5/25/11
How did Zionism begin?
v Roots of Zionism
¨ Religious belief
¨ Persecution
Ø Most persecution occurred in Eastern Europe, mainly Russia, in the 19th century
Ø Persecution especially in Russia during the 19th century
In Russia’s early history, there were no Jews
Catherine the Great partitioned Poland, which was rich in Jewish life and history and brought Jews into Russia
¶ Kept Jews living in the Polish areas, so there was not much change
¶ Alexander I formalized the idea that Jews had to stay where they were- “Pale of Settlement” (Poland)
Nicholas I
¶ Russification- imposed Russian language, style, and names unto all minorities, including Jews. He also wanted everyone to become Russian Orthodox, including Jews
¶ Cantonists/ Nicholinikki
Ø Jews were drafted to the army at the age of 10 so they can be “trained” for the army. But really, this training was making the Jewish children not Jewish so they would serve in the army. Most died at these training camps or survived and had to serve in the army for 25 years
Ø The Jewish community had to choose who was drafted. They decided not to draft firstborns, and children who were destined to be the gadol hador. After that, there were great debates and actions among the Jews to keep the Jews out of the army
¶ Education- Max Lilienthal
Ø Tried persuading Russia Jews to assimilate and be more like the Germans
Ø Tried to persuade the Jews to give their children a secular education. But once he walked in the door everyone yelled at him to get out (because Max Lilienthal did not have a beard, and was obviously not following halacha)
Ø Lilienthal ended up running away to America to be a reform Rabbi when he was pressured by the Russians to convert as an example for the other Jews
Alexander II
¶ Ended the canotnist system
¶ A few Jews were allowed out of the Pale of Settlement
Alexander III and Nicholas II
¶ Bad for the Jews- scapegoated the Jews to hold of the revolution
¶ Allowed peasants to violently attack Jews- Pogroms
¶ May Laws 1882 (“may not laws”- economic limitations)
Ø Jews may not move out of their towns to other areas
Ø Jews may not go to college, except for a small quote
Ø Jews may not do business on Sunday
¶ Jews cannot deal in liquor- 250,000 Jews lost their jobs
¶ Alex III had a policy that 1/3 Jews will convert, 1/3 will emigrate, and 1/3 will drop dead. He didn’t want any Jews, but didn’t care if they left (some Jews went to Israel and became the early Zionists, however large amounts moved to America)
5/26/11
¨ 3rd root = 19th century nationalism awakened a sense of national identity among Jews for their own state
¨ Branches = early leaders
Ø Religious Zionists
R. Yehudah Alkalai
¶ All Jews need to do teshuvah, but it is not only repenting, it is also returning to Israel à Messiah
R. Zevi Hirsch Kalischer
¶ 1862 Derishat Zion- believing in Messiah does not mean we should not get ready. The time was right, because persecution was occurring in Eastern Europe, and in Western Europe, Jews were gaining influence in wealth. So the Western European Jews should fund settlements so Russian Jews could come to Israel
¶ Got support from Rothschild, Montefoire, Cremieux, etc.
¶ Mikvah Israel- agricultural settlement
¶ Chovevay Zion
Ø Non religious Zionists
1862 Moses Hess- Rome and Jerusalem- non-Jews should help Jews get Israel to help promote world peace and improve world culture. Christians would benefit from a Jewish state
Peretz Smolenskin- assimilation does not work, rather Jews should return to their homeland
Leo Pinsker- Auto Emancipation-Jews should emancipate themselves and declare themselves as a nation, not wait for other nations to do it
Achad Ha’Am- cultural Zionism. Forget the political stuff and independence. A non-religious Jewish center is needed first to develop Jewish culture
Theodor Herzl- Der Judenstaat (the Jewish State)
¶ Organized the first Zionist congress 1897 in Basle, Switzerland- predicted the creation of the Jewish state (universal acceptance) would be in 50 years
¶ Politically active- tried to work with political elites
5/27/11
How did the Zionists struggle to create a homeland in Palestine?
v Opposition from both Orthodox and Reform Jews?
¨ Orthodox- religious opposition because Messiah did not come yet
¨ Reform
Ø Denied the Jews as a nation- we are just a religion
Ø They think it is crazy for them to give up their citizenship to move somewhere else and raise questions of their loyalty to their homelands
Ø Reform felt Zionism threatened their acceptance in their homelands
v Conflicts among the Zionists
¨ What kind of homeland should the Jews have?
Ø Religious?
Ø Socialist?
Ø In the state of Israel?
¨ Uganda Plan
Ø If the Ottoman Sultan would not let the Jews have Israel, they should take the British offer and set up a homeland in Uganda
Ø It’s not the land they hoped for, but it’s a place Jews could be safe (a response to the violent pogroms in Russia). Eventually, we will be in Israel when Messiah comes
Ø However, the persecuted Russians did not want to go to Uganda because that was not what they have been praying for
Ø Uganda Plan failed
v Political basis for a homeland- Balfour Declaration
¨ One long sentence
¨ Three promises
Ø Britain will facilitate the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine
Ø Non Jews will keep all of their civil and political rights
Ø Jews who do not go to Israel do not lose their citizenship
¨ Problem
Ø McMahon Pledge was issued 2 years earlier, which promised the Arabs control in most of the Middle East
¨ Why did they issue the Balfour Declaration?
Ø Get American Jews to support the US entering the war on the British side
Ø Chaim Weitzman was a great chemist who made synthetic acetone that could be used for munitions, which he gave to the British government for free. In return, he asked for the government to listen to his friends, the Zionists
¨ The British promised territory without borders to both sides- the Arabs and the Jews
v Mandate Period
¨ Britain was in charge of Palestine
¨ Partitioned Palestine in half (map)
Ø Closed off Transjordan to Jewish settlement
Ø The rest of Palestine was for both Jews and Arabs
¨ Arabs opposed Jewish settlement
Ø Nationalism- wanted control of all the territory, and did not want Jews there
Ø Economic and Social interest of the elites- wealthy landowners
5/31/11
¨ Appeasement of the Arabs
Ø White Paper of 1922
Promised the Arabs that they would have a majority in Palestine, self rule, and limit Jewish immigration
However, the Arabs refused to cooperate
Ø Riots of 1929
Arabs were mad that Jews were putting benches at the Kotel to be comfortable while they prayed. So, the Arabs decided to slaughter some Jews
British investigation blamed the Jews for “worrying” the Arabs through immigration à more restrictive regarding Jewish immigration
Ø White Paper of 1939
Declared the Jewish homeland “complete”
Allowed 15,000 Jews per year for 5 years to immigrate
Ø Why was Britain appeasing the Arabs so much?
It was right before WWII- they wanted the Arabs to oppose Hitler and be on the Allied side
¨ War years
¨ 1945-1957 conflicts
Ø After the war, Jews wanted to come to Israel, but they were not allowed. Jews who tried to sneak in to Israel were imprisoned in Cyprus
Ø Arabs kept attacking the Jews
Ø Jews tried to defend themselves, but the British sided with the Arabs (Arabs say otherwise)
¨ British turned the problem of Palestine over to the UN à Partition Plan
Ø Plan was accepted by the Jews, but completely rejected by the Arabs
v May 14th, 1948 the State of Israel was proclaimed
¨ War for Independence- all of the surrounding Arab states attacked Israel
Ø Israel won more land, however no peace
¨ Domestic affairs
Ø Diverse population
Any Jew was welcomed to live in Israel (Holocaust survivors, Jews being oppressed in Arab lands, religious, non-religious, socialist, etc. Basically everyone was different)
Ø Political democracy/ mixed economy- they had kibbutzim, which were socialistic, but people were also allowed to start their own businesses and be capitalist
Ø Ingathering of exiles- took in Jews from Yemen and other areas
6/2/11
v 1956 Sinai Campaign
¨ Causes
Ø Fedayeen- Arabs who came in and attacked Israel, trying to make life as difficult as possible for Jews (cut water lines, electrical lines, and sometimes killed Jews, however, they are not suicide attackers)
Ø Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, and did not allow Israel ships or ships going to and from Israel to pass through the canal (British and French were angered by this, and actually helped the Israelis in the war)
Ø Nasser also demanded that the Israelis do not use the Straits of Tiran as an alternate route to ship goods, and blockaded the Straits
Ø Egypt, Jordan, and Syria publicly announced that they were planning to destroy Israel
¨ Israel won, but the other countries were furious
Ø Israel was shunned for attacking first, but really Egypt was making war acts prior
Ø Israel was forced to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula, which they captured from the war
Ø Israel got UN peacekeepers along Israeli borders to keep out the fedayeen (but this only lasted till ’67)
v 1967 Six Day War
¨ Causes
Ø Same as the causes of the Sinai Campaign (except for the nationalization of the Suez Canal)
Ø Fedayeen
Ø Blockaded Straits of Tiran
Ø Public announcement to destroy Israel
Ø UN pulled out the peacekeepers because Nasser asked them to
¨ War
Ø Jordan and Syria helped Egypt in this war
Ø The entire Egyptian air force was destroyed in the first 2 hours of the war- Israel had control of the skies
¨ Results
Ø Territorial gains
Jerusalem
West Bank (Judah and Shomron)
Golan Heights
Gaza
Ø Again, Israel was condemned for attacking first. The US asked them to withdraw, but Israel said they would not withdraw until there is a peace treaty with the Arabs
¨ PLO
Ø Palestine Liberation Organization
Ø Terrorist group planning to destroy Israel
v 1973 Yom Kippur War
¨ Israel had barricaded the Suez Canal for defense, but the Egyptians washed it away
¨ Israel waited to be attacked to then counter-attack- they did not want to attack first again and be condemned. It was a defensive war
¨ Results
Ø Israel won
Ø No boundary changes
Ø Arabs believed they did better in this war, and a few years later the new head of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, addressed Knesset and discussed peace
v Peace
¨ Sadat came to offer peace- spoke to Knesset
Ø Why would he do this?
Economic troubles- maybe making peace with Israel would let Egypt get economic help from the US
Sadat was getting death threats from other Arabs
¨ 1979 Camp David
Ø Sadat (Egypt), Begin (Israel), Carter (US)
Ø First formal, written peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country
Egypt got back all of the Sinai (even though the Israelis had oil reserves there and an Israeli city)
US got the bill- they paid for all of the expenses of the treaty
Israel got a peace treaty
v 1981 Israel destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor
v 1982 Operation Peace for Galilee
¨ Fighting in Lebanon to stop attacks coming from Lebanon
¨ à Occupation of Southern Lebanon
¨ Eventually withdrew after persistent attacks
v 1990 Gulf War
¨ Israel was asked not to join the war
v 1993 Oslo
¨ Began a peace process that lasts to this day
¨ Background = Intifada- uprising
Ø Suicide bombings and constant attacks against Israelis
¨ Agreement between the PLO and Israel to work for peace
v 1994 Peace with Jordan
¨ Israel and Jordan made a peace, it’s not so friendly, but there haven’t been any wars with Jordan since
v 2005 Israel withdrew from Gaza
¨ Hoped it would be an opening step to peace
¨ à Rockets from Gaza into Israeli cities à Operation Cast Lead (Gaza War) December 2008-January 2009
v Peace making continued
¨ US made Israel stop building settlements for 10 months so they could discuss peace
¨ Jerusalem- Arabs want their capital there, but US and Israel refuse to split Jerusalem
¨ Arab refugees
Ø Lived in the West Bank of Gaza before they were in Israeli control. Once Israel took over these territories, they became under Israeli control and stayed there in refugee camps
¨ Borders (current fight)
Ø ’67 armistice lines (not real borders) are being demanded that everything right of the line should be for a Palestinian state
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