primarily limited to the city of Jerusalem, but also had some small populations in a few other major cities.

In the late 1800's during the Ottoman rule large numbers of Jews began to migrate to Jerusalem and other cities with Jewish populations. European Jews were primarily trying to avoid persecution in Russian regions. The immigration was further fueled by the creation of Zionism. Zionism promoted the reuniting of the Jews in their promised land. Theodore Herzl, who produced Zionism, proceeded to create a Zionist government which met in Switzerland for its initial convention. The intent of the Zionist Congress was to create a Jewish state in Palestine. Herzl was essentially the originator of the modern movement for Jews to repopulate their promised land in Palestine. The British stood behind the movement during the First World War by producing the Balfour Declaration. Britain interests in controlling the country of Palestine compelled the British to align themselves with the Arabs in order to take power from the Ottomans. Britain, it turned out, had also made promises to Russia, France, and American Jews about control of the territory. In 1917 the British allied with the Arabs in Palestine and fought against the Ottoman rule and Britain took control. This prompted the period of the British Mandate.

The League of Nations was created in 1920, and was an alliance similar to The U.N. council today. In 1922 the league granted power over the contested region to the British on the grounds that they would promote the creation of a Jewish state. Jewish people from all over the world began to migrate to Palestine and within a decade close to 150,000 Jews had settled in Palestine. Although there was great progress towards a Zionist state there was also great resistance towards the Jews in Palestine from the Arabs, as well as persecution by Nazi Germany. The Arab resistance was further inflamed by the fact that Britain had made commitments to the Arabs of Palestine as well as to the Zionist Jews who were en route to the creation of their own sovereign state. Support for either side by the British was viewed by the other side as disloyalty to their agreement. From the beginning of the British power the tension never ceased. Arabs made anti- Jewish protests and attacks throughout the thirties until the discontent peaked. In 1939 the British were forced to restrict the Jews in their progress. They were limited in their ability to immigrate and to purchase land according to a British issuance called the White Paper.

Although immigration of Jews into Palestine had been officially curtailed, the Holocaust was producing so many refugees that the Jewish population in Palestine saw almost the same amount of growth as before the White Paper was issued. Refugees were smuggled into Palestine in secret. The Palestinian conflict was slowly but constantly escalating all throughout the Second World War to the point where Britain was compelled to resign