Israel - God, the Bible and History Books

Israel is the homeland for the chosen people, the Israelites. Children of Abraham, enslaved by the Egyptians, led out of Egypt to Israel by Moses around 1290 b.c., the ten commandments, Mount Sinai, King David, a period of peace until the death of Solomon in 900 b.c. Then a whole lot of smiting as Assyrians, Greeks and Romans conquered the region. The Jewish revolt in the middle of the second century b.c. created an independent state that lasted for almost a century under the Maccabees. Jesus shows up about this time, does his thing and gets crucified. Then the Muslims capture the area in a.d. 638. The Crusades followed, and then the Ottoman empire. The British captured Palestine from the Ottomans in 1917 and promised the great grandfather of the present Jordanian king that they would create an independent state. What they were really doing was trying to figure out how Britain, France and Russia (the Sykes-Picot agreement) would divide the Middle East.

In 1917, the Balfour Declaration created by Britain promised Jews who helped the British in the war of a national homeland in Palestine. After World War II Palestine was divided by the United Nations. The partition gave Jews part of Palestine; the West Bank was placed under Jordan; Gaza came under Egyptian control; and Jerusalem was declared an international territory. A year later in 1948 the State of Israel was established on areas more than the UN provided. East Jerusalem remained under the sovereignty of Jordan until 1967, when Israel used the Six Day War to occupy the rest of Palestine. History provides no clear indication of whether Israel is owned or intended to be controlled by one single race, religion or political movement. Jews come from one of two major groups: the Sephardic, who control local politics, and the more numerous Ashkenazi, who control national political power.