There is something special about us — our existence has not been erased. Even now, our name and mark remain.
Introduction
No people in recorded history have been persecuted as systematically, as repeatedly, and across as many centuries as the Jewish people.
They were enslaved in Egypt. Conquered by Assyrians. Exiled to Babylon. Scattered by Rome. Massacred during the Crusades. Blamed for the Black Death. Expelled from Spain. Slaughtered in the Holocaust.
And yet — after 2,000 years of diaspora, forced migration, and genocide — they built a state.
On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion stood in Tel Aviv and read the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel. It was one of the most improbable events in human history: a people who had been stateless for two millennia, scattered across every continent, speaking dozens of languages — reconstituting themselves as a nation in their ancient homeland.
To understand the Israel-Palestine conflict — one of the most contested and emotionally charged disputes in the world today — you must first understand this story. Not the politics of 1948, but the 2,000 years that preceded it.
This is that story.
The Ancient World: Mesopotamia, Assyria and the First Kingdoms of Israel
Our story begins not in Israel, but in Mesopotamia — the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in what is today Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey, and Syria. This is where human civilization first emerged, roughly 5,000 years before the Common Era.
The Mesopotamian Civilization passed through several phases:
| Period | Civilization | Approximate Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Sumerian | City-states, first writing | 5000–2370 BC |
| Akkadian | First empire | 2370–2230 BC |
| Old Babylonian | Hammurabi’s Code | 1792–1595 BC |
| Hittite | Indo-European empire | 1600–1300 BC |
| Assyrian | Military empire | 1300–600 BC |
| Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) | Nebuchadnezzar | 600–530 BC |
It was during the late Assyrian period, around 900–800 BC, that small kingdoms began emerging along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea — squeezed between the Egyptian Empire to the southwest and the Assyrian Empire to the north.
Among these small kingdoms was the Kingdom of Israel.
The Kingdom of Israel was divided into two parts:
- The Northern Kingdom (called Israel) — capital: Samaria
- The Southern Kingdom (called Judea) — containing the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with Jerusalem as its center
These two kingdoms were constantly fighting each other and their neighbors. In 722 BC, the Assyrian Empire destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The people of the Northern Kingdom fled south to Judea.
The Southern Kingdom of Judea survived — barely. Its people, the Judeans (from whom the word “Jewish” derives), narrowly escaped the Assyrian slaughter.
THE ANCIENT KINGDOMS OF ISRAEL
Mediterranean Sea
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| PHOENICIA (Lebanon)
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┌─────────────────────────┐
│ NORTHERN KINGDOM │ <── Destroyed by Assyria, 722 BC
│ (Israel) │
│ Capital: Samaria │
├─────────────────────────┤
│ SOUTHERN KINGDOM │ <── Survived, became center of
│ (Judea) │ Jewish identity
│ Capital: Jerusalem │
└─────────────────────────┘
|
EGYPT (to the southwest)
The Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the Foundation of Judaism
Before we go further, we need to understand the religious foundation of Jewish identity — because it is inseparable from the political history.
Abraham is the central figure of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He is considered the first Jew — the founder of monotheism (the belief in one God). Originally from Ur in Mesopotamia, Abraham received a divine covenant: God promised him the land of Canaan (roughly modern-day Israel/Palestine) as a homeland for his descendants.
Abraham and his wife Sarah had a son: Isaac. Isaac and his wife Rebekah had twin sons: Esau and Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons — the founders of the 12 Tribes of Israel.
This is why Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are called the Abrahamic religions — all three trace their spiritual lineage to Abraham.
| Religion | View of Abraham |
|---|---|
| Judaism | Founder of Judaism, first Jew, father of the Jewish people |
| Christianity | “Father of faith,” spiritual ancestor of all believers |
| Islam | Ibrahim — Prophet and Messenger of God, builder of the Kaaba |
King David (1010–970 BC) was the king who united the northern and southern kingdoms and declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. His son Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem — the holiest site in Judaism.
The Torah — the sacred text of Judaism, written in Hebrew — is believed to have been dictated by God to Moses. The Hebrew Bible (also called the Old Testament by Christians) was written between approximately 1200 and 165 BC.
Babylon, Persia and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem
In 587 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar II conquered Jerusalem, destroyed Solomon’s Temple, and exiled the Jewish population to Babylon. This event — the Babylonian Exile — is one of the defining traumas of Jewish history.
For 50 years, the Jewish people lived in Babylon, maintaining their identity, their language, and their faith in a foreign land. This period produced some of the most important texts of the Hebrew Bible.
Then came Cyrus the Great.
Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire around 550 BC — one of the largest empires in history, stretching from the Balkans to the Indus Valley. In 539 BC, Cyrus conquered Babylon.
And then he did something remarkable: he issued the Edict of Cyrus, allowing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple.
This was not just generosity. Cyrus had a policy of respecting the religious practices of conquered peoples — a revolutionary idea in the ancient world. But for the Jewish people, it was salvation.
By the early 5th century BC, the Jews had returned to Jerusalem, rebuilt the city, and constructed the Second Temple. They also compiled and codified the Torah during this period.
| Empire | Period of Control over Jerusalem | Key Event |
|---|---|---|
| Assyrian | ~722–600 BC | Destroyed Northern Kingdom |
| Babylonian | 600–539 BC | Destroyed First Temple, Exile |
| Persian (Achaemenid) | 539–332 BC | Allowed Jews to return, rebuild |
| Greek (Ptolemaic) | 301–198 BC | Jewish community in Alexandria |
| Greek (Seleucid) | 198–164 BC | Hellenization, Jewish revolt |
| Hasmonean (Jewish) | 164–63 BC | Independent Jewish kingdom |
| Roman | 63 BC–636 AD | Destroyed Second Temple, Diaspora |
| Arab/Islamic | 636–1099 AD | Dome of Rock built |
| Crusader | 1099–1187 AD | Christian control |
| Mamluk/Ottoman | 1187–1917 AD | Muslim control |
| British | 1917–1948 | Mandate Palestine |
| Israel | 1948–present | Jewish state |
Alexander, Rome and the Diaspora Begins
In 336 BC, Alexander the Great became King of Macedonia (modern Greece) and began one of history’s most extraordinary military campaigns. In just 10 years, he conquered the Persian Empire, Egypt, and reached as far as the Indus River in India.
Along the way, he passed through Judea. The Jews, who had been loyal to the Persian king, were now under Greek rule.
After Alexander’s death in 323 BC, his empire was divided among his generals. Jerusalem came under the control of the Ptolemaic dynasty (based in Egypt) and then the Seleucid dynasty (based in Syria).
The Greeks brought their Hellenic culture — their language, philosophy, art, and religion. This created friction with Jewish culture. A group of Jewish traditionalists called the Hasmoneans launched a revolt against Greek cultural domination in 164 BC, captured Jerusalem, and established an independent Jewish kingdom that lasted nearly 100 years.
Then came Rome.
In 63 BC, the Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem. Rome ruled Judea through a series of client kings, the most famous of whom was Herod the Great (37–4 BC), who rebuilt the Second Temple on a magnificent scale.
Under Roman rule, Judaism was recognized as a legal religion by Julius Caesar. But the relationship between Jews and Romans was tense. The Romans were polytheists; the Jews were monotheists. The Romans demanded worship of the emperor; the Jews refused.
Between 66 BC and 135 AD, there were a series of massive Jewish revolts against Roman rule. The Romans crushed them all. In 70 AD, the Roman general Titus destroyed the Second Temple — an event so catastrophic that it is still mourned by Jews every year on the fast of Tisha B’Av.
The Romans expelled the Jewish population from Judea and scattered them across the Roman Empire — to Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. This is the Diaspora — the dispersal of the Jewish people from their homeland.
THE DIASPORA BEGINS (70 AD - 135 AD)
Roman destruction of Jerusalem
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Jews expelled from Judea
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┌─────┼─────┐
v v v
Europe Middle North
East Africa
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v
2,000 years of wandering begins
Christianity, Islam and Jerusalem as the World’s Most Contested City
Two of the world’s great religions were born in or near Jerusalem — and both transformed the city’s significance.
Christianity emerged from Jewish tradition in the 1st century AD. Jesus of Nazareth — whom Christians believe to be the Son of God — was a Jewish preacher in Roman-controlled Judea. He was crucified by order of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate around 30 AD.
Saint Paul (originally a Roman citizen named Saul) spread the teachings of Jesus throughout the Roman Empire in the 1st century. Christianity grew rapidly among the poor and marginalized — offering community, hope, and a message of equality before God.
For two centuries, Christians were persecuted by Rome. Thousands were killed in gladiatorial games. Then, in 313 AD, Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, granting legal status to Christianity. By 390 AD, Christianity had become the dominant religion of the Roman Empire.
Jerusalem became a pilgrimage site for Christians — the place where Jesus had lived, preached, died, and (according to Christian belief) risen from the dead.
Islam was born in Mecca (modern Saudi Arabia) around 620–635 AD, when the Prophet Muhammad received divine revelations. Within a century of Muhammad’s death, Arab armies had conquered a vast territory stretching from Spain to Central Asia.
In 638 AD, Arab forces under Caliph Umar captured Jerusalem. The Arabs built the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in 685–691 AD — on the site where Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven during the Night Journey.
Jerusalem was now the holy city of three religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — all claiming the same small piece of land.
The Crusades, Black Death and the Scapegoating of Jews in Europe
By the early 11th century, the Seljuk Turks — a Central Asian Muslim dynasty — had conquered Jerusalem and began persecuting Christian pilgrims. This enraged European Christians.
In 1095, Pope Urban II called for a Crusade — a military expedition to recapture the Holy Land. European Christian armies marched toward Jerusalem.
Along the way, they massacred Jewish communities across Europe and the Middle East. The logic was brutal: if Muslims were the enemy, and Muslims had been friendly to Jews, then Jews were also the enemy. European Christians began to believe that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus — calling them “deicide” (killers of God).
This was the beginning of systematic, religiously-motivated antisemitism in Europe.
Then came the Black Death.
In 1347, the bubonic plague arrived in Europe via Genoese merchant ships from the Black Sea. Within five years, it killed approximately half of Europe’s population — one of the greatest catastrophes in human history.
Someone had to be blamed. The Jews were blamed.
Rumors spread that Jews had poisoned wells to kill Christians. These rumors were false — Jews were dying from the plague at the same rate as everyone else. But the rumors were believed. Across Europe, Jewish communities were massacred, expelled, and burned alive.
PERSECUTION TIMELINE IN EUROPE
1095-1291 Crusades — Jews massacred along the routes
1144 First "blood libel" accusation in England
1290 Jews expelled from England
1306 Jews expelled from France
1347-1352 Black Death — Jews blamed for poisoning wells
1391 Massacres of Jews in Spain
1492 Jews expelled from Spain (same year Columbus sailed)
1500s Jews welcomed in Ottoman Empire
1648-1649 Cossack massacres in Poland — 100,000+ Jews killed
1880s-1900s Pogroms in Russia — mass violence against Jews
1933-1945 Holocaust — 6 million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany
The Ottoman Refuge and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
After the Spanish expulsion of 1492 — the same year Columbus sailed to America — the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Bayezid II welcomed the expelled Jews. The Ottomans were pragmatic: they saw the Jews as skilled merchants, craftsmen, and financiers who would benefit the empire.
The Ottoman Empire became a refuge for Jews fleeing persecution in Western Europe. Jewish communities flourished in Istanbul, Thessaloniki, and Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — established in 1569 — became another safe haven. Poland and Lithuania had a tradition of religious tolerance unusual for the era. By the early 17th century, Poland-Lithuania was home to more than 300,000 Jews — the largest Jewish community in the world.
But safety was always temporary.
In the mid-18th century, the neighboring empires — Russia, Prussia (Germany), and the Habsburg Empire (Austria) — attacked and partitioned Poland-Lithuania. In the process, over 100,000 Jews were killed and many more fled.
Those who fled moved east — into the Russian Empire. But Russia did not welcome them. Jews in Russia were confined to a designated area called the Pale of Settlement and subjected to periodic pogroms — organized massacres.
By the mid-19th century, Jews began migrating to the United States and Western Europe, where conditions had improved. The United States, in particular, became home to a large and prosperous Jewish community.
Zionism: The Birth of a National Movement
By the late 19th century, Jewish intellectuals across Europe were reaching a conclusion: assimilation was not working. No matter how much Jews integrated into European society — speaking the local language, serving in the military, contributing to culture and science — they were still persecuted. They were still seen as outsiders.
The answer, some argued, was a Jewish state.
In 1897, a Jewish journalist named Theodor Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. The movement was called Zionism — named after Zion, the Hebrew name for Jerusalem and the Land of Israel.
The Zionist movement had a simple goal: establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine — the ancient land of Israel, which at that time was part of the Ottoman Empire and inhabited primarily by Arab Muslims and Christians who were developing their own national identity as Palestinians.
This was the collision course that would define the 20th century.
THE COLLISION COURSE
Jewish Zionist Movement (1897)
"We need a homeland in Palestine"
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Palestinian Arab Population
"We already live here"
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Ottoman Empire (controls Palestine)
"We don't support Zionism"
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v
World War I (1914-1918)
Ottoman Empire collapses
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v
British take control of Palestine
Promise homeland to BOTH Jews AND Arabs
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v
Conflict becomes inevitable
World War I, the Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate
World War I (1914–1918) was fought between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire) and the Allies (France, Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and eventually the United States).
The Jewish population was scattered across both sides. Jews fought in the German army and the Russian army — enemies of each other. Their loyalty was questioned by both sides.
The British government saw an opportunity. In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour wrote a letter to Lord Walter Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community. This letter — the Balfour Declaration — stated:
“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 facilitate 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.”
In exchange, Britain wanted Jewish support against the Central Powers and the Ottoman Empire.
Simultaneously, Britain was making promises to Arab leaders — promising them independent Arab states if they revolted against the Ottoman Empire. Sharif Hussein of Mecca launched the Arab Revolt in 1916, supported by the famous T.E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”).
Britain had made contradictory promises to two different peoples about the same land.
After the war, the Ottoman Empire was dismantled. The League of Nations gave Britain a Mandate over Palestine — essentially making Britain responsible for governing the territory and implementing the Balfour Declaration.
From 1922 to 1947, Britain allowed large-scale Jewish immigration to Palestine, primarily from Eastern Europe. The Jewish population of Palestine grew from about 60,000 in 1920 to over 600,000 by 1947.
The Holocaust, Mass Migration and the Creation of Israel (1948)
Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. The Nazi Party — which had been building since 1919 on a platform of German nationalism, antisemitism, and resentment of the Versailles Treaty — now controlled the most powerful country in Europe.
What followed was the Holocaust — the systematic murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945. Two-thirds of European Jewry was annihilated. Entire communities that had existed for centuries were wiped out.
The Holocaust transformed the Zionist movement from a political aspiration into an existential necessity. Hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors had nowhere to go. Europe had tried to kill them. The United States had strict immigration quotas. Palestine was the only option.
Jewish immigration to Palestine surged. The Arab population of Palestine — who had been protesting British policies and Jewish immigration since the 1920s — intensified their resistance. Violence escalated on all sides.
Britain, exhausted by World War II and unable to manage the conflict, handed the problem to the newly formed United Nations in 1947.
The UN proposed a Partition Plan: divide Palestine into two states — one Jewish, one Arab. Jerusalem would be placed under international administration.
The Jewish leadership accepted the plan. The Arab states rejected it.
On May 14, 1948, as the British Mandate expired, David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel.
The next day, five Arab armies invaded.
Nation vs State: The Lesson Jewish History Teaches the World
The creation of Israel in 1948 was not the beginning of the Jewish story. It was the culmination of 2,000 years of it.
Throughout those 2,000 years, the Jewish people had no state. They had no army, no territory, no government. They were guests — often unwelcome guests — in other people’s countries. They were expelled from England, France, Spain, and Russia. They were massacred in the Crusades, the Black Death, the Cossack pogroms, and the Holocaust.
And yet they survived. Their language survived. Their culture survived. Their identity survived.
This teaches us something profound about the difference between a nation and a state.
A state is a political entity — a territory with borders, a government, an army. States can be created and destroyed. The Roman Empire is gone. The Ottoman Empire is gone. The Soviet Union is gone.
A nation is an identity — a shared culture, language, history, religion, and sense of belonging. Nations can survive without states. The Jewish people proved this for 2,000 years.
The great Urdu poet Allama Iqbal — who wrote the famous song “Saare Jahan Se Achcha” — captured this idea in a verse about Indian civilization:
"Kuch baat hai ki Yunan, Misr, Rom sab mit gaye jahan se. Sadyo raha hai dushman daure zamaa hamara. Kuch baat hai ki hasti mitati nahi hamari. Ab tak magar hai baaki naamon nishan hamara."
Translation: “There is something special — Greece, Egypt, Rome have all vanished from the world. For centuries, time itself has been our enemy. There is something special — our existence has not been erased. Even now, our name and mark remain.”
Iqbal was writing about India. But the words apply equally to the Jewish people. Greece had Alexander. Egypt had the Pharaohs. Rome had Caesar. All gone. The Jewish people had no empire, no army, no territory — and they survived them all.
As Charles Darwin said: survival of the fittest. In the context of civilizations, “fitness” means having a strong cultural identity — one that can be passed from generation to generation, across continents and centuries, in the face of persecution and genocide.
That is what the Jewish people had. And that is why, in 1948, they were able to build a state.
Key Takeaways
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Jewish history is 2,000 years of persecution — by Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans, Crusaders, the Black Death mobs, the Spanish Inquisition, Russian pogroms, and the Holocaust.
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Jerusalem is holy to three religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — which is why it has been contested for millennia.
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The Diaspora began with Rome — the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD scattered Jews across the world.
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Zionism was a response to European antisemitism — not a colonial project, but a national liberation movement born of desperation.
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The Balfour Declaration created a contradiction — Britain promised the same land to both Jews and Arabs.
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The Holocaust made Israel inevitable — 6 million dead Jews and nowhere to go left Palestine as the only option.
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The difference between nation and state — the Jewish people proved that a nation can survive without a state for 2,000 years.
Why This Matters Today
The Israel-Palestine conflict cannot be understood without this history. Both peoples have legitimate claims, legitimate grievances, and legitimate fears.
The Jewish people have 2,000 years of persecution culminating in the Holocaust — a lived experience that makes the existence of a Jewish state feel like an existential necessity, not a political preference.
The Palestinian people have been displaced from their homeland — a lived experience of loss, occupation, and statelessness that mirrors, in some ways, the Jewish experience of diaspora.
Both peoples are, in a sense, victims of history — and of the decisions made by European colonial powers (Britain, in particular) who drew lines on maps without understanding or caring about the consequences.
The conflict will not be resolved by ignoring either side’s history. It can only be resolved by understanding both.
Glossary
| Term | Simple Explanation |
|---|---|
| Zionism | The Jewish national movement to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine, founded in 1897 |
| Diaspora | The dispersal of the Jewish people from their homeland, beginning with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD |
| Torah | The sacred text of Judaism, comprising the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, believed to have been given by God to Moses |
| Monotheism | The belief in one God — the foundation of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam |
| Abrahamic religions | Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — all three trace their spiritual lineage to the patriarch Abraham |
| Hasmonean dynasty | The Jewish ruling dynasty that established an independent Judea after the revolt against Greek rule in 164 BC |
| Balfour Declaration | The 1917 British letter promising to support the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine |
| Holocaust | The systematic murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945 |
| Antisemitism | Prejudice, discrimination, and hostility against Jewish people |
| Pogroms | Organized massacres of Jewish communities, particularly in Russia and Eastern Europe in the 19th-20th centuries |
| Deicide | The killing of a god — European Christians accused Jews of being “deicides” for the death of Jesus |
| Crusades | Medieval European Christian military expeditions to recapture Jerusalem from Muslim control (1095–1291) |
| Mandate Palestine | The territory of Palestine under British administration (1920–1948) following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire |
| Partition Plan | The 1947 UN proposal to divide Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states |
| Second Temple | The rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, constructed after the return from Babylonian exile; destroyed by Rome in 70 AD |
| Pale of Settlement | The region of the Russian Empire where Jews were required to live, established in 1791 |
| Edict of Cyrus | The decree by Persian King Cyrus the Great (539 BC) allowing Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem |
This article is based on publicly available historical sources and geopolitical analysis. All views expressed are analytical in nature.
Power and Pelf 