Israel Resources
Suggested Reading List on Israel
1) The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz
2) Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Mitchell Geoffrey Bard
3) From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine by Joan
Peters
4) Why I am a Zionist by Gil Troy
5) Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Michael B.
Oren
6) Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel’s Wars by Yaacov Lozowich
Online Publications
The Jerusalem Report
The Jerusalem Post
Israel Timeline
Important Dates in The History of the Land of Israel
I. ANCIENT PERIOD (PRE FIRST CENTURY)
18th century BCE: Abraham
1275-1250 BCE: Exodus from Egypt
1250-1200 BCE: Israelite conquests of Canaan, Hebrew rule
1020-1000 BCE: SAUL, first king of Israel
1000-960 BCE: DAVID, king of Israel, Jerusalem becomes capital during his reign
960-920 BCE: SOLOMON, king of Israel (builds First Temple)
920’s BCE: split between northern kingdom (Israel) and southern kingdom (Judah) [722 BCE: End of the northern kingdom (Assyria deportations)]
587 BCE: DESTRUCTION OF THE FIRST TEMPLE; Babylonian rule
538 BCE: CYRUS EDICT LETS JEWS BACK TO JUDEA
515 BCE: Second Temple built by returnees. Post-exilic prophets.
333 BCE: Alexander the Great (Greeks) occupies Judea, later taken by the Syrians (Seleucids), period of Hellenization; Greek rule
167 BCE: Maccabean revolt against paganization of the Temple; 164 BCE: Maccabees take back the Temple and rededicate it; Hebrew rule
63 BCE: Roman general Pompey captures Jerusalem; 37-4 BCE: Reign of Herod
0-30 CE: Period of Jesus; Hillel and Shammai; Roman domination
II. RABBINIC PERIOD IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL
66-70 CE: Jewish revolt against Rome, DESTRUCTION OF THE SECOND TEMPLE and exile; Roman rule
70 CE: Sanhedrin ; beginning of the writing of the Talmud and codification of oral laws
74 CE: Fall of Masada, the last stronghold against the Romans
135 CE: Intense Roman persecution, martyrdom of Rabbi Akiba and others
225-350 CE: Jewish leadership; Jerusalem Talmud is codified.
4th-6th century: New restrictions on Jewish rights under Roman laws. Christianization of Roman Empire. Christian rulle.
III. MIDDLE AGES IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL
614 CE: Persian invasion of Palestine; Jews return; Byzantine reoccupation in 629 CE
7th Century CE: Beginning of Islam, Arab Muslim conquest of Palestine; Muslim rule
1095 CE: Pope Urban II calls for the first crusade to recapture Jerusalem for the Church; 1099 Jerusalem conquered from the Muslims; 1109 Tiberias captured; 1147 CE Second Crusade; Christian rule
1187 CE: Saladin captures Jerusalem from the Crusaders; Jews allowed to return. Muslim rule
1244-1517 CE: Mamaluks capture Palestine; period of physical decline. Mamaluk (Muslim converts, former slaves) rule
1517 CE: Ottoman Empire (Turks) captures Palestine, Turkish rule for 400 years
IV. MODERN PERIOD IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL
1784: Moses Montefiore establishes new Jewish settlements in Palestine
1820’s: Beginnings of modern political Zionism; 1860-1904: Theodore Herzl
1882-1903- First Aliyah (from Eastern Europe); 1904-1914: Second Aliyah (from Russia and Yemen);1919-23: Third Aliyah; 1924-32: Fourth Aliyah (Poland);1929-1939: Mass Aliyah from Germany
1917-48: British conquest and rule of Palestine, ending four hundred years of Arab rule
NOTE 1920: The Balfour declaration: The British government endorses the establishment of a Jewish home in Palestine; approved by U.S. 1922
NOTE 1937: Peel Commission recommends partition into Jewish Israel and Arab Palestine; Weizmann and Ben Gurion accept; Arab riots.
1948: Declaration by U.N. of the right to a Jewish homeland. Israel declares independence from Britain. Arab forces invade. Jewish rule (Jerusalem divided between Jewish and Jordan rule.)
1949-50: Mass Iraqi and Yemenite aliyah; 1957-61: Mass Morroccan and Iranian aliyah;1985: Ethiopian exodus; 1989: Mass immigration of Russia Jews
1956: Sinai and Gaza conquered from Egypt.
1967: Jerusalem united; West Bank captured from Jordan; Golan captured from Syria
1973: Yom Kippur war, Egypt and Syria attack
1978: Camp David Accords; 1979 Egypt and Israel sign peace treaty
1982: Israel withdraws from Sinai; attacks Lebanon to weaken PLO
1991: Israel attacked in Gulf War; second Ethiopian exodus
NOTE 1993: Interim Self-Government Arrangements for the Palestinians signed by Israel and PLO; historic handshake between Prime Minister Rabin and Yasser Arafat.
1995-2003: Intifida periods
2006: 2nd Lebanon War
2007: Unsuccessful peace summit at Annapolis
2008-2009: Operation Cast Lead (Gaza incursion)
Present: Tourism peaks as Israel once again regains its status as a "vacation destination"
