ISRAEL!!


This History of Israel discusses the history of the modern State of Israel, from its independence proclamation in 1948 to the present. The independence of the modern State of Israel was achieved in 1948 after more than 60 years of efforts by Zionist leaders to establish sovereignty and self-determination in the Jewish National Homeland.
The desire of Jews to return to what they consider their rightful homeland was first expressed during the Babylonian captivity after 597 BC. This became a universal Jewish theme after the Jewish-Roman wars, which included the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, and the exile that followed. The Jewish diaspora and those who stayed continued to see the land as their spiritual home and as the Promised Land; there is no evidence of any interruption of the Jewish presence there for the last three millennia. For generations, the universal theme carried mostly religious overtones due to the belief that the Jewish people would return to Zion with the coming of the Messiah, i.e., only after divine intervention; some proposed or attempted to return earlier, but they were in a minority.
Since the Holocaust however, Judaism has become overwhelmingly Zionist. Today all of Reform, Conservative and Modern Orthodoxy is staunchly Zionist; and even most Haredi Jews have changed from anti-Zionism (active opposition to Zionism) to non-Zionism (neutrality towards Zionism.) Secular non-Zionist Jewish movements are very rare today.