Israel's Need For Defense From The Beginning 1948-2024--Part II

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                        

Golda Meir, formerly Meyerson:  (1898-1978) born in Russia, Settled in Palestine in 1921;  Active in Labor Zionism, part of Histadrut and Jewish Agency.  There to announce the state of Israel.  1st minister to the USSR in 1948, Mapai member of the Knesset since 1949, Minister of Labor in governments 1949-56.  1969 chosen to succeed Levi Eshkol as Israel's prime minister and therefore was at helm during Yom Kippur War.  Re-elected at end of 1973, but retired in 1974.  Then she wrote MY LIFE.  

Israel had a fight on its hands immediately after the announcement that it was recreated and named Israel.  That was its obvious name, and all were quite happy with that.  It was Israel's War of Independence (1947-1949) In human terms, the War of Independence was Israel's costliest war, with over 6,000 Israelis were killed and 15,000 wounded.                                                

    Safed on top of a mountain where I lived from 1981-85  Safed, the northern city known for its kabbalistic mystics, magical alleyways, and art galleries, is worth a visit. The Jewish settlement in Tzfat dates back to the Temple period but Safed – pronounced “Tz-fat” in Hebrew – achieved fame and a reputation as the “City of Kabbalah” during the 16th century. Rabbis, Kabbalistic scholars, and other Jews fled the Spanish Inquisition, making this their mountaintop home. Tucked within the Galilee mountains, Safed is a haven for religious and secular tourists.

Safed had a pre-war population of 10,000–12,000 Arabs and 1,500 Jews and was the base for 700-800 local and foreign irregulars. Jewish forces were outnumbered over 20 to 1 and the Arab forces promised the Jews that they would slaughter them when they conquered the city. A few aging artillery pieces, named “Davidkas” were smuggled into the Jewish Quarter. The Davidka, first used on March 13, 1948, was a homemade mortar that was inaccurate but extremely loud and effective in demoralizing Arab defenders.

Israel went through growing inflation after 1950 and its public services were overworked due to all the new immigrants that were coming in.  However, they were slowly integrated with the former Jewish residents.  The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956.

Paratroopers from Six Day War seeing the Wall for the 1st time in their life in Jerusalem as before it was under Jordan rule and Jews were kept away by them.

The number dropped during the 1960's  but grew in the 1970's  when 150,000 arrived from the USSR (Russia). Six-Day War, or Arab-Israeli War of 1967, War between Israel and the Arab countries of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Palestinian guerrilla attacks on Israel from bases in Syria led to increased hostility between the two countries. A series of miscalculations by both sides followed.

 This flow stopped in the late 1970's but again flooded the country from the end of the 1980's, reaching 300,000 by 1990.  The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria.  1982 Lebanon War-The Israeli military, together with the Christian Lebanese Forces and South Lebanon Army, seized control of the southern half of Lebanon and laid siege to the capital Beirut. The Israelis sought to end Palestinian attacks from Lebanon, destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the country, and install a pro-Israel Maronite Christian government.

Danny and I at our Bon Voyage Party at my mother's home in Ontario, Oregon; leaving for Israel, September 1980.  We had never been there before !  Danny, born in Brooklyn, and lived in Orlando, Florida,  had been in the USA Airforce and  wondered if he could help Israel.  Skinheads were in Idaho, leaving anti-Semitic material in Ontario.  

 Danny and I had arrived in 1980 from Portland, Oregon.  It was a day when everyone was on strike (Shveeta).  We were not driven in the cab to our designated hotel but to a hostel, instead, and one cup of water for the two of us!!!

Israel's own  Arab population of some quarter-million was also slowly integrated but the addition of another million Arabs after the Six-Day War posed new problems and led to new tensions, fostered by external Arab forces.   The Arabs in the Administered Areas (Judea/Samaria), and Gaza, became acutely conscious of their Palestinian identity and identified to a large extent with the PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION or the fundamentalist Moslem movement.  

Here I am in my basement apartment in Safed.  We had bars already on our only window since the building knew that terrorists would try to enter that way.  It was a reminder of where we were.  

Their demand for an independent Palestinian State received much international backing and led to considerable pressure on Israel, especially in view of the continuing Israeli policy of creating Jewish settlements in the administered Areas.                                               

New towns and villages were built and large areas of land were brought under cultivation for the Jewish population throughout the entire period.  In the selection, transportation, and settlement of immigrants, the JEWISH AGENCY played a leading part:  as also in the raising of the necessary sums abroad.  However, being my husband and I were teachers, this decided where we would live after spending the year in Haifa studying for a position for 10 months. 

 We were able to get hired in Safed (Tzfat) in 1980-81. Some capital, especially for industry, was provided by private investors, but much of the development was undertaken by the government and other public bodies.  As far as I know, mistakes were made in reading our resumes and length of time experience in teaching, and I was underpaid for almost the whole year, but corrected later.  I had 22 years of experience.  The government's aim was to increase Israel's capacity to absorb new immigrants with grants in order to keep up with the rapidly expanding population.  A constant effort was made to  increase self-sufficiency in raw materials and agriculture as well as in manufactured goods.  The vast capital required was raised from a variety of sources---private investment, US grants, GERMAN REPARATIONS until the  mid 1960's, the sale of Israel government bonds (in USA), loans from foreign banks, and large sums in gifts from Jewish communities in the Diaspora.  

In consequence, Israel's production slowly increased, as did its exports.  Israel's external debt stood at $25,000 million in the mid-1980's and it was rising.  

       Israel's government sits here in the Knesset in Jerusalem, Democratic but more English structure

Israel was busy creating a stable and effective government on a secular and democratic basis.  A single-chamber legislative assembly, the KNESSET, was created with a broad franchise.  They adopted an extreme form of proportional representation, many political parties with Cabinet coalitions was created.  The MAPAI Party was for the first 20 years the strongest single political party, and had a majority in the knesset by many coalitions with the religious parties;  some of the parties of the right, and then of the left.   By the 1960's it consolidated its positions by merging with other left-wing groups to form the ISRAEL LABOR PARTY.  In 1977, the right-wing LIKKUD Its ideology is right-wing conservative, nationalist, and Zionist, called -National Liberal Movement-  bloc was the largest group, and led two  government coalitions.  An even distribution between right and left led to the formation of Government of National Unity, but from 1990 the government was led by the Likkud.  From 1948, the executive was kept under popular control and a fiscal and budgetary system laid down.  A new administration was recruited and trained, while the independence of the judiciary was assured.  The social services were developed.  Compulsory and free elementary education was introduced, while the Hebrew language was spread among the new immigrants.  Higher education  of LITERATURE,  the fine arts, ARCHITECTURE, and Music.  

South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000) – Nearly 18 years of warfare between the Israel Defense Forces and its Lebanese Christian proxy militias against Lebanese Muslim guerrilla, led by Iranian-backed Hezbollah, within what was defined by Israelis as the "Security Zone" in South Lebanon.

• First Intifada (1987–1993) – First large-scale Palestinian uprising against Israel in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
• Second Intifada (2000–2005) – Second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified violence, which began in late September 2000.
• Israel–Hezbollah War (2006) – Began as a military operation in response to the abduction of two Israeli reserve soldiers by the Hezbollah. The operation gradually strengthened, to become a wider confrontation. The principal participants were Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israeli military. The conflict started on 12 July 2006 and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect on 14 August 2006, though it formally ended on 8 September 2006, when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon. The war resulted in a stalemate.
• Gaza War or Operation Cast Lead (December 2008 – January 2009) – Three-week armed conflict between Israel and Hamas during the winter of 2008–2009. In an escalation of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israel responded to ongoing rocket fire from the Gaza Strip with military force in an action titled "Operation Cast Lead". Israel opened the attack with a surprise air strike on 27 December 2008. Israel's stated aim was to stop such rocket fire from and the import of arms into Gaza. Israeli forces attacked military and civilian targets, police stations, and government buildings in the opening assault. Israel declared an end to the conflict on 18 January and completed its withdrawal on 21 January 2009.
• 2012 Gaza War or Operation Pillar of Defense (November 2012) – Military offensive on the Gaza Strip.^[1]
• 2014 Gaza War or Operation Protective Edge (July–August 2014) – Military offensive on the Gaza Strip as a response to the collapse of American-sponsored peace talks, attempts by rival Palestinian factions to form a coalition government, the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, the subsequent kidnapping and murder of a Palestinian teenager, and increased rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas militants.^[2]
• Syrian Civil War and the Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war.
• 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis or Operation Guardian of the Walls (May 2021) – Riots between Jews and Arabs in Israeli cities. Hamas fired rockets into Israel, with Iron Dome intercepting the most dangerous projectiles. Israel began airstrikes in Gaza.
• Gaza war or Operation Iron Swords (October 2023–present) – After a Palestinian incursion from the Gaza Strip into Southern Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel responded with a devastating bombing campaign and invaded the Strip. The war has created a humanitarian crisis in the Strip, including an ongoing famine caused by Hamas terrorists;  not Israel.  All hostages have reported also being kept from food and have also been starving....dying from criminal acts against them.....
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• Israeli invasion of Lebanon or Operation Northern Arrows (September 2024–present).

Need to regain hostages being held, perhaps 25 out of 50 bodies since Oct 7th.....

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia 

https://www.gov.il/en/departments/ministry_of_foreign_affairs/govil-landing-page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis#:~:text=The%20Suez%20Crisis%2C%20also%20known,invasion%20of%20Egypt%20in%201956.

https://www.touristisrael.com/a-walk-through-safed/7485/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_Israel#:~:text=South%20Lebanon%20conflict%20(1982%E2%80%932000,Security%20Zone%22%20in%20South%20Lebanon.