Articles about the Arab-Israel conflict are usually published only after some violence has occurred. And when the mainstream media reports on the Arab-Israel conflict, they rarely, if ever, present the historical context. Another problem with reporting on the Arab-Israel conflict is that the mainstream media assume certain concepts and ideas that are simply untrue. One of these is that Arabs and Jews have fought since time immemorial (This myth is debunked below). The only way to fully address these problems and acquire an understanding of the issues is to understand the history. This is the first of three articles that investigates the history of the Arab-Israel conflict. We have broken up this history into three eras: pre-modern (1300BCE to 1917), post-Ottoman (1917 to 1947), and statehood (1948 to the present). The information provided is gathered from archeology and history.

Pre-modern era 1300BCE to 1917

The first appearance of Jews in Israel occured during the Late Bronze Age in about 1300BCE. Settlements in the hilly interior region of Israel, e.g. BeerSheva, dated to this time have been found with three characteristics that are unique to the Jewish culture. These sites had distinctive fourroom houses. These houses had four rooms attached to one another which were the bedrooms of the parents and children, and an open area for the animals. e.g., goats. The cooking areas of these settlements had no pig bones as Jews from the very beginning did not eat pork. Thirdly, these settlements had specialized communal bathing facilities, i.e. mikvah, that were used in ritual purification. No other culture in the world had these three characteristics. There are two theories of the origin of the Jews: the biblical narrative suggests that they originally came from Iraq, i.e. Ur of Chaldees, via Egypt; some archeologists, however, suggest they were a sect of the resident population of Canaanites. Regardless, the population of Jews increased over the next few hundred years until they conquered major parts of Israel from the Canaanites (an early Semitic tribe) and Phillistines (non -Semitic Aegean sea people who occupied the coastal region). The Jews at this time referred to themselves as Hebrews and archeological evidence of a people called Hebrews occupying this area of Canaan was also found in stone inscriptions from surrounding cultures including Egypt (Armana Letters of 1330BCE, and Merneptah stela of 1210BCE), and ancient Hebrew writing was found in Philistia (Elah fortress Hebrew inscriptions of 950BCE).

The first state of Israel was established by King David in 1010BCE with its capital in Jerusalem. This era was characterized by a series of very distinctively constructed cities, e.g. Megiddo. The cities were distinct in their six-chambered entrance way. While no specific artifacts of King David have been discovered in Israel, the Kingdom of Israel, known as the House of David in Jewish writings, was referenced in hieroglyphs of surrounding nations, e.g., Moab (Moab stela of 925BCE) and Aramea (Tel Dab stela of 850BCE). The Kingdom of Israel ruled by David and Soloman, lasted until 931BCE at which time the Kingdom of Israel split into a northern Kingdom of Israel and a southern Kingdom of Judah. The Jewish nation was composed of twelve tribes; ten of them formed the northern nation and two tribes the southern nation. In 722BCE the Assyrians from the north of Israel conquered the northern Kingdom of Israel. The southern Kingdom of Judah continued until 587BCE at which time it was conquered by the Babylonians. In 539BCE the Persians conquered the Babylonians and allowed the Jews to return to Israel to rebuild their nation and their Temple. In 333BCE the Greeks conquered the Persians and obtained sovereignty over Israel. Rome assumed control of Israel in 63BCE.

According to the biblical record, until the Assyrian conquest, the Kingdom of Israel had 21 Jewish kings, 12 of whom have been confirmed by archeology, and until the Babylonian conquest, the Kingdom of Judah had 20 Jewish kings with 12 of them confirmed by archeology. There were 12 Jewish kings of Israel during the Greek and Roman occupations and all of them are known from history and archeology.

The Jews revolted from the oppressive Roman occupation in 70CE and again in 135CE at which time the Jews were expelled from the main population centers of Israel especially the capital of Jerusalem. The Jews settled primarily in Yemen, Arabia, Bahrain, and Iraq as well as in northern Israel in the Gallilee area. Although the Jews had been exiled from their homeland of 1500 years, they enjoyed a very peaceful and productive period over the next 500 years primarily in Arabia. During this time Arabs and Jews lived together in peace and many Arab kings converted to Judaism including Abu Karib Asa in 400CE, Mar Zurtra in Babalonia in 511CE, Ohu Nuwas in Arabia in 516CE, and there are no significant recorded conflicts between the Arabs and Jews. This was the period when the Jews committed their Talmud to writing, a task that took at least two centuries, about 200-400CE. This effort required peace with the Arabs as free travel of Jews across this territory as well as good communication was necessary to complete this monumental task.

The peace between the Arabs and Jews ended abruptly and violently with the establishment of Islam in Arabia by Mohammed in the 7th century. Mohammad massacred a number of Jewish sects within the Arabian Peninsula and destroyed the Jewish city of Medina. After Mohammed’s death, in response to his instructions, all Jews living in Arabia were either expelled or murdered. The second caliph of Islam, Umar, established the dhimmi laws which enshrined into Islamic Law the treatment of Jews (and Christians) as a persecuted and enslaved minority. These laws were based on Mohammed’s decree that Jews must live in a state of humiliation if they are allowed to live under Muslim rule. This humiliation included forcing them to live in a ghetto and wear distinctive clothing, forbidding them to own means of travel (horses or camels) or weapons, to testify against a Muslim in court, to build or repair synagogues, to pray in the presence or within earshot of Muslims, and forcing them to pay heavy head tax, (jizya), and act in a humiliated manner in the presence of a Muslim. This set of laws created an oppressed minority that could not escape or fight back and who were compelled to financially support their tormentors. The dhimmi laws were in place throughout the Muslim world until the mid- 1800’s, but their enforcement varied with the local ruler.

By the 8th century the Muslims had conquered all of the Middle East and North Africa including Israel. In the 10th and 12th centuries the Christians of Europe attempted to reconquer the Holy Land in a series of Crusades and they succeeded for a period of time, but were finally defeated and expelled from the Middle East by the Kurds (Saladin) in 1187. The Turks conquered the Middle East in 1517 and ruled until the end of WWI in 1917. The total time of Arab control of Israel was about 400 years between 638 and 1092. After 1092 the land was occupied by Seljuk Turks, Kurds, Mongols, Mamluks, and Turks. In the rule of the Middle East by Muslims from 639 to 1917, there was never a state of Palestine, this term simply referred to a geographical region of the Middle East. Under Muslim rule Palestine was always considered part of the state of Syria.

Jews have lived continuously in Israel for over 3300 years, but even the Jews who had been expelled 2000 years ago, had not forgotten Israel. Diaspora Jews pray three times per day facing Jerusalem, and their prayers include the return to Jerusalem. At the holiday of Passover Jews sing “Next Year in Jerusalem” and the destruction of Jerusalem is memorialized at every wedding. The Jewish Bible refers to Jerusalem over 800 times yet Jerusalem is not found in all of the Koran. This yearning for the return to Jerusalem by the diaspora Jews as well as the Dreyfus Affair in France in the 1890’s led to the effort in modern times for the return of diaspora Jews to Israel. The journalist, Theodor Herzl, had been assigned to report on the Dreyfus trial, but the anti-Semitism revealed in France by the conviction of Alfred Dreyfus persuaded him that Jews, despite Jewish assimilation, could never hope for fair treatment in foreign nations. Soon afterward, Herzl wrote “The Jewish State” in 1896, and founded the World Zionist Organization, which called for the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine.