The Nation Israel, The Tribe of Judah

13 Tribes    What happen to the tribes, video by E. Raymond Capt.  Israel History    6th kingdom

The tribe of Judah became a nation on May 14, 1948, the nation of Israel.

Israel is a small country in southwestern Asia. It occupies a narrow strip of land on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

 

Israel was founded in 1948 as a homeland for Jews from all parts of the world, and more than 4 out of 5 of its people are Jews.

 

 Even Jews who live elsewhere consider Israel their spiritual home. Almost all the non-Jews in Israel are Arabs. Jerusalem is Israel's capital and largest city.

 

The tribe of Judah know who they are, they are the Jews. The Jews do not claim to be of the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

Arabs make up nearly all of the remaining 18 percent of the population of Israel. Most are Palestinians whose families remained in Israel after the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli war. They usually live in their own farm villages or in the Arab neighborhoods of Israeli cities.

 

• Capital: Jerusalem.
• Official languages: Hebrew and Arabic.

• National anthem: "Hatikva" ("The Hope").
• Money: Basic unit-shekel. One hundred agorot equal one shekel.

 

Israel makes up most of the Biblical Holy Land, the place where the religious and national identity of the Jews developed. According to the Bible, Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, established a Semitic population in the Holy Land. Many scholars believe this happened sometime between 1800 and 1500 B.C.

 

Eventually this land fell to a series of conquerors, including-in 63 B.C.-the Romans. Following unsuccessful Jewish revolts against Roman rule in A.D. 66-70 and A.D. 132-135, the Romans forced most of the Jews to leave. The Romans then began to call this region by the word that became Palestine in English. Palestine was ruled by the Roman and then the Byzantine empires until the A.D. 600's, when Arabs conquered the region. From that time until the mid-1900's, the majority of people in Palestine were Arabs.

 

In the late 1800's, European Jews formed a movement called Zionism, which sought to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. Jewish immigrants began arriving in Palestine in large numbers, and by the early 1900's friction had developed between the Jewish and Arab populations. In 1947, the United Nations (UN) proposed dividing the region into an Arab state and a Jewish state.

On May 14, 1948, the nation of Israel officially came into being. The surrounding Arab nations immediately attacked the new state, in the first of several Arab-Israeli wars. In 1967, at the end of one of the wars, Israeli troops occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank-territories that are home to millions of Palestinian Arabs. Israel's occupation of these territories further inflamed Arab-Israeli tensions. In the 1990's, Israeli troops withdrew from most of the Gaza Strip and portions of the West Bank. The withdrawals were part of agreements with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which represents Palestinian Arabs. In the early 2000's, however, violent clashes between Palestinians and Israelis interrupted the peace process.

 

Israel has few natural resources and imports more goods than it exports. Still, it has achieved a relatively high standard of living. Almost all of its adults can read and write, and the level of unemployment is low. Jewish settlers have established major industries, drained swamps, and irrigated deserts.

 

Although it is a small country, Israel has a diverse terrain that includes mountains, deserts, seashores, and valleys. Israel has a pleasant climate, with hot, dry summers, and cool, mild winters.

 

National government. Israel is a democratic republic. It has no written constitution. Instead, the government follows "basic laws" that have been passed by the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. The Knesset is a one-house body made up of 120 members, each elected to a term not to exceed four years. The Knesset passes legislation, participates in the formation of national policy, and approves budgets and taxes.

 

All Israeli citizens 18 years or older may vote. Voters do not cast ballots for individual candidates in Knesset elections. Instead, they vote for a party list, which includes all the candidates of a particular political party. The list may range from a single candidate to a full slate of 120 candidates. Elections are determined by the percentage of the vote received by each list. For example, if a particular party list received 33 percent of the vote, it would get 40 Knesset seats.

The prime minister is the head of Israel's government and normally the leader of the party that controls the most seats in the Knesset. The prime minister must maintain the support of a majority of Knesset members to stay in office. He or she forms and heads the Cabinet, Israel's top policymaking body. Appointments to the Cabinet must be approved by the Knesset. The prime minister determines the topics of Cabinet meetings and has the final word in policy decisions.

In 1992, a law was passed allowing voters to directly elect the prime minister. Direct elections for prime minister were held in 1996, 1999, and 2001. Israel abandoned the direct election system after the 2001 election.

The president functions as the head of state. The Knesset elects the president to a seven-year term. Most of the president's duties are ceremonial.

 

Local government: Elected councils are the units of local government in Israel. Municipal councils serve the larger cities, and local councils govern the smaller urban areas. Regional councils serve rural areas. Councils are responsible for providing education, health and sanitation services, water, road maintenance, fire protection, and park and recreation facilities. They also set and collect local taxes and fees.

The national government divides the country into 6 administrative districts and 14 subdistricts. The minister of interior, one of the Cabinet members, appoints officials to head the districts and subdistricts. These officials oversee and approve the actions of the councils.

 

Politics: Israel has many political parties, representing a wide range of views. But two parties-the Labor Party and the Likud bloc-dominate the country's national elections.

The Labor Party supports government control of the economy, but also believes in a limited amount of free enterprise. The party favors a negotiated settlement with the Arab states. The Likud bloc is an alliance of a number of smaller parties. It supports limited government involvement in the economy. Likud favors a more hard-line policy toward the Arab states.

Israel also has a number of smaller religious and special-interest parties. Each of these parties focuses on a particular subject or theme. If one of the major parties controls too few seats in the Knesset to form a majority, it usually seeks support from the other parties, including the religious parties. These parties thus have considerable power.

 

Courts: Israel's court system consists of both religious and secular (nonreligious) courts. The Supreme Court is the country's highest secular court. The secular court system also includes magistrate, district, municipal, and specialized courts. The Supreme Court hears appeals from these courts and acts to protect the rights of Israeli citizens.

Religious courts hear cases involving certain personal matters, such as marriage problems, divorces, alimony settlements, and inheritances. Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druses each have their own religious courts.

Most religious court justices and all secular court justices are appointed by the president. The appointments are based on recommendations that are made by nomination committees consisting of officials from all branches of the Israeli government. Justices must retire at age 70.

Armed forces: Because of its conflicts with Arab states, Israel has maintained a strong military. However, the large amount of money Israel spends on defense puts a strain on the nation's economy.

Israel's army, navy, and air force have about 141,000 members. The country requires almost all Jewish men and most unmarried Jewish women to enter the military at age 18. Men must serve for three years, and women for two years. Annual reserve service is required of both men and women.

 

The People: When Israel was established in 1948, it had about 806,000 people. Today, the population is about 6 million. The area along the Mediterranean coast is Israel's most densely populated region. The Negev Desert, in southwestern Israel, is the least densely populated region.

Jews. About 82 percent of Israel's people are Jews. The modern state of Israel was created as a homeland for the Jewish people. Since 1948, as many as 2.5 million Jews have migrated to Israel, many to escape persecution in their home countries. In 1950, the Knesset passed the Law of the Return, which allows any Jew, with a few minor exceptions, to settle in Israel. A 1970 amendment to this law defined a Jew as "a person who was born of a Jewish mother or has become converted to Judaism and who is not a member of another religion." The Israeli government provides temporary housing and job training to immigrants.

Israel's Jewish population shares a common spiritual and historical heritage. But because they have come from many countries, Israel's Jews belong to a number of different ethnic groups, each with its own cultural, political, and recent historical background.

 

The two main groups in Israel's Jewish population have traditionally been the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim, or Orientals. The Ashkenazim, who came to Israel from Europe and North America, are descended from Jewish communities in central and eastern Europe. The Sephardim immigrated from the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Today, the designations Ashkenazim and Sephardim are less important because there are many Jews who immigrated from other areas, or who grew up in Israel. At the time of independence, most Jews were Ashkenazim. As a result, Israel's political, educational, and economic systems are primarily Western in orientation. Israel's Sephardic population has had to adapt to this society.

Arabs make up nearly all of the remaining 18 percent of the population of Israel. Most are Palestinians whose families remained in Israel after the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli war. They usually live in their own farm villages or in the Arab neighborhoods of Israeli cities.

The nation's Jewish and Arab communities are often suspicious of one another, and Arab and Jewish Israelis have limited contact. Most Arabs and Jews live in separate areas, attend separate schools, speak different languages, and follow different cultural traditions.

Language. Israel has two official languages-Hebrew, the language spoken by most of the Jewish population, and Arabic, spoken mainly by the Arabs. Many Israelis also speak English. Many Ashkenazi Jews speak Yiddish, a Germanic language that developed in the Jewish communities of Europe. Immigrants from the former Soviet Union speak Russian.

 

Way of Life: Israel has a relatively high standard of living, with income levels similar to those in such European countries as Spain or Greece. Israel's life expectancy levels rank among the highest in the world. The country has an excellent system of health and medical care.

 

City life: Many of Israel's cities are built on ancient sites and include historic buildings, but they also have large, modern sections built by Jewish settlers during the mid-1900's. Many of the cities feature high-rise apartment and office buildings. Most urban Israelis live in apartments. Like urban areas in most countries, Israel's major cities face problems brought on by rapid growth. Roads, housing, and municipal services sometimes fail to keep pace with the expanding population. Traffic congestion and, to a lesser degree, pollution have become problems in Israel's larger cities.

Jerusalem, the capital and largest city, is the spiritual center of the Jewish religion. It is also a holy city of Christians and Muslims. The city is divided into three sections-the Old City, West Jerusalem, and East Jerusalem. All three sections contain many ancient holy places, but the Old City is the historical heart of Jerusalem. It occupies much of the area that was inhabited during Biblical times. West Jerusalem, inhabited mainly by Jews, is the newer part of the city. It contains concrete apartment houses and modern public buildings. It also has several ancient holy places. East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in 1967, is inhabited mainly by Arabs.

Tel Aviv, Israel's second largest city in size and importance, serves as the nation's commercial, financial, and industrial center. Haifa is Israel's major port city and the administrative and industrial center of northern Israel. Beersheba is the most important city in the Negev Desert region.

In the 1950's, the Israeli government began creating "development towns." These towns, which include Arad and Karmiel, were established to attract industry to lightly populated parts of Israel and to provide homes for new immigrants.

 

Rural life. Many people in rural areas of Israel live in collective or cooperative communities. In a collective community, called a kibbutz, members receive food, housing, education, child care, and medical care in exchange for labor. All property is shared. The kibbutz was traditionally agricultural, but many now engage primarily in industrial activity. In a cooperative community, called a moshav, each family works its land separately and has its own living quarters. The village administration provides the family's equipment and supplies, and markets its produce.

Clothing. Most Israelis wear Western-style clothing, although styles in Israel are generally less formal than they are in Western countries. However, some Israelis still dress in the traditional clothing of their ethnic or religious group.

Food and drink. Israel's food and drink reflect the ethnic diversity of its population. Traditional European Jewish dishes, such as chopped liver, chicken soup, and gefilte fish, are common. But so also are traditional Middle Eastern foods such as felafel-small, deep-fried patties of ground chickpeas. Raw vegetables and fruits are among the most popular foods.

 

All government buildings and most hotels and restaurants serve only kosher foods, which are prepared according to Jewish dietary laws. But there are nonkosher restaurants as well. Israel also has fast-food restaurants, which serve local dishes in addition to Western foods. Popular beverages in Israel include Turkish coffee, cola, beer, and wine.

 

Religion. Israeli law guarantees religious freedom and allows members of all faiths to have days of rest on their Sabbath and holy days. Many public facilities are closed on the Jewish Sabbath-from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday.

About one-fifth of Israel's Jewish population strictly observe the principles of Judaism. These people are called Orthodox Jews. About half of the country's Jews observe some of the principles. The rest are secular, or nonreligious. Israel's Jews disagree on the proper relationship between religion and the state. Orthodox Jews tend to believe that Jewish religious values should play an important role in shaping government policy. But many other members of the Jewish population, including almost all secular Jews, seek to limit the role of religion in the state.

About 75 percent of Israel's non-Jewish populace are Arab Muslims, most of whom follow the Sunni division of Islam. About 10 percent of the non-Jews are Arab Christians, mostly Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. Most of the remaining 15 percent are Druses, an Arabic-speaking people who follow a religion that developed out of Islam. A few of the non-Jewish people are members of the Baha'is or other smaller religious communities.

 

Economy: At independence, Israel was a poor country with little agricultural or industrial production. But Israel's economy has grown tremendously since 1948. The nation now enjoys a relatively high standard of living, despite having few natural resources and a limited water supply.

Many immigrants came to Israel in the years immediately after independence. Many of these immigrants were skilled laborers and professionals who greatly aided the nation's economic development. Financial assistance from Western nations, especially the United States, is also vital to Israel's economic well-being.

About half of the businesses in Israel are privately owned, and a fourth are owned by the government. The Histadrut (General Federation of Labor), a powerful organization of labor unions, also owns about a fourth of the businesses, farms, and industries.

 

Important dates in Israel

• 1917 The United Kingdom issued the Balfour Declaration, expressing its support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

• 1920 Palestine became a mandated territory of the United Kingdom.

• 1947 The United Nations (UN) divided Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state.

• 1948 Israel came into existence on May 14,1948.

• 1948 Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan attacked Israel on May 15, starting the first Arab-Israeli war. Israel defeated the Arabs and gained much territory.

• 1956 After Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, Israel attacked Egypt, initiating the second Arab-Israeli war. The United Kingdom and France also attacked Egypt. The UN ended the fighting.

• 1967 Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in the Six-Day War. Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights.

• 1972 Palestinian terrorists killed 11 Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany.

• 1973 Egypt and Syria attacked Israeli forces, starting the Yom Kippur War.

• 1978 Israel and Egypt signed the Camp David Accords, an agreement to end the dispute between the two countries.

• 1979 Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty.

• Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula.

• 1993 Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed an agreement to work to end their conflicts.

• 1994 As part of the 1993 PLO agreement, Israel withdrew from most of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Jericho. Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty.

• 1995 Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on November 4.

• 2000 Violence erupted between Palestinians and Israelis, killing hundreds of people and interrupting the peace process.

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