What Was In The Place Of Israel Before?
What was in the place of Israel before the state was established?
As you are aware, the State of Israel was established in 1948. However, there is a misunderstanding of this event among some people. They consider the UN Security Council's decision to resurrect Israel's wrongdoing. According to them, this state was inscribed on Arab lands through a voluntary process, and thus its existence is illegal. And, while they do not want to hear any arguments other than their own, we will try to remind them of Israel's history. What used to be in Israel's place?
British Mandate
This region was ruled by the British Empire until the formation of Israel in the Middle East by a UN Security Council decision. Even at the end of the British imperial mission, Palestine was a full-fledged British colony, though it was referred to as a mandated territory for a variety of reasons. Palestine was a distant periphery of the metropolis, so it did not see significant economic development.
The only positive aspect of this period is that the number of Jews returning to their historical homeland from diasporas in other states increased during these three decades. It's difficult to say what percentage of Jews lived in Eretz Yisrael on average, but one thing was clear: almost all of the cities that ended up in the newly formed state of Israel had a Jewish majority.
What happened before the British Mandate?
The Ottoman Empire ruled over Palestine for 400 years, with only a few interruptions for the arrival of new conquerors. The Ottoman Turks first appeared here in 1517, at the height of their power. Even though the Turks were Muslims (but not Arabs), they were quite loyal to representatives of other faiths who followed the laws of the Sublime Porte. For Jews, this was the status of "dhimmi," which granted them several civil and religious liberties.
However, there were some limitations. First and foremost, these are prohibitions on military service, horseback riding, and carrying weapons. Jews also paid special treasury taxes. However, the region's distance from the country's center had a negative impact: there was no significant economic development in the region. By 1800, Palestine had a population of around 300,000 people. Jews were a minority, concentrated primarily in Jerusalem, as well as Akko, Haifa, Jaffa, and Ramla.
What was before the Ottoman Empire?
From 638 until the arrival of the Ottomans in 1517, the Arabs controlled the central part of Eretz Israel for about a century. The Arabs built their grand state, the Great Arab Caliphate, on the ruins of ancient empires, which controlled vast territories. To say that the Arabs were nice and friendly people would be a lie; they would not hesitate to slaughter entire Jewish and Christian cities if the situation demanded it. However, the sciences advanced under them; for example, the world received modern figures, the mathematician Al-Khwarizmi calculated the diameter of the Earth for the second time, and the army began to use firearms.
However, Jews did not vanish from these lands. Even while adhering to the Caliphate's civil laws, the Jews of Palestine were content. They were not restricted in terms of religion or family formation. They were all residents of Jerusalem, where entire neighborhoods belonged to the Jewish diaspora. There was a close relationship between the Jewish sage schools. They could not, of course, claim real power, but they were not prevented from engaging in economic activity. The Arabs regarded Jews as specialists in a specific field. The arrival of the Crusaders in these lands exacerbated the Jewish population's problems significantly.
The Crusader Era The appearance of the Christian Crusaders was a complete surprise to the Jews of Eretz Israel. The crusaders, believing that they possessed true knowledge, betrayed everything they could reach to fire, sword, and plunder. An illustrative example is their capture of Jerusalem at a time when the city was practically deserted. But it had more Jews than anywhere else at the time. Almost all of them were assassinated. The Crusaders ruled Jerusalem for nearly 90 years until they were driven out in 1187 by Salah ad-Din, who restored Arab rule to the city.
Before the Arab rule and the Crusaders?
Period of Byzantium-Persia Byzantium began to rule the lands of Israel in 395, following the division of the Roman Empire into two parts, Western and Eastern. This period is distinguished by the fact that Christianity, which is extremely intolerant of other beliefs, began to gain traction in European states. Byzantine rulers attempted to make life as difficult as possible for Jews, which is why the number of Jews in Eretz Israel gradually began to decline. However, Jews still made up the majority of the population in Galilee, which was once part of the Kingdom of Judah.
When the Persians arrived in the region in 614, promising serious civil and religious freedoms to the Jews, they were enthusiastic. They assisted the Persian army in capturing Jerusalem, and in return, the Jews were given control of the city. However, such joy did not last long. By the time Byzantium reclaimed control of Jerusalem in 629, the Jews had paid a high price for their brief period of liberty. A wave of pogroms and massacres swept through the region from 629 to 630, reducing the number of Jews to a negligible figure. Even after the heinous events, they did not vanish completely.
Roman province
Judea became a vassal of Rome in 40 BC when it was divided into Judea, Samaria, Galilee, and Perea (Gilead, Trans-Jordan). Judea has been a Roman province since 70 A.D. when it lost its autonomy.
After the defeat of the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Romans in 135, the Jewish presence in the region declined significantly. To erase the memory of the Jewish presence in these places, the Romans expelled a significant number of Jews from the country and renamed the province of Judea Syria Palestine. During this time, the majority of the Jewish population moved from Judea to Galilee and the Golan Heights.
Palestine was ceded to the Eastern Roman Empire after the division of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern (Byzantium) in 395.
History of Ancient Israel and Judea
Around 1200 BC, the first Hebrew tribes (tribes) appear here. This is when the 250 Jewish settlements discovered here were discovered. The establishment of royal power, as well as the emergence of the Israelites and later the Judean kingdoms, can be traced back to the end of the 11th - middle of the 10th centuries BC. For the next thousand years, these states ruled the region intermittently. Around 1000 BC, the Jews, led by King David, conquered the main city of the Jebusites (Jerusalem). David built a fortress here, which became known as the "City of David."
The Early History of Canaan
During this period, Arabs did not yet exist as a distinct nationality. And what was the region like before the Jews arrived? There was Canaan, a state entity made up of a collection of policies known as city-states. People had lived here for thousands of years before Jews became interested in it. Cereals were first cultivated in these areas, and the first capital settlements appeared. Jericho was the first city in history to be fortified with a wall.
The Semitic peoples, who were related to the Jews, lived in Canaan, as did the Philistines, who invaded these lands and formed their state based on several of their cities. Canaan, on the other hand, is a bit of a stretch to call an independent state entity. It had been under Egyptian control for a long time by the time the Jews arrived. For a long time, the Jews who defeated Canaan and established their state gave the region independence and the possibility of an independent government.
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