The Beauty of the Jews

"Then he brought him outside and said, 'Look now to heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.' And he said to him, 'So shall your descendants be." Gen 15 : 5

As I read this, I began to tink wad wondeful pple these pple muz be.. a product of the promise of God and these pple the bible talks abt translates to the Jews. For those non christian reading this, well...u might not find it interesting but christian faith aside, I tink the Jews went thru a time as shown in history a trememdous time tat no words nor deeds can be used to make relative comparisons.

So it goes..the beautiful hostory of the Jews begun say ard 333 B.C, Alxeander the Great conquered the whole of Middle East. AD70, Roman General Titur destroyed Jerusalem. By AD135, the Jewish pple were totally expelled from the Palestine. They began to scatter all over Europe.

By the 11th century, the Jews became the top merchants and traders in Europe. At this juncture, Jerusalem was still under the control of the Byzantine Empire (eastern portion of the Roman Empire). 1070- Turks captured Jerusalem. The Byzantine Emperor immediately appealed to the Pope for help. In 1905, Pope Urban (the second) came up wif an idea. He called for a religious crusade to free Herusalem from all Jews and Muslims.

By 1300s, Jew accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. By the 14th century, England and France expelled the Jews and they started moving eastwards to Germany. 1348 --> the bubonic plague hit Europe (the 'black death') Guess who was blamed for the plague? U got it ...

In 1478, King Ferdinand (the fifth) and Queen Isabella (the first) started the Spanish Inquisition. 1492-97, the expelled Jews header for Italy, Holland, North Africa, Turkey, Palestine and South America. Others moved further east to Austria, Poland and Lithuania. In 1516, in Venice, all Jews were forced to live in walled up areas - the 'ghetto'.

1700s, Western Ecurope entered a period - "Enlightentainment" (readings from Soci..=)hahahah ) 1800s, W.Europe plunged into revolution. Industrial Revolution began.. time of opportunity for Jews and they became leaders in economics, maths and esp medicine.

Russia: Assassination of Czar Alexander (second) in 1881 unleashed nationalist feeling and anti-Jewish riots called 'pogroms' spread across the country. From 1881, Jews migrated out of E.Europe towards West. Most carried dreams of sailing across the Atlantic towards the US.

Interesting facts : "Give me the Poor, Tired and Hungry" - Stature of Liberty (this was inscribed by the Jews) & Hollywood was started by the Jews.

1871, Germans theoried that Jews muz be blamed for every prob in the world. In 1903, Russians produced a book "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a fictitious book on a conspiracy by Jews to dominate the world. In 1890, Austrian Jewish philosopher Nathan Birnbaum began to popularize the word 'Zionism'. In 1893, Theo Herzl, a Hungarian born Jewish hournalist was sent to Paris to cover a scandalous court case between a French and Jewish officeer. The French officer, Major Esterhazy was guilty of seeling military secrets to Germany but a Jewish Captain, Alfred Dreyfus was convicted. The mob shouted "Deathj to Dreyfus! Death to the Jews!"

The Ottaman Empire(Turkey) ruled Palestine sinc, captured Jerusalem exactly 400 years later on 1917.

Balfour Declaration:

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to faciliate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in anyother country."

In 1922, British separated Palestine into 2 territories: the Emirate of Tansjordan (now Jordan) and Palestine. During the period of the British (1922-48), the Jewish settlements in Palestine grew from 50K to 600K.

In a White Paper of May 1939, the Arab in Palestine was guaranteed that there would only be a furter immigration of 75K of Jews for 5 years and after tat, additional entry dependent on Arab consent. By May 1942, the world was horrified by the Holocaust.

Out of the 11 million Nazis had killed, 6 million were Jews. Of the Jews, 1.5 million were children! In fact, in 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to prevent a repeat of Holocaust upon any other human race.

On Nov 29 1947, the UN passed Resolution 181, which called for a partition of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. Israel owed its existence to a unique set of circumstances:
1. Western sympathy for Jewish suffering.
2. Political influence of American Jews in securing the support of President Harry S. Truman
3. British's loss of will to continure its rule in Palestin
4. The determination of the Jews to immigrate back to build their own state.

#1 The War of Independence in 1948
Arab forces = armies of Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestinian guerrillas. On day 1 - May 14, 1948 - Israel was born as a cimplete nation with its own government , armed forces etc.

#2 The Sinai Campaign in 1956
Egypt refused to allow Israeli ships to use the Suex Canal which Israel came to regard as an act of war. Suez was jointly owned by Britain and France then. In Oct tat yr, Israel invaded Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula defeating Egyptian forces. Britain and France attacked as well a few days later. UN mediated a truce and the troops withdrew end of 1956.

#3 The 6 Days War in 1967
In 1967, Egypt, Syria and Jordan massed their armies on Israel's borders. Several other states called for war too. Assuming the Arabs would attack, Israel struck first in Jun 1967! Israel gained control of West Bank, Sinai Peninsular, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Jerusalem.

#4 The Yom Kippur War of 1973
#5 The Lebanon Invasion in 1982

The OSLO Accords
1. A gradual transfer of power to Palestinians.
2. Further agreements in 1994-95 gave Palestinians autonomy over most aspects of life in the Gaza Strip and cities of West Bank.
3. Lives of Palestinians governed by Palestinian National Authority (PNA)
4. Israel would conduct further withdrawals from the rural areas of West Bank
5. Only if all these successful, talks will begin for the final status of the Palestinian areas.

1994: Jordan and Isarel signed peace treaty.
1995: Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin assassinated by Israeli student opposed to the peace process. Under Israeli PM Benjamin Natanyahu, peace process stalled in 1997.
1999: Natanyahu defeated by Labor Party leader Ehud Barak during elections. He was in turn defeated by Ariel Sharon in 2001

Tat's all....but I find the history so enriching n beautiful yet there are those who of coz think it is boring
Oh well.....tink i am signing off
CHeerz!=)