FACTS ABOUT ISRAEL AND PALESTINE - Part III

                    Part III

       History of the Dispute 

        The Jerusalem Temple

 

The partition plan of Palestine of the United Nations in 1947 was not implemented and this caused the 1947-49 Palestine War. The Israeli -Palestine status quo began following Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, known as the Palestine territory, following the 1967 Six Day War. And this is now said to be the world's longest conflict, despite many peace processing attempts time and again. Public declaration of the effort to see a Jewish home land established in Palestine, including the First Zionist Congress of 1897 and the Balfour Declaration of 1917 caused abnormalities in the region after continuous Jewish immigration. Following the World War I, a mandate was issued on Palestine a binding obligation for the establishment in Palestine of national home for the Jewish people. This caused to arise conflicts between Jews and Arabs.

The history of Jews and Judaism extended deep into BCE. During those period they were known as southern Cananites. During the Biblical period the Kingdom of Israel was split into two; the United Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) and the Kingdom of Judah. The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BCE and the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonian empire in 586 BCE. In course of time the exiled Israelis started coming to Jerusalem. Subsequently in the coming time they had to fight with Alexander the Great and the Romans. These wars made them scattered again. After this Jews became a minority in most regions except in Galilee. After 3rd century these areas became highly Christianised. During this time the Muslim conquest spread around and consequently Israeli settlement regions came down to 50 from 160. Later they recaptured the area and gradually became the majority community until the Muslim invasion in the 7th century. However, despite all these the ups and downs continued for long until the Ottoman Empire conquered the whole region in 1517 CE. They ruled the area for long until the British thrown them in 1917.

 To be continued

K V George