Definition of State of Israel

The discovery of the Nazi concentration camps by the Allies at the end of the Second War Worldwide, and the crimes committed against various populations, including the Jewish population (although there are voices that affirm that a reduced circle leaders and military allies knew it before and decided not to do anything for strategic reasons), they promoted a movement from solidarity with the Hebrew people who facilitated the creation of their own state, which could be considered "Jewish land", the State of Israel.

Independent in 1948, the State of Israel was born as a result of a UN resolution that divided the land of Palestine into two "households nationals ”, one of them for the Palestinian Arabs, and the other for the Jewish population, mostly emigrated since the beginning of the century. XX.

In this way, the United Nations organization hoped to put an end to a long-standing problem, that the Jews could have a state of their own. The resolution was undoubtedly greatly influenced by what the Hebrew people suffered during World War II, although the issue It started long before, with the birth of Zionism, which preached precisely the return to the Palestinian home and the creation of a Jewish state.

Zionism began to take its first steps in the late nineteenth century, causing the first waves migrations to Palestine, which continued during the first decades of the 20th century until the creation of the State From Israel.

During World War I, and to win the support of the Jewish community, Great Britain promised the Zionists the creation of a Jewish state at the end of the war. However, once the conflict ended, he betrayed his promise.

Palestine became a British mandate of the League of Nations (predecessor entity of the UN), and during that period the violence between Arabs and Jews, materialized in the creation of several organizations that acted with terrorist tactics, facing both the enemy (the Jews in the case of the Arabs, and vice versa), like the British, who were in the middle and receiving sticks from both sides.

Little by little, the world had sought to forget the resolution of the so-called "Jewish question" (a name that gained a bad reputation for its use by the Nazism), but the Jews had not forgotten, they needed a home in which to feel safe, something that was revealed by Nazism and the crimes committed against the Hebrew people between 1933 and 1945.

It was not the first time that the Jews suffered ethnic / religious hatred in their flesh, but it was undoubtedly the most atrocious, with death camps operating under an industrial premise. Undoubtedly, this was instrumental in paving the way for the creation of the State of Israel.

In 1947, the British government, fed up with a continuous beating of its own victims in a conflict that seemed to have no solution, decided to abandon Palestine renouncing its mandate, which it had maintained since after the First World War, passing to the newly created UN the witness for the resolution of the conflict.

After studying and discussing the conflict, the UN established a plan that divided the territory of the British mandate of Palestine into two independent states, one of them for the Jews, and the other for the Arabs.

Jerusalem was the main stumbling block, as it is a holy city for the three religions, and both Arabs as Jews they wanted its control and wanted it to be the capital of their corresponding new states. The solution taken was to internationalize it, so that it did not belong to either of the two sides in conflict.

On the same day that the British mandate expired, May 14, 1948, David Ben Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel.

The new country was born in war against a coalition of Arab countries, weakened by lack of international recognition, but strengthened by all the sufferings suffered by the Jewish people throughout its history, but above all in the years of the recent world conflagration.

Determined not to be wiped off the map or lose their chance to live in their own home, the Israelis stood up to Arabs who acted disunited, lacking coordination, despite the fact that they had help from the British. The Israelis also counted among their ranks experienced veterans of the Second World War, who were holders of an invaluable experience at that time.

The conflict, known as the Israeli War of Independence, ended with an Israeli victory, which allowed the new state not only to survive, but increase their territories, and led to the disappearance of the Palestinian state, whose territories came under the control of its Arab neighbors, such as Jordan and Egypt.

Although initially it was difficult for him to make "friends" in the international community, Israel ended up becoming ally of the United States, which earned him a very important support to guarantee his future existence.

Enemy "in perpetuity" with the Arab countries, the consequences of that war and subsequent ones are still being felt today. Because it was not the last confrontation between Israel and its Arab neighbors ...

In 1956 another conflict would break out as a result of the movements of the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, who nationalized the Suez Canal and blocked the Strait of Tiran.

These movements not only harmed Israel, but also other Western countries, so the Jewish state agreed on secretly with Great Britain and France an intervention, attacking in a coordinated way (although officially for different reasons) Egypt.

Although Israel benefited from the conflict, conquering the Sinai Peninsula (which would be returned to Egypt in 1982), Great Britain and France were pressured by the United States to abandon its actions, with which, and despite the military defeat of Nasser, Egypt was proclaimed as the moral winner of the contest.

In 1967, and noticing significant concentrations of Arab troops near its borders, Israel decided to strike the first blow, and attacked both Egypt and Syria.

Nasser wanted to force the Israeli machinery, since due to its economy and demographics, the Hebrew state could not maintain a state of continued war for long without its economy suffering as a result.

If Israel had not attacked, it would have had to end up demobilizing a good part of its troops in a moment or another, which undoubtedly would have been used by the Arab forces to launch themselves on Israel.

The downside is that, by attacking first, Israel was for all intents and purposes the aggressor in this case.

The first thing the Israeli army did was eliminate the enemy air force at its bases, with a daring attack planned on an efficient information of intelligence. Gaining dominion of the skies, the ground offensive did not pose such a big problem even against numerically greater forces.

This conflict allowed Israel to seize East Jerusalem and the strategic Golan Heights, territories they still hold today.

In 1973 the Yom Kippur War broke out, known by this name because it was fought on the same dates as this Jewish holiday.

The fact that the Arab countries launched an attack for this holiday, one of the most sacred of Judaism, it is not by chance, since they sought to surprise and partially demobilize their enemy.

Although the initial attack surprised the Israelis, they were eventually able to resist and successfully counterattack. This conflict was characterized by the support of the Soviet Union to the Arab side, and of the United States to Israel.

The last conventional war in which Israel has been involved has been the occupation of southern Lebanon in 1982.

However, the Hebrew state has been involved in a continuous guerrilla and terrorist war against armed organizations such as Hamas or Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Israel has become not only a military but also a technological power, although it continues to be involved in controversy, with very conflicting positions; few people, if we ask them, will present a neutral opinion: or criticize what Israel does to the Palestinians, or they will show support for the Zionist cause and for the necessity that, after suffering, the Jews have a state of their own.

Photo: Fotolia - Yarr65

Issues in State of Israel