In 1896 Theodor Hertzl published a book on “The Jewish State.” Zionism was born.
Between 1882 and 1903, approximately 35,000 Jews moved to Palestine.
During World War 1, most Jews supported the Germans because they were fighting the Russians, who were regarded as the Jews’ main enemy.
The Balfour Declaration (1918) resulted in England claiming and governing the area. British and French bureaucrats drew up new boundaries for the Middle East.
Between 1929 and 1938, 250,000 Jews arrived in Palestine.
Between 1936-39, Jewish immigration and Nazi propaganda contributed to a large-scale Arab revolt in the area.
Approximately 1.5 million Jews worldwide served in every branch of the Allied armies.
The war severely weakened the British Empire.
To win independence, Zionists now waged a guerilla war against the British.
Between 1945 and 1948, 100,000–120,000 Jews left Poland because Russia was now killing them.
In 1947, the United Nations issued a plan calling for the British to allow substantial Jewish migration by February 1948. Britain ignored the plan. Britain continued detaining Jews, attempting to enter Palestine.
The UN withdrew the British mandate. The British withdrawal was finally completed in May 1948.
This angered the Arab community. A civil war broke out.
Between 1948 and 1958, the population of Israel rose from 800,000 to two million.
Wars and rumors of wars are never-ending in the Middle East.
The 1967 Arab-Israeli War changed the Middle East.
The Six-Day War originated in disputes between Israel and Egypt over the rights of Israeli shipping to pass through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
Between June 5 and June 10, Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Israel captured and occupied the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank (incl. East Jerusalem) from Jordan, and the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. The 1967 War redrew the region’s landscape in fundamental ways. In those six days, Israel defeated three Arab armies, gained territory four times its original size, and became the preeminent military power in the region. President Johnson secretly authorized supplying Israel with various arms systems by air, even when an embargo on weapons shipments was placed in the Middle East.
Israel had God on their side.
THE GAZA STRIP.
After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Egypt was in control of Gaza and the surrounding area, which came to be called the Gaza Strip. Gaza’s growing population was augmented by an influx of refugees fleeing nearby cities, towns, and villages captured by Israel.
The West Bank and the Gaza Strip make up the Palestinian territories, which were carved out of the historical territory of Palestine, the area west of the Jordan River that was a British mandate from the 1920s until the creation of modern Israel in 1948.
Most of the West Bank is administered by Israel, though 42% is under varying degrees of autonomous rule by the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority. The Gaza Strip is currently under the control of Hamas.
Gaza City is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of 590,481 (in 2017), making it the largest city in Palestine.
In 2007, Hamas expelled the rival party, Fatah, from Gaza. This broke the Unity Government between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, creating two separate governments for the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Gaza is surrounded by blockades imposed by Israel and Egypt, which restrict movement.
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood and religious factions of the PLO established Hamas. In its 1988 charter, Hamas maintained that Palestine is an Islamic homeland that can never be surrendered to non-Muslims. Waging holy war to wrest control of Palestine from Israel is a religious duty for Palestinian Muslims. Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
This position brought it into conflict with the PLO, which, in 1988 recognized Israel’s right to exist. From its foundation, Hamas has rejected negotiations that would cede any land.
In October 2023, Hamas launched a coordinated land, sea, and air assault that surprised Israel.
