1.
Jerusalem
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Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
2.
Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem
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The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, also known as the Sanjak of Jerusalem, was an Ottoman district with special administrative status established in 1872. The district encompassed Jerusalem as well as Bethlehem, Hebron, Jaffa, Gaza, during the late Ottoman period, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, together with the Sanjak of Nablus and Sanjak of Akka, formed the region that was commonly referred to as Southern Syria or Palestine. The district was separated from Damascus and placed directly under Constantinople in 1841, scholars provide a variety of reasons for the separation, including increased European interest in the region, and strengthening of the southern border of the Empire against the Khedivate of Egypt. However, after less than two months, the sanjaks of Nablus and Acre were separated and added to the Vilayet of Beirut, leaving just the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem. In 1906, the Kaza of Nazareth was added to the Jerusalem Mutasarrifate, as an exclave, the area was conquered by the Allied Forces in 1917 during World War I and a military Occupied Enemy Territory Administration set up to replace the Ottoman administration. OETA South consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus, the military administration was replaced by a British civilian administration in 1920 and the area of OETA South was incorporated into the British Mandate of Palestine in 1923. The political status of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was unique to other Ottoman province since it came under the authority of the Ottoman capital Constantinople. The inhabitants identified themselves primarily on religious terms, the districts villages were normally inhabited by farmers while its towns were populated by merchants, artisans, landowners and money-lenders. The elite consisted of the leadership, wealthy landlords and high-ranking civil servants. In 1841, the district was separated from Damascus and placed directly under Constantinople, before 1872, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was officially a sanjak within the Syria Vilayet. In 1904, former Jerusalem official Najib Azuri formed in Paris, France the Ligue de la Patrie Arabe whose goal was to free Ottoman Syria and Iraq from Turkish domination. In 1908, Azuri proposed the elevation of the mutassarifate to the status of vilayet to the Ottoman Parliament after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. The area was conquered by the Allied Forces in 1917 during World War I, OETA South consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre. Below are six contemporary Ottoman maps showing the Quds Al-Sharif Sancağı or Quds Al-Sharif Mutasarrıflığı, the Mutasarrıfs of Jerusalem were appointed by the Porte to govern the district. They were usually experienced civil servants who spoke little or no Arabic, but knew a European language - most commonly French - in addition to Ottoman Turkish
3.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
4.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
5.
Haganah
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Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in the British Mandate of Palestine, which became the core of the Israel Defense Forces. The evolution went step by step from Bar-Giora, to Hashomer, to Haganah, the Jewish paramilitary organisations in the New Yishuv started with the Second Aliyah. The first such organization was Bar-Giora, founded in September 1907 and it consisted of a small group of Jewish immigrants who guarded settlements for an annual fee. At no time did Bar-Giora have more than 100 members and it was converted to Hashomer in April 1909, which operated until the British Mandate of Palestine came into being in 1920. Hashomer was an elitist organization with narrow scope, and was created to protect against criminal gangs seeking to steal property. During World War I, the forerunners of the Haganah/IDF were the Zion Mule Corps, after the Arab riots against Jews in April 1920, the Yishuvs leadership saw the need to create a nationwide underground defense organization, and the Haganah was founded in June of the same year. During World War II the successor to the Jewish Legion of World War I was the Jewish Brigade, at the beginning of the ensuing 1948-49 full-scale conventional war against regular Arab armies, the Haganah was reorganised to become the core of the new Israel Defense Forces. Believing that they could not rely on the British administration for protection from these gangs, in addition to guarding Jewish communities, the role of the Haganah was to warn the residents of and repel attacks by Palestinian Arabs. In the period between 1920–1929, the Haganah lacked a central authority or coordination. Haganah units were very localized and poorly armed, they consisted mainly of Jewish farmers who took turns guarding their farms or their kibbutzim, following the 1929 Palestine riots, the Haganahs role changed dramatically. It became a larger organization encompassing nearly all the youth and adults in the Jewish settlements. It also acquired foreign arms and began to develop workshops to create hand grenades and simple military equipment, many Haganah fighters objected to the official policy of havlagah that Jewish political leaders had imposed on the militia. Fighters had been instructed to defend communities and not initiate counterattacks against Arab gangs or their communities. This policy appeared defeatist to many who believed that the best defense is a good offense, in 1931, the more militant elements of the Haganah splintered off and formed the Irgun Tsvai-Leumi, better known as Irgun. During the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, the Haganah worked to protect British interests and to quell Arab rebellion using the FOSH, at that time, the Haganah fielded 10,000 mobilized men along with 40,000 reservists. The battle experience gained during the training was useful in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, by 1939, the British had issued the White Paper, which severely restricted Jewish immigration to Palestine, deeply angering the Zionist leadership. In reaction to the White Paper, the Haganah built up the Palmach as the Haganahs elite strike force, approximately 100,000 Jews were brought to Palestine in over one hundred ships during the final decade of what became known as Aliyah Bet. The Haganah also organized demonstrations against British immigration quotas, in 1940 the Haganah sabotaged the Patria, an ocean liner being used by the British to deport 1,800 Jews to Mauritius, with a bomb intended to cripple the ship
6.
Israel Defense Forces
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The Israel Defense Forces, commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal, are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the forces, air force, and navy. It is the military wing of the Israeli security forces. The IDF is headed by its Chief of General Staff, the Ramatkal, subordinate to the Defense Minister of Israel, Lieutenant general Gadi Eizenkot has served as Chief of Staff since 2015. The number of wars and border conflicts in which the IDF has been involved in its history makes it one of the most battle-trained armed forces in the world. The Israel Defense Forces differs from most armed forces in the world in many ways, differences include the mandatory conscription of women and its structure, which emphasizes close relations between the army, navy, and air force. Since its founding, the IDF has been designed to match Israels unique security situation. The IDF is one of Israeli societys most prominent institutions, influencing the economy, culture. In 1965, the Israel Defense Forces was awarded the Israel Prize for its contribution to education, the Uzi submachine gun was invented in Israel and used by the IDF until December 2003, ending a service that began in 1954. The Israeli cabinet ratified the name Israel Defense Forces, Tzva HaHagana LeYisrael, literally army for the defense of Israel, the other main contender was Tzva Yisrael. The name was chosen because it conveyed the idea that the role was defense, and because it incorporated the name Haganah. Among the primary opponents of the name were Minister Haim-Moshe Shapira, the IDF traces its roots to Jewish paramilitary organizations in the New Yishuv, starting with the Second Aliyah. The first such organization was Bar-Giora, founded in September 1907 and it was converted to Hashomer in April 1909, which operated until the British Mandate of Palestine came into being in 1920. Hashomer was an elitist organization with narrow scope, and was created to protect against criminal gangs seeking to steal property. During World War I, the forerunners of the Haganah/IDF were the Zion Mule Corps, after the Arab riots against Jews in April 1920, the Yishuvs leadership saw the need to create a nationwide underground defense organization, and the Haganah was founded in June of the same year. The Haganah became a defense force after the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine with an organized structure. During World War II the successor to the Jewish Legion of World War I was the Jewish Brigade, the IDF was founded following the establishment of the State of Israel, after Defense Minister and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion issued an order on 26 May 1948. The order called for the establishment of the Israel Defense Forces, although Ben-Gurion had no legal authority to issue such an order, the order was made legal by the cabinet on 31 May
7.
Chief of General Staff (Israel)
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The Chief of the General Staff, also known as the Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces, is the supreme commander and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. At any given time, the Chief of Staff is the only active officer holding the IDFs highest rank, rav aluf, which is translated into English as lieutenant general. The Israel Defense Forces is a force, its ranks are the same in all services. It has a slightly compacted rank structure, for instance, the Chief of Staff is seemingly only equivalent to a lieutenant general in other militaries, rav aluf means arch-general, which would be equal to a field marshal or five star general in other armies and equivalent to OF-10. As of 16 February 2015, the Chief of General Staff is Gadi Eizenkot, given the importance of the IDF in Israeli society, the Chief of Staff is an important public figure in Israel. Former Chiefs of Staff often parlay the prominence of their position into political life, two Chiefs of Staff have become Prime Minister of Israel and nine others have served in the Knesset. Of these, only Tzur did not get appointed to the Cabinet, moshe Dayan served also as Foreign Minister. Soon after his discharge, Dan Halutz became the CEO of a prestigious car importer, ehud Barak took a hiatus from politics twice after defeats for re-election and pursued successful international business ventures
8.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
9.
1948 Palestine war
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However, Jordanian operations were limited to specific and clearly defined objectives. Egypt, Syria and Iraq by contrast, attempted an invasion of the territory of the newly created State of Israel with the intention of expunging it. Transjordan took control of the remainder of the Palestinian mandate, which it annexed, with Jordan occupying the West Bank and Egypt occupying Gaza, no state was created for the Palestinian Arabs. Dramatic demographic changes accompanied the war in the country, around 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from the area that became Israel, and they became Palestinian refugees. Due to the war, around 10,000 Jews fled or were expelled from their homes in Palestine and these Jewish refugees were absorbed into Israel in the One Million Plan. Israelis usually mark the anniversary of their independence on the 5th of Iyar of the Hebrew Calendar, the Yishuv managed to clandestinely amass arms and military equipment abroad for transfer to Palestine once the British blockade was lifted. In Western Europe, Haganah agents amassed fifty 65mm French mountain guns, twelve 120mm mortars, ten H-35 light tanks, the airborne arms smuggling missions from Czechoslovakia were codenamed Operation Balak. The airborne smuggling missions were carried out by mostly American aviators – Jews and non-Jews – led by ex-U. S, air Transport Command flight engineer Al Schwimmer. Schwimmer’s operation also included recruiting and training fighter pilots such as Lou Lenart and this was an attempt to resolve the Arab-Jewish conflict by partitioning Palestine into Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem. Each state would comprise three sections, the Arab state would also have an enclave at Jaffa in order to have a port on the Mediterranean. With about 32% of the population, the Jews were allocated 56% of the territory and it contained 499,000 Jews and 438,000 Arabs and a majority of it was in the Negev desert. The Palestinian Arabs were allocated 42% of the land, which had a population of 818,000 Palestinian Arabs and 10,000 Jews, the Jewish leadership accepted the partition plan as the indispensable minimum, glad to gain international recognition but sorry that they did not receive more. The Arabs rejected the partition, not because it was supposedly unfair and they upheld that the rule of Palestine should revert to its inhabitants, in accordance with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations. According to Article 73b of the Charter, the UN should develop self-government of the peoples in a territory under its administration. In the immediate aftermath of the UNs approval of the partition plan, soon after, violence broke out and became more prevalent. Murders, reprisals, and counter-reprisals came fast upon each other, the sanguinary impasse persisted as no force intervened to put a stop to the escalating violence. During this period the Jewish and Arab communities of British Mandate clashed, while the British organized their withdrawal and intervened only on an occasional basis. In the first two months of the Civil War, around 1,000 people were killed and 2,000 people injured, and by the end of March, the figure had risen to 2,000 dead and 4,000 wounded
10.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
11.
Archaeology
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
12.
1949 Armistice Agreements
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The United Nations established supervising and reporting agencies to monitor the established armistice lines. In addition, discussions related to the enforcement, led to the signing of the separate Tripartite Declaration of 1950 between the United States, Britain, and France. In it, they pledged to take action within and outside the United Nations to prevent violations of the frontiers or armistice lines. It also outlined their commitment to peace and stability in the area, their opposition to the use or threat of force and these lines held until the 1967 Six-Day War. On 6 January 1949, Dr. Ralph Bunche announced that Egypt had finally consented to start talks with Israel on an armistice, the talks began on the Greek island of Rhodes on 12 January. Shortly after their commencement, Israel agreed to the release of a besieged Egyptian brigade in Faluja, at the end of the month, the talks floundered. Israel demanded that Egypt withdraw all its forces from the area of Mandate Palestine. The deadlock culminated on 12 February 1949 with the murder of Hassan al-Banna, Israel threatened to abandon the talks, whereupon the United States appealed to the parties to bring them to a successful conclusion. On 24 February the Israel–Egypt Armistice Agreement was signed in Rhodes, the Egyptian forces besieged in the Faluja Pocket were allowed to return to Egypt with their weapons, and the area was handed over to Israeli military control. A zone on both sides of the border around Uja al-Hafeer was to be demilitarized, and became the seat of the armistice committee. The agreement with Lebanon was signed on 23 March 1949, the main points were, The provisions of this agreement being dictated exclusively by military considerations. The armistice line was drawn along the boundary between Lebanon and Mandatory Palestine. Israel withdrew its forces from 13 villages in Lebanese territory, which were occupied during the war, the agreement with Jordan was signed on 3 April 1949. Jordanian forces remained in most positions held by them, particularly East Jerusalem which included the Old City, Jordan withdrew its forces from their front posts overlooking the Plain of Sharon. In return, Israel agreed to allow Jordanian forces to take over positions previously held by Iraqi forces, exchange of territorial control, Israel received control in the area known as Wadi Ara and the Little Triangle in exchange for territory in the southern hills of Hebron. The operation allowed Israel to renegotiate the cease fire line in the Wadi Ara area in an agreement reached on 23 March 1949. The green line was redrawn in blue ink on the southern map to give the impression that a movement into green line had been made. The events that led to a change in the Green Line was an exchange of land in the Bethlehem area to Israeli control
13.
Yehoshafat Harkabi
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Yehoshafat Harkabi was chief of Israeli military intelligence from 1955 until 1959 and afterwards a professor of International Relations and Middle East Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Harkabi had a command of Arabic, a deep knowledge of Arab civilization and history. He developed from an uncompromising hardliner to supporter of a Palestinian state who recognized the PLO as a negotiations partner, following his military career, Harkabi served as a visiting professor at Princeton University and guest scholar at the Brookings Institution. He was Maurice Hexter professor and director of the Leonard Davis Institute of International Relations, in 1993, Harkabi was awarded the Israel Prize, for political science. The Palestinian National Covenant, An Israeli Commentary, the Bar Kokhba Syndrome, Risk and Realism in International Relations. In The Israel-Arab Reader, A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict, the Arab-Israeli Conflict on the Threshold of Negotiations. Center of International Studies, Princeton University, ISBN 99924-0-953-3 List of Israel Prize recipients On Making Peace Despite the Risks - Zeev Schiff Heads of Aman, Mossad, & Shin Bet
14.
Yitzhak Rabin
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Yitzhak Rabin was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995, Rabin was born in Jerusalem to Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants and was raised in a Labor Zionist household. He learned agriculture in school and excelled as a student and he led a 27-year career as a soldier. As a teenager he joined the Palmach, the force of the Yishuv. He eventually rose through its ranks to become its chief of operations during Israels War of Independence and he joined the newly formed Israel Defense Forces in late 1948 and continued to rise as a promising officer. He helped shape the training doctrine of the IDF in the early 1950s and he was appointed Chief of the General Staff in 1964 and oversaw Israels victory in the 1967 Six-Day War. Rabin served as Israels ambassador to the United States from 1968 to 1973 and he was appointed Prime Minister of Israel in 1974, after the resignation of Golda Meir. In his first term, Rabin signed the Sinai Interim Agreement and he resigned in 1977 in the wake of a financial scandal. Rabin was Israels minister of defense for much of the 1980s, in 1992, Rabin was re-elected as prime minister on a platform embracing the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. He signed several agreements with the Palestinian leadership as part of the Oslo Accords. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with long-time political rival Shimon Peres, Rabin also signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994. In November 1995, he was assassinated by an extremist named Yigal Amir, Rabin was the first native-born prime minister of Israel, the only prime minister to be assassinated and the second to die in office after Levi Eshkol. Rabin has become a symbol of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, Nehemiah Rubitzov was born in the shtetl Sydorovychi near Ivankiv in the southern Pale of Settlement. His father Menachem died when he was a boy, and Nehemiah worked to support his family from an early age, at the age of 18, he emigrated to the United States, where he joined the Poale Zion party and changed his surname to Rabin. In 1917, Nehemiah went to Mandatory Palestine with a group of volunteers from the Jewish Legion, yitzhaks mother, Rosa Cohen, was born in 1890 in Mogilev in Belarus. Her father, a rabbi, opposed the Zionist movement and sent Rosa to a Christian high school for girls in Gomel, early on, Rosa took an interest in political and social causes. In 1919, she traveled to the region on the steamship Ruslan, after working on a kibbutz on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, she moved to Jerusalem. Rabins parents met in Jerusalem during the 1920 Nebi Musa riots and they moved to Tel Avivs Chlenov Street near Jaffa in 1923
15.
Edward G. Robinson
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Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star on stage and screen during Hollywoods Golden Age, he appeared in 40 Broadway plays and he is best remembered for his tough-guy roles as a gangster, such as his star-making film Little Caesar and Key Largo. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was a public critic of fascism and Nazism. His activism included contributing over $250,000 to more than 850 organizations involved in war relief, along with cultural, educational, during the 1950s, he was called to testify at the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Red Scare, but was cleared of any Communist involvement. Robinson received an Honorary Academy Award for his work in the film industry and he is ranked #24 in the American Film Institutes list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classic American cinema. Robinson was born as Emanuel Goldenberg to a Yiddish-speaking Romanian Jewish family in Bucharest, the son of Sarah and Morris Goldenberg, after one of his brothers was attacked by an antisemitic mob, the family decided to emigrate to the United States. Robinson arrived in New York City on February 14,1903, at Ellis Island I was born again, he wrote. Life for me began when I was 10 years old, an interest in acting and performing in front of people led to him winning an American Academy of Dramatic Arts scholarship, after which he changed his name to Edward G. Robinson. He served in the US Navy during World War I, but was never sent overseas and he began his acting career in the Yiddish Theater District in 1913 and made his Broadway debut in 1915. In 1923 made his debut as E. G. Robinson in the silent film. He played a gangster in the 1927 Broadway police/crime drama The Racket. Robinson went on to make a total of 101 films in his 50-year career. In 1939, at the time World War II broke out in Europe, he played an FBI agent in Confessions of a Nazi Spy, the first American film which showed Nazism as a threat to the United States. He volunteered for service in June 1942 but was disqualified due to his age at 48, although he became an active. The following year he played Paul Ehrlich in Dr. Ehrlichs Magic Bullet and Paul Julius Reuter in A Dispatch from Reuters and his career rehabilitation received a boost in 1954, when noted anti-communist director Cecil B. DeMille cast him as the traitorous Dathan in The Ten Commandments, the film was released in 1956, as was his psychological thriller Nightmare. As it turned out, Robinson died only days later. He had been notified of the honor, but died two months before the ceremony, so the award was accepted by his widow, Jane Robinson
16.
Eleazar Sukenik
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Eleazar Lipa Sukenik was an Israeli archaeologist and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In Israel his first name is known as Eliezer. Having arrived in Palestine in 1911 he worked as a school teacher and he participated in the War of the Languages that erupted among Zionist activists in Palestine in 1913. He served in the British army in World War I in the 40th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers which became known as the Jewish Legion, in addition to his important excavations in Jerusalem he played a central role in the establishment of the Department of Archaeology of the Hebrew University. He recognized the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls to Israel, in 1950, he received the Solomon Bublick Award of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for this work. He and his wife, Chassia, were buried in the Sanhedria Cemetery near the Tombs of the Sanhedrin which he researched. Unlike the other graves in the cemetery, which are covered by limestone blocks. He was the uncle of Herbert Sukenik. Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece, the Third Wall of Jerusalem, An Account of Excavations. Jerusalem, University Press,1930 The Ancient Synagogue of Beth Alpha, an Account of the Excavations conducted on behalf of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Oxford University Press, London,1932, samaria-Sebaste Reports of the Work of the Joint Expedition in 1931-1933, and of the British Expedition in 1935. London,3 volumes 1938,1942,1957, as editor The Dead Sea Scrolls of the Hebrew University. Magnes Press, Hebrew University, Jerusalem,1955, the Sacred Portal, a primary symbol in ancient Judaic art. A book on an important synagogue mosaic discovered by Sukenik in 1928
17.
Yitzhak Sadeh
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Sadeh was born as Izaak Landoberg to a Polish-Jewish family in Lublin, in the Russian Partition of the Russian Empire. His mother, Rebecca, was the daughter of rabbi Shneur Zalman Fradkin, in his youth, he studied with rabbi Hillel Zeitlin. When World War I broke out, he joined the Imperial Russian Army and he saw action and was decorated for bravery. In 1917, he met Joseph Trumpeldor, and between 1917 and 1919, assisted him in the founding of HeHalutz movement, in 1920, Sadeh made aliyah to Eretz Israel, where he became one of founders and leaders of Gdud HaAvoda. In 1921, Sadeh was a Haganah commander in Jerusalem, during the 1929 riots he took part in the battle defending Haifa. When the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine began, Sadeh established the Nodedet in Jerusalem and he demanded that his troops leave the defences and initiate military operations. In the summer of 1937, as commander of the Jewish Settlement Police, he founded the FOSH and it was an elite Jewish strike force, whose members were hand-picked by Sadeh. The force was established during the Great Arab Revolt in what at the time was the British Mandate of Palestine, among other activities, Sadeh commanded the establishment of Kibbutz Hanita on an isolated hill on the southern border of Lebanon. In 1941, he was instrumental in the founding of the Palmach, the purpose of this clandestine elite unit was to prepare to undertake a guerilla war in the event of the Axis forces entering Palestine. He was also instrumental in founding the Gadna in 1941, and his third wife, Margot Meier-Sadeh, died of cancer a year before him. He had two daughters, Daphne and Rivka, and a son, Yoram, at the beginning of 1948 Yitzhak Sadeh was in commanded of Haganah training camp at Mishmar HaEmek. In early April he successfully defended the kibbutz against a attack by the Arab Liberation Army. In the counter-attack that followed his troops conquered a large section of the Jezreel Valley, at the end of April he commanded two Brigades in a series of attacks on strategic areas in and around Jerusalem, Operation Yevusi. During the truce in June he was responsible for the establishing the first armored brigade of the IDF. In July this Brigade played an important part in Operation Danny, capturing Lod airport, and in October, Operation Yoav, the taking of the Iraq Suwaydan fortress blocking the road to the Negev. In December 1948 he participated in Operation Horev in the Negev, when the War of Independence ended and the Palmach was dismantled in 1949, Sadeh left military service. He wrote essays, stories and plays, the book Misaviv Lamedura includes a collection of articles he wrote under the pen name Y. Sadeh died in Tel Aviv in August 1952, by then, he had become a charismatic and colorful figure, whose nickname in the Palmach was HaZaken
18.
Machine gun
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A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of 300 to 1800 rounds per minute. Note that not all fully automatic firearms are machine guns, submachine guns, rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, pistols or cannons may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire. Many machine guns also use belt feeding and open bolt operation, unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per round fired, a machine gun is designed to fire for as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to heavy weapons, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of automatic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are used against personnel, aircraft and light vehicles, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice sustained fire almost continuously for hours, because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bolt, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also usually have either a barrel cooling system, slow-heating heavyweight barrel, although subdivided into light, medium, heavy or general-purpose, even the lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than standard infantry arms. Medium and heavy guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehicle, when carried on foot. Medium machine guns use full-sized rifle rounds and are designed to be used from fixed positions mounted on a tripod. 50in, the M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automatic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squad or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon, Machine guns usually have simple iron sights, though the use of optics is becoming more common. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2.50 caliber machine gun, are enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carlos Hathcock set the record for a shot at 7382 ft with a.50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight. This led to the introduction of.50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridge from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge are called assault rifles. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of the weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round from a feeding device, cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops firing with bolt carrier fully at the rear, the operation is basically the same for all autoloading firearms, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Most modern machine guns use gas-operated reloading, a recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate the action. Machine guns such as the M2 Browning and MG42, are of this type, a cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to operate the bolt
19.
David Ben-Gurion
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David Ben-Gurion was the primary founder of the State of Israel and the first Prime Minister of Israel. Ben-Gurions passion for Zionism, which early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader. On 14 May 1948, he proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel, and was the first to sign the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Ben-Gurion led Israel during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and united the various Jewish militias into the Israel Defense Forces, subsequently, he became known as Israels founding father. Following the war, Ben-Gurion served as Israels first Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, as Prime Minister, he helped build the state institutions, presiding over various national projects aimed at the development of the country. He also oversaw the absorption of vast numbers of Jews from all over the world, a centerpiece of his foreign policy was improving relationships with the West Germans. He worked very well with Konrad Adenauers government in Bonn, in 1954 he resigned as both Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, although he remained a member of the Knesset. However, he returned as Minister of Defense in 1955 after the Lavon Affair resulted in the resignation of Pinhas Lavon, later in the year he became Prime Minister again, following the 1955 elections. He stepped down from office in 1963, and retired from life in 1970. He then moved to Sde Boker, a kibbutz in the Negev desert, posthumously, Ben-Gurion was named one of Time magazines 100 Most Important People of the 20th century. David Ben-Gurion was born in Płońsk in Congress Poland – then part of the Russian Empire and his father, Avigdor Grün, was a lawyer and a leader in the Hovevei Zion movement. His mother, Scheindel, died when he was 11 years old, Ben-Gurions birth certificate, when rediscovered in Poland in 2003, indicated that he had a twin brother who died shortly after birth. At the age of 14 he and two formed a youth club, Ezra, promoting Hebrew studies and emigration to the Holy Land. In 1905, as a student at the University of Warsaw and he was arrested twice during the Russian Revolution of 1905. Ben-Gurion discussed his hometown in his memoirs, saying, For many of us, I personally never suffered anti-Semitic persecution. Płońsk was remarkably free of it, nevertheless, and I think this very significant, it was Płońsk that sent the highest proportion of Jews to Eretz Israel from any town in Poland of comparable size. We emigrated not for reasons of escape but for the positive purpose of rebuilding a homeland. Life in Płońsk was peaceful enough, there were three main communities, Russians, Jews and Poles
20.
Mapai
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The party was founded on 5 January 1930 by the merger of the Hapoel Hatzair founded by A. D. Gordon and the original Ahdut HaAvoda. It was also responsible for the founding of Hashomer and Haganah, by the early 1930s, David Ben-Gurion had taken over the party, and had become de facto leader of the Jewish community in Palestine. It was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1930 and 1940, Ben-Gurion became Prime Minister and formed a coalition with the United Religious Front, the Progressive Party, the Sephardim and Oriental Communities and the Democratic List of Nazareth. A notable piece of legislation enacted during Mapais first term in office was a law in 1949 which introduced compulsory schooling for all children between the ages of 5 to 14. In the second elections in 1951 Mapai increased its vote to 37. 3% despite the economic problems. However, he shocked the nation by resigning on 6 December 1953 in order to settle in the small Negev kibbutz of Sde Boker, the 1955 elections saw a drop in the partys support to 32. 2%, though still well ahead of the second-placed Herut. Later the Progressive Party was also added, in contrast to the previous one, the 1959 election saw a surge in support, as the party recorded its best electoral performance, taking 38. 2% of the vote and 47 seats. Firstly, Ben-Gurion resigned as head of the party citing personal reasons and he set up a new party, Rafi, taking with him seven other Mapai members. Secondly, the two major right-wing opposition parties, Herut and the Liberal Party had merged into Gahal and this meant by the end of the Knesset session, Mapai had only 34 seats to Gahals 27. The partys response to the strength of the opposition was to seek support from other parties with similar ideologies. The result was an alliance with Ahdut HaAvoda to form the Labor Alignment before the 1965 election, the new party won 36. 7% of the vote and 45 seats, and comfortably beat Gahal. On 23 January 1968 Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi merged into the Israeli Labor Party, 1930-1953 – David Ben-Gurion 1953-1955 – Moshe Sharett 1955-1963 – David Ben-Gurion 1963-1968 – Levi Eshkol Workers Party of Eretz Yisrael Knesset website
21.
Yaakov Dori
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Yaakov Dori was the first Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Born in the present day Ukraine as Yakov Dostrovsky, son of Tzvi and Myriam, upon completing high school at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa, he enlisted in the Jewish Legion of the British Army during World War I. Following the war he studied engineering at the University of Ghent, when he returned to Palestine in 1926 he joined the Haganah and adopted the underground name of Dan. In Haganah he was the commander of the Haganah Forces of Haifa, in 1939, Dori was appointed Chief of Staff of the Haganah, a position he held until 1946. As CoS Haganah it was Yaakov Doris duty to take the Haganah from a diffuse self-defense organisation to a model army, from 1946 to 1947 he also headed the Palestinian Jewish delegation sent to purchase arms in the United States. When the IDF was formed, Dori took over as its first Chief of Staff and he completed his term as Chief of Staff on November 9,1949 and retired from the military. He was succeeded by his deputy, Yadin, even after his release from the army, however, he continued to wear the officers pin he was awarded when he first became a second lieutenant. Upon leaving the IDF, Dori was appointed chairman of the Science Council and he was later appointed president of the Technion in Haifa, a position he held until 1965. Yaakov Dori was since 1929 married to the teacher Badana, born Pintov and his son, Yerachmiel Dori, served as commander of the IDFs Engineering Corps. His daughter, Etana Padan, is a biochemist and a professor of ecology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His youngest son, Zvi Dori, was a Chemistry Professor at the Technion, Israel Dostrovsky, physical chemistry and former President of the Weizmann Institute of Science, was his first cousin. The Israel Defense Forces base at Tel HaShomer, one of the largest in Israel, is named after Yaakov Dori, a prominent road in Haifa and a street in Beersheba are both named after him. Yaakov Doris biography, IDF Spokespersons Unit Media related to Yaakov Dori at Wikimedia Commons
22.
Dead Sea Scrolls
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The caves are located about two kilometres inland from the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name. The consensus is that the Qumran Caves Scrolls date from the last three centuries BCE and the first century CE. Bronze coins found at the same sites form a series beginning with John Hyrcanus and continuing until the First Jewish–Roman War, supporting the radiocarbon and paleographic dating of the scrolls. In the larger sense, the Dead Sea Scrolls include manuscripts from additional Judaean Desert sites, most of the texts are written in Hebrew, with some in Aramaic, and a few in Greek. If discoveries from the Judean desert are included, Latin and Arabic can be added, most texts are written on parchment, some on papyrus, and one on copper. Owing to the condition of some of the scrolls, not all of them have been identified. The practice of storing worn-out sacred manuscripts in earthenware vessels buried in the earth or within caves is related to the ancient Jewish custom of Genizah. The initial discovery, by Bedouin shepherd Muhammed edh-Dhib, his cousin Juma Muhammed, the shepherds discovered seven scrolls housed in jars in a cave near what is now known as the Qumran site. Trever reconstructed the story of the scrolls from several interviews with the Bedouin, edh-Dhibs cousin noticed the caves, but edh-Dhib himself was the first to actually fall into one. He retrieved a handful of scrolls, which Trever identifies as the Isaiah Scroll, Habakkuk Commentary, and the Community Rule, none of the scrolls were destroyed in this process, despite popular rumor. The Bedouin kept the scrolls hanging on a tent pole while they figured out what to do with them, at some point during this time, the Community Rule was split in two. The Bedouin first took the scrolls to a dealer named Ibrahim Ijha in Bethlehem, Ijha returned them, saying they were worthless, after being warned that they might have been stolen from a synagogue. Undaunted, the Bedouin went to a market, where a Syrian Christian offered to buy them. A sheikh joined their conversation and suggested they take the scrolls to Khalil Eskander Shahin, Kando, the Bedouin and the dealers returned to the site, leaving one scroll with Kando and selling three others to a dealer for 7 GBP. The original scrolls continued to change hands after the Bedouin left them in the possession of a party until a sale could be arranged. In 1947 the original seven scrolls caught the attention of Dr. John C, in March the 1948 Arab-Israeli War prompted the move of some of the scrolls to Beirut, Lebanon, for safekeeping. On 11 April 1948, Millar Burrows, head of the ASOR, early in September 1948, Metropolitan bishop Mar Samuel brought some additional scroll fragments that he had acquired to Professor Ovid R. Sellers, the new Director of ASOR. By the end of 1948, nearly two years after their discovery, scholars had yet to locate the cave where the fragments had been found
23.
Qumran
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Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israels Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry plateau about 1.5 km from the shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement. It is best known as the settlement nearest to the Qumran Caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden, caves in the sheer cliffs and beneath. The principal excavations at Qumran were conducted by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s, since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947-1956, extensive excavations have taken place in Qumran. Most were written on parchment and some on papyrus, many scholars believe the location was home to a Jewish sect, probably the Essenes. A large cemetery was discovered to the east of the site, while most of the graves contain the remains of males, some females were also discovered, though some burials may be from medieval times. Only a small portion of the graves were excavated, as excavating cemeteries is forbidden under Jewish law, over a thousand bodies are buried at Qumran cemetery. One theory is that bodies were those of generations of sectarians, the scrolls were found in a series of eleven caves around the settlement, some accessible only through the settlement. Some scholars have claimed that the caves were the permanent libraries of the sect, other scholars believe that some caves also served as domestic shelters for those living in the area. A literary epistle published in the 1990s expresses reasons for creating a community, most of the scrolls seem to have been hidden in the caves during the turmoil of the First Jewish–Roman War, although some of them may have been deposited earlier. The site of Khirbet Qumran had been known to European explorers since the 19th century, the initial attention of the early explorers was focused on the cemetery, beginning with de Saulcy in 1851. In fact, the first excavations at Qumran were of burials in the cemetery, rev. Albert Isaacs, British counsel James Finn, and photographer James Graham visited Qumran in December 1856. Isaacs stated regarding Qumrans tower, It can hardly be doubted that this formed a tower or stronghold of some kind, the situation is commanding, and well adapted for defensive operations. Finn later suggested Qumran was some ancient fort with a cistern, the British scholar Ernest William Gurney Masterman visited Qumran on several occasions between 1900 and 1901. After observing the positioning of Qumran atop a plateau overlooking the ‘Ein Feshkha Springs, Masterman also questioned why a small fort would require a graveyard of over one thousand tombs. Gustaf Dalman visited Qumran in 1914, and explicitly identified Qumran as a burg, full-scale work at the site began after Roland de Vaux and G. Lankester Harding in 1949 excavated what became known as Cave 1, the first scroll-bearing cave. A cursory surface survey that year produced nothing of interest, and this analysis yielded traces of pottery closely related to that found in Cave 1. This discovery led to excavations at the site over a period of six seasons under the direction of de Vaux
24.
Qumran Caves
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Qumran Caves are a series of caves, some natural, some artificial, found around the archaeological site of Qumran in the Judaean Desert of the West Bank. It is in a number of caves that the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. The caves are recognized in Israel as a National Heritage Site, the limestone cliffs above Qumran contain numerous caves that have been used over the millennia, the first traces of occupation are from the Chalcolithic period then onward to the Arab period. The artificial caves relate to the period of the settlement at Qumran and were cut into the bluffs of the terrace on which Qumran sits. In early 1947, a Bedouin boy of the Taamireh tribe, Muhammid Ahmed el-Hamed called edh-Dhib and he stumbled onto the first cave containing scrolls from two thousand years ago. More Taamireh visited the cave and scrolls were taken back to their encampment and they were shown to Mar Samuel of the Monastery of Saint Mark in April 1947 and the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was made known. The location of the cave was not revealed for another 18 months, in the Qumran area another cave was discovered, now referred to as Cave 2Q, in February 1952. However, only a few fragments were found in the cave, 4Q was discovered in September 1952 by the Taamireh. De Vaux, on being offered a vast amount of fragments and these were Caves 4Q, 5Q, and 6Q, the most important of which was 4Q which originally contained around three-quarters of all the scrolls found in the immediate Qumran area. The first two of these caves had been cut into the marl terrace, the third was at the entrance to the Qumran Gorge just below the aqueduct. The last cave containing scrolls to be found, once again by the Taamireh, was 11Q, among its contents was the Temple Scroll, though it had been spirited away and its recovery was to prove long and complex. In February 2017, the discovery of cave 12Q was announced, the contents of which included storage jars and scroll fragments, iron pickaxe heads from the 1950s were also found, which indicate looting had occurred. In addition, archaeologists discovered pottery, flint blades, arrowheads, and a carnelian seal that date to the Chalcolithic and Neolithic periods. In all there are ten marl cut caves in the vicinity of Qumran, 4Qa, 4Qb, 5Q, 7Q, 8Q, 9Q, 10Q, an oval cave west of 5Q. Their location necessitates a direct connection with the Qumran settlement, the three caves at the end of the esplanade could only be accessed via the settlement. These caves are thought to have been cut for storage and habitation, marl is a soft stone and makes excavation relatively easy, but as seen with Caves 7Q - 9Q they havent survived well. 4Q, which is now visible from the Qumran esplanade, is two caves, one adjacent to the other. De Vaux referred to them as 4a and 4b, when the Taamireh removed all the fragments they could before Hardings arrival, there was no way to tell which scrolls belonged to which cave, so they were later all catalogued simply as from 4Q
25.
Masada
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Masada is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the edge of the Judaean Desert. Herod the Great built palaces for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE, Masada is one of Israels most popular tourist attractions. The cliff of Masada is, geologically speaking, a horst, as the cliffs on the east edge of Masada are about 400 m high, and the cliffs on the west are about 90 m high, the natural approaches to the cliff top are very difficult to navigate. The top of the plateau is flat and rhomboid-shaped, about 550 m by 270 m. Three narrow, winding paths led from below up to fortified gates, almost all historical information about Masada comes from the first-century Jewish Roman historian Josephus. Josephus writes that the site was first fortified by Alexander Jannaeus in the first century BCE, Herod the Great captured it in the power struggle that followed the death of his father Antipater. It survived the siege of the last Hasmonean king Antigonus II Mattathias, no Hasmonean-period building remains could be identified during archaeological excavations at Masada. According to Josephus, between 37 and 31 BCE, Herod the Great built a fortress on the plateau as a refuge for himself in the event of a revolt. In 66 CE, a group of Jewish rebels, the Sicarii, after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, additional members of the Sicarii fled Jerusalem and settled on the mountaintop after slaughtering the Roman garrison. According to Josephus, the Sicarii were an extremist Jewish splinter group antagonistic to a grouping of Jews referred to as the Zealots. Josephus said that the Sicarii raided nearby Jewish villages including Ein Gedi, in 73 CE, the Roman governor of Iudaea, Lucius Flavius Silva, headed the Roman legion X Fretensis and laid siege to Masada. The Roman legion surrounded Masada, built a wall and then a siege ramp against the western face of the plateau. According to Dan Gill, geological investigations in the early 1990s confirmed earlier observations that the 114 m high assault ramp consisted mostly of a spur of bedrock. The ramp was complete in the spring of 73, after two to three months of siege, allowing the Romans to finally breach the wall of the fortress with a battering ram on April 16. The Romans employed the X Legion and a number of units and Jewish prisoners of war, totaling some 15,000. A giant siege tower with a ram was constructed and moved laboriously up the completed ramp. Originally, Jewish rebels on top of Masada threw stones at those building and constructing the ramp, to counter this tactic, the Romans put captured Jewish prisoners from previously conquered towns to work at the ramp
26.
Tel Hazor
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In the Middle Bronze Age and the Israelite period, Hazor was the largest fortified city in the country and one of the most important in the Fertile Crescent. It maintained commercial ties with Babylon and Syria, and imported large quantities of tin for the bronze industry, in the Book of Joshua, Hazor is described as “the head of all those kingdoms”. The Hazor expedition headed by Yigal Yadin in the mid-1950s was the most important dig undertaken by Israel in its years of statehood. Tel Hazor is the largest archaeological site in northern Israel, featuring an upper tell of 30 acres, in 2005, the remains of Hazor were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as part of the Biblical Tels - Megiddo, Hazor, Beer Sheba. However, EA148 specifically reports that Hasuras king had gone over to the Habiru, in these documents, Hazor is described as an important city in Canaan. Hazor is also mentioned in the Execration texts, that pre-date the Amarna letters, and in 18th century BC documents found in Mari on the Euphrates River. According to the Book of Joshua, Hazor was the seat of Jabin, a powerful Canaanite king who led a Canaanite confederation against Joshua, but was defeated by Joshua, who burnt Hazor to the ground. According to the Book of Judges, Hazor was the seat of Jabin, the king of Canaan, whose commander, Sisera, led a Canaanite army against Barak, but was ultimately defeated. Israel Finkelstein claims that the Israelites emerged as a subculture within Canaanite society, in this view, the Book of Joshua conflates several independent battles between disparate groups over the centuries, and artificially attributes them to a single leader, Joshua. Amnon Ben-Tor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem believes that recently unearthed evidence of violent destruction by burning verifies the Biblical account, the archaeological remains suggest that after its destruction, the city of Hazor was rebuilt as a minor village within the territory of Naphtali. According to the Books of Kings, the town, along with Megiddo, some archaeologists conclude that they were constructed in the tenth century by King Solomon, others date these structures to the early 9th century BC, during the reign of the Omrides. However, Yadins dating was based on the assumption that the layer connected with the gates, archaeological remains indicate that towards the later half of the 9th century BC, when the king of Israel was Jehu, Hazor fell into the control of Aram Damascus. Some archaeologists suspect that subsequent to this conquest Hazor was rebuilt by Aram, subsequently, the town, along with the remainder of the kingdom of Israel, entered a period of great prosperity, particularly during the rule of Jeroboam II. Some archaeologists attribute the later large scale constructions at Hazor, Megiddo, despite the defences, in 732 BC Hazor was captured, its population deported, and the city was burnt to the ground. The site of Hazor is around 200 acres in area, with a city making up about 1/8 of that. The upper mound has a height of about 40 meters, initial soundings were carried out by John Garstang in 1926. Major excavations were conducted for 4 seasons from 1955 to 1958 by a Hebrew University team led by Yigael Yadin, Yadin returned to Hazor for a final season of excavation in 1968. The excavations were supported by James A. de Rothschild, and were published in a five volume set of books by the Israel Exploration Society
27.
Tel Megiddo
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Megiddo is an ancient city whose remains form a tell, situated in northern Israel near Kibbutz Megiddo, about 30 km south-east of Haifa. Megiddo is known for its historical, geographical, and theological importance, during the Bronze Age, Megiddo was an important Canaanite city-state and during the Iron Age, a royal city in the Kingdom of Israel. Excavations have unearthed 26 layers of ruins, indicating a period of settlement. Megiddo is strategically located at the head of a pass through the Carmel Ridge overlooking the Jezreel Valley from the west, evangelical Christians believe it will be the site of the final battle between Jesus Christ and Satan, as outlined in the Book of Revelation. The site is now protected as Megiddo National Park and is a World Heritage Site, the Book of Revelation mentions an apocalyptic battle at Armageddon, a Greek name of the site, derived from the Hebrew Har Megiddo, meaning Mount of Megiddo. Armageddon has become a byword for the end of the world, Megiddo was a site of great importance in the ancient world. It guarded the western branch of a pass on the most important trade route of the ancient Fertile Crescent, linking Egypt with Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Because of its location, Megiddo was the site of several historical battles. The site was inhabited from approximately 7000 BCE to 586 BCE though the first significant remains date to the Chalcolithic period, the first wall was constructed in the Early Bronze Age II or III period. However, the experienced a decline in the Early Bronze-Age IV period. Following massive construction, the town reached its largest size in the Middle Bronze Age, though the city was subjugated by Thutmose III, it still prospered, and a massive and incredibly elaborate palace was constructed in the Late Bronze Age. The city was destroyed around 1150 BCE, and the area was resettled by what some scholars have identified as early Israelites, however, its importance soon dwindled, and it was finally abandoned around 586 BCE. Since that time it has remained uninhabited, preserving ruins pre-dating 586 BCE without settlements ever disturbing them, instead, the town of al-Lajjun was built up near to the site, but without inhabiting or disturbing its remains. Kibbutz Megiddo is nearby, less than 1 kilometre to the south, today, Megiddo Junction is on the main road connecting the center of Israel with lower Galilee and the north. It lies at the entrance to Wadi Ara, an important mountain pass connecting the Jezreel Valley with Israels coastal plain. In 1964, during Pope Paul VIs visit to the Holy Land, Megiddo was the site where he met with Israeli dignitaries, including Israeli President Zalman Shazar and Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. Famous battles include, Battle of Megiddo, fought between the armies of the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III and a large Canaanite coalition led by the rulers of Megiddo, Battle of Megiddo, fought between Egyptian pharaoh Necho II and the Kingdom of Judah, in which King Josiah fell. Battle of Megiddo, fought during World War I between Allied troops, led by General Edmund Allenby, and the defending Ottoman army, Megiddo has been excavated three times and is currently being excavated yet again
28.
Gezer
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Gezer, or Tel Gezer is an archaeological site in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains at the border of the Shfela region roughly midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It is now an Israeli national park, in the Hebrew Bible, Gezer is associated with Joshua and Solomon. It became a major fortified Canaanite city-state in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE and it was later destroyed by fire and rebuilt. The Amarna letters mention kings of Gezer swearing loyalty to the Egyptian Pharaoh, Gezer is listed in the Book of Jushua as a Levitical city, one of ten allotted to the Levite children of Kehoth - the Kohathites. Gezer was located on the fringe of the Shephelah region. It was strategically situated at the junction of the Via Maris, the coastal highway. These inscriptions from the 1st century BCE read boundary of Gezer, inhabitants of the first settlement at Gezer, toward the end of the 4th millennium BCE, lived in large rock-cut caves. In the Early Bronze Age, an unfortified settlement covered the tell and it was destroyed in the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE and abandoned for several hundred years. In the Middle Bronze Age, Gezer became a city, well fortified. The Canaanite city was destroyed in a fire, presumably in the wake of a campaign by the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III, the oldest known historical reference to the city is to be found on an inscription of conquered sites at Thutmoses temple at Karnak. The Tell Amarna letters, dating from the 14th century BCE, the city-state of Gezer was ruled by four leaders during the 20-year period covered by the Amarna letters. Fortifications The tell was surrounded by a stone wall and towers. The wooden city gate, near the corner of the wall, was fortified by two towers. The exact purpose of these megaliths is still debated, but they may have constituted a Canaanite high place from the Middle Bronze Age, in the Late Bronze Age a new fortification wall, four meters thick, was erected. In the 14th century BCE, a palace was constructed on the western part of the tell. Toward the end of the Bronze Age, the city declined, Gezer is mentioned in the victory stele of Merneptah, dating from the end of the 13th century BCE. In 12th-11th centuries BCE, a building with many rooms. Grinding stones and grains of wheat found among the sherds indicate that it was a granary, local and Philistine vessels attest to a mixed Canaanite/Philistine population
29.
Moshe Dayan
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Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. He was the child born on the first kibbutz, but he moved with his family in 1921. In the 1930s he was trained by Orde Wingate to set traps for Palestinian-Arabs fighting the British, Dayan was close to David Ben-Gurion and joined him in setting up Rafi in 1965 with Shimon Peres. They eventually rejoined Mapai becoming Defence Minister in the 1967 Six-Day War, Moshe Dayan was born on 20 May 1915 on Kibbutz Degania Alef, near the Sea of Galilee in what was then Ottoman Syria or Palestine, within the Ottoman Empire. Dayans parents, Shmuel and Devorah Dayan, were Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, Kibbutz Degania Alef, with 11 members, was the first kibbutz, and would become part of the State of Israel. Dayan was the child born at Degania, after Gideon Baratz. He was named Moshe after Moshe Barsky, the first member of Degania to be killed in an Arab attack, soon afterward, Dayans parents moved to Nahalal, the first moshav, or farming cooperative, to be established. Dayan attended the school there. He spoke Hebrew, Arabic, and English, at the age of 14, he joined the Jewish defence force Haganah. In 1938, he joined the British-organised irregular Supernumerary Police and led a small motorized patrol, one of his military heroes was the British pro-Zionist intelligence officer Orde Wingate, under whom he served in several Special Night Squads operations. On 3 October 1939, he was the instructor for Haganah Leaders courses held at Yavniel when two British Palestine Police officers discovered a quantity of illegal rifles. Haganah HQ ordered the camp evacuated, leading a group of 43 men through Wadi Bira, early the following morning,12 to 15 Arab members of the Transjordan Frontier Force arrested them. Questions were asked about how such a force was arrested by a much smaller one. Moshe Carmel, the deputy commander, was also critical of Dayans willingness to talk to his interrogators in Acre prison. On 30 October 1939, most of the group were sentenced to 10 years in prison, seven months later, Dayan was replaced as the prisoners representative after it was discovered that moves were being made to get him an individual pardon. On 16 February 1941, after Chaim Weizmanns intervention in London, Dayan was assigned to a small Australian-Palmach-Arab reconnaissance task force, formed in preparation for the Allied invasion of Syria and Lebanon and attached to the Australian 7th Division. Using his home kibbutz of Hanita as a base, the unit frequently infiltrated Vichy French Lebanon, wearing traditional Arab dress. On 7 June 1941, the night before the invasion of the Syria–Lebanon Campaign, Dayans unit crossed the border and secured two bridges over the Litani River
30.
Six-Day War
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The Six-Day War, also known as the June War,1967 Arab–Israeli War, or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10,1967 by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Relations between Israel and its neighbours had never fully normalised following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, in the period leading up to June 1967, tensions became dangerously heightened. In reaction to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces along the Israeli border in the Sinai Peninsula, the Egyptians were caught by surprise, and nearly the entire Egyptian air force was destroyed with few Israeli losses, giving the Israelis air superiority. Simultaneously, the Israelis launched an offensive into the Gaza Strip and the Sinai. After some initial resistance, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the evacuation of the Sinai, Israeli forces rushed westward in pursuit of the Egyptians, inflicted heavy losses, and conquered the Sinai. Nasser induced Syria and Jordan to begin attacks on Israel by using the initially confused situation to claim that Egypt had defeated the Israeli air strike. Israeli counterattacks resulted in the seizure of East Jerusalem as well as the West Bank from the Jordanians, on June 11, a ceasefire was signed. Arab casualties were far heavier than those of Israel, fewer than a thousand Israelis had been killed compared to over 20,000 from the Arab forces. Israels military success was attributed to the element of surprise, an innovative and well-executed battle plan, Israel seized control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israeli morale and international prestige was greatly increased by the outcome of the war, across the Arab world, Jewish minority communities were expelled, with refugees going to Israel or Europe. After the 1956 Suez Crisis, Egypt agreed to the stationing of a United Nations Emergency Force in the Sinai to ensure all parties would comply with the 1949 Armistice Agreements, in the following years there were numerous minor border clashes between Israel and its Arab neighbors, particularly Syria. In early November 1966, Syria signed a defense agreement with Egypt. Jordanian units that engaged the Israelis were quickly beaten back, King Hussein of Jordan criticized Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser for failing to come to Jordans aid, and hiding behind UNEF skirts. In May 1967, Nasser received false reports from the Soviet Union that Israel was massing on the Syrian border, the right of innocent, maritime passage must be preserved for all nations. On May 30, Jordan and Egypt signed a defense pact, the following day, at Jordans invitation, the Iraqi army began deploying troops and armoured units in Jordan. They were later reinforced by an Egyptian contingent, on June 1, Israel formed a National Unity Government by widening its cabinet, and on June 4 the decision was made to go to war. The next morning, Israel launched Operation Focus, a surprise air strike that was the opening of the Six-Day War. Before the war, Israeli pilots and ground crews had trained extensively in rapid refitting of aircraft returning from sorties and this has contributed to the Arab belief that the IAF was helped by foreign air forces
31.
Levi Eshkol
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Levi Eshkol served as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969. He was the first Israeli Prime Minister to die in office, Levi Eshkol was born in the shtetl of Oratov, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire. His mother came from a Hasidic background and his father came from a family of Mitnagdim, Eshkol received a traditional Jewish education in Vilna. In 1914, he left for Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire and he was a leading member of the Judea Workers Union in 1915–17. During World War I, he volunteered with the Jewish Legion and he played an important part in the Suez Canal Crisis 1956 by financing military outposts and was accused of funding the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt helping Israel survive through the time. Eshkol joined Kibbutz Degania Bet and married Rivka Maharshek and they had a daughter, Noa, born in 1924 and were divorced in 1927. Eshkol married his second wife Elisheva Kaplan in 1928, with whom he had three daughters, Dvora, Ofra, and Tama and his second wife died in 1959. In 1964 he married Miriam, a librarian at the Library of the Knesset 35 years his junior, from 1940 to 1948 Eshkol was a member of the Haganah high command. He engaged in arms acquisition for the Haganah prior to and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, after Israels victory, Eshkol was appointed Director-General of the Ministry of Defense, serving from 1950 to 1951. Eshkol was elected to the Knesset in 1951 as a member of Mapai party and he served as Minister of Agriculture until 1952, when he was appointed Finance Minister following the death of Eliezer Kaplan. He held that position for the following 12 years, during his term as Finance Minister, Eshkol established himself as a prominent figure in Mapais leadership, and was designated by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion as his successor. When Ben-Gurion resigned in June 1963, Eshkol was elected party chairman with a broad consensus, Ben-Gurion failed to challenge Eshkols leadership and split from Mapai with a few of his young protégés to form Rafi in June 1965. In the meantime, Mapai merged with Ahdut HaAvoda to form the Alignment with Eshkol as its head, Rafi was defeated by the Alignment in the elections held in November 1965, establishing Eshkol as the countrys indisputable leader. Eshkol formed Israels twelfth government in 1963 and his first term in office saw continuous economic growth, epitomized by the opening of the National Water Carrier system in 1964. His and Finance Minister Pinchas Sapirs subsequent soft landing of the economy by means of recessive policies precipitated a drastic slump in economic activity. Israels centralized planned economy lacked the mechanisms to self-regulate the slowdown, upon being elected into office, Levi Eshkol fulfilled Zeev Jabotinskys wish and brought his body and that of his wife to Israel where they were buried in Mount Herzl Cemetery. He was the first Israeli Prime Minister invited on a state visit to the United States in May 1964. Israels overwhelming victory allowed Eshkol to remain Prime Minister despite never receiving recognition for his role in achieving it, the March 10,1965, MOU, variously interpreted since, said Israel would not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East
32.
Yom Kippur War
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The fighting mostly took place in the Sinai and the Golan Heights, territories that had been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat wanted also to reopen the Suez Canal, neither specifically planned to destroy Israel, although the Israeli leaders could not be sure of that. Egyptian and Syrian forces crossed ceasefire lines to enter the Sinai Peninsula, both the United States and the Soviet Union initiated massive resupply efforts to their respective allies during the war, and this led to a near-confrontation between the two nuclear superpowers. The war began with a massive and successful Egyptian crossing of the Suez Canal, after crossing the cease-fire lines, Egyptian forces advanced virtually unopposed into the Sinai Peninsula. After three days, Israel had mobilized most of its forces and halted the Egyptian offensive, resulting in a military stalemate, the Syrians coordinated their attack on the Golan Heights to coincide with the Egyptian offensive and initially made threatening gains into Israeli-held territory. Within three days, however, Israeli forces had pushed the Syrians back to the ceasefire lines. The Israel Defense Forces then launched a four-day counter-offensive deep into Syria, within a week, Israeli artillery began to shell the outskirts of Damascus. He therefore ordered the Egyptians to go back on the offensive, on October 22 a United Nations–brokered ceasefire quickly unraveled, with each side blaming the other for the breach. By October 24, the Israelis had improved their positions considerably and completed their encirclement of Egypts Third Army and this development led to tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. As a result, a ceasefire was imposed cooperatively on October 25 to end the war. These changes paved the way for the subsequent peace process, the 1978 Camp David Accords that followed led to the return of the Sinai to Egypt and normalized relations—the first peaceful recognition of Israel by an Arab country. Egypt continued its drift away from the Soviet Union and left the Soviet sphere of influence entirely, the war was part of the Arab–Israeli conflict, an ongoing dispute that included many battles and wars since 1948, when the state of Israel was formed. During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel had captured Egypts Sinai Peninsula, roughly half of Syrias Golan Heights, and the territories of the West Bank which had been held by Jordan since 1948. On June 19,1967, shortly after the Six-Day War, the Israeli government voted to return the Sinai to Egypt, the Arab position, as it emerged in September 1967 at the Khartoum Arab Summit, was to reject any peaceful settlement with the state of Israel. Prior to that, King Hussein of Jordan had stated that he could not rule out a possibility of a real, permanent peace between Israel and the Arab states. Armed hostilities continued on a limited scale after the Six-Day War and escalated into the War of Attrition, a ceasefire was signed in August 1970. President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt died in September 1970 and he was succeeded by Anwar Sadat. A peace initiative led by both Sadat and UN intermediary Gunnar Jarring was tabled in 1971 and it resembled a proposal independently made by Moshe Dayan
33.
Deputy leaders of Israel
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Deputy leaders in Israel fall into three categories, Acting Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Vice Prime Minister. Deputy Prime Minister and Vice Prime Minister are honorary rather than official executive positions, Acting Prime Ministers take the place of the Prime Minister if he or she is temporarily incapacitated, while the incumbent is still in office. If the Prime Minister is removed by impeachment, dies, or becomes permanently incapacitated, the designated Acting Prime Minister takes the role of Prime Minister as Acting Prime Minister, for up to 100 consecutive days, if the incumbent is temporarily incapacitated. The incumbent minister must be also a Knesset member to be eligible for this role, in the recently installed government of Benjamin Netanyahu, there is no designated Acting Prime Minister. There can be one designated minister appointed to such position. However, the holder of this position can hold other ministerial position, as the most recent designated Acting Prime Minister. Confusingly, the term is referred to as Vice Prime Minister, though a separate. If the Prime Minister is abroad, the designated minister summons the government to cabinet meetings, if there is no such designated minister, in such event, the government will vote for one. If the Prime Minister wants to replace the designated Acting Prime Minister, he needs the approval vote of the government. However, the Prime Minister may fire the designated Acting Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, after standing-in for Prime Minister Sharon for 100 consecutive days, as acting Prime Minister, did not automatically assume office as an Interim Prime Minister. The deal was continued into the 12th Knesset, but collapsed in 1990, the role of the designated Acting Prime Minister was limited and unattractive for any chairman of major party aspiring to get the top job. The position was resurrected in 2003, with Ariel Sharon appointing Ehud Olmert to the post, Tzipi Livni then was appointed to the post, in Olmerts Government. One of the Ministers who is a member of Knesset may be designated as Acting Prime Minister, should the Prime Minister be absent from Israel, meetings of the Government will be convened and conducted by the designated Acting Prime Minister. Should the Prime Minister be temporarily unable to discharge his duties, after the passage of 100 days upon which the Prime Minister does not resume his duties, the Prime Minister will be deemed permanently unable to exercise his office. Should the Prime Minister be permanently incapacitated, the Government shall be deemed to have resigned on the 101st day during which the Acting Prime Minister served in his place. The interim prime minister is appointed by the government if the incumbent is dead or permanently incapacitated, while the acting prime minister must be a Knesset member to meet the requirements, the interim prime minister must be a member of the prime ministers party as well. Until the 2001 basic law, the government, both the acting and interim prime ministers were required to be a Knesset member in addition to being a member of the Government. In 2006, Ehud Olmert, after standing in for Prime Minister Sharon for 100 consecutive days, as acting prime minister, did not automatically assume office as an interim prime minister
34.
Amnon Rubinstein
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Amnon Rubinstein is an Israeli law scholar, politician, and columnist. A member of the Knesset between 1977 and 2002, he served in ministerial positions. He is currently dean of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and a patron of Liberal International, Rubinstein was born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate era. His family belonged to the Revisionist Zionist movement, Rubinstein would later split from Revisionism but remain impacted by the classical liberalism that influenced Revisionist founder Zeev Jabotinsky. After serving as a captain in the IDF, he studied economics, international relations and he received a PhD in law from the London School of Economics in 1966. Between 1961 and 1975 he worked as a professor of law at Tel Aviv University, rubinsteins political career began when he founded Shinui after the Yom Kippur War. Shinui joined Yigael Yadins Democratic Movement to form Dash, in the 1977 elections, Dash won 15 seats in the Knesset. Dashs victory came at the expense of the Alignment, for the first time in the 29 years since the founding of the state of Israel. However, Rubinstein opposed Dashs participation in Menachem Begins Likud government coalition, Rubinstein retained his seat in the 1981 elections, though Shinui was reduced to two seats. After winning three seats in the 1984 elections Shinui were invited into the coalition, and Rubinstein was appointed Minister of Communications. Rubinstein was re-elected again in 1988, but Shinui were left out of the government, prior to the 1992 elections Shinui merged with Shulamit Alonis Ratz and Zionist-socialist Mapam to form Meretz, a dovish, social-democratic liberal party. Meretz joined Yitzhak Rabins government in 1992, and Rubinstein was chosen as Minister of Energy, however, early into his term he became Minister of Education instead, replacing Shulamit Aloni. As a legislator Rubinstein initiated and legislated the two laws that guarantee human rights in Israel. Following Likuds victory in the 1996 elections, Rubinstein and Meretz left the government and he was re-elected for a final time in 1999, and resigned from the Knesset at the end of October 2002. Rubinstein lived to hear his own obituary read in 2000, when due to a practical joke, Rubinstein, who was hospitalized at the time for a minor complaint, saw his eulogy broadcast on television. After retiring from politics Rubinstein returned to academia and he regularly writes opinion pieces for Israeli newspapers. His articles and books in the sphere of law in general and his collection A Single Voice outlined his moderate, humanistic liberalism, according to a review in Haaretz. In 2006, Rubinstein won the Israel Prize, for law, the Israel Prize award committee provided the following endorsement for its decision, Amnon Rubinstein is the founding father of Israeli constitutional law
35.
Shmuel Tamir
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Shmuel M. Tamir was a prominent Israeli independence fighter, lawyer, patriot and Knesset member. After a successful career fighting the British he entered the Knesset from 1965 to 1980, a hero of the Yishuv and Eretz Yisrael Tamir was an ardent anti-Nazi leading proactive legal cases to prosecute perpetrators of the Holocaust and war criminals. A larger than life character, Tamirs maverick politics finally led him into a party of one after several coalitions with nationalist parties, born in Jerusalem, Shmuel was the son of Reuven Katzenelson and Batsheva Katznelson. In 1944 he was a commander of the Jerusalem District and commanded the operation that blew up the Income Tax offices in the city, during 1946 he served as Deputy Commander of the Jerusalem District and was in charge of the Irgun Intelligence unit in Jerusalem. He was arrested by the British several times, and in March 1947 was exiled to Detention Camps in Kenya where he finished his Law studies, in the camp he served as the Supervisor who represented the detainees to the British Authorities. Katzenelson returned home with the last exiles from Kenya on July 12,1948, after Israeli independence was declared, upon arriving in Israel, he adopted his code name, Tamir as his legal name. He had a career as a lawyer and conducted several famous political cases, including the Yedidya Segal. He was one of the founders of Menachem Begins Herut party, one of the founders of the New Regime in 1957 after the Suez Crisis, he returned to the party in 1964, and in 1965 was elected to the Knesset on the Gahal list. In 1966 he was expelled from the party for trying to promote a bill through the Knesset. So together with two others, he formed the Free Centre in 1967, Tamir was re-elected in 1969, and again in 1973, by which time his party had merged into Likud. He resigned from the Knesset in January 1977 to form the Shinui Party, immediately afterwards he decided to join the new centrist party, the Democratic Movement for Change. He was returned to the Knesset in the 1977 elections on Dashs list, as Dash disintegrated, Tamir joined the Democratic Movement, before leaving to sit as an independent MK. He resigned from the cabinet on 5 August 1980 when his party was out of coalition decision-making. At the ensuing 1981 election he lot his seat, soon afterwards he was chosen to head up the peace operation known as Operation Gallilee that dealt with POWs after the war in southern Lebanon. Tamir was a supporter of Rabbi Meir Kahane and the Jewish Defense League, both Sides of the Hill, Britain and the Palestine War. Terms of Survival, The Jewish World since 1945
36.
Meir Amit
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Meir Amit was an Israeli politician & cabinet minister. He served as the Chief Director & the head of operations for Mossad from 1963 to 1968, before entering into politics. He was also regarded as the most successful intelligence officer. Amit was born in Tiberias as Meir Slutsky during the Mandate era, cousin of the Russian poet and he later adopted the name Amit which means friend in Hebrew and was called Meir Amit Slutsky. At a young age, he joined kibbutz Alonim in the lower Galilee and he fought for the Haganah during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He remained in the military and rose through the ranks to become a major general, during his military career he came to be regarded as a protégé of Moshe Dayan. In the late 1950s Amit studied at Columbia Business School in New York City, after returning to Israel, Amit entered the Israeli intelligence community, first as a major general at the head of IDF Intelligence in 1961, and then as Mossad Director in 1963. He was the figure in Israels history to hold the position of Mossad chief. As Director, he orchestrated some of the Mossads greatest successes and it was also during his time that the Mossad engineered the defection of an Assyrian Iraqi pilot who flew the then new Mig-21 from Iraq to Israel. Amit is particularly known for his success in expanding Israels human intelligence, one of the most notable examples was in the mid 1980s when he personally recruited and help train what turned out to be one of Mossads most successful agents. The recruit was an American from Illinois attending Columbia University in New York and his code name was Ranan, and under Amits mentoring the nineteen-year-old American became the youngest team leader of its most prolific Kidon unit, Israels elite espionage and assassination outfit. Following his retirement from the Mossad, he continued to be a voice in the intelligence community. Following the lead of other generals, Amit joined the Democratic Movement for Change party. Amit subsequently joined Shinui, before defecting to the Alignment in 1980 and he lost his seat in the 1981 elections. He was later the chairman of Israels Center for Special Studies, and in 2003, was awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement and special contribution to society and the State. He was a leader, whom people trusted, and at the same time he was a visionary for the state. We are proud to have a personality of his stature born in our country Oren, six Days of War, June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. New York, Oxford University Press,2002, ISBN 0-19-515174-7, 145-6 p. Thomas Gordon
37.
Alignment (Israel)
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The Alignment is the name of two political alliances in Israel. Each of these Alignment parties later merged into what is now the Israeli Labor Party, the first Alignment was a 1965 alliance of Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda. The two parties continued to exist independently, but submitted joint electoral lists, often called the Labor Alignment, the alliance lasted three years until a merger with Rafi in 1968 created the unitary Israeli Labor Party. The following year the Labor Party formed an alliance with Mapam, the two constituent parties remained separate, but with combined electoral campaigns and candidate lists. The second version of the Alignment lasted for more than two decades, at its formation in 1969, the second Alignment had 63 of 120 Knesset seats, the only time a parliamentary group in Israel has ever held a parliamentary majority. Although their majority was lost in the 1969 elections, the 56 seats won by the Alignment remains the highest seat total won in an Israeli election. The first incarnation of the Alignment, fully named the HaMaarakh LeAhdut Poalei Eretz Yisrael, was an alliance of Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda formed to contest the 1965 Knesset elections. Its formation was in response to the merger of the two major right-wing parties in Israel, Herut and the Liberal Party to form Gahal, and to try to preserve the lefts hegemony in Israeli politics. On 23 January 1968, Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda merged with Rafi to form the Israeli Labor Party, Rafi leader David Ben-Gurion refused to join the Labor Party, and left Rafi before the merger. He formed a new party, the National List, on 28 January 1969 the Labor Party entered into an alliance with Mapam. The Alignment name was still well-known, and was re-used for the new alliance, at the time, the Labor Party held 55 seats, and Mapam eight, giving the new Alignment a majority of 63 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. The countrys success in the Six-Day War helped the partys popularity, although it lost its majority, the 46. 2% of the vote and 56 seats was the best electoral performance in Israeli political history. During the Knesset session, the party gained one seat as Meir Avizohar defected from the National List, the seventh Knesset also covered the event that played a major part in the partys downfall. On 6 October 1973, as Israelis were observing Yom Kippur, although Israel later recovered the ground initially lost, the war was generally considered to be a failure, and the government faced significant criticism. The Agranat Commission was set up to examine the circumstances that led to the war, before the Commission could publish its results, an election was held. Anger at the government was not significantly noticeable, as the Alignment still won 39. 6% of the vote and 51 seats, more significantly, the new major right-wing party, Likud, won 39 seats, and was now breathing down the Alignments neck. Meir formed a coalition with the National Religious Party and the Independent Liberals, however, ten days after the Agranat Commission published its findings on 1 April 1974, Meir resigned, despite the report clearing her and her Defence Minister, Moshe Dayan of all responsibility. Yitzhak Rabin took over the Labor party, beating Shimon Peres in a leadership contest and this battle led to a long-term falling out between the two, after Rabin described Peres as an indefatigable intriguer in his autobiography
