Jews of Mesopotamia-- Iraq

Nadene Goldfoot                                               

Iraq had been called Mesopotamia.  Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land. That's where Babylonia and Ur lie and where Abraham was from.                  

        Iraq's Jews and their history: The rise of Islam in the early seventh century CE, and then the founding of Baghdad in 762, which would become the capital of the ‘Abbasid caliphate, placed the Jews of these communities at the heart of developing Islamic civilization. Over a few centuries, Jews began to speak Arabic instead of Aramaic, and they wrote works in Hebrew and Arabic in Hebrew script. The introduction of paper and its adoption by Jews altered intellectual, literary, and talmudic production.

The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws and live in cities under an organized government—notably Uruk, from which "Iraq" is derived. The area has been home to successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BCE. 

The area has been home to successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the center of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian empires. It was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Seljuk, Mongol, Timurid, Safavid, Afsharid and Ottoman empires.                                   

Iraq was conquered by the Arabs in 637 when its large and ancient Jewish community favored and even assisted the Arab advance in the hope that it would afford them deliverance from Sassanid persecution.  Shortly after the Arab occupation, Jews expelled from Arabia settled in Kufa.  For centuries, Iraq continued to be the center of Jewish life.  

The authority of both the Exilarch and the Gaon was recognized throughout the Diaspora.  Jews from all parts of the world submitted their religious problems to the gaonim whose answers were accepted as binding.  

Jewish strife was accentuated by newly-founded sects that were the Issawites (adherents of a seventh century messianic leader who claimed to be divinely charged with the restoration of the Jews to political independence), Yudganites (Judghan in 8th century was disciple of Abu Isa al Ispahani, founder of the Issawite sect, and especially by the rise of Karaism. (The Karaites were a Jewish sect rejecting the Oral Law.  It originated in the 8th century in and around Persia).   In the 10th and 11th centuries, the gaonate experienced a flourishing period with Saadyah as gaon of Sura, and Sherira and Hai in Pumbedita, but with the cessation of the gaonate and the closing of the 2 famous academies (Pumbedita in 1040, Iraq lost her central position in the Jewish world, although geonim are recorded in Babylonia as late as the 13th century.  

Because of heavy taxation on cultivated land, Jews tended to leave agriculture and live in the larger towns, especially Bagdad, Basra and Mosul, where they became traders and craftsmen.  Some were financiers or participated in international commerce.  

Benjamin of Tudela visited Iraq in 1170 and found places with up to 15,000 Jewish inhabitants.                                  

Then the Mongols invaded the land in the 2nd half of the 13th century who were free of religious prejudice and with them there, the condition of the Jews improved.  Jews were then no longer discriminated against because of their faith, making the highest state offices open to Jews.  However, the Mongols were converted to Islam, and the Jews again faced discrimination from them as well.  

In 1291, Saad ad-Daula, the influential Jewish administrator and physician was assassinated and then followed by a general attack on the Jews of Iraq. The historian Wassaf says that Sa'ad cured Arghun of an illness, and, having thus gained his confidence, informed the Ilkhan of the corruption among the officials at Baghdad. At the same time he impressed Arghun with his own ability by his knowledge of the Mongolian and Turkish languages, and by his intimate acquaintance with the conditions existing in the province. He was soon made general controller of the finances of Baghdad, and then of the whole empire, becoming grand vizier.                                   

        The Last Jews of Iraq :Alan Yentob investigates a 2,600-year-old community, now almost disappeared. Once they thrived as a third of Baghdad's population, now only seven Jewish people remain.  

At the end of the 14th century, Timur was invaded and Jews suffered severely like the rest of the people.  Next in line were the Turks who conquered the land in 1534 and this bettered the Jews' position.  Maltreatment of Jews did occur at the whim of local administrators.  Turkish domination lasted with slight interruption until 1917 when the British took over.                      

      Rioting against Jews:The seeds of the Farhud had been sown two months earlier. On April 1, a pro-Nazi coup d’état overthrew the pro-British Iraqi government and seized power. The coup was staged by Rashid Ali al Gaylani, an Arab nationalist and former Iraqi prime minister, supported by four army generals, and aided by Fritz Grobba, a former German ambassador to Iraq. This dangerous group was further stoked by the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al Husseini, who deeply hated the Jews. Anti-Semitic propaganda began to appear in the daily newspapers and in broadcasts on Radio Baghdad. It was intended to inflame the Muslim population and rally support for the new regime.

The country today known as Iraq was a region of the Ottoman Empire until the partition of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th century due to having lost in WWI. 

 In April 1920 the British Mandate of Mesopotamia was created under the authority of the League of Nations. A British-backed monarchy joining these vilayets into one Kingdom was established in 1921 under Faisal I of Iraq.

 The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from the UK in 1932. The attainment of Iraqi independence in 1932 was accompanied by persecutions of the Jews.  Hundreds of Baghdad Jews were killed and wounded in a pogrom during the revolt of Rashid Ali in 1941.         

                                The Farhud – the riots against the Jews of Iraq:

IBRAHIM YOUSSEF SHALEH, the leader of Iraq’s Jewish community of 370

 What happened in the Arab countries was in effect ethnic cleansing. While the Nakba is marked every year with demonstrations and wide media coverage, the Jewish disaster does not merit any public or media notice.  During Shavuot, Iraqi Jews will commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the “Farhud” – the riots that took place on Shavuot, June 1-2, 1941. In the riots reminiscent of Kristallnacht in Germany, 179 Jews were murdered, hundreds more wounded and much Jewish property looted. 

                                                                                             

Iraqi troops participated in the 1948 attack on Israel on the central front.  Despite their defeat, Iraq never concluded an armistice agreement with Israel. The great majority of Iraqi Jews subsequently left the country, chiefly for Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.  Their property in Iraq was confiscated.  123,500 Jews have reached Israel since 1948.  Those that remained were subject to severe restrictions, especially after the Six Day War of 1967 when the treatment of Iraqi Jews led to international protests.  The Jewish population in  1991 was about 150, chiefly in Bagdad, where one synagogue still operated. 

                                               

                                                                               His Excellency

                                           Muhammad Najib Ar-Ruba'i b: 14 July 1904

 was the first President of Iraq (Chairman of Sovereignty Council) from July 14, 1958 to February 8, 1963.

Together with Abdul Karim Qassim, he was one of the leaders of the coup that toppled King Faisal II in 1958.   On October 7, 1959 there was an unsuccessful assassination attempt on him by twenty-two-year-old Saddam Hussein.

In 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party from 1968 until 2003. In 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, sparking a protracted war which would last for almost eight years, and end in a stalemate with devastating losses for both countries.  

1980 was the year I made aliyah and moved to Israel.  One of the male teachers I taught with was from Iraq.  Some of his friends or relatives were hung.  It's good he got out.  

                                              

The male line of the Jews of Iraq seem to favor J1 (cohen gene) and E1.  https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/iraq/dna-results

Resource: 

https://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2013/03/iraq-americans-mistake-couldnt-have.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/the-farhud-the-riots-against-the-jews-of-iraq-313251

Iranians: Is It Possible to Find Jewish Genes In Their DNA ?

 

Nadene Goldfoot

Persia became a factor in Jewish history because of the conquest of the Babylonian Empire by Cyrus in 538  BCE.  (Persian identity refers to the Indo-European Aryans who arrived in Iran about 4 thousand years ago (kya). Originally they were nomadic, pastoral people inhabiting the western Iranian plateau.                                                              

 From the province of Fars they spread their language and culture to the other parts of the Iranian plateau absorbing local Iranian and non-Iranian groups. This process of assimilation continued also during the Greek, Mongol, Turkish and Arab invasions. Ancient Persian people were firstly characterized by the Zoroastrianism. After the Islamization, Shi'a became the main doctrine of all Iranian people.)                                   

                                Sent back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple

For the next 2 centuries both  of the 2 groups of Jews;  the 650,000 of the Exile in Mesopotamia and in the homeland of Eretz Yisrael were under Persian rule.  It was under Persian auspices that there took place the return from exile in Babylonia to Jerusalem which continued to be a Persian province with some degree of local autonomy.                                                                     

      Esther saving the lives of all the Jews in the Empire from Haman's decree

Haman was the chief minister to the King, Esther's husband. Mordecai of the tribe of Benjamin, Ether's uncle, a palace official was disliked by Haman because Mordecai didn't bow to Haman.  Being jealous of the Jewish people, he made an order for all people to attack and kill the Jew.  Esther heard about it and told her husband the king, and he put an end to it; with Haman and his sons hanging by the neck.  To remember this near Holocaust, we celebrate joyously with Purim, a happy holiday.   
 

The political unity of the Middle East under Persian rule caused considerable movements of population from one part of this area to another. The Book of Esther in the Bible envisages Jews living throughout the 127 Provinces of the Persian Empire and depicts them as numerous and influential in the capital of Susa (Shushan).  When the story in the bible happened is not exactly clear.  We do know that from the 4th century BCE onward, Jews lived in considerable numbers in Persia's main part of the country.                                                                                                            

Little is known, however, when Parthia controlled the Persian holdings. Parthia was an empire of Iranic people. They flourished from  the 3rd century BCE to 226 CE and ruled over the vast mass of the Jewish population in Mesopotamia, Babylonia and Media.  the Parthians restored Antigonus Mattathias to the throne of Judah in 40 BCE.  The Jews of the Roman empire looked on Parthia as their future savior;  in Parthia itself, the Jews enjoyed considerable autonomy under the exilarch.  It was under the rule of Parthia that the famous rabbinic schools in Mesopotamia began to flourish.

                                                   

   From 250 BCE onward, Persia resumed its existence as a state in 225 CE under the Sassanid Dynasty, its authority again extending over the ancient centers of intensive Jewish settlement in Mesopotamia. 

The Babylonian Talmud, which was written here under Persian rule, evidences a vigorous Jewish life in Persia proper, and the Persian  queen, Shushan Dukht, was of Jewish birth, like our Queen Esther had been.                                                                             

The conditions of living under Persians was favorable at first,  there were later fierce religious persecution under Zoroastrian influence culminating in the attempt to suppress Jewish observances under Yerdgerd III from 438 to 457.  (Zoroastrians are the oldest religious community in Iran; started by Zoroaster in ?th cent. BCE), the prophet of ancient Persia.   In fact, the first followers have been the proto-Indo-Iranians. With the Islamic invasions, they were persecuted and now exist as a minority in Iran). Their belief is in light and rightousness and its actively ethical character of commendation of marriage and agriculture, turning the earth from a waste into G'd's kingdom, bear some resemblance to Judaism which rejected its dualism.  It was Isaiah (45:7) who said, "I form the light and create darkness;  I make peace and create evil.  I am the Lord, that doeth all these things."

There was an even more sweeping persecution in 468 under Firuz from 459 to 486 after the alleged murder of 2 magi by the Jews in the capital, Isfahan, which was a city reputedly of Jewish foundation. When Kavadh I from 485 to 531 adopted and endeavored to impose the communistic practices of Zendicism, the Persian Jews joined in the revolt led by the exilarch, MAR ZUTRA II in 513 to 520.                                                                      

The Arab conquest occurred in 641/642 introduced a new, generally tolerant spirit, with certain reservations.  The Jews of Persia flourished under the Eastern Caliphate of Baghdad;  they were controlled by the exilarchs and paid intellectual  allegiance to the Gaonim Jews whose influence was strong.  

Persia was, at this period, a nursery of sectarian movements.  One was that of Abu Issa al-Isfahani in 700.  Consequently, Karaism obtained a vigorous hold in Persia from the 8th century, and some of its most influential teachers, such as Benjamin Nahavendi, came from there.  Karaites were a Jewish sect that rejected the Oral Law.  It originated in the 8th century in and around Persia where the Jewish community was not long established and did not accept the discipline of the Babylonian gaonate (intellectual leaders, often holding power as well around 11th century, heads of the academy.                                                                 

Jewish historian, Benjamin of Tudela of northern Spain, toward the end of the 12th century, found by walking,  starting in 1165 CE and returning in 1172/3, who visited Jewish communities throughout Europe and throughout this area, numerous and flourishing Jewish communities, which had recently been disturbed through the messianic movement of Menahem ben Solomon AKA David Alroy.  In 1121, mountain Jews in NE Caucasia, started this movement at the start of an invasion of the nomadic Kipchaks from the steppes of the Black Sea. The Jews had been suffering and poverty-stricken, and there was the possibility of conquering Palestine after the Crusades left.  Alroy's father led it at first.  Alroy was physically and intellectually outstanding, and was proclaimed Messiah.  He had to fight, and was defeated right away.  He transferred the center of the revolt to the mountains of Kurdistan, aiming to hold the city of Amadia but was killed by a secret assassins (maybe his father-in-law) in 1135.  Benjamin Disraeli wrote a novel about him in THE WONDEROUS TALE OF DAVID ALROY.                                                                 

Mongol rule came along next, during which the lot of the Jews was checkered from the 13th to 15th centuries. 

In other parts of the world, in 1492, the Pope instigated the Spanish Inquisition where Jews were told to leave Spain or convert to Catholicism.  Many fled to Portugal, and other places. 

Persian independence was reasserted in 1499 under the Safavid dynasty. The Shiite form of Islam, from then on, generally was the dominant and highly intolerant in theory and practice.  The Jews were treated worse than in other parts of the Moslem world, all manner of restrictions being enforced, and in the 17th century, there were widespread persecutions and forced conversions, particularly in Isfahan.  

 Conditions improved temporarily under the broadminded Nadir Shah (1736-1747) who aimed at creating a new religious synthesis.  He was responsible for settling a Jewish community in his new capital, Meshed, where Jews had been excluded earlier.  Upon his death, a reaction followed, and shiite intolerance again became supreme.  Despite this, throughout this period, a fairly vigorous intellectual life persisted, partly showing up in their literature in the Judeo-Persian Dialect.  The old Persian prayer-book of the Jews, based on Saadyah's ritual, was still current, until in the early 19th century.  Then it was superseded by the Sephardi rite through the influence of visiting Palestinian Jewish scholars.                                                                      

Medieval conditions of intolerance continued in Persia, and in 1839, the entire Meshed community was forcibly converted to Islam, though retaining secret fidelity to Judaism, now known as Jedid al-Islam.  In this 19th century, Persian Jewry was among the most depressed of the world's Jewish communities, notwithstanding the diplomatic interventions occasionally secured by Western Jewry, and intermittent promises of ameliorations by successive shahs were overlooked.                

From 1898, schools of the Alliance Israelite Universelle did something to introduce a more modern spirit, but progress was slight and the Jedid al-Islam did not dare to return openly to Judaism.  Although equality of political rights ws nominally introduced into Persia under the Shah, the social and economic status of the Jews changed little. 

                                                                

 In the 1960's and 1970's, many Jews moved from the provinces to Teheran.  Jews began to emigrate in numbers after 1948's birth of Israel. 

                                           

                            

Although the Jews were not persecuted after the Khomeini revolution in 1978, so they say; and I know that Jews were too frightened to say so openly, as my cousin's husband escaped from Iran when a teenager on camels with other teens, many  felt uncomfortable under the strict Islamic regime and left for Israel and the west.  The teen survived and is a doctor, married to my cousin and lives on the east coast of the USA.  Their numbers fell from 80,000 in 1978 to 20,000 in 1989.                                                                               

All throughout the ages, there was opportunity for a mixing of the peoples of Jews and Persians.  Cyrus himself was said to be the son of Queen Esther and her husband, the king Ahasueros (in Farsi or Hebrew).  DNA testing will disclose any relationship, or certainly will in the future.  

"Family Tree DNA in Houston has a nice group of Jewish Persian families carrying the haplogroups mostly of J, and R and E and a few with I, C, T, and G.  This project is about the Jewish diaspora of Iran spanning from the time of Cyrus the Great and the freedom of the Jewish people from Babylonian exile to present day. Other Jewish groups post the Babylonian exile moved in an out of what is now modern day Iran and have left their genetic footprint on the population."

Iranians testing just might find a few segments of Jewish genes, you would think, but perhaps not. They've been treated as an isolated group that was not to mix in, unlike Russians had experienced. .

         Jewish genetic disorders

In addition to having shared a religion, a cultural heritage, an oral tradition and a written language, Jews also share a common gene pool, dating back to their common origins more than 5700 years ago. Although the frequency of genetic diseases in general is no greater in Jews than in any other ethnic group, this shared genetic background has resulted in certain hereditary diseases occurring at a higher frequency in individuals of Jewish ancestry.2

" Israeli investigators have identified several relatively frequent disorders due to founder point mutations in Persian (Iranian) Jews, who, for nearly three centuries up to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, were completely isolated reproductively."    

 Because of the historical migrations of Jews out of Israel over the millennia and the subsequent centuries long geographic separation of segments of the Jewish community, there are disorders that are more common among certain subgroups within the Jewish community, such as Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Persian Jews, and others. Some of these diseases, such as Tay-Sachs disease (TSD), Canavan disease, and familial dysautonomia, are relatively common among Jewish individuals of eastern and central European ancestry (Ashkenazim). Similarly, there are disorders that are more common among other branches of the Jewish people, such as familial Mediterranean fever and beta-thalassemia in Mediterranean/Iberian-derived (Sephardic) Jews and                                                              

 inclusion body myopathy in Persian/Iranian (Mizrahi) Jews.  Inclusion body myopathy 2 is a condition that primarily affects skeletal muscles, which are muscles that the body uses for movement. This disorder causes muscle weakness that appears in late adolescence or early adulthood and worsens over time.

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.nature.com/articles/gim2010105

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0041252

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHcugV6vgDU

https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/inclusion-body-myopathy-2/

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/jewish-persian-dna/about

https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008385

HISTORY OF ISRAEL IN A CAPSULE

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

JUDAH was created out of Southern Israel after King Solomon died in 922 BCE.  Jeroboam took over next, then Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam, Zecharia, Shallum, Meneahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hoshea from 730-721 BCE. 

  
Moses had died outside of Canaan in about 1271 BCE and Joshua took the 12 tribes inside and subdued the land.
King Saul was the first king of Israel and reigned in the 11th century BCE.  He was of the tribe of Benjamin.  .
David of the tribe of Judah  became king. and ruled from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE.
                                                                                 

His son, Solomon b: 961-d: 920 BCE  was to build the 1st Temple.  So far, the land has been in the hands of the Israelites for 351 years up to now.  The land of Israel was divided after Solomon's death between the North and the South, the North being referred to as Samaria, the name of their new capital.  Israel was more luxurious and the more powerful kingdom.  The south was renamed as Judah, the name of the tribe that inhabited this part of Israel.  However, Israel was weakened by internal fights between rival dynasties and recurring wars with the kingdom of Syria which resided in Damascus.  .
                                                                         

10 Tribes being led away by King of Assyria, SHALMANASER IV reigned from 728-722 BCE

In 721 BCE  the Assyrians attacked Israel  and took away 10 of the 12 tribes as slaves.  These people were replaced by new settlers that the Assyrians brought in.

Finally, Judah, which was smaller and more secluded geographically and more spiritual, having held onto Jerusalem and the Temple,  now being a smaller with a smaller military force, was overcome in 586 BCE by the Babylonians.  They destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.  They also took large number of the Judeans and deported them and the monarchy was abolished.  GEDALIAH, a member of the Old Royal House, tried to renew and organize political life was ended by his assassination in 582 BCE.
                                                                       
        Then the Persians (Iran) stepped in.  King Cyrus overthrew the Babylonian Empire.  He allowed the children of the exiles to return home to Judah and set up a center in 539 BCE.  It took them a long time to do this.  EZRA AND NEHEMIAH  had to leave the comfort of the Persian court and return with them to set it up.  The former northern section of Israel was now filled with Samaritans, named for the capital of Samaria, but they were not children of the original exiles.  They were of mixed heritage, and were not practicing Judaism.  So they were excluded from participation in the re-established Judah as it was feared that they would contaminate or even dominate the southern society.  Judah then was called Judea and was now a semi-autonomous Persian vassal state since Cyrus had allowed its re-development. Judea was administered by the high priest of the Jerusalem Temple.

The Samaritans had their center on Mt. Gerizim which is in the hills of Ephraim facing Mt. Ebal.  Shechem (Nablus) is situated in the intervening valley.  When the Israelites entered Canaan, a ceremony was held at which the people assembled on this mountain and blessed all who observed the law, and those on Mt. Ebal cursed those who profaned it. The mountain is 2,907 feet high.

In the next scene we see ALEXANDER THE GREAT invading the country.  They of course replace the Persian influence with Greek dominance which resulted in the establishment of Greek colonies along the coast and around the Jordan Valley which gave the entire country a European rather than Asiatic orientation.  Nothing changed in the general political scene, however.

The Ptolemies of Egypt shared alternate control and the Seleucides of Syria.  This went on until the 2nd century BCE when the attempt of ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES of Syria tried to hellenize the country by force in the Jewish religion and in their established culture.  This led to the HASMONEAN revolt in 165 BCE and the reestablishment for the 1st time since 586 BCE of the full independence under the HASMONEAN HOUSE in 142 BCE which converted its rule into a monarchy by 104 BCE.

What they had on their hands were wars of conquest, one after the other, particularly under JOHN HYRCANUS from 135 to 104 BCE.  where they extended their rule over the whole land of Judea.

Now we see that though the Greeks were strong on the coast and the Samaritans were in the central hill country, almost all the land was inhabited by the Jewish people.  THE GALILEE in particular was a center of patriotic sentiment.  In 63 BCE, the ROMANS were expanding in the Middle East and Judea was brought to their political orbit.  For a period of many centuries, it was part of the roman Empire, whether administerred by members of the HASMONEAN dynasty, by the house of HEROD, or directly by the Roman PROCURATORS and PROCONSULS.
                                                                       

There was a time between 55 to 49 BCE, 6 years, when it was a vassal kingdom under PARTHIAN control, and during the 2 great Jewish revolts of 66 to 70 CE when Jerusalem and the Temple was burned down,  and again with BAR KOKHBA from 132 to 135 CE.  Jews had been living here for 1,406 years.  Those revolts led to thousands of Jews being killed so that there was a depopulation of great parts of the country and again non-Jewish settlers being introduced into the land and many parts, particularly in the former Judea losing their Jewish character.

Jews didn't give up.  A solid Jewish life did continue to maintain itself after 135 CE, principally in Galilee where is had been the strongest.  It was based there on agriculture as it had been formerly.  The control came from the intellectual leaders and the Patriarchs (presidents of the SANHEDRIN)  whose authority was actually in time recognized by the ROMAN government.  This became the period of the intense intellectual life reflected in the writings of the Mishnah, the Palestinian Talmud and the Midrash.

There were a lot of areas in the land that had a pagan aspect.  The new administrative center on the coast, CAESAREA,  was lacking Jews.  They had become a minority.  This city had become the hub of Roman-Greek intellectual life.  Some other cities of the DECAPOLIS in the Northern Samaria were centers of philosophical study.

The Christianization of the Roman Empire  came about in the 4th century.  This brought about waves of violence and anti-Jewish legislation which was adopted by the emperors.  The result was the complete undermining of the position of Jews in what was  called Palestine (Israel and Judah) as of 135 CE by the Romans.  The land became the focus of Christian piety.  The Patriarchate was abolished in 425 which not only reflected the Christian distaste for Jews but stimulated the process of it as well.

Jews remained as strong Jews in their religion and there was considerable intellectual activity as shown in the development of Hebrew poetry, the Midrash and the Masorah now written.  However, Jews had become the minority in their own country.  They were indistinguishable from any other Roman or in due course from the Byzantine province.

 The Jews helped the PERSIAN invaders in 614 to 628 and suffered when they had to leave.

Under the Moslems, who conquered the country in 635 to 640 Jews were looked upon as unimportant, though and attempt was made to revive intellectual life by the establishment of a Gaonate, an imitation of that of Babylonian Jewry.  Under the UMMAYAD CALIPHS, ruling from DAMASCUS,  the country prospered.

PALESTINE was neglected when the ABBASID DYNASTY transferred its capital to Baghdad.  PALESTINE again became a problem between rival rulers of EGYPT AND IRAQ.  This caused the Jewish population to be reduced once again to insignificance.
                                                                             

The CRUSADERS of 1099 came and were followed by the setting up of a western feudal state in the country which lasted only until 1187 because of the turmoil of war.  By 1291, the last Christian stronghold at Acre fell.
                                                                             

The MONGOLS, also called the TARTARS came along in the 13th century and added to the devastation of the land.  In 1244-1260 and again in 1271  they had attacked Syria. "The Mamluks took advantage of the weakened state of the Mongol forces, and, negotiating a passive alliance with the remnants of the Crusader forces in Acre, advanced northwards to engage the Mongols at the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut in September 1260." The country was now under Egyptian rule and was not important politically to anyone else."For about three months, until the Mamluks returned in May 1300, Mulay's forces were in technical control over Syria, and some Mongols engaged in raids as far south as Jerusalem and Gaza.  However, when the Mamluks returned from Egypt, the remaining Mongols retreated with little resistance.

By 1517, it was conquered along with Egypt, by Turkey who thought of it as just a remote and unimportant province .  They regarded it as little more than a source of revenue.  This was the period of the renewal of the Jewish settlement  in their ancient land on any scale--in part through the arrival after 1492 of refugees from SPAIN and PORTUGAL, in part through the emergence of SAFED as the great KABBALISTIC CENTER, and to a minor extent, through the attempt of JOSEPH NASI and then SOLOMON IBN YAISH to establish and autonomous center around TIBERIAS.

The Jews of the Diaspora (Europe, Spain, Middle East) kept in contact with the Jews of Palestine was maintained by the Emissaries from the 4 Holy Cities of JERUSALEM, SAFED, TIBERIAS AND HEBRON.  They would travel abroad to collect alms for the maintenance of the Jewish institutions.  The OTTOMAN EMPIRE'S local Pashas were frequently corrupt and oppressive like Muhammad Ibn Farukh, Pasha of Jerusalem, who barbarously maltreated the Jews there in 1625. On the other hand, local rulers who kept a firmer government like the Beduin sheikh Dahir al-Umar, who rebuilt Tiberias in 1740 with Jewish participation led by Rabbi Hayyim ABULAFIA, or Ahmed al-Jazzar, governor of Acre from 1775-1804, were unable to perpetuate their government.

By the 18th century, the Jewish settlement was reinforced by an Ashkenazi (European Jewish)  immigration.  First of the Hasidim came in 1777.  They were followed by the Mitnaggedim (Perushim) whose early villages were mainly in Galilee (northern Israel).  NAPOLEON's campaign was in 1799 when he called on the Jews to rally to his armies and help free the Holy Land from the TURKS.  It didn't happen then.

MEHEMET ALI OF EGYPT kept a firm administration which seemed promising in 1831.  but was ended by the Powers of England, Austria, Prussia and Russia after only 9 years.  The importance of international politics was realized both by the cutting of the Suez Canal and by the southerly advance of Russia.  Visitors came to Palestine like Mark Twain and so did Russian Jews escaping pogroms.
                                                                           

Sir Moses Montefiore of England

Religions of all faiths were established in  great profusion.  The Jewish population grew.  There had been restrictions on Jews who wanted to live in Jerusalem,  but they were removed and soon it had a Jewish majority.  SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE and others tried to found  Jewish agricultural colonies.  In 1882, the BILU settlers of the 1st ALIYAH came from Russia and created a town.  They were backed by the resources of BARON EDMOND de ROTHSCHILD.  THE   ALIYAH from 1904 onward placed Jewish rural life in Palestine and it was supported by a Hebrew-speaking culture.

The BRITISH CAMPAIGNS of 1917-1918 at the end of WWI led to the termination of  TURKISH rule.  Administration of the land was done by the LEAGUE OF NATIONS and given to GREAT BRITAIN to carry out for 30 years.  They were the Mandatory Power with the object of implementing the BALFOUR DECLARATION.  SIR HERBERT SAMUEL was the first HIGH COMMISSIONER from 1920 to 1925.  In 1922, an arrangement was negotiated for political reasons by WINSTON CHURCHILL, then the British colonial secretary.  He detatched TRANSJORDAN from the historic Palestine and set it up as a separate emirate barring Jews from living there.The Brits were to carry out the Jews ability to have their Jewish Homeland and they were going against it.  Jewish political rights were now restricted.  Arab objections seemed to be fostered by them.  Immigration and expansion of Jews were limited.  Jews came anyway, if not in droves, in dribbles, and they changed the face of the country.  New villages and towns were created, swamps were drained and forests were planted--by the Jews.  Tel Aviv was built and expanded.
                                                                       

European Jews destined for their deaths in Holocaust

The Arabs benefited from the Jews' presence.  The landowning effendi enjoyed the advantage over the hard-working peasant.  This economic expansion was stimulated after the beginning of Nazi persecution in Europe in 1933 when Jewish immigration increased.
                                                                             

 In 1936 Arabs rioted, urged to do so by Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.    He's the one who had gone to Germany and spoke with Hitler.  The Italian Fascist government was anxious to embarrass England in the Middle East, and they went along with the Germans against the Jews. The total population then was 1,367,000.  Of this number, 384,000 were Jews. The development of the country by the Jews continued, regardless.  Illegal immigration had to be the way to enter for the Jews from 1940.  The Brits continued to try to keep the Jews out, even during the Holocaust from 1939 to 1945.
                                                                           

The Exodus arrived with Jewish refugees

Jews found themselves fighting the Brits and the Arabs.  From 1945 onward, large-scale clashes happened and the Brits continued to prevent immigration.  They turned the problem over to the UNITED NATIONS which recommended on November 1947  the division of Palestine into an Arab state and  a Jewish state.  The British 30 year mandate ended on May 15, 1948, and so on the day before, May 14th, Israel announced their state.  They had a war on their hands because the Arabs refused to accept the ruling of the UN partition resolution.  .  This WAR OF INDEPENDENCE happened because the Arabs all attacked the new state of Israel.  They came from the regular armies of Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and a Saudi-Arabian contingent.    The act caused Israel to expand.  How 650,000 Jews, the total Jewish population, managed to fight off the soldiers of all the neighboring Arab states is one of the world's miracles.Israelis lost 6,000 fighters.

At the same time,  the King of Jordan took the Old City of Jerusalem and almost the whole of Transjordan and annexed it.  Egypt took and annexed the Gaza Strip at this time.  Many Arabs fled the scene.  A million and a half Jewish immigrants arrived.                    

The Land of Israel was for the 1st time in the modern period.  An armistice was signed in 1949, but the Arabs continued to fight Wars against Israel again in 1956, 1967, 1973 and Palestinians from Lebanon in 1982.  After that, there have been riots, intifadas, all sorts of attacks even up to today with knifing and using cars to ram crowds.  It hasn't always been peaceful, but a good life has continued amid havoc. After all the times of living in the Diaspora, Jews are home and are willing to fight for their special home.

Resource:   The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia:  Israel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_the_Levant