The Perseverance and Challenge of Jewish People in the Holy Land


In the 1st century AD, Israel (then called Judea) was just another protectorate/
province of the Roman Empire. Most of her people were scattered in a great Diaspora to
the many countries of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, but representatives of the Jewish people were able to return to their original homeland and set up a Jewish government after more than 1800 years of subjugation by foreign powers. This essay will briefly review the dispersion of the Jewish people after 135 AD, the reestablishment of the Jewish state of Israel in 1948, and the grave challenge that now faces this government of Israel in our present time.
The dispersion of the Jewish people resulted from their unwillingness to submit to a government that could not respect their religion and traditions. The Jewish revolt against Rome that started in 66 AD was defeated by the Roman generals Vespasian and Titus (this revolt saw Jerusalem besieged and conquered, the Temple destroyed, and the last stronghold of Masada captured in 72 AD). In 132 AD a Jewish nationalist leader (recognized by many Jews as a messiah), named Simon Bar Kokhba initiated another brutal terrorist campaign against the Roman garrisons in Judea. The Roman Emperor Hadrian arrived in person in Judea in 134 AD with experienced legions, and after many brutal battles the rebellion was crushed and Bar Kokhba was slain in 135 AD. The reflective Emperor Hadrian (who spent most of his reign constructively strengthening the infrastructure of his Empire) was greatly saddened that this small province had once again shown its reluctance to peacefully benefit from the patrimony of Rome. Hadrian had Bar Kokhba’s corpse brought to him and “is supposed to have looked upon it with some awe, saying, ‘If his god had not killed him, who could have overcome him?’” (Speller, p. 200). The dispersion of the Jewish population was now accelerated. “While hundreds of thousands of Jews fled the bloodshed and destruction, many hundreds of thousands more were deported as slaves, to every corner of the Roman Empire” (Ricciotti, p. 460).
The reestablishment of a Jewish state in Judea seemed very unlikely in 135 AD. The small remnant of Jewish population in Judea remained under the subjugation of foreign powers for the next 1800 years, and their brethren (who were scattered around the world) suffered from intermittent persecution in their adopted lands, while many individual Jews achieved great financial, social, and sometimes political success (two notable examples are Nobel Prize winning scientist Albert Einstein and British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli). Some affluent Jews dreamed and gradually prepared for the improbable reestablishment of a Jewish homeland in Judea. “The very ancient toast always offered by Jews throughout the world on Passover, ‘Next year in Jerusalem,’ expresses a Zionism so deeply imbedded in Jewish culture and religion as to be inextinguishable’” (Goldston, p. 241). The largely Muslim Palestinian (the country was now called Palestine) populations of 20th century Judea (and the Arab nations surrounding it) were not enthusiastic about the reestablishment of a Jewish state, but the last great persecution of the Jews in Europe gave inexorable momentum to the Zionist goal. History professor Norman Raiford explains, “It was Hitler’s Holocaust during World War Two, which shamed all Europe into deciding that at long last Zionism must come about as a way to protect the surviving Jews. Britain [who had administered Judea since the defeat of the Ottoman Empire] sought the United Nations' help with establishing a partitioned Palestine to consist of two nations: Israel for Jews and Palestine for Muslim Arabs” (Raiford, His-112 online Lecture Notes Lecture 1.4). A war ensued in 1948, as surrounding Arab nations attacked Israel, but the new Jewish state triumphed (most of the Muslim Palestinians fled the contested territory) and Israel was now in control of both halves of the proposed partitioned state (a total of 7992 sq. miles).
The grave challenge that the Israeli government must overcome is that of providing representative government and economic opportunities to the Palestinian Arabs in the territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 war. Israel today is a modern parliamentary democracy with a well developed infrastructure and an economy that is expanding more rapidly than the U.S. or Europe. “Since its inception, Israel has absorbed more than 3 million [Jewish] immigrants, more than five times the number of Jews living in the country when it attained independence in 1948. Israel absorbed almost 1.2 million immigrants in a decade, augmenting the country's civilian labor force, from 1.65 million in 1990 to 2.8 million in 2006” (‘Economy: Challenges and Achievements’, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs). 20% of Israel’s 7.1 million people are Arabs (mostly Muslim) and these Palestinians are Israeli citizens, who enjoy the same rights and benefits as the Jewish citizens. It is the Palestinian Arabs in the occupied territories that present the gravest challenge to Israel’s security. According to history professor Norman Raiford, “since taking over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967, Israel has inherited what is now a population of 3,500,000 Palestinian refugees who are kept in refugee camps and according to some reports in wretched poverty and near starvation” (Raiford, His-112 online Lecture Notes Lecture 1.4). U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who helped to engineer the Egypt-Israel Treaty of 1979, is disappointed by the failure of the Israeli government to provide for a functional Palestinian state within Israel. According to Carter, “The Palestinian issue is a basic cause of the continuing Middle East conflict, and it must be addressed successfully if there is ever to be peace in the region” (Carter, p. 126).
The Jewish people of Israel may be justifiable proud of their history of resistance to foreign occupation and their maintenance of a cohesive nationalism over the centuries of the Diaspora. They may also be proud of their amazing achievement of producing a viable and growing economy in a region that was primarily unproductive desert and scrubland 100 years ago. Now they must face their greatest challenge and provide for legitimate self rule and economic development for the Palestinians in the occupied territories. The peace of the world and the survival of Israel will remain at risk until this is accomplished.