Session 4
Maya Hadar
 Jerusalem
 Jerusalem and Christianity, Islam and Judaism
 The Capital Controversy
 From Mandate to Statehood
 Arabs and Jews in Palestine
 Jewish immigration to mandatory Palestine
 The establishment of Israel and the Arab response
 The Yishuv (pre-state Jewish Community in Palestine)
On The Agenda
2
3
JERUSALEM
 Holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims
 Both Arab Israelis/Palestinians and Jewish Israelis live in
the city and have deep historic and religious ties there
 Today, Arabs/Palestinians make up 38% of the city's
population
 Spiritual capital of the world's three monotheistic
religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam
 The Old city constitutes a one and a half square miles of
history, religion and conflicts
4
 Many sites in Jerusalem are considered
sacred by Christians =>
 Church of the Holy Sepulcher: Catholics
believe it is built over the
Golgotha/Calvary (place of Jesus’
crucifixion) and Jesus’ tomb
Jerusalem and Christianity
5
Protestant location for Golgotha Golgotha/Calvary
(the hill on which Jesus was crucified)
Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem
Jerusalem and Christianity
6
Jerusalem and Christianity
 The Christian link to Jerusalem is essentially a
religious one
 Except for the short-lived Crusader kingdom,
Jerusalem has not assumed political or secular
importance
 During the six centuries of Roman and Byzantine
rule, Caesarea (northern Israel) was the capital
The Last Supper Room in Mount Zion/
Cenacle, where Jesus had his last supper
with his disciples on the night before his
crucifixion
7
Jerusalem and Islam
 The ‘Dome of the Rock’ (Arabic Qubbat al-Ṣakhrah)
is a Muslim shrine built by the Umayyad caliph
ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān in the late 7th century
AD
 The building is not a mosque and does not fit easily
into other categories of Muslim religious structures
 It is commonly held that the Dome commemorates
the Miʿrāj, the Prophet Muhammad’s (founder of
Islam) ascension into heaven (Lailat-al-Miraj)
 The rock over which the shrine was built is sacred to
both Muslims and Jews
According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad
was visited by two archangels who filled
his heart with knowledge and faith. He
then travelled from Mecca to Jerusalem
‘furthest place of worship’ on a winged
creature (Buraq) and ascended to heaven
8
Jerusalem and Islam
E..J. PALKA
Rock where Muhammad
stood when he was
ascended
Dome of the rock
9
 During Muslim rule over the city, Jerusalem was never made the political capital
of a Muslim entity or a province within the Muslim empire
 Under Muslim Arab rule (638 - 1099) by the Umayyad, the Abbasid and the
Fatamid caliphs, Jerusalem was ruled from Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo
respectively
 In the 8th century, the city of Ramia was made the capital of the district which
embraced Jerusalem
 During the period of Mamluk rule (1250- 1516), the Land was ruled from
Damascus; in Ottoman times (1517 - 1917), from Constantinople
Jerusalem and Islam
10
Jerusalem and Judaism
 Jerusalem has stood at the center of the Jewish
people's national and spiritual life since King
David made it the capital of his kingdom in
1003 BC
 The city remained the capital of the Davidic
dynasty for 400 years, until the kingdom was
conquered by the Babylonians
After the death of Saul and his sons,
David was apointed king of Judah and
began the Davidic dynasty that ruled the
kingdom of Judah for about 400 years,
until the destruction of the First Temple
11
 Faith took form in the first temple, built
in the 10th century BC by King
Solomon (according to the Hebrew
Bible)
 Temple I destroyed by the Babylonians
 Following the return from the
Babylonian exile in 538 BC,
Jerusalem again served as the capital
of the Jewish people for the next five
and a half centuries
First Temple was destroyed by Babylonians in 586 BC
Jerusalem and Judaism
12
 The first temple was rebuilt as the second temple,
which was destroyed by Romans in 70 AD => The
Wailing Wall/the Western Wall is all that was left,
holiest site for Jewish prayer
 In the Jewish tradition, the dome of the rock was
where Abraham, the progenitor and first patriarch
of the Hebrew people, is said to have prepared to
sacrifice his son Isaac
Jerusalem and Judaism
13
 Jerusalem is part of the Jewish prayer
(appearing in the old testament) =>
“If I forget you Jerusalem, may my right hand lose
its’ skill, May my tongue cleave to the roof of my
mouth, if I do not remember Jerusalem, if I do not
exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy” Psalm 137
 For about 1,900 years, every Passover Seder ends
with the words:
“L’shana Habaah b’Yirushalim” => “Next year in
Jerusalem”
Jerusalem and Judaism
Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, 1898
15
JERUSALEM
 Both the Dome and Al-Aqṣā
Mosque are located on the
Temple Mount, the site of
Solomon’s Temple and its
successors, an area known
to Muslims as Al-Ḥaram al-
Sharīf
15
The Dome of the Rock
The Wailing Wall – foundation of
the Jewish Temple
Kotel HaMaravi
Western Wall
c. 1870
c. 1898
Dome of the Rock, c. 1877
17
 Under British rule (1922-1948), Jerusalem was the
seat of the High Commissioner and most
administrative offices of the Mandate + central
institutions of the Jewish community
 1947- The United Nations did not include
Jerusalem in Israel/Palestine, as part of the
partition of the mandatory territory of Palestine
 Jerusalem was set to be an “open city”
 1948-49- war, Israeli victory, transfer of Israeli
government from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem
Source: Map data by Daniel Seidemann/Terrestrial Jerusalem. Labeling by NPR
Jerusalem and Israel
18
 1948-1967 => A city divided
 Eastern side (including the Old City)
was annexed by Jordan
 Western side became Israel's capital
 Palestinians living in the west
abandoned their homes and fled to the
east
 Jews were expelled from the Old
City's Jewish quarter and were
barred from entering the Western Wall
Jerusalem and Israel
19
 The Six Day War, 1967 => Israel defeated the
combined armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan,
captured East Jerusalem (and other territories)
 Jerusalem was united under Israeli rule
 The Old City was opened to people of all
faiths
 The eastern part of the city was reintegrated
into the nation's capital (Israel)
Source: Map data by Daniel Seidemann/Terrestrial Jerusalem. Labeling by NPR
Jerusalem and Israel
20
 July 1980 => the Knesset (Israeli parliament) passed
‘Basic Law – Jerusalem’, restated Israel's rights and
obligations concerning its capital:
 The Law affirmed that the holy places of all
religions shall be protected from desecration
 Free access to the holy places is guaranteed
 The Government is to provide for the development
and the prosperity of the city and the well-being
of its inhabitants
Jerusalem and Israel
21
JERUSALEM
 Cultural Diversity
22
Capital Controversy
 Jerusalem's unresolved status is one of the core questions at the heart of the
Israel-Palestine conflict
 The western part of Jerusalem (mainly Jewish Israelis and Israel's government),
isn’t really contested, likely to remain part of Israel in future peace talks
 The eastern part (including key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites), captured
by Israel in 1967 and annexed, is claimed by the Palestinian leadership
 Many of the world's governments do not recognize the city as part of either
Israel or Palestine
23
Capital Controversy
 While Israel's government and parliament are based in Jerusalem, the nation's
economic and business centre is in Tel Aviv
 Tel Aviv is also home to many foreign embassies including the UK‘s and, until
May 2018, the US'
 Practice for years: Americans born in Jerusalem issuing passports in the embassyplace
of birth is “Jerusalem” without mentioning a country
 Dec 2017 => Trump decides to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem
24
Capital Controversy
 The US acknowledges that Jerusalem is Israel’s
capital
 Trump did set that the actual borders of the city
are still subject to negotiation
 UN General Assembly held a rare emergency
session at the request of Arab and Muslim
states after Trump's decision heightened tensions
in the ME
 The resolution effectively called on the US to
withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as the
capital of Israel and was backed by the
overwhelming majority of members
25
Capital Controversy
 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
reaffirmed that Jerusalem was the "eternal
capital of the State of Palestine”
 Many world leaders condemned the move =>
fears it could spark further bloodshed + disrupt
attempts to reach a two-state solution
 May 2018=> US marked the opening of its
embassy to Israel in Jerusalem
26
Capital Controversy
 Physical terms: a move of the
ambassador and staff from Tel Aviv to
a large consular building (already
exists)
 Political significance: after decades of
US policy stating that the status of
Jerusalem should be settled in peace
talks between Israelis and Palestinians,
the Trump administration signals that the
city is Israel's capital
Source: Map data by Daniel Seidemann/Terrestrial Jerusalem. Labeling by NPR
*** The Green Line separates the territory that Israel
and Jordan controlled when an armistice was signed
ending the (1948) Arab-Israeli war shortly after Israel's
creation
Theodore Herzl
1860-1904
 A Jewish nationalist movement
GOALS:
 The creation and support of a Jewish national state in
Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews =>
spiritual and political renewal of the Jewish people
there
 Sees it as an outgrowth of natural right and historic fact
 Freedom from Western anti-Semitism
 1897: Theodore Herzl founded the World Zionist
Organization (WZO)
Zionism
 Recognizes the ‘hand of God’ in fulfilling his covenant promises to his covenant
people => Return to “Zion”
Biblical Zionism
“Hear the Word of the Lord O nations, proclaim it in the distant coastlines, He
who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over them like a shepherd”
Jeremiah 31:10
“And you will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the Land of Israel,
the Land which I swore to give to your forefathers” Ezekiel 20:42
Sir Arthur James Balfour
Br. Foreign Secretary
“His Majesty’s Government views with favor the establishment
in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will
use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this
object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done
which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing
non-Jewish communities in Palestine…”
 Supported the creation of a Jewish homeland
 Led to more Jews moving to Palestine
 Hatred and distrust grew between Arabs and
Jews under British control
Balfur Declaration of 1917
 In 1920 (beginning of the British mandate),
Jews Arabs ratio in the population was
1:10
 By 1947, the ratio was 1:2
Arabs & Jews in Palestine
 1947 => The U.N. Partition Plan
 Palestine divided between the Jews and the Arabs;
Jerusalem internationalized
The UN Partition Plan
 The Jews accepted the partition
 May 14th 1948 => David BenGurion
(first prime minister)
announced Israel’s
independence
 May 15 => the Brits leave
Chaim Weizmann, first president of
Israel with US president Harry Truman
Declaration of Independent
 “… we, members of the people's council, representatives of the
Jewish community of eretz-israel and of the Zionist movement, are
here assembled on the day of the termination of the British mandate
over eretz-israel and, by virtue of our natural and historic right and
on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations general
assembly, hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in eretzIsrael,
to be known as the state of Israel “
 “… The state of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for
the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the
country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on
freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it
will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its
inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee
freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it
will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful
to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations …”
Declaration of Independent
 The Arabs rejected the partition
 Within hours of British withdrawal &
Israel’s birth => Invasion of the
armies of:
 Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi
Arabia, Lebanon and the Arab
Legion
 Regular armies, well trained men,
heavy machine guns, tanks and
planes
The Arab Response From Lebanon and Syria
From Transjordan and IraqFrom Egypt
The Arab/Israel War of 1948
 The Arab armies pushed deep into Palestine, but after 10 days, the Haganah
was able to push them back
 Truce declared June 11, 1948
 Fighting resumed and lasted until the January 1949 Armistice
“This will be a war of extermination and a massacre which
will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the
Crusades”
- Pasha, Leader of the Arab league
 More land under Israeli control than UN Partition
Plan proposed
 Jordan captured the ‘West Bank’ and the eastern
part of Jerusalem
 Jews forbidden to pray at the Western Wall
 Jewish graves on Mt. Olives desecrated
Results of the 1948 War
The Yishuv
 The Jewish community in mandatory Palestine 1922-1948
 Grew from about 80k to 650k
 Labor/Revisionist/General Zionism
 Who were they?
 Where did they come from and why?
 What challenges did they have to face?
 What made the Yishuv viable?
First Years of Statehood
 Four organized immigration waves
The First Aliya (immigration wave)
 Followed pogroms (violent riots of Jewish prosecution) in Russia in 1881-1882
 Most of the olim (immigrants) came from Eastern Europe; some from Yemen
 Most were members of “Hibbat Zion” and “Bilu”, early Zionist movements
which defined their goal as the political, national, and spiritual resurrection of
the Jewish people in Palestine
Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine
BILU, A Jewish organization, an acronym based on a verse from Isaiah (2:5), "Beit Ya'akov
Lekhu Ve-nelkha/Let the house of Jacob go!”. The Bilu'im were influenced by Marx and the
Bible and hoped to establish farming cooperatives in Palestine.
The First Aliya (immigration wave)
 Inexperienced idealists***, most chose agricultural settlement as their way of life
and founded ‘moshavot’ - farmholders’ villages
 Settlers encountered many difficulties (inclement climate, disease, crippling
Turkish taxation and Arab opposition)
 They required economic assistance => highly supported by Baron Edmond de
Rothschild
 The Yemenite olim, most of whom settled in Jerusalem, were first employed as
construction workers and later in the citrus plantations of the moshavot
Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine
***Jews were forbidden to own land in Russia, the country had almost no Jewish farmers
 Nearly 35k Jews came to Palestine during the First Aliyah
 Almost half of them left within several years, about 15k established new rural
settlements, and the rest moved to existing towns
 Not considered a success story =>
 Many chose to immigrate to the US (higher wages, easier life) and not to
Palestine
 Many left
Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine
The Second Aliya (1905-1915)
 Followed pogroms in Russia and the increasing anti-Semitism
 Had a profound impact on the complexion and development of modern
Jewish settlement in Palestine
 Most immigrants were young people inspired by socialist ideals
 Many models and components of the rural settlement enterprise came into being
at this time => "national farms" where rural settlers were trained; the first kibbutz
(1909); and Ha-Shomer, the first Jewish self-defense organization
Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine
The Second Aliya (1905-1915)
 Prominent leader: David Ben Gurion
 A Jewish neighborhood established as a
suburb of Jaffa, developed into Tel Aviv, the
first modern all-Jewish city
Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine
 The Hebrew language was revived as a spoken tongue, and Hebrew literature +
newspapers were published
 Political parties + workers' agricultural organizations began to form => Led the
“Yishuv” into statehood
The Second Aliya (1905-1915)
 A total of about 40k Jews immigrated during this period, nearly half left (due to
absorption difficulties and the absence of a stable economic base)
Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine
The Third Aliya (1919-1923)
 A continuation of the Second Aliyah which was interrupted by World War I
 Triggered by the October Revolution in Russia (the Bolshevik Revolution), the
ensuing pogroms there + in Poland and Hungary, the British mandate in Palestine
and the Balfour Declaration
 Most immigrants were young halutzim (pioneers) from Eastern Europe
 Although the British Mandatory regime imposed Aliyah quotas, the Yishuv
numbered 90k by the end of this period
Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine
The Third Aliya (1919-1923)
 Built roads and towns + undertook major projects (draining of marshes)
 Founded:
 The General Federation of Labor (Histadrut)
 The Elected Assembly and the National Council: representative institutions
for the Yishuv
 The Haganah: the clandestine Jewish defense organization
 Agricultural settlement expanded, first industrial enterprises established
 Approximately 40k Jews arrived during that time, relatively few left
Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine
The Forth Aliya (1924-1927)
 A direct result of the economic crisis and anti-Jewish policies in Poland, along with
the introduction of stiff immigration quotas by the United States
 Most immigrants belonged to the middle class and brought modest sums of
capital with which they established small businesses and workshops =>
strengthened the towns, industrial development and reinstate Jewish labor in the
villages
 82k arrived, 23k left
Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine
The Fifth Aliya (1929-1939)
 Signal event => Nazi accession to power in Germany (1933)
 Increased immigration from Germany (professionals) and resumed immigration
from Eastern Europe due to persecution and the Jews' worsening situation
 1933-1936 => 174k, Jews settled in Palestine
 Towns flourished, new industrial enterprises were founded, construction of the
Haifa port and the oil refineries was completed
 By 1940, nearly 250k Jews arrived (20k left) and the Yishuv's population
reached 450k.
Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine
What made the Yishuv viable? => institutions
 The Yishuv was headed by a two-winged system of national institutions,
based on independence and sovereignty of Jews in Palestine
 Fulfilled the dual role of conducting day-to-day life in an autonomous setting
and constructing the infrastructure for an independent Jewish state
 Umbrella => Zionist organizations, recognized by the League of Nations and
the Mandatory Power as the sole representative of the Jewish people in all
matters relating to Palestine
 The most powerful and influential body in the Yishuv was the Palestine Zionist
Executive and, as of the early 1930s, the Jewish Agency Executive
The Yishuv (Pre-state Jewish Community)
 The Yishuv functioned as a parliamentary democracy, formally having all three
branches of government:
1. The parliament: "National Assembly”
2. The executive organ: “the National council/committee”
3. The judicial system: “the Hebrew Court of Peace”
 Within a few years, the stature of the Hebrew legal system declined =>
 Limited scope of jurisdiction (rabbinical courts: personal matters only)
 Voluntary character, reliance of the Jews on the efficient Mandatory judicial system
 Lack of coercive means for enforcement of decisions
The Yishuv (Pre-state Jewish Community)
 First elections to the National Assembly: April 1920, after resolving the issue of
the women's right to vote
 The Orthodox community and the "Mizrahi" (the religious Zionist party) opposed the
participation of women in the elections
 After deliberation, it was agreed that only men would cast their votes in the orthodox
quarters, but each vote would count as two, to compensate for the women
 Eventually the religious Zionist parties complied with the inclusion of women in the
democratic process
 The ultra-orthodox (who were not members of the Zionist Organization in the first place), quit
the assembly and did not take part in its elections
 Elections to the National Assembly should have been held every four years, but actually held
in 1925, 1931 and 1944.
The Yishuv (Pre-state Jewish Community)
 The Mandatory government granted the Zionist Organization (and, from the
early 1930s, the Jewish Agency) partial authority over matters that are
customarily handled by the government in independent states (immigration,
settlement, economic development and even some military issues)
 The Yishuv institutions dealt with internal matters (education, health, welfare).
By definition, the Zionist organs had the upper hand in leading the Yishuv
 Weak Yishuv institutions (also) due to political factionalism =>20 lists competed
for 28,765 potential voters (77% participation) => prevented the crystallization
of a power center with strong public backing
The Yishuv (Pre-state Jewish Community)
 The Rabbinical Council, headed by two chief rabbis, one Sephardic and one
Ashkenazi, was the religious organ of the Yishuv, officially recognized by the
Mandatory power. There were local Rabbinical Councils in the all-Jewish cities and
towns, and in those with a substantial Jewish population, as well as a network of
Rabbinical courts with jurisdiction over matters of personal status – marriage,
divorce and inheritance.
The Yishuv (Pre-state Jewish Community)
Next Session...
54
 Nation-building; 1948-1967
55
Thank You For Your Attention!
Questions???