My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel

Anti-Semitism is a hostility to or prejudice against Jews. Antisemitism in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East was the impetus for the Zionist movement and the creation of the State of Israel. Many Arab Palestinians harbor anti-Semitic beliefs, and many of Israel’s neighbor nations are anti-Semitic. Shavit considers the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) movement in the United States anti-Semitic.

BDS is the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. It is a Palestinian-led campaign advocating various forms of boycott against Israel until Israel meets its purported obligations under international law, which the movement describes as withdrawal from occupied territories in Palestine, removal of the West Bank separation barrier, equality for Arab-Palestinian Israeli citizens, and respecting the right of return for Palestinian refugees. The campaign is organized by the Palestinian BDS National Committee.

A Lebanese war between the Israel and Hezbollah. It is considered the first of many Iran-Israel proxy conflicts, not a continuation of the Arab-Israeli conflicts. 

The 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, later called “The Great Revolt,” was a nationalist uprising against the British administration of the Palestine Mandate. Those revolting demanded Arab independence in Palestine and an end to the policy of open-ended Jewish immigration and land purchases to establish a Jewish national home. The revolt began with a general strike but quickly escalated to violence.

In 1967, Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in a war that lasted only six days. Israel’s quick victory in the war established its reputation as a regional military power.

A proposed solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which an independent State of Palestine would exist alongside an independent State of Israel. Both sides of the conflict support a two-state solution in theory, but Palestinians and Arabs disagree with Israelis on the borders of the proposed independent states, and members on both sides increasingly claim a two-state solution is not possible. 

The Yom Kippur War was a 1973 war in Sinai and the Golan, fought against Israel by Egypt and Syria. Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism. The war ended by a United Nations-brokered ceasefire, but before the ceasefire both sides suffered many casualties, and Israel’s regional military dominance was weakened. 

Dimona is an Israeli city in the Negev desert where the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, or the Dimona Reactor, is located. The reactor is an Israeli nuclear facility where Israel developed nuclear energy and weapons capability between 1958 and 1969. In doing so, it became just the fourth nation to possess nuclear weapons and the only nuclear state in the Middle East. Israel is now estimated to possess anywhere between 80 and 400 nuclear weapons. 

A self-governing Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, which borders Egypt and Israel. Gaza is separated from another Palestinian territory, the West Bank, by Israeli territory. Gaza is the third-most populous territory in the world. A buffer zone between Gaza and Israel renders much of its land off-limits to its residents. Because of blockades, residents cannot enter or exit Gaza or freely import or export goods. Despite a 2005 Israeli disengagement, the United Nations, international human rights organizations, many governments, and many legal commentators claim the territory is still occupied by Israel and that Israel exercises both direct external control and indirect internal control over Gaza. Scholars describe Israel’s control over Gaza as “indirect occupation.” Israel argues these measures are necessary to ensure Israel’s protection, especially with the militant Hamas government now in power in Gaza.

The West Bank is a landlocked territory bordered by Jordan and Israel. Jordan captured the West Bank in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and occupied the territory from 1950 to 1967. Israel retook the land during the Six Day War. The Oslo Accords gave much of the West Bank to Palestine, but Israel still controls over 60% of the West Bank and has settlements considered illegal under international law in other areas of the West Bank. 

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the Iran Nuclear Deal, is a 2015 agreement between Iran, “the P5+1” (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany), and the European Union to limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities and ambitions. Under the agreement, Iran would reduce its nuclear facilities and accept mutually agreed-upon protocols in exchange for lifting of nuclear-related economic sanctions, freeing billions of dollars in frozen assets.

Palestine is a geographic region in Western Asia that includes Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and some parts of Jordan. After World War II, the United Nations partitioned the geographic region of Palestine to create independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The sovereign State of Palestine consists of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. Israel has occupied the sovereign State of Palestine since 1967. The portions of the sovereign State of Palestine occupied by Israel are referred to as Palestinian territories or occupied Palestinian territory.

Agreements between the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization brokered by President Clinton and signed in 1993 and 1995 respectively. The accords are the beginning of a peace process to achieve a peace treaty and fulfill the Palestinian people’s right of self-determination. The Oslo Accords are the result of secret negotiations between Israeli cabinet members and Palestine Liberation Organization leaders. The accords establish recognition by the Palestine Liberation Organization of the State of Israel and recognition by Israel of the Palestine Liberation Organization as the representative of the Palestinian people. They create a Palestinian Authority with limited self-governance in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Oslo Accords did not create a Palestinian State.

The settlers’ movement was created by Gush Emunim, an Israeli Orthodox Jewish right-wing activist, after the 1967 Six-Day War. The movement established Israeli housing settlements in Palestinian territories of the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights. The movement was formally established as an organization in 1974 after the Yom Kippur War. Members of the movement occupy Palestinian land with the hope of eventually transferring it to Israeli control, based on their belief that God gave the land to the Jewish people. 

Masada is an ancient Israeli fortress atop an isolated rock plateau, built by Herod the Great between 37 and 31 BCE. At the end of the First Jewish-Roman War in 73 and 74 CE, Roman troops sieged Masada. During the siege 960, Sicarii rebels in the fortress committed mass suicide. Shmaryahu Gutman created the “Masada Ethos” based on the siege of Masada to instill pride in young Israelis.

About 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 Palestine war with Israel. Israelis call this war the War of Independence. Most settled in Jordanian refugee camps.

The Hebrew word for any Jew born in Israel.

Jewish populations residing in the United States, whether they are Jewish by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. The United States Jewish community of 5.7 million people consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jewish descendants of diaspora Jewish populations from Central and Eastern Europe. It comprises approximately 1.7% to 2.6% of the United States population but accounts for over one-third of the global Jewish population.

A diaspora is a scattered population with a single geographically located origin. The Jewish diaspora is the dispersion of Israelites or Jews around the globe from their ancestral homeland of Israel. Israelis distinguish between Israeli Jews and diaspora Jews.

A utopian communist/socialist collective agricultural community in Israel. Modern Kibbutzim supplement or replace farming with industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. 

A former state and caliphate over Southeast Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa that existed between the 14th and early 20th centuries. The Armistice of Mudros in 1918 ended the empire and established its partition. Under the Ottoman Empire, the Palestinian region was a poor region on the outskirts of the empire, ignored by most within the empire.

A nomadic Arab people in North Africa and the Middle East.

Israeli Defense Forces: the military forces of the State of Israel.