Physical Setting and Historical and Cultural Background of Israel

As the first Jewish state to be established in nearly 2,000 years, Israel represents a unique phenomenon in world history. Created by the United Nations Commis­sion in 1948, it became the fulfillment of the dream of the Jewish people that Stemmed from a long tradition of Jewish aspirations of getting a land of Israel for their people.

Sur­rounded by hostile Arab nations who resented the creation of a Jew­ish state from the territory- inhabited for centuries by Arabs, the young nation since its inception has been engaged in unbroken con­flict with its Arab neighbors. Despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles, it has forged a strong na­tion, and successfully built a solid economic and cultural base.

Physical Setting:

The state of Is­rael is a small country that is located at the eastern end of the Mediterra­nean Sea, and has a total land area of nearly 8,000 square miles and a population of close to 6 million. It is bounded to the north by Lebanon, to the northeast by Syria, to the east and southeast by Jordan, to the southwest by Egypt, and to the west by the Mediterranean.

Physically, the country may be divided into four regions: the Medi­terranean coastal plain; the northern and central hilly region; the Great Rift Valley in the east; and the Negev Desert in the south. The coastal plain is a narrow band about 110 miles (177 km) long and 15 to 20 miles wide.

The northern hilly terri­tory of Galilee contains the highest elevations, reaching to about 4,000 feet (1,220 meters) at Mount Meron. These mountains drop as an escarp­ment to the east overlooking the Great Rift Valley. The mountains of Galilee are separated from the hills of Samaria and Judea to the south by the Plain of Esdraelon that connects the coastal plain with the Rift Valley.

The Great Rift Valley is an elongated fissure in the earth which runs from the northern frontier of the country to the Gulf of Aqaba at the southern end. The Jordan River runs from the north, where it is 500 feet above sea level, to the Sea of Galilee at 689 feet below sea level, and finally into the saltish end at 1,312 feet below sea level. The Rift Valley contains large deposits of rock salt and gypsum. The Negev Desert is a wedge of territory that comes to a point at the port of Elat on the Gulf of Aqaba.

The climate of the country is mainly Mediterranean, but extreme in some parts, and might almost be described as semi-de­sert in the southern region where precipitation amounts to about one inch (25 millimeters) annually south of the Dead Sea. By contrast, in the Upper Gali­lee region it increases to over 44 inches.

Most of the precipitation falls between Oc­tober and April. Summers are dry and hot, but the coastal areas exert a moderating in­fluence. The Jordan Valley is hotter and drier than the coast. Temperatures depend largely on elevation and distance from the sea. In the coastal area these range from 90°F (32°C) in August to about 65°F (18°C) in January. In the south, however, at Elat, daytime temperatures reach 70°F (21°C) in January and may soar up to 114°F (46°C) in August.

Most of the original vegetation of ever­green forests has largely disappeared on account of centuries of cultivation and goat herding. The hills are now covered by shrub vegetation. Millions of trees have been planted since 1948 under a reforesta­tion program. North of Beersheba most of the land is either under cultivation or used for hill grazing; where irrigation is avail­able, citrus groves and eucalyptus and coni­fer plantations flourish.

Historical and Cultural Background:

The idea that the Biblical territory of Pal­estine was destined to be the Holy Land of the Jews, sanctioned in the ancient scrip­tures of the Jews and promised to them by God is rooted in the Jewish psyche. It was in Palestine that the last sovereign Jewish state existed until Roman legions de­stroyed the Jewish temple of Herod in Jerusalem and dislodged the Jews from their Holy Land. Since then, during their long Diaspora (forced exile), Jews have lived as alien and generally been persecuted minorities, scattered largely in Europe, Russia, and the Arab countries.

In the late 19th century, after centuries of persecution, a group of Jewish leaders known as Zionists started the movement to secure the creation of a state in the terri­tory of their ancient homeland. Following World War I, Britain gained control over that territory, to be known as the Mandate of Palestine.

Britain which had already been in favor of the creation of a Jewish homeland in the region, announced its in­tention in the form of the Balfour Declaration in 1917. The declaration, as well as the systematic persecution of the Jews in Germany, accelerated the already growing influx of Jews into Palestine from Europe. Because of the Nazi persecution of Jews, international support for a Jewish state also gained momentum.

Britain re­ferred the matter of the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine to the United Na­tions, which called for a partition of the Palestine Mandate into a Jewish state and an Arab state (present day Jordan). Jerusa­lem was to be administered internationally under U.N. control. Nearly 56 percent of the British Mandate was awarded to the Jewish sector, although only 7 percent of the land was actually owned by Jewish people (who comprised about one-third of the population). The Jews agreed to the partition plan, but the Arabs did not; both communities prepared to fight.

Following the United Nations parti­tion of Palestine, a new state of Israel was established in 1948, although the Arabs re­fused to recognize it. Immediately war between the Arabs and the Jews began. Ar­abs demanded the dissolution of the “unwanted” colony.

At the root of the present Arab-Israeli conflict is the conten­tion between Israel and the neighboring Arab states regarding the rightful posses­sion of the partitioned territory. The Arab states believe that the land belongs to the Arabs who resided in Palestine before the new state was formed. Nearly a million of the Arabs who had lived in Palestine for centuries were uprooted to make way for Israeli immigration. Most fled to Jordan, which was particularly unable to support them. Others went to Gaza, Syria, Leba­non, and Egypt. Many of these refugees have not established permanent new homes or are still living in refugee camps.

Most hoped to return to the “occupied” territories in Israel, their former homes, and were supported in this hope by the governments of the Arab states. In their place, Jews from North Africa, the Arab countries, Europe, and the Orient started pouring into the newly-created Israel.

By 1962, nearly 2 million Jews lived in Israel; now they number close to 6 million. Close to three-fourths of a million non- Jews (mostly Arabs) still live in Israel. The descendants of the displaced Arabs are called Palestinian refugees. Through popu­lation growth the displaced Palestinians now number over 2.5 million and live m Arab countries or the territory that Israel occupied since the end of the 1967 Six-Dar War, known as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, sometimes in squalid refugee camps.

Hostility between Israel and the neigh­boring Arab states have prevailed from the outset and erupted into several armed con­flicts in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982 After the 1948 war, the Arab nations re­fused to absorb the three-fourths of a million homeless Palestinians because to do so would acknowledge the permanent status of the State of Israel.

In 1956, when Egypt threatened to na­tionalize the Suez Canal and block Israeli shipments through the canal, Israel occu­pied the Sinai and the Gaza Strip, but returned the territories under interna­tional pressure. But when in 1967 the canal was nationalized by Egypt in actual prac­tice, warfare started on various fronts along the Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian borders.

Israel obtained a decisive victor’ in a short, conclusive war that resulted in the Israeli occupation of the Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights in Syria, and the entire area west of the Jordan River known as the “West Bank”. Nearly 1.5 million Palestinians became refugees in the occupied territories, as the Israelis initi­ated an extensive program of settling the rapidly increasing number of Jewish immi­grants flocking into Israel from Europe, Africa, and the Orient.

In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked the Sinai and the Golan Heights to regain their territories lost dur­ing the 1967 war. A ceasefire was quickly arranged, but in the aftermath the Arab nations imposed an oil embargo on Israel that had a devastating effect. Israel pulled back from the Suez Canal.

In 1979, with the support of the United States, Egypt signed a peace treaty Israel at Camp David, and recognized Israel’s rights as a sovereign nation. The Suez Canal was finally opened. The disposition of the West Bank and Golan Heights occupied by Israel since 1967 was left to fu­ture negotiations as part of an ongoing peace process.

After securing the western border, Israel turned to the Lebanon bor­der, where the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) group, formed by many of the refugees from the West Bank who had taken refuge in Lebanon, was en­gaged in activities against Israel. In 1982, Israel invaded the PLO in their hideouts and inflicted a crushing defeat on them and their supporters, the Syrians.

In the face of mounting casualties on all sides and under pressure from the United States, Israel fi­nally pulled out. PLO and Syrian strength was largely eroded, although it continued to exercise close surveillance over a “secu­rity zone” in southern Lebanon.

Realizing the futility of long drawn- out warfare, both Israel and the neighboring Arab states had by the mid- 1990s started peace negotiations. The PLO and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1994 in Washington, DC to establish a process that may lead to the solution of some of the knotty problems concerning the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Soon after, Jor­dan also officially put an end to hostility and accorded Israel recognition as a sover­eign state. In 1998, Syria and Israel started to negotiate the transfer of the Golan Heights that Israel captured during the 1967 war.

The question of the distribution of the waters of the River Jordan, the headstream of which is controlled by Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, is yet another dispute between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Water, being scarce in this part of the world, is a pre­cious commodity, desired by all the parties.

After independence, Israel ex­pressed a desire to use water from the river for irrigation and hydro power develop­ment, and share it with Jordan, across whose land the lower river flows. Syria controlled the headstream, but Israel went ahead and made plans to divert the stream after occupying the headstream during the 1967 war, and then effectively denied the use of water downstream in the Jordanian territory of East Ghor. By 1997, the two nations of Israel and Jordan had reached an amicable settlement of the problem.

The status of Jerusalem is yet another thorny issue between Israel and the Arab states. Recognizing the sacred character of the city, the original United Nations parti­tion plan intended to make it an internationally administered territory, separate from both Israel and Jordan and safe for all religions.

Even before partition was to go into effect in 1948, fighting be­tween Jews and Arabs led to the surrender of the Old City to Jordan, while the New City remained in Israeli hands, and Israel quickly made it the capital of the new state. After the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War of 1967, Israel annexed the Old City and placed Jerusalem under a unified control.

Israel views the reunification as perma­nent, whereas the Arabs see it as temporary and long to repossess the Old City. Most of their holy places, as well as those of others, exist here.

Jews account for 80.5 percent of Is­rael’s population. Muslims, mostly of the Sunni faith, account for about 14.6 percent and Christians, Druze, and others make up the remaining 4.9 percent. The Jewish population is linguistically less cohesive than the other groups. Jewish immigrants differed in racial origin and brought with them languages and cultures from a variety of sources, although national conscious­ness is growing, particularly among the young for learning Hebrew, the official language of the country.

Among the Jews, there are two main groups: the followers of the Ashkenazic denomination primarily from eastern and central Europe and their descendants, and the followers of the Sephardic and Oriental branch. Minority Ashkenazic Jews of European and Ameri­can background dominate the high income professions, while the majority Sephardic Jews of Asian-North African origin mostly occupies lower economic and social status.

Constant friction between the groups re­flects the difference in their cultural values, residential segregation, and educational backgrounds. The Orthodox Jews, who advocate the leading role of religious law over civil Israeli law, are often at odds with other groups who favor a more secular so­ciety, a division that often results in violence.

Israel is officially a secular state, but religious Jewry of the Orthodox groups forms a significant and politically vocal segment of the population. Disputes between the religious bodies and authori­ties often permeate national life.

In 1948, the Jewish population in Is­rael numbered about 650,000. Between 1948 and 1986, nearly a million and a half Jewish immigrants entered the country, half a million of whom subsequently left it. During the two years of 1989 and 1990, more than 200,000 Soviet Jews immigrated to Israel. Of the Jewish community, the largest proportion was born in Israel, fol­lowed by those born in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia.

In 1948, only 155,000 Arabs decided to remain in the country and the rest, num­bering perhaps three-fourths of a million, left. Growth rates of the Arabs have, in general, been relatively greater than those of the Jews. Muslims form the largest mi­nority group and constitute more than three-fourths of the Arab population.

Practically all the Muslims subscribe to the Sunni tradition. Most Muslims live in towns and enjoy considerable freedom in internal social code, although the state sub­sidizes and supervises their religious institutions. The Bedouin Muslims live pri­marily in the Negev and the rest in Galilee.

The Carcassian Muslims belonging to the Sunni tradition number a few thousand and are the descendants of the immigrants from the Caucasus of the 1870s. Older Carcassians speak Arabic, but the younger generation speaks Hebrew.

Members of the Christian community belong to several branches: Greek Ortho­dox, Roman Catholics, Uniates (Melchites, Maronites, Chaldean Catholics, Syrian Catholics, and Armenian Catholics), Rus­sian Orthodox, Evangelical Episcopal, and Lutheran Churches. The majority of these groups speak Arabic. Their churches gen­erally are headquartered m Jerusalem.

The Druze mostly live in villages in the Gallilee and Mount Carmel area, and are mostly Arabic speakers. They are primarily agriculturalists and proud of their distinc­tive way of life. The Baha’i faith, like Judaism, has its world headquarters on Mount Carmel in Haifa. They number a few hundred, and are employed in Haifa.