Historical notes on the

State of Israel
 Prolegomena

In 1897 the first Zionist congress was held in Basel, Switzerland, organized by the hungarian
Theodor Herzl, author of The Jewish State (1896). It was attended exclusively by Ashkenazi Jews
from Central and Eastern Europe, a place of effervescence of nationalist movements. Zionism
proposes to create a national movement without a nation, based on a heterogeneous human
community united only by faith and on the basis of a territory granted by the sacred writings (in
a heterodox interpretation). In the context of the Dreyfus case (1894-1906), where the
membership of Jews in their respective nations would be debated, Zionism met with opposition
from much of international Jewry.

Many early ideologues of Zionism (Max Nordau, Arthur Rubin or Nathan Salaman) would
adhere to racist and eugenesic views that argued for the essential racial difference of Jews and
gentiles (and the superiority of Ashkenazim among the former).

The Balfour Declaration1, in which the British government would support the creation of a
"Jewish national home in Israel" is proclaimed in 1917. After World War I England receives the
protectorate of Palestine from the League of Nations.

In 1918, only a few tens of thousands of Jews lived in Palestine. In 30 years, more than
500,000 people would migrate out of an original population of about fifty thousand, a
phenomenon called aliyah (ascent). Of the five aliyahs between 1881 and 1949, the largest were
those of 1904-1914 and 1919-1923. Eighty percent came from the Russian Empire and Poland.
Of the 250,000 Sephardim settled in the former dominions of the Ottoman Empire, very few
participated. In 1882 the Jews accounted for only 8% of the population, in 1948 it still did not
exceed 30%.

The first clandestine armed Jewish organization will be Hashomer (the watchman), formed
in 1909 by Ben Gurion, who would migrate to Palestine from Poland in 1906. Its motto will be
"By blood and fire Judea fell, by blood and fire Judea will rise again". In 1920 it was dissolved
and integrated into the Haganah (defense). They began to form lines of separation with Arabs
and terrorize the locals. In 1931 Etzel or Irgun was founded, placing bombs in cafes and Arab
markets in Tel Aviv, Haifa or Jerusalem. One of its leaders, Menachem Beguin, became prime
minister of Israel in 1977. In 1940 also Leji appears.

Between 1936 and 1939 the anticolonial "Great Arab Revolt" against the British authorities
and the Jewish immigrants took place. The two coalition to suppress it, causing more than 5000
deads among palestinians and 9000 were put on concentration camps..

At the end of the IIWW the confrontation between the British and the jews began. The former
Secretary of State for the Colonies and now Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord Moine, is
assassinated. One of the coordinators of the attack, Isaac Shamir, would become prime minister
between 1986 and 1992.

1
Balfour, Prime Minister who was also Secretary of State for Ireland and Scotland, played a significant
role in the imperialist events of the turn of the century: he followed the war against Afghans and Zulus,
the British occupation of Egypt in 1882 - putting an end to the al-Urabi rebellion and leaving the country
in the hands of Lord Cromer -, the death of General Gordon in Sudan, the Fashoda incident, the battle of
Omdyrman, or the Boer War.
 The Jewish Resistance Movement, opposed to British domination, came up from the merger
of Haganah, Etzel and Leji.

After a series of attacks against Arab civilians, on July 22 (1946), Irgun will cause 96 fatalities
in a terrorist attack against the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, headquarters of the British
administration.

Birth of Israel

United Nations Resolution 181 of 1947 approves the creation of a Jewish State in Israel. A
month earlier, through the Dalet Plan, the Israelis planned to expel the Palestinians through the
Stern Gang and Irgun terrorist groups, with the massacre at Deir Yasin being an iconic example
of the process. The sionists terrorist groups would merge giving rise to the Israel Defense Force
(IDF), armed by the Soviets through Czechoslovakia.

In 1948 Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel's independence and complete sovereignty. Truman

would hasten to recognize the new state against the opinion of his diplomats and his Defense
Department. For his part, the King of Jordan reached an agreement to annex the Jordan bank.

During the Nakba, (1948-9), 900,000 Palestinians are forced to become refugees.

Arab-Israeli War (1948)

Five Arab countries would attack Israel: Jordan (to secure its share); Egypt (using the Muslim
Brotherhood), which would take control of Gaza2; Syria, to prevent Jordan from seizing part of
its territory; Lebanon (to defend its border); and Iraq (under Jordanian leadership).

Egypt's preparation was so bad that it had to rent trucks to Palestinian civilians. Arafat states
that the Arab military was paralyzed in the absence of orders. Lebanon and Syria were newly
formed states and Iraq was busier fighting the Kurds. The Jews eventually capitulated in
Jerusalem. The truce imposed by the Security Council allowed the Arab forces to rearm and
receive volunteer reinforcements.

French support was vital during these first years: it provided 24 Mystere fighter-bombers and
50 armored vehicles, and later built the Dimona nuclear power plant (58-63). At that time, the
United States preferred to remain on the sidelines to avoid conflicts with regional powers,
although it would encourage French actions.

After the poor results of the Arab attack, many countries would experience political
upheavals. The Egyptian and Lebanese prime ministers were assassinated, as well as King
Abdullah of Jordan; Syria, for its part, suffered a coup d'état coordinated by the CIA. The Egyptian
protests would end with Nasser's seizure of power in 1952.

Sinai War (1956)

In 1955, after the refusal of an American loan for the construction of a dam in Aswan on the
Nile River, Nasser decided to nationalize the Suez Canal. Israel, France and the United Kingdom
would meet secretly so that the first power would attack Israel and the other powers could
intervene and occupy the area. Israel would destroy most of the Egyptian military aircraft, while

2
Gaza is a small strip, of 365 square kilometers, with 1.8 million Palestinians (90% refugees). It
is the most densely populated land on earth. Occupied in 1967, evacuated in 2005.
the Egyptians would blockade the canal by sinking 48 ships. Saudi Arabia would stop crude oil
exports to France and Great Britain.

The USSR threatens intervention if there was no withdrawal of the invaders from the Suez
Canal. This would improve the perception of the USSR in the Arab world, and they would end up
being the ones to finance and direct the construction of the Aswan Dam. Nasser will facilitate
contact of the Soviets with Ben Bella (Algeria), Gaddafi (Libya) and Yasser Arafat (Palestine),
making it possible for the USSR to install military bases in these countries. Turkey, Saudi Arabia
and Iran - after the coup against Mossadeq (1953) – would became be the guardians of the West
in the region during the Cold War. The clash of the two sides would materialize in the civil war
of Yemen, where Egypt would confront Saudi Arabia.

The United Nations would force a ceasefire in the Sinai and install an international
peacekeeping force (UNEF I).

Six-Day War (1967)

Egypt will request the withdrawal of this force and takes control of the Strait of Tiran, with
which they could block the arrival of Iranian oil to Israel. Israel, which had just acquired nuclear
weapons months earlier with the support of France and the USA, would attack the air bases of
Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan, and would begin the invasion of the Sinai Peninsula. Similarly, they
invaded the West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights. UN Resolution 242
called for Israel to leave the occupied territories, but to no avail.

The PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) was created in 1964 with the support of the Arab
League, which would be armed through Libya by the USSR. It would integrate Arafat's Fath, the
PFLP and PFLP and the Communist Party.

In 1970 the Palestinian refugees were expelled from Jordan, settling in Lebanon, from where
the PLO would harass Israel. This expulsion led to the attack of Israeli athletes at the 1972
Munich Olympics by the "Black September" group.

Yom Kippur War (1973)

After Sadat came to power in Egypt, he decided to attack the Sinai Peninsula in agreement
with Kissinger in order to induce new negotiations with Israel. Hafez al-Asad would join in,
deceived about Sadat's intentions. The attack would take place during the Jewish holiday of Yom
Kippur in 1973. Syrians and Egyptians launch a massive air attack and storm the eastern bank of
the Suez Canal. Faced with the danger of a total Arab victory, the US establishes an air bridge to
arm Israel. OPEC cuts crude oil supplies, causing oil prices to rise by up to 70%.

Camp David Accords (1978)

In 1978 the Camp David Accords are signed by Sadat and Begin. In them, Egypt recognized
Israel in exchange for the withdrawal of its troops from the Sinai. The US was also guaranteed
priority access to the Suez Canal and Egyptian airspace in exchange for an annual allocation of
$1.5 billion in military assistance to Egypt. Between 1967 and 1974, US financial support to Israel
would amount to at least $5 billion.

Anwar al-Sadat would be assassinated in 1981 by Muslim fundamentalists for signing Camp
David.
 The establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 will put an end to one of the main
local US allies in the region and the main supplier of oil to Iran during the previous years.

Lebanon War (1982)

Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 (where Muslims, Christians, Druze and Palestinians lived side
by side in conflict), advancing into Beirut to crush the PLO. Hospitals and orphanages were
attacked, Beirut was bombed to no avail, and Iran sent fighters who would eventually form
Hezbollah. 6,436 Palestinians from the PLO were forced to emigrate to Tunisia, where Israeli
bombing would begin in 1985. Ariel Sharon skipped the cease-fire by attacking the Sabra and
Chatila camp with Christian militias, provoking a real genocide. In 1983, a truck bomb destroys
the US embassy in Beirut. Another will do it in the international airport of Beirut, the biggest
non-nuclear explosion since the IIWW. In the following year, Reagan would order the withdrawal
of troops.

Israel suffers thousands of casualties and 400% inflation, and Syrian and Hezbollah influence
was consolidated in Lebanon.

The first Intifada breaks out in 1987. It will leave more than 1000 casualties and Hamas will
emerge from it, which considers that the PLO has given up the fight.

Oslo Accords (1993)

In 1993, at Clinton's initiative, the Oslo Accords were signed between Arafat, Rabin and
Shimon Peres, which were a continuation of the Madrid Accords (1991). Netanyahu, from the
right, described these agreements as a surrender. They would allow the return of the PLO to the
Palestinian territories and the formation of a Palestinian Authority (1994). Authority would be
granted legitimation in the 1996 consultation, where they were together with Hamas.

On November 4, 1995 Issac Rabin is assassinated by a fundamentalist Jew, protesting his

support for peace processes. After the fall of the USSR, many Russian Jews move to Israel. Since
1967, ultra-nationalist movements were greatly strengthened. Shimon Peres would be
appointed president, under the responsibility of continuing Rabin's work, although he would do
so with great ignorance of the real state of the highly secret negotiations. The Stockholm Plan,
aimed at creating a demilitarized Palestinian state, was abandoned. Following the execution of
Hamas terrorist Yahya Ayyash ("the engineer"), radical Islamists organized four bombings that
claimed seventy lives. Israel will retaliate strongly against Lebanon.

Operation Grapes of Wrath (1996) against Hezbollah militias was intended to generate an
avalanche of refugees through artillery bombardment and air strikes, seeking the Lebanese
government's protest against Hezbollah and its protectors. The Israelis hit a NATO base and
killed a hundred refugees. The operation, which takes place a month before the elections, is a
resounding failure.

Peres would lose the next elections to Netanyahu's Likud in 1996.

Netanyahu's government

Netanyahu expands Jewish settlements. The excavation of a second access to the

Hasmonean Tunnel was a clear provocation, since it was located near the Rock Mosque, the
third holiest site in Islam. An uprising broke out in the West Bank in 1996. U.S. leaders were
irritated by Netanyahu's lack of democratic spirit and constant recourse to force, and the
coalition on which he was based continued to show dissatisfaction with his administration.
 The denunciations of corruption in Arafat's entourage gave Hamas more impetus and suicide
bombings became widespread.

The blockage of the peace process would cause a 73 % fall in the Tel Aviv stock market during
the first six months of 1998.

The next elections would be won by Labor's Ehud Barak, especially supported by the
Palestinian constituencies (95 % of votes). However, his government would require the support
of hard-line figures. He would resurrect the "Allon doctrine", which in 1967 affirmed the need
to control the entire Jordan Valley to ensure defense.

Following the resumption of talks with Palestine, Israel withdraws in 2000, leaving 47.6
percent of West Bank territory in the hands of the Palestinian Authority. The army also
withdraws from southern Lebanon.

Talks between Arafat and Barak would fail. On September 26, 2000, it seemed that some
agreements had been reached after more than 40 meetings between the negotiating teams.
Ariel Sharon, leader of the Likud, then entered the Esplanade of the Mosques surrounded by the
military, provoking a real rebellion which would spread from Jerusalem to all the occupied
territories and would constitute the Second Intifada. The uprisings of 2000 ("Intifada Al Aqsa")
were dressed up in Islamist symbolism by Arafat, to cut the grass from under the feet of Hamas
and Islamic Jihad (founded by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood). Pressure from these groups
forced him to take more aggressive positions that would strengthen Sharon, victorious in the
2001 elections. He died five years later of a stroke in 2006 and was succeeded by Olmert.

In 2000, construction of a wall in the West Banj began, taking over the main water sources in
the region. It was condemn by the UN (Resolution ES-10/13, 10/21/2003). Clashes between
Fatah and Hamas were incited by Israel.

In 2004 Arafat dies, probably poisoned, and Mahmoud Abbas is his successor. In 2006 the
Palestinian elections are won by Hamas. In 2007 there will be an armed conflict in Gaza between
Hamas and the PLO, with the latter resulting expelled.

Attack on Gaza Strip and Lebanon ("33-day war", 2006-2014)

Between 2006 and 2014 Israel launches a brutal aggression against Lebanon and the Gaza
Strip ("the 33-day war"). In the 2006 invasion of Gaza, in response to the capture of an Israeli
soldier, 165 civilians will be killed and the devastation of the bombing was total.

On July 12, 2006, the Israeli army launched an attack on southern Lebanon to free two Israeli
soldiers captured by Hezbollah. They would not find them, but they would reach Beirut. By then,
Hezbollah had constituted a parallel state in southern Lebanon, with economic resources and
armed forces of its own. Cluster bombs and white phosphorus would be used in the invasion.
More than 100,000 unexploded ordnances were scattered throughout the country and more
than a third of the Lebanese population (one million people) was displaced by the attacks.
However, Hezbollah militiamen held out, inflicting losses and displacing 300,000 Israeli civilians.

Security Council Resolution 1701 established the ceasefire.

The attack was planned well in advance of the military abduction, in collaboration with Bush.
It was intended as a rehearsal for a later attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. The kidnapping of
the military was motivated to obtain information about this attack, which would accelerate its
occurrence (planned for September).
 The troops will neither succeed in breaking Hezbollah, nor in rescuing the two captured
soldiers, nor in stopping civilian support for Hezbollah. The resistance has been called the most
effective model of contemporary irregular warfare.

Between 2008 and 2014, three brutal operations take place over Gaza. Cast Lead, between
2008-9, will leave 1300 dead and 5000 wounded. An operation that was planned for six months.

In Protective Edge Operante, in 2014, 2251 were killed (1536 civilians, 538 children), 11000
wounded. Israel losed 73 people (six civilians). Nearly 40% of the population loses its housing in
Gaza.

"We should be able to destroy Gaza [...] We should leave everything at ground level,
demolishing houses, tunnels and industries" said Eli Yishai, deputy prime minister.

In 2014 the 51-day war takes place, with more than a thousand deaths among the strip's
residents. In 2015, the third intifada begins.

General situation in Israel

Between 1948 and 2017, the State of Israel has received from abroad a total of more than
300 billion dollars (armaments, economic assistance, holocaust reparations).

The agreement signed in 2016 by USA foresees to deliver 38000 dollars in military assistance,
plus 3800 annual allocation. While the supremacy of Israeli military technology is
unquestionable in the region, it has no oil or gas, no large population, and no easily protected
borders.

Israel has relations with Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. However, the Arab populations
(numbering some 250 million, compared to six and a half million Jews) are hostile to it, forcing
them to move in European circles. and its GDP is almost four times higher. Moreover, despite
his efforts the Palestinian population is still present in the territory and its growth rate exceeds
that of the Israeli population.

On December six, 2017, Donald Trump recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,
implementing the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. Between 1948 and 1967, Jerusalem was
divided between an East and West section. The former under Jordanian mandate and the latter
Israeli. In the Six-Day War, Israel illegally annexed a region. Trump's act, according to resolution
A/ES-10/L.22, has no legal effect and calls on all States to refrain from establishing diplomatic
missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem.

The West Bank is the only place to which Israel can expand. That is why there can be no
Palestinian state.
 Bibliography

Fontana, J. (2017). El siglo de la revolución: Una historia del mundo desde 1914. Editorial
Crítica.

Veiga, F. (2015). El desequilibrio como orden. Una historia de la postguerra fría (2nd ed.).
Alianza Editorial.

Zamora R., A. (2018). Requiem polifónico por Occidente. Ediciones Akal.