Facts About Israel

[Danyet]

It seems that anywhere Israel is mentioned on this forum that the thread gets locked. Why is it that Israel is the only country in Earth's history that can not be mentioned? For that reason I am moving the Facts About Israel thread to this Forum where I can remove any trouble makers comments.

[Danyet]

Abraham, the Patriarch of the Hebrews, was born in Ur in Mesopotamia (Iraq).

The name "Hebrew" may have been derived from the word "Habiru" - the term for nomadic peoples in the ancient Middle East.

Abraham's first son (with Hagar, his wife's servant) was Ishmael who is said to be the founder of the Arab nation. His second son (with Sarah, his wife) was Isaac, the father of Jacob.

Jacob (also known as Israel), Abraham's grandson, was the father of the nation of Israel.

Jacob's twelve sons (Asher, Benjamin, Dan, Gad, Issachar, Joseph, Judah, Levi, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon and Zebulun) were the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel.

The word "Jew" is derived from the name of "Judah". Judah was one of Jacob's sons and thus one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jacob and his family migrated to Egypt. Over the years the number of Israelites grew and eventually they were forced into slavery.

The Passover commemorates the end of two hundred years of slavery in Egypt.

The Israelites were led out of Egypt (the Exodus) by Moses.

Joshua was Moses' successor who led the Israelites into Canaan, later known as Israel.

Samuel, the prophet, appointed Saul, the first king of Israel.

David, who ruled from around 1016 BC, was one of Israel's most famous kings.

King Solomon, David's son, built the first temple in Jerusalem which was later destroyed by the Babylonians from Mesopotamia.

Rehoboam succeeded his father, King Solomon. During Rehoboam's reign the twelve tribes divided into the Kingdom of Israel ruled by King Jeroboam and the Kingdom of Judah (the tribes of Judah and Benjamin) ruled by King Rehoboam (in Jerusalem).

In the eighth century BC the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians from Mesopotamia. The Assyrians deported the Ten Tribes of Israel, scattering them, in groups, throughout the Middle East. They became known as the "Lost Tribes".

The Kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians from Mesopotamia. The Babylonians, ruled by Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BC), deported ten thousand Jews to Babylon.

Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia (Iran), conquered Babylon in 539. Cyrus released the Jewish people who had been held captive in the country.

In 333 BC Alexander the Great conquered the area which came under Greek rule.

165 BC saw the beginning of the last independent Jewish state of ancient times.

The Jewish state of Judea became part of the Roman province of Palestine in 63 BC.

John the Baptist and Jesus were born during the reign of King Herod the Great.

In 70 AD the Romans started to expel the Judaeans from Palestine. Jews began to disperse to Africa, Asia and Europe.

During the reign of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, Jerusalem was destroyed and Judaea annexed to the Roman Empire.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was built on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine.

Under the leadership of Caliph Umar, the Arabs took Jerusalem from the Byzantine Empire (638).

The construction of the Dome of the Rock was ordered by Caliph Abd al-Malik in 691.

Jerusalem was designated one of the three holy cities of Islam. Mecca is the first holy city and Medina is the second holy city.

Following an appeal by Pope Urban II to reclaim Jerusalem for the Christians, the Crusades began at the end of the eleventh century (1099-1187).

During the Sixth Crusade, Frederick II, King of Sicily, signed a treaty with Sultan al-Kamil for the city of Jerusalem. The treaty lasted around five years until the Sultan's death.

In 1187 Salah al-Din retook Jerusalem from the Crusaders.

From 1516 until the First World War the area was controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

In 1896 Theodor Herzl wrote "The Jewish State". Herzl, a Jewish writer, born in Budapest (Hungary), wanted Jews to have their own state in Palestine.

After the First World War, Palestine became a League of Nations Mandate. Great Britain was given the responsibility to govern the region. (the British Mandate for Palestine included Jordan). The British finally withdrew from the area in 1948.

[Danyet]

Population
Israel's population was estimated at 6,352,117 in 2006. Just over eighty percent of the population is Jewish. The remainder of the population is mainly Arab.

Jewish citizens originate from all over the world including Europe, former USSR, Ethiopia, Morocco and Iraq.

Languages
Hebrew is the official language. Arabic is the official language for the Arab population. English is taught in schools.

Religion
Just over eighty percent of the population is Jewish and just under fifteen percent is Muslim. There is a Christian minority.

Food
Since the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948 Jews have arrived from all over the world bringing with them cuisines from many countries. These varied cuisines together with those of the Arab population give Israeli food a truly international flavour.

[Danyet]

Even the Soviet Union backed the formation of Israel. This was something extraordinary because no one at the time, in 1947, ever thought that the Soviets and the USA would ever agree on anything.

In May 1947, however, Soviet delegate Andrei Gromyko said:

The fact that no Western European State has been able to ensure the defense of the elementary rights of the Jewish people and to safeguard it against the violence of the fascist executioners explains the aspirations of the Jews to establish their own State. It would be unjust not to take this into consideration and to deny the right of the Jewish people to realize this aspiration.

A few months later, the Soviet Union backed partition and, subsequently, became the second nation to recognize Israel.

[Danyet]

Arab Citizens of Israel

Out of a population of 6.9 million people, approximately 1.35 million – roughly 20 percent of the population – are defined collectively as 'Arab citizens of Israel'. This sector actually encompasses a number of different groups, all of which are primarily Arabic-speaking but each possessing its unique identity:

* Muslim Arabs - There are nearly one million Muslim Arab citizens of Israel. Most adhere to the Sunni branch of Islam. They reside primarily in small towns and villages, with the majority living in the north of the country.

* Bedouin Arabs – Bedouin Arabs belong to some 30 tribes, the majority of which are scattered over a wide area in the south. Formerly nomadic shepherds, they are currently in transition from a tribal social framework to a permanently settled society and are gradually entering Israel's labour force. Estimated to number some 170,000 citizens, the Bedouin are also Muslim.

* Christian Arabs – There are some 113,000 Christian Arab citizens of Israel. They live mainly in urban areas, including Haifa, Nazareth and Shfaram. Although many denominations are nominally represented, the majority are affiliated with the Greek Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.

* The Druze – Numbering some 106,000 citizens, the Druze are Arabic-speakers who live predominantly in 22 villages in northern Israel. They constitute a separate cultural, social and religious community. While the Druze religion is not accessible to outsiders, one known aspect of its philosophy is the concept of taqiyya, which calls for complete loyalty by its adherents to the government of the country in which they live.

* The Circassians – Residing in two villages in the north of the country, the Circassians number some 3,000 people. While they are Sunni Muslims, they share neither the Arab origin nor the cultural background of the larger Islamic community. Hence, they maintain a distinct ethnic identity, and participate in Israel’s economic and national affairs without assimilating into either Jewish society or the Muslim community.

Legal and political rights

Israel has been committed to the equality of its citizens from minority communities since its Declaration of Independence put forth the following affirmation:

“The State of Israel…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…”

The Declaration also seeks the active participation of its minority citizens, by calling upon the Arab inhabitants of Israel to “participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.” Hence, while dedicated to providing a national homeland for the Jewish people, Israel is just as committed to its other adopted goal, to serve as a progressive democracy with full equality for all its citizens.

As such, Israeli Arabs and individuals from the other minority communities are Israeli citizens with full civil and political rights. No other state in the Middle East grants such freedoms to its minority citizens. Arab citizens of Israel are represented in every sector of Israeli life, including the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), the judicial system and university student bodies. Arabic, like Hebrew, is an official language of Israel.

In the political arena, Arab citizens of Israel have equal voting rights; in fact, Israel is one of the few places in the Middle East where Arab women may vote. There are currently nine Arab MKs (members of Knesset) in the 120-seat Knesset.

[Danyet]

Ancient Times (probably 3rd millenia BCE)

The land known as Canaan was situated in the territory of the southern Levant, which today encompasses Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, and the southern portions of Syria and Lebanon. Throughout time, many names have been given to this area including Palestine, Eretz-Israel, Bilad es-Shem, the Holy Land and Djahy. The earliest known name for this area was "Canaan."

Above: A reconstruction of Ancient Jerusalem.

The inhabitants of Canaan were never ethnically or politically unified as a single nation. They did, however, share sufficient similarities in language and culture to be described together as "Canaanites."

Israel refers to both a people within Canaan and later to the political entity formed by those people. Canaan is the land which the tribes of Israel conquered after an Exodus from Egypt and the Canaanites are the people they disposed from this land.

Archaeology has provided us with another perspective for viewing the cultures of Canaan and Ancient Israel. This perspective is built upon the social and historical context of the material remains which these peoples have left behind. Through studying these remains, we may better understand the cultures of the ancient Canaanites and Israelites.

Canaan, was a narrow strip, 130 kilometers wide, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the Arabian Desert to the east, Egypt to the south, and Mesopotamia to the north. Situated between the great Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures, Canaan served as a burgeoning trading center for caravans between the Nile Valley and the Euphrates and as a cultural entrepôt.

The clash of cultures and the diverse commercial activities gave Canaan a dynamic spiritual and material creativity. Prior to the emergence of Abraham, however, Egyptian and Mesopotamian hostility, continuous invasions of hostile peoples, and Canaan's varied topography had resulted in frequent fighting and general instability.

In the last quarter of the second millennium B.C., the collapse of the Hittite Empire to the north, and the decline of Egyptian power to the south at a time when the Assyrians had not yet become a major force set the stage for the emergence of the Hebrews.

As early as the latter part of the third millennium B.C., invasions from the east significantly disrupted Middle Eastern society. The people who moved from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean spoke western Semitic languages of which Hebrew is one. The term Hebrew apparently came from the word habiru (also hapiru or apiru), a term that was common to the Canaanites and many of their neighbors. The word was used to designate a social class of wanderers and seminomads who lived on the margins of, and remained separate from, sedentary settlements. Abraham was the leader of one of these immigrant habiru groups.

He is depicted as a wealthy seminomad who possessed large flocks of sheep, goats, and cattle, and enough retainers to mount small military expeditions.

The Canaanite chieftains urged Abraham to settle and join with them. Abraham remained in the land, but when it came time to select a wife for his and Sarah's son Isaac, the wife was obtained from their relatives living in Haran, near Urfa in modern Turkey. This endogamous practice was repeated by Isaac's son Jacob, who became known as Israel.

[Danyet]

During Jacob-Israel's lifetime the Hebrews completely severed their links with the peoples of the north and east and his followers began to think of themselves as permanently linked to Canaan. By his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and their two serving maids, Bilhah and Zilpah, Israel fathered twelve sons, the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel, the "children of Israel." The term Jew derives from the name of one of the tribes, Judah, which was not only one of the largest and most powerful of the tribes but also the tribe that produced the famous David, the second King of Israel.

[Danyet]

Some time late in the sixteenth or early in the fifteenth century B.C., Jacob's family--numbering about 150 people--migrated to Egypt to escape the drought and famine in Canaan.

Beginning in the third millennium B.C. large numbers of western Semites had migrated to Egypt, usually drawn by the richness of the Nile Valley. They came seeking trade, work, or escape from hunger, and sometimes they came as slaves.

The period of Egyptian oppression that drove the Israelites to revolt and escape probably occurred during the reign of Ramses II (1304-1237 B.C.). Most scholars believe that the Exodus itself took place under his successor Merneptah.

A victory stela dated 1220 B.C. relates a battle fought with the Israelites beyond Sinai in Canaan. Taken together with other evidence, it is believed that the Exodus occurred in the thirteenth century B.C. and had been completed by about 1225 B.C.

[Danyet]

The conquest of Canaan under the generalship of Joshua took place over several decades.

Accounts depicts a primitive, outnumbered confederation of tribes slowly conquering pieces of territory from a sedentary, relatively advanced people who lived in walled cities and towns. For a long time the various tribes of Israel controlled the higher, less desirable lands, and only with the advent of David did the kingdoms of Israel and Judah come into being with a capital in Jerusalem.

Prior to the emergence of David, the Hebrew tribes were fighting among themselves when the Philistines (whence the term Palestine) appeared on the coast and pushed eastward.

The Philistines were a warlike people possessing iron weapons and organized with great discipline under a feudal-military aristocracy. Around 1050 B.C., having exterminated the coastal Canaanites, they began a large-scale movement against the interior hill country, now mainly occupied by the Israelites.

To unify the people in the face of the Philistine threat the guerrilla captain Saul was made the first king of the Israelites. Only one year after his coronation, however, the Philistines destroyed the new royal army at Mount Gilboa, near Bet Shean, southeast of the Plain of Yizreel (also known as the Plain of Jezreel and the Plain of Esdraelon), killing Saul and his son Jonathan.



Facing imminent peril, the leadership of the Israelites passed to David, a shepherd turned mercenary who had served Saul but also trained under the Philistines.



Although David was destined to be the most successful king in Jewish history, his kingdom initially was not a unified nation but two separate national entities, each of which had a separate contract with him personally.

King David, a military and political genius, successfully united the north and south under his rule, soundly defeated the Philistines, and expanded the borders of his kingdom, conquering Ammon, Moab, Edom, Zobah (also seen as Aram-Zobah), and even Damascus (also seen as Aram-Damascus) in the far northeast.

His success was caused by many factors: the establishment of a powerful professional army that quelled tribal unrest, a regional power vacuum (Egyptian power was on the wane and Assyria and Babylon to the east had not yet matured), his control over the great regional trade routes, and his establishment of economic and cultural contacts with the rich Phoenician city of Tyre.

Of major significance, David conquered from the Jebusites the city of Jerusalem, which controlled the main interior north-south route. He then brought the Ark of the Covenant, the most holy relic the Israelites possessed and the symbol of their unity, into the newly constituted "City of David," which would serve as the center of his united kingdom.

[Danyet]

Don't bother continuing later. I have already given proof that the history is as accurate as any history can be. The stone tablets independently prove this. If you have proof that the clay and stone tablets I listed in both this thread and the locked thread are fakes then present it. You will be a Nobel Prize winner if you do.