Can Someone Explain How Israel Was Created?, page 1

3300 BC The Ghassulian culture in the region is followed by "Semetic" culture- not necessarily Jewish- the Canaanites who the Hebrews displaced were technically of the same culture.

Circa 18th Century BC: Judaism is supposedly founded and Abraham first travels to the land of Canaan- modern Israel (I say supposedly because I know some will dispute the dates, which are mostly inferred from comparison of events in the bible to mentions of historical figures in the bible, establishing a rough and sometimes inspecific chronology).

Circa 13th Century BC: Hebrews (supposedly) flee captivity in Egypt

Early 12th Century BC: The Hittites are conquered, the Canaanites are temporarily displaced, and the Jews move into Canaan. The Canaanites come back and try to drive them out.

Late 12th BC: King David goes to war with the Canaanites again, conquering most of what is now Israel. Jerusalem becomes the capital of Israel for the first time. Syria becomes a vassal state to Israel.

Mid 10th Century BC: The Temple is built in Jerusalem.

587 BC: The Babylonians take Jerusalem and destory the first temple. Babylonian Captivity begins- many Jews are exiled, taken as slaves, or flee on their own.

539-37 BC: The Persians conquer the Babylonians and let the Jews go back home. The Second Temple is built.

332 BC: Alexander the Great conquers the Persians. The Jews pledge their loyalty to him.

323 BC: Alexander the Great dies, Israel changes hands several times in just a couple of decades.

63 BC: Rome conquers the area under Pompey.

AD 6: Caesar Augustus makes it a province.

66: The Jews Revolt. Rome kicks their butt, destroys their temple AGAIN, and many Jews are driven out by the Roman retalliation.

70: The Romans, as further punishment, name the area "Palestine" after the Philistines, enemies of the Jews.

395: The Roman Empire is fractured, the Eastern Empire (Byzantines) rule the area. It becomes a center of Christianity.

634: The Islamic Caliphate gains control of the area. Arabic becomes the new language, Islam the new religion.

1516: The Ottoman Empire gains control. This is interrupted briefly by Napolean, but for all intents and purposes lasts until WWI.

The last two entries are the really important ones- this is where outsiders finally transform what has been Jewish land for 2000 years into Muslim land.

1920: The League of Nations establishes the British Mandate of Palestine, which included both Israel and modern Jordan. The British determined that the area East of the Jordan River was not subject to the provision for a Jewish state, and Jordan was created. Jews at this point are still 11% of the populations.

1920-1945: Jewish immigration explodes under British control- the area becomes 31% Jewish.

1936: The Peel Commission recommends splitting the area West of the Jordan between Arabs and Jews. The Arabs launch "The Great Uprising" in an attempt to stop Jewish immigration, since the British have refused to give them the entire area. The Jews organize militias both to retaliate against the Arabs and to drive the British out.

1947: The British leave and devide it finally between Israel and Palestine. Israel accepts the terms. Palestine and its neighbors do not.

May 14th, 1948: Israel officially becomes independent. Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria all immediate declare war. They lose most of the Palestinian territory in this war.
Jordan annexes the West Bank. Egypt Occupies the Gaza Strip.

1967: The Arabs attack again, resulting in the Six Day Smackdown. The West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights of Southern Syria, and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula are all taken by Israel after the invaders are dealt a crushing defeat.

1973: The Egyptians launch a surprise attack on Israel during the Yom Kippur Holiday. They make a little more of a fight of it this time- it lasted a full 18 days before Israel had completely routed the Egyptian and Syrian Armies. Israel had routed the Egyptian and Syrian armies. They were in position to completely anhilate what remained of the Egyptian 3rd army and to move on Cairo, the Suez, and Damascus. The Soviets threatened to intervene and that was averted.

So basically, they've been there for a few thousand years, but they keep getting conquered by outsiders. In the last few centuries, the outsiders made a real impact on demographics there, mostly through force, but nevertheless that leaves us with the problem of two distinct cultures which basically consider the region home.

The British tried to work out a compromise. The Israelis wanted to compromise. The arabs did not. The Arabs have attacked the Israelis again and again since 1948, and they keep losing. Finally, at some point in the 80s-90s, the arabs figured out that it wasn't working, so they stopped attacking with stuff that can be seen from satellites and limited their war to terrorism. They mastered the art of saying one thing in english for the soundbytes while preaching terror in their native tongue. That worked much better than declaring war. Everyone wants to cry a river for the poor Palestinians.
"Just because somebody lost a war THAT THEY STARTED doesn't mean that they should have to face consequences, especially not losing land."

I can't help wondering if these same people would feel compelled to rebuild the Ottoman Empire and tell them that we're sorry for winning the first world war. Perhaps while they're at it they would like to give a nice chunk of Canada back to the Cajuns who the Brits displaced.

By the way, if anyone sees Ian Smith, tell him to get back to Rhodesia and prepare to consolidate the power of the white minority over the African population. Remember, you can't punish somebody for starting a war, especially if its arguably a civil war, even if their motives are highly racist... or at least that's what the pro-palestinian side tells me.