UNDERSTANDING THE MIDDLE EAST:
History, Religion, and the Clash of Cultures
400 pages
Copyright © 2007 by Beechmont Crest Publishing
First edition, 2007
0-9748330-6-1
C H A P T E R 6:
Zionism and the Modern State of Israel
By the mid-twentieth century, few peoples had suffered as many persecutions as had the descendents of the ancient Hebrews. In biblical times, the Jews had endured the depredations of the Assyrians, the Egyptians, and the Babylonians. In 132 A.D., an attempt to shake off the yoke of Roman rule resulted in devastation at the hands of a vengeful Roman Empire. Ancient Judea was destroyed, and its people were scattered throughout the Middle East and Europe.
Palestine under Byzantium, the Crusaders, and the Ottomans
Those Jews who remained in their ancient homeland generally fared poorly under the region’s successive foreign masters. When Palestine became a Byzantine territory in the 300s, Byzantium was Christian, and somewhat hostile to Judaism. In the early 600s, the Jews assisted a Persian invasion of the area. But this Persian interlude did not last long. Byzantine troops reentered Jerusalem in 629 and expelled all the Jews from the city.
When the Muslim caliph Umar captured Jerusalem in 637, he granted all Jews and Christians the freedom to worship as long as they paid tribute---and agreed not to expand their religions. Then in 717, the caliphate passed a series of new restrictions on non-Muslims. Many Jews left the area in response. The Abbasids passed additional laws aimed at the Islamicization of the region. Once again, many Jews left----or converted to Islam.
The Crusades were disastrous for the Jewish residents remaining in Palestine. In 1099, Palestine’s Jews fell victim to the Frankish Crusaders. The Crusaders hunted down and killed many Jews by the sword. They burned to death others who had taken refuge inside their homes or in synagogues. Jews were formally banished en masse from the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Others remained in hiding within the city. Then Saladin captured Jerusalem in 1187. He restored the Jews’ rights to practice their religion. Saladin also allowed the return and resettlement of Jews who had fled earlier persecutions.
Under Ottoman rule, there were few organized persecutions of Palestine’s Jews. The Ottoman sultans were preoccupied with their wars in Europe; and Palestine enjoyed the benign neglect of Istanbul for centuries. Many ethnic Jews whose ancestors had fled to North Africa and Europe took advantage of this situation to return. By the mid-1800s, however, the Ottoman Empire was rapidly decaying, and its increasing taxes weighed heavily on every resident of Palestine, regardless of religion.
Copyright 2005 Beechmont Crest Publishing
