The war over, Israel’s diplomatic challenge was to translate its military gains into a permanent peace based on UN Security Council Resolution 242, which called for “acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every state in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.” However, the Arab position, as formulated at the Khartoum Summit (August 1967) called for “no peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel and no recognition of Israel.” In September 1968, Egypt initiated a ‘war of attrition,’ with sporadic, static actions along the banks of the Suez Canal, which escalated into full-scale, localized fighting, causing heavy casualties on both sides. Hostilities ended in 1970 when Egypt and Israel accepted a renewed cease-fire along the Suez Canal. Three years of relative calm along the borders were shattered on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the holiest day of the Jewish year, when Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise assault against Israel (6 October 1973), with the Egyptian army crossing the Suez Canal and Syrian troops penetrating the Golan Heights. During the next three weeks, the Israel Defense Forces turned the tide of battle and repulsed the attackers, crossing the Suez Canal into Egypt and advancing to within 20 miles (32 km.) of the Syrian capital, Damascus. Two years of difficult negotiations between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Syria resulted in disengagement agreements, according to which Israel withdrew from parts of the territories captured during the war.
While the 1973 war cost Israel a year’s GNP, by the second half of 1974 the economy had recovered. Foreign investments grew considerably and, with Israel becoming an associate member of the European Common Market (1975), new potential outlets opened up for Israeli goods. Tourism began to increase and the annual number of visitors passed the one million mark. The 1977 Knesset elections brought the Likud bloc, a coalition of liberal and centrist parties, to power, ending almost 30 years of Labor party dominance. Upon taking office, the new prime minister, Menachem Begin, reiterated the commitment of all previous prime ministers to strive for permanent peace in the region and called upon the Arab leaders to come to the negotiating table. The cycle of Arab rejections of Israel’s appeals for peace was broken with the visit of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem (November 1977), followed by negotiations between Egypt and Israel under American auspices. The resulting Camp David Accords (September 1978) contained a framework for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, including a detailed proposal for self-government for the Palestinians. On 26 March 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in Washington, DC, bringing the 30-year state of war between them to an end. In accordance with the terms of the treaty, Israel withdrew from the Sinai peninsula, exchanging former cease-fire lines and armistice agreements for mutually recognized international boundaries. Some of the African states which had severed ties with Israel as a result of Arab pressure during the 1973 oil crisis, restored contacts in the 1980s, giving renewed momentum to economic relations, as well as reestablishing formal diplomatic ties.
The international boundary line with Lebanon has never been challenged by either side. However, when the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) redeployed itself in southern Lebanon after being expelled from Jordan (1970) and perpetrated repeated terrorist actions against the towns and villages of northern Israel (Galilee), which caused many casualties and much damage, the Israel Defense Forces crossed the border into Lebanon (1982). “Operation Peace for Galilee” resulted in removing the bulk of the PLO’s organizational and military infrastructure from the area. Since then, Israel has maintained a small security zone in southern Lebanon adjacent to its northern border to safeguard its population in Galilee against continued attacks by hostile elements.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Israel has absorbed over 700,000 new immigrants, mainly from the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Ethiopia. The influx of so many new consumers as well as a large number of skilled and unskilled workers, coupled with strident measures to control inflation, boosted the economy into a period of accelerated expansion, attaining one of the highest GDP growth rates among Western countries. The government which came into power after the 1984 Knesset elections was made up of the two major political blocs – Labor (left/center) and Likud (right/center). It was replaced in 1988 by a Likud-led coalition, which at the end of its four-year term was followed in 1992 by a coalition of Labor and smaller left-of-center parties. During these years, each government worked towards the achievement of peace, economic development and immigrant absorption according to its own political convictions.
Since the signing of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty (1979), various initiatives were put forth by Israel and others to further the peace process in the Middle East. These efforts eventually led to the convening of the Madrid Peace Conference (October 1991), held under American and Soviet auspices, which brought together representatives of Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinians. The formal proceedings were followed by bilateral negotiations between the parties and by multilateral talks addressing regional concerns. Israel and the Palestinians: Following months of intensive behind-the-scenes contacts in Oslo between negotiators for Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a Declaration of Principles (DOP) was formulated outlining self-government arrangements for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Its signing was preceded by an exchange of letters (September 1993) between PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in which the PLO renounced the use of terrorism, pledged to invalidate those articles in its Covenant which deny Israel’s right to exist and committed itself to a peaceful resolution of the decades-long conflict between the Palestinians and the Jews over the Land. In response, Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. Signed by Israel and the PLO in Washington, DC in September 1993, the DOP contains a set of mutually agreed-upon general principles regarding a five-year interim period of Palestinian self-rule, to be implemented in four stages. The first step, setting up self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho area, took place in May 1994. In August of the same year, the second stage was introduced involving the transfer of powers and responsibilities to Palestinian representatives in the West Bank through early empowerment in five specific spheres – education and culture, health, social welfare, direct taxation and tourism. The Interim Israeli-Palestinian Agreement of September 1995, constituting the third stage, broadened Palestinian self-government in the West Bank by means of an elected self-governing authority – the Palestinian Council – to allow the Palestinians to conduct their own internal affairs. The last stage – negotiations between the parties on final status arrangements – began as scheduled in May 1996. These talks will determine the nature of the permanent settlement, covering remaining issues including refugees, settlements, security matters, borders, Jerusalem and other subjects of common interest. Three years of talks between Jordan and Israel following the Madrid Conference culminated in a declaration by King Hussein and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (July 1994), which ended the 46-year state-of-war between their two countries. The Jordan-Israel peace treaty was signed at the Arava border crossing (near Eilat in Israel and Akaba in Jordan) on 26 October 1994, in the presence of American President Bill Clinton. Since then, Israel and Jordan have been cooperating in many spheres for the benefit of both countries. Under the framework of the Madrid formula, talks between Israeli and Syrian delegations began in Washington and are held from time to time at ambassadorial level, with the involvement of high-ranking American officials. Two recent rounds of Syrian-Israeli peace talks (December 1995, January 1996), focused on security and other key issues. Highly detailed and comprehensive in scope, the talks identified important areas of conceptual agreement and convergence for future discussion and consideration. The multilateral talks were constituted as an integral part of the peace process, aimed at finding solutions for key regional problems, while serving as a confidence building measure to promote development of normalized relations among the Middle East nations. Following the Moscow Multilateral Middle East Conference (January 1992), with the participation of 36 countries and international organizations, the delegations broke up into five working groups dealing with specific areas of common regional concern – environment, arms control and regional security, refugees, water resources and economic development – which meet from time to time in various venues in the region. After the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin (November 1995), the government – in accordance with its right to appoint a minister (who must also be a member of the Knesset) to serve as prime minister until the next elections – named Foreign Minister Shimon Peres as acting prime minister, with all the privileges of office except that of dissolving the Knesset. The May 1996 elections brought to power a coalition government made up of nationalist, religious and centrist elements, headed by Binyamin Netanyahu of the Likud. With goals dedicated to the overall interests of the State of Israel, the challenges facing the new government are, inter alia, the continuation of the peace process; ensuring the country’s security; broadening the scope of its diplomatic ties throughout the world; enhancing the education system by instituting smaller classes and a longer school day; promoting equal opportunity in education; placing increased emphasis on scientific and technological studies to assist Israeli industry; increasing economic competitiveness with less government intervention; reducing the balance-of-payments deficit; maintaining a low rate of inflation; streamlining government bureaucracy; easing the tax burden; finding solutions to housing problems; and intensifying infrastructure expansion. Steady immigration into the country and progress in the peace process should positively affect Israel’s continued growth and development towards the coming century.
Jerusalem’s history stretches back about five thousand years. around 2500 BC, the Canaanites inhabited the city. Later, Jerusalem became a Jebusite citadel. When david captured the city, around 1000 BC, the Jebusites were absorbed into the Jewish people. David made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom, and Solomon built the first Temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. In 586 BC, the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and exiled the Jews to Babylonia. Fifty years later, in 537 BC, Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylonia and permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple. Persia held the city until 333 BC, when Alexander the Great added Palestine to his empire. In 323 BC, Ptolemy I of Egypt took Palestine into his kingdom. About 198 BC, the Seleucid king Antiochus III conquered Judaea making it tributary to Syria. (Jerusalem was a part of Judea). The Jews later revolted under the leadership of Maccabees and defeated the Syrians. The Temple was reconsecrated in 165 BC, and the Maccabean, or Hasmonean, dynasty ruled until Rome took the city in 63 BC. The Romans set up a local dynasy, the house of Herod, to rule most of Palestine; Herod the Great rebuilt much of Jerusalem, including the Temple. Roman governors, however, retained ultimate control; one of them, Pontius Pilate, authorized the execution of Jesus Christ. While suppressing a majore Jewish revolt, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in AD 70. In 135, after the failure of the Bar Kochba revolt, Jews were banished from Jerusalem. From the early 4th century, when Christianity became legal in the Roman Empire, Jerusalem developed as a center of Christian pilgrimage. The Church of Holy Sepulcher and many other Christian shrines were erected. Except for a brief period of Persian rul, the city remained under Roman control until 638, when the Muslim Arabs took Jerusalem. The Arabs built the Dome of the rock mosque on the site of the Temple. In the 11th century, Muslim toleration of both Jews and Christians gave way to persecution under the Fatmid caliph al-Hakim and under the Seljuks, who seized Jerusalem in 1071. European Christendom responded by launching the Crusades. The Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099 and established a Crusader state. Saladin recartured the city for the Muslims in 1187, and the Ayyubid and Mameluke dynasties ruled until 1517, when the Ottoman Empire took control. In 1917 the British occupied Jerusalem, and it became the capital of mandated Palestine from 1923 until 1948. During this period the city saw Arab rioting against the Jews. The 1948 United Nations pertition plan for Palestine called for internalization of the city. The Arabs rejected this resolution. So, from 1949, Jerusalem was divided into an Israeli and a Jordanian sector. The city remained divided until 1967, when Israel took the entire city following the Six Day War. The city is reunited today under Israeli government, which guarantees religious freedom and protection of all holy places.
During Biblical times, the area now know as the Golan Heights was called the Bashan. The name Golan comes from the mention of the city of “Golan in Bashan” in the Book of Deuteromony. The area was contested in First Temple times between the northern kingdom of Israel, and the Arameans that ruled Damascus. Judah Maccabee and his brothers formed the Hasmonean dynasty in the second cetry BC. The Hasmonean kind, Alexander Yannai, added the Golan Heights to his kingdom. The Greeks called the area “Gaulanitis,” and this name was later adopted by the Romans. The name eventually became Golan. The city of Gamla was the main settlement on the Golan Heights, and it was the last Jewish stronghold to hold out against the Roman legions in the Great Revolt. Even so, Jewish settlement on the Golan Heights continued throughout the ages, and the remains of some 25 synagogues, dating from the period between the Revolt and the Islamic conquest in the year 636, have been found. The course of centuries brought other ethnic groups to the Golan Heights, including the Druze who arrived in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Jewish presence was renewed in 1886, when a plot of land was bought north of the present-day moshav, Keshet. In 1891, Baron Rothschild purchased land to the east of Ramat Magshimim, but the Turks forced immigrants off this land in 1898. The Golan Heights were included within the Palestinian Mandate, when it was granted in 1922, but Britain turned conrol of the area over to the French the very next year. The establishment of the State of Israel led to to the Syrians building extensive fortifications on the Heights, and they used these to shell civilian targets in Israel over the years. In the 1967 Six Day War, the Israel Defense Forces took the Golan in heavy fighting. Most of the area’s Arab inhabitants fled to Syria. After the Six Day War, Jewish settlement was renewed on the Golan. Kibbutz Merom Golan was founded in July, 1967, and other settlements quickly followed. In October, 1973, Syrian forces shocked Israel’s defenses at the start of the Yom Kippur War. Syrian troops nearly reached the cliffs overlooking the Kinneret, before the main Israeli counterattack began. A Separation of Forces Agreement was signed between Israel and Syria on May 31, 1974.
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