THE ORIGIN and the DEVELOPMENT OF THE JEWISH NATION - YJ Draiman

THE ORIGIN and the DEVELOPMENT OF THE JEWISH NATION

In the year 1741 BCE, Abraham began his long journey from Haran to Canaan - a journey which would change the history of the world and have a profound effect on the development of most major religions.

The Jewish people can trace their origin to Abraham, who established the belief that there is only one God, who is the "creator of the universe"- is based on the old Biblical testament! The name Israel is drawn from the name given to Jacob. His 12 sons were the seeds of 12 tribes that later developed into the nation of Israel. The name Jewish derives from Yehuda (or Judah) one of the 12 sons of Jacob which Jewish Kings evolved, including the future Messiah.

The descendants of Abraham crystallized into a nation about 3,000 BCE after their exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. They crossed the Red sea and headed for Canaan which consisted of the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, (seven nations) and the Philistines in the location where Gaza is today.

The people of modern day Israel share the same language and culture shaped by their Jewish heritage, tradition and religion. The Jewish identity is ethnic, religious, traditional and cultural.

While a large number of Jews are descendants of Jewish parents, some are converts to Judaism from other ethnicities. People, whose religion is not Judaism but are descendants of Jewish parents also identify themselves as Jews and have a strong cultural and historical bond with the Jews and the land of Israel; which dated back to about 1280 BC.

The Jews have a belief deeply ingrained in their traditions that they are a Chosen People of God and that the land of Israel, formerly called Canaan, is the Promised Land pledged by God to their patriarchal forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the land where their descendants will live peacefully for ever and be a blessing to the world.

During King Solomon’s era, the Jewish people controlled territory from The Red Sea, Sinai extending all the way to the Euphrates River in Iraq.

Jews in every part of the world, since their dispersion in the Diaspora have longed and prayed at least 3 times a day to return to Israel with the rebuilding the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, since generations.

Throughout history of Jewish Generations in the Diaspora; there was always a continuous Jewish community in The Land of Israel. They suffered persecution and violence in their own occupied homeland.

Few ethnic groups in the world can pride themselves of having a history as long and as uninterrupted as that of the Jewish people, though they did not live in their own country for several centuries and were persecuted and abused. The Jewish people throughout over 20 centuries have showed remarkable resilience and survived repeated onslaughts, persecution and pogroms from many quarters in their long history.

The Jewish sense of nationhood was often kept alive by the deeply entrenched religious and social traditions that were passed down by family elders to successive generations. They remained tightly knit together even while leading secluded lives in diverse circumstances in various parts of the world adopting the cultures and languages of the host countries, but most maintaining their traditions.

The Jewish peoples contribution to medical, economic and industrial growth was and is remarkable, in spite of the ridicule and political persecution they were and are subjected to since the medieval times.  The Jewish homeland was and is The Land of Israel since the time of Abraham; but Jacob and his family left for Egypt during a famine.  Years later Moses lead them back to The Land of Israel where the Jewish people built two Temples in Jerusalem. The Land of Israel was later conquered by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans and afterwards various Muslims, Crusaders and other Middle Eastern countries controlled it for centuries as occupied territory until after WWI. The Allied Powers in combination with the British gained control of The Land of Israel from the Ottoman Empire.

In the 1800's the Ottoman Empire realized that their revenues from the land is decreasing due to increased desolation; they changed the laws and invited the Jewish people from around the world back to their homeland in the Land of Israel and encouraged them to develop the land.

After WWI the British issued the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and in 1920, The Supreme Allied Powers Allocated The Land of Israel aka Palestine to the Jewish people as their historical land as international law, and allocated over 5 million sq. mi. to the Arabs. The League of Nations followed the terms of the Supreme Allied Powers and set-up the Mandate for Palestine to advance Jewish immigration and bring about the sovereign Jewish National Home in Palestine.

The British volunteered to assume that responsibility; but the British violated the terms of the international law and assigned over 77% of land allocated to the Jewish people to the Arabs as the New Arab state east of The Jordan River, furthermore, the Arabs confiscated all their assets and expelled all the Jewish people from the new Arab state of Jordan.

The Jewish people had no choice but to accept all the reduced territory which included everything west of the Jordan River.

During the ensuing years, the British turned a blind eye while hundreds of thousands of Arabs came illegally into the Land of Israel.  Many local conflicts developed where the Arabs were instigated to attack the Jewish population while the British stood by.

Before WWI many Jews tried to immigrate to the Land of Israel aka Palestine and after WWII many Jewish survivors of the holocaust tried to come to The Land of Israel, but the British sent their agents to blow-up Jewish refugee Ships under “Operation Embarrass”. Eventually against all obstacles, the Jewish population grew to a substantial number and fought back against the violence by the Arabs and their British co-conspirators.

The British who were attacked by the Arabs and the Jews finally decided they had enough and in early 1947 notified the U.N that they are relinquishing their obligation and duty as trustee under the Mandate for Palestine to take effect in May 1948.

The UN without authority and in violation of international law and treaty voted and recommended to partition the Land of Israel a second time and set-up another second new Arab state.

The Jewish people accepted the recommendation and on the 14 of May 1948 declared the sovereign state of Israel but the Arabs refused to accept such a recommendation, they wanted it all, without any Jews, just like Jordan. Subsequently 5 Arab Armies and Arab militias attacked the newly reconstituted sovereign state of Israel; the Arab armies and the Arab League asked the local Arabs to vacate their homes while they were destroying Israel. It is interesting to note, that the world community did not apply any pressure on the Arab countries to stop and withdraw their armies. The Jewish people were fighting for survival and eventually prevailed and defeated the advancing Arab armies, but in the process lost some territory and The Ancient City of Jerusalem.

During the ensuing years the neighboring Arab countries consistently sent Arab terrorists to attack neighboring Jewish communities.

In 1956, Egypt president Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal and declared a shipping embargo, which stopped Israel shipping lanes to Africa.

Israel joined the British and French in breaking the blockade and took over the Sinai Peninsula which included Sharm El Sheik and up to the Suez Canal. This stopped terrorist incursion into Israel.

After the U.S. exerted pressure on Israel to return the Sinai Peninsula; Israel withdraw its forces. A UN peacekeeping force was placed as a buffer and the Egyptians agreed not to have any military presence in the Sinai Peninsula and the terrorist’s activities from Egypt resumed their attacks against Israeli communities.

In the spring of 1967; the president of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser’s military force was rearmed and retrained by the Russians with the latest military equipment. Nasser requested the UN peacekeeping forces to leave. He sent over 100,000 troops to the border with Israel; set up a confederation of Arab Nations with Syria and Jordan; whereby Syrian troops were massed along the border with Israel. At this point Nasser went on the radio and announced the new Arab Confederacy and told his nation that he is preparing to attack Israel and take over Israel. Much diplomatic pressure was applied to try and calm the winds of war; but to no avail. Nasser was persistent on his threats and kept sending additional military units and supplies to the border with Israel.

Israel intelligence received information on the upcoming coordinated Arab Attack on all three fronts against Israel.

In the early morning of June 5^th, 1967, in a critical defensive action Israel sent its Air-force to neutralize the Arab Air-forces. Within 8 hours, Israel destroyed all the Arab Air-forces. Israeli forces advanced in the Sinai, and within 3 days were at the Suez Canal with The Egyptian Army defeated. Meanwhile, Israel military forced defended against Syrian shelling of Jewish communities from the Golan Heights. Israeli forces pushed forward and took over the Golan Heights and defeated the Syrian Army.

The Jordanians kept firing and shelling Israeli positions in Jerusalem and from the West Bank. Israel kept sending diplomatic messages to Jordan’s King Hussein to stay out of the war and Israel would not attack Jordan. King Hussein of Jordan ignored and attacked.  Israel responded and liberated the ancient city of Jerusalem and its surrounding communities. Israel’s military forces also liberated the West Bank aka Judea and Samaria, all the way to the Jordan River.

 The Canaanites and other 7 nations in what became the Land of Israel