Session 3
Maya Hadar
 Jerusalem
 Jerusalem and Christianity, Islam & Judaism
 The Capital Controversy
 (Summarized) Israeli Political History
 From Mandate to Statehood
 Arabs and Jews in Palestine
 Jewish Immigration to Mandatory Palestine
 The Establishment of the State of Israel and the Arab Response
On The Agenda For Today2
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JERUSALEM
 Arab Israelis/Palestinians + Jewish Israelis live in
the city and have deep historic & religious ties
 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-halfsquare-miles
of history, religion and conflicts
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 Many sites in Jerusalem are considered
sacred by Christians
 Church of the Holy Sepulcher- believed
to be built over Golgotha/Calvary, where
Jesus was crucified + buried
Jerusalem & Christianity
5
Protestant alternative location for
Golgotha/Calvary: The Garden Tomb =>
Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem
<= believed to be built over both Golgotha
and Jesus’ tomb
Jerusalem & Christianity
6
 The Christian link to Jerusalem is essentially a
religious one
 Except for the short-lived Crusader
kingdom/The Kingdom of Jerusalem, it has not
assumed political or secular connotation
 During the six centuries of Roman & Byzantine
rule, Caesarea (northern Israel) was capital
The Last Supper Room in Mount Zion/
Cenacle, where Jesus had his last supper
with his disciples on the night before his
crucifixion
Jerusalem & Christianity
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Jerusalem & Islam
 The ‘Dome of the Rock’ is a Muslim
shrine built by the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd
al-Malik ibn Marwān in the late 7th
century CE
 NOT a mosque
 The Dome commemorates the Miʿrāj,
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
8
E..J. PALKAThe Rock where
Muhammad stood when
he was ascended
Dome of the rock
Jerusalem & Islam
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 During Muslim rule over the city, Jerusalem was never made the political
capital or even 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 & Islam
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Jerusalem & Judaism
 Jerusalem stood at the center of
Jewish people's national &
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 David was anointed king of Judah and began the
Davidic dynasty that ruled the kingdom of Judah for until
the destruction of the First Temple
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 Faith took form in the First
Temple, built in the 10th
century BC by King Solomon
 (Old testament)
 Following the return from the
Babylonian exile (538 BC),
Jerusalem again served as the
capital of the Jewish people
for the next 550 years
The First Temple was destroyed by Babylonians in 586 BC
Jerusalem & Judaism
12
 The first temple was rebuilt (second
temple) => destroyed by Romans
(70 AD)
 The wailing wall/Western Wall
is all that’s left: holiest site for
Jewish prayer
 Jewish tradition: the dome of the
rock was where Abraham
(progenitor & first patriarch of the
Hebrew people) is said to have
prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac
Jerusalem & Judaism
Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, 1898
Kotel HaMaravi
Western Wall
c. 1870
c. 1898
Dome of the Rock, c. 1877
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JERUSALEM: Contested Capital
 Both the Dome and AlAqṣā
Mosque are located
on the Temple Mount, the
site of Solomon’s Temple
and its successors, an area
known to Muslims as AlḤaram
al-Sharīf
15
The Dome of the Rock
The Wailing Wall – foundation of
the Jewish Temple
16
 Under British rule (1922-1948), Jerusalem was the
seat of the High Commissioner and most
administrative offices of the Mandate + central
institutions of the growing Jewish community
 1947=> The UN did NOT include Jerusalem in
either future Israel/Palestine
 In the designated partition of the territory of
Palestine Jerusalem was set to be an “open city”
 1948/49=> War, Israeli victory, transfer of Israeli
government from Tel-Aviv to West Jerusalem
Source: Map data by Daniel Seidemann/Terrestrial Jerusalem. Labeling by NPR
Jerusalem & Israel
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 1948-1967 => A city divided
 Eastern side (including the ‘Old
City’) annexed by Jordan
 Western side became Israel's
capital
 Palestinians living in the west
abandoned homes and fled to
the east
 Jews were expelled from the
Old City's Jewish quarter and
barred from the Western Wall
Jerusalem & Israel
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 The Six Day War, 1967 => Israel defeated the
combined armies of Egypt, Syria & Jordan,
capturing 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
Source: Map data by Daniel Seidemann/Terrestrial Jerusalem. Labeling by NPR
Jerusalem & Israel
19
 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 for all
religions 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 & Israel
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JERUSALEM
 Cultural Diversity
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Contested Capital
 Jerusalem's unresolved status is one of the core questions at the heart of the
Israel-Palestine conflict
 While Israel's government & parliament are based in Jerusalem, the nation's
economic and business center is in Tel Aviv
 Tel Aviv is also home to many foreign embassies including the UK's and, until
May 2018, the USA's
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 The western part of Jerusalem (mainly Jewish Israelis and Israel's government),
isn’t really contested, likely to remain Israeli
 The eastern part (including key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites), captured
by Israel in 1967 and annexed, but still claimed by Palestine
 Many of the world's governments do not recognize the city as either Israel's or
as the Palestinians’
 Dec 2017 => Trump decides to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, said
that the actual borders of the city are still subject to negotiation
Contested Capital
23
 UN General Assembly held a rare emergency
session at the request of Arab + Muslim states,
after Trump's decision heightened ME tensions
 Called on the US to withdraw its recognition
of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel
 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas:
Jerusalem is the “Eternal capital of the State of
Palestine”
 Many world leaders condemned the move =>
fearing further bloodshed + disrupt attempts to
reach a two-state solution
Contested Capital
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 May 2018=> US marked the opening of
its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem
 Physical terms: moving the ambassador &
staff from Tel Aviv to a large US consular
building (already existed)
 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
Contested Capital
(Summarized) Israeli Political History
The Territory of Palestine
 ‘Palestine’ => Area in the Middle East,
situated between the Jordan River & the
Mediterranean Sea
 1517 => Palestine was absorbed into the
Ottoman Empire & remained under
Turkish rule until World War I
 Native Arab population of Palestine
joined the Allies in the fight against the
Turks- why?
(Summarized) Israeli Political History
The Territory of Palestine
 The Native Arab population joined the Allies in
the fight against the Turks
 McMahon-Hussein Agreement (1915) => A
promise made by the Brits that after WWI, land
previously held by the Turks would be
returned/given to local Arab nationals
 The Brits claimed the agreement included NO
such promise
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…”
 The Balfour Declaration stipulated the support of
the British government for the creation of a Jewish
homeland
 Led to more Jews moving to Palestine
Balfour Declaration of 1917
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
(Summarized) Israeli Political History
 1917 => The Balfour Declaration
stipulated the support of the British
government for the creation of a
Jewish homeland
 End of WW1 (1918) => The Turks
were defeated by the Allied forces
 The Ottoman Empire was
dismembered, some former
territories were handed over to
the French/Brits to control
(Summarized) Israeli Political History
 End of WW1 (1918) => Two schools of
thought:
1. The Brits promised Palestine to the Arabs
in return for their support to the Allies in
the war
2. The British agreed to give their support to
the Jews for a homeland in Palestine
 Neither was to emerge => the League of
Nations gave Palestine to the British to
govern as a mandate
The British mandate in the territory of Palestine
 The ’British Mandate for Palestine’ was a document issued
by the League of Nations (drawn up in 1920, came into
effect in 1923)
 The Mandate formalized British rule over parts of the
Levant (the region that comprises countries to the east of
the Mediterranean), as part of the League’s goal of
administrating the region’s formerly Ottoman nations
“until such time as they are able to stand alone”
 The Mandate gave Britain the responsibility
for creating a Jewish national homeland in the region
(Summarized) Israeli Political History
 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
Under the British Mandate (1922-1948)
 Early 1920’s => Extensive *Zionist campaign for a Jewish state in Europe
 Influx of Jews immigrating to Palestine => Increasing tensions between
Arabs & Jews in Palestine, unrest
 Summer of 1929 => Multiple incidents resulted in both Arab & Jewish
casualties
 August 1929 => The Hebron Massacre perpetrated by Arab residents against
Jewish residents, killing 67 Jews, destroying Jewish homes & synagogues
 Some Arab families saved dozens/hundreds of Hebron’s Jews
(Summarized) Israeli Political History
 End of WW2 => Holocaust survivors try
to/immigrate to Israel in greater numbers, many
blocked by the Brits
 Calderon on nations + Increasing tensions in
Palestine
 1947 => Britain brought the 'Palestine problem’
to the United Nations
 UN special commission recommended partition
of the territory between Jews & Palestinians, The
General Assembly approved
(Summarized) Israeli Political History
 1947 => The UN 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
 The British mandate ended on 14 May 1948 and the
independent Jewish state of Israel subsequently
established
 Opposition led by Palestinian Arabs was supported by
Neighbouring Arab states (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan,
Egypt) => Declared war
 Arab Israeli war of 1948/ Israeli ‘war of
independence’
 Israeli forces defeated the Arab armies, war ended
with an Armistice (1949)
(Summarized) Israeli Political History
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 + planes
The Arab Response From Lebanon and Syria
From Jordan 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
“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
 Fighting resumed and lasted until the January 1949 Armistice
 West Bank + East Jerusalem annexed by Jordan
 Jews forbidden to pray at the Western Wall
 Jewish graves on Mt. Olives desecrated
 Gaza Strip controlled by Egypt
 More land under Israeli control than UN Partition Plan
proposed
 Substantial Palestinian refugees, war referred to as
‘The 1948 Palestinian exodus’ or ‘Nakba’ (catastrophe)
by Arabs
Results of the 1948 War
Arab Israeli Wars
 1956: Suez War
 1967: Six-day war, Israel gains control of:
- Gaza strip, Sinai peninsula, West bank,
East Jerusalem, Golan heights
- Aura of Israeli invincibility
 1973: Yom Kippur war
- Israel thrown back initially –
- Military Victory + significant casualties
 1982 (1st Lebanon war) and 2006 (2nd
Lebanon war)
(Summarized) Israeli Political History
(Summarized) Israeli Political History
 Israel signed peace agreements with Egypt
(1979) and Jordan (1994)
 Israel and Palestinian officials signed a
number of interim agreements in the
1990s’ => Palestinian self-rule in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip
 Recent efforts to negotiate final status issues
=> 2013-2014
 Jan 2020: Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan,
aka ‘Deal of the Century’
Signing an Israeli-Jordanian
peace agreement
 Massive immigration to Israel following the collapse of the USSR (late 1990)
 Immigration to Israel (mainly Jewish) continues
 Israeli
economy
undergone a
dramatic
transformation
led by cuttingedge
high-tech
sectors
(Summarized) Israeli Political History
 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 whose members were influenced by Marx and the
Bible & 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 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 + the Balfour Declaration
 Most immigrants were young halutzim (pioneers) from Eastern Europe
 Although the British Mandatory 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
Next Session...56
 Nation-building, 1948-1967
57
Thank You For Your Attention!
Questions???