Israel: A straightforward historical refresher

People often talk about “trading a Palestinian state for peace,” yet few know the history of this land. While Gaza fills headlines, another phrase is hitting the headlines lately: the “Occupied West Bank.”

The West Bank is the heartland of ancient Israel and Judah, including Hebron, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem. It was seized by Jordan in 1948 and then captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The West Bank has never been a Palestinian state; before 1948 it was part of the British Mandate, and before that it was under Ottoman rule.

Biblical promise and first Jewish statehood

Jews trace their claim to the land to God’s covenant with the patriarchs:

“To your descendants I will give this land.” Genesis 12:7

“See, I have given you this land; go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore He would give to your fathers — to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — and to their descendants after them.” Deuteronomy 1:8

Those promises were repeated to Isaac and Jacob and passed to their descendants, the Israelites, who, according to the Bible, entered the land from the Sinai wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt, establishing themselves in the land of the Canaanite people under Joshua (late 13th–12th c. BCE).

Jewish holidays echo this long story: Passover recalls the Exodus, Purim remembers survival in Persia, and Chanukah celebrates the Maccabean revolt that regained the Temple from foreign powers.

By about 1000 BCE the tribes united under Saul, David, and Solomon to form the Kingdom of Israel. After Solomon the realm split into Israel (north) and Judah/Judea (south), with Jerusalem and the First Temple on the Temple Mount, located where Abraham is believed to have prepared to sacrifice Isaac, continued as Judah’s spiritual center.

Exile and brief return

Babylon (modern Iraq) destroyed that First Temple in 586 BCE and exiled many Jews. Persia conquered Babylon in 538 BCE; King Cyrus let Jews return and rebuild the Temple. Centuries later the Maccabean/Hasmonean dynasty (164–63 BCE), recalled at Chanukah, won about a century of renewed independence.

Rome and the long exile

One hundred years later, Rome took Judea in 63 BCE and after Jewish revolts in 70 CE destroyed the Second Temple. In 135 CE Rome crushed the Bar Kokhba uprising, and expelled Jews from Jerusalem. The land was renamed “Syria Palaestina” to erase Jewish identity. Thus, began nearly 1,800 years of foreign domination.

Temple Mount — Sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims

After Rome’s destruction of the Second Temple, a Byzantine Christian church stood on the Temple Mount. In 638 CE, Muslim forces captured Jerusalem from the Byzantines. Soon after, the Umayyad caliphs built the Dome of the Rock (691 CE) and later the al-Aqsa Mosque, turning the mount into an Islamic sanctuary. Muslim control has lasted ever since; non-Muslims may visit only at limited times and cannot pray there.

Centuries of foreign rule

A succession of Byzantine, early Muslim caliphates, Crusaders, Mamluks, and then the Ottoman Empire (1517–1917) governed the land. Through all of this, “Palestine” was a geographic label, not a state. Jews and Muslims sometimes coexisted, but outbreaks of violence occurred fueled by hatred and falsehoods taught and spread through local rumor.

British Mandate and Partition

1917: Britain seized southern Syria/Palestine from the Ottomans in WWI; the Balfour Declaration backed a Jewish “national home.”

1920–1948: Under the British Mandate, Jewish immigration rose as refugees fled European persecution. Land purchases and economic growth alarmed many Palestinian Arabs, who saw British favoritism toward Zionists. The 1929 Hebron massacre killed 67 Jews after false rumors about Muslim sites. Some Arabs sheltered Jews, but the centuries-old community was shattered. Jews did not return in significant numbers until after 1967. For many, Hebron 1929 proved that Jewish self-defense was essential, fueling the growth of the Haganah, precursor to Israel’s army. The 1936–39 Arab Revolt targeted Jews and British alike, prompting the rise of leaders such as Ben-Gurion, Rabin, and Peres.

1947: The UN voted to partition the Mandate into Jewish and Arab states. Jews accepted; Arab leaders rejected and launched war.

1948: Britain withdrew; Jews proclaimed the State of Israel, quickly recognized by the U.S., USSR, and others, gaining UN membership in 1949. On May 15, 1948, the day after Israel’s declaration, Arab armies invaded. Israel, fighting for survival, ended up with about 78 percent of the Mandate west of the Jordan River, including western Jerusalem, Galilee, and the Negev. Jordan took the West Bank and East Jerusalem; Egypt took Gaza.

Wars, peace, and Gaza today

1956 Suez Crisis: Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal and blockaded Israeli shipping. Britain, France, and Israel struck Sinai; Israel withdrew under U.S./UN pressure but won navigation rights.

1967 Six-Day War: Egypt expelled UN peacekeepers, massed troops, and blockaded Eilat; Syria and Jordan mobilized. Facing attack on three fronts after deadly fedayeen raids, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike and captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, Sinai, and the Golan Heights.

1973 Yom Kippur War: Egypt and Syria launched a surprise assault. Israel repelled them but with heavy losses.

1979: Peace with Egypt — Israel returned the Sinai; President Sadat was assassinated in 1981 by extremists for signing.

1990s Oslo Accords: Created the Palestinian Authority to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Israel retained security control where most Jewish communities were located and allowed these Jewish communities to expand. Today about 700,000 Israelis live in parts of the West Bank still under Israeli security control.

1995: Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli opposed to Oslo.

2000–2005 Second Intifada: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades carried out suicide bombings and shootings that killed over 1,000 Israelis and many Palestinians. Israel built security barriers and struck terror networks.

2005: Israel withdrew all settlers and troops from Gaza, leaving the Palestinian Authority to govern. Gaza gained limited self-rule under the PA but never became a sovereign state.

2007: Hamas, whose 1988 charter vowed “Israel will exist until Islam obliterates it,” violently seized Gaza. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade to curb weapons and rockets.

Bottom line

The Bible says God promised this land to Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 12:7; Deuteronomy 1:8).

Jewish self-rule lasted about 500 years in total (ancient Israel/Judah plus the Hasmonean era).

No sovereign Palestinian state has ever existed.

For nearly 1,800 years the land was ruled by foreign empires; “Palestine” was a geographic term, not a nation.

The long Jewish exile began with Babylon (586 BCE) and ended only with modern Zionism and the UN partition plan leading to Israel’s rebirth in 1948/49.

Gaza today is controlled by Hamas. Since 2007 it has run schools and media that glorify “martyrdom,” demonize Jews, and deny Israel’s right to exist.

Knowing and understanding history explains why Israelis defend their sovereignty so fiercely and why peace can only grow where both peoples are taught to recognize, not erase, each other.