Israel

**Israel**, formally the **Republic of Israel** is the only Jewish state in the entire world, centered in the traditional Jewish homeland of the Levant. It borders Lebanon to the North and Syria to the East and South. Despite being a young nation with immense potential, Israel faces various external foes, most famously Syria, who wish to annex all of Israeli land, as well as Lebanon due to the occupation of Tyre.

## History

### The Ottoman Revolution

In the beginning when the Sasun Rebellion turned into the Ottoman Revolution and Eastern Anatolia erupted into open conflict, the Jewish population of the Ottoman Empire chose to remain either neutral or pro-Ottoman as they had been treated quite well under the Ottoman Empire and did not want to see that change, but this hope went out the window when in 1895 the British and French declared war, and British troops immediately poured into Palestine, taking city after city with ease. After the fall of Jerusalem in mid-May, London issued a declaration to the Jewish and Arab populations telling them to remain calm as the British began to assert their colonial holdings in the region.

Little changed after, as the Levant stayed relatively peaceful until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the Treaty of Baku which ratified the Erivan Accord, and so the residents of Palestine, whether Jewish or Arab saw themselves become indefinite subjects of the British Empire.

### British Palestine

After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1896, the British government had realized that intervening in the Ottoman Revolution had unintended consequences. The new colonies Britain had received after the Treaty of Baku were routinely home to anti-colonial resistance movements.

Constant infiltration and attacks by Arab guerrillas did not stop, and the British years later became desperate to end the fighting as some believed if the fighting escalated it could result in a domino effect which might end the British Empire as a whole. In 1900, the British parliament ratified a bill which endorsed the beliefs of Zionism and "welcomed all Jews to settle in Palestine". Of course, this was a ploy to counteract Arab resistance in a more subtle way. In some cases, the British government even pressured their worldwide Jewish communities to settle in Palestine, which over 10,000 did in 1901. Subsequently, British and French Arab colonies saw an uproar of violent antisemetic attacks on the sizeable Mizrahi Jewish community there, forcing over 75,000 across Southwest Asia to flee to Palestine in the years of 1902-1905. From 1905 and onward antisemetism worldwide increased because of the so-called "Aliyah Bill", and so, many Jews from every continent fled to Palestine, mostly Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews. From 1905-1910 the Jewish population in Palestine increased by over 120,000.

In order to help settle these Jewish migrants, British authorities often deported various Arab neighborhoods to make way for Jewish migration. Most Jews settled in North Palestine, with cities like Haifa, Jenin, Netanya and Nablus becoming majority Jewish by 1918. Haifa and Jaffa specifically were the lifeblood of the Jewish settlers and migrants, with these cities becoming the first Jewish majority cities. What the British did not realize was how endorsing Zionism pretty much sealed the Empire's fate at that point. With more antisemetism caused by the Aliyah Bill, more Jews settled in Palestine resulting in more Arabs being deported causing more hatred and anti-colonialist sentiments to fester causing more antisemetic attacks as the cycle continued until the hatred for the British boiled over in 1919.

In 1910 after the Gaza Massacre in which over 12 Palestinians were murdered by British colonial police, it became clear that London could not keep trying to forcibly pacify Palestine, and instead they yielded to some Arab demands, giving Palestine more autonomy, but with a twist. At the same time reforms were being passed, the Jewish Levies, a military force, was created in London to help the mostly British-aligned Jewish settlers protect them and the interests of the Empire.

While the British reduced their overall presence in Palestine it was ultimately replaced by the Levies, who were nothing more than a puppet for the British. Jewish settlers and migrants were given a disproportionate amount of power against the Arabs with British backing. With anti-British and anti-Zionist hatred growing, Palestine became the lifeblood of the emerging pan-Arab movement, nonetheless life continued onward to the dismay of the Palestinian Arabs.

### Cairo War and Israeli Independence

After the end of the Great War, the British were exhausted, and this time, weak enough for Arab insurgents to grow in numbers and power. With the Second Egyptian Revolution and the Cairo War began, life in Palestine became tense as the Egyptian Arabs gained ground. As time went on, and as it was feared that the British would lose the Suez Canal, Arabs in southern Palestine began to organize into militias, fighting and capturing town after town. With Northern Palestine being where the majority of Jewish migrants lived, they began to fear for their lives and gave the British an ultimatum: let Jews organize and protect themselves (they were partially able to under the Jewish Levies, but their ultimatum wanted the Levies to be an independent organization free from British interference).

When London refused, the Jewish levies began attacking various British garrisons in Jaffa, Nablus and Hebron, resulting in a parliamentary decision to disband the levies "until the Arab conflict was over”. Enraged, Jews in the port of Jaffa 3 days later declared Israeli independence and after a short skirmish with the colonial troops stationed in Jaffa the city fell fully under the Israeli provisional government. In their declaration of independence the new Israeli leader Haim Boger urged Jews all across Palestine to rise up to protect their homeland or face extinction. With this news reaching far and wide, Jews went on strikes, rioted and harassed British troops all across Palestine. Any large Jewish rebellion in the south was crushed by Arabs, but in the north Jews had a fighting chance and they took what they could get. As the Cairo War went on British Arabia began to fall. Shortly after Israeli independence was declared, Syrian independence was declared in Damascus as well, while the Jewish militias began taking town after town in the North.

#### Israeli War of Independence

Jaffa became the new capital for the provisional Israeli government, while Palestine itself erupted into ethnic, and in some cases, religious violence. Arab militias rose up all across the South while in the north Israeli militias were formed in haste to occupy towns and cities to the north as both sides made preparations to attack and occupy Jerusalem, still under de-jure British occupation.

After 5 months of fighting most of Northern Palestine was secured by Israeli forces, while they prepared for a confrontation with nationalist Syria which had begun to invade Southern Palestine. In the fear of being crushed by Syrian Arab forces, before they could use them, along the Jordan River all bridges were destroyed by the Israelis, leaving the many Syrian troops along the opposite side of the river stranded, as the high command put too much faith in an offensive west of the river while the Syrian forces struggled to take a full control of British Beyrut to attack the Israelis from the north. With confidence, the Israeli forces rushed through a final plan to take Ramallah, Jericho and most importantly, Jerusalem which was still nominally under the control of a weak British garrison. Without enough Syrian troops to enforce otherwise, the Israeli offensive began and after 3 days took Jericho, Ramallah and besieged Jerusalem, to the detriment of the Syrian war effort. After an agreement was reached between the British troops in Jerusalem and Jaffa, the British troops surrendered, with the guarantee that they could return to Britain and not become prisoners of war. As Syria was having its own problems trying to take control of large swaths of territory and not come into conflict with any of their neighbors, begrudgingly they offered Israel a ceasefire which the Israelis agreed to. By March of 1920, the new state of Israel had been established, and peace came over the Levant.

### Years of Aliyah

Known by Israeli historians as the “Years of Aliyah” is the period between 1920-1927 before the Lebanese Civil War. This time period was marked by internal political fractioning, mass migration and the rise of socialism within the country. This period was also proclaimed to be the Third Aliyah, or third wave of modern Jewish immigration to Israeli lands. About 1 month after the ceasefire, the Israeli provisional government announced a nationwide election to permanently disband the provisional government and create a permanent one. At the same time Boger announced he would not run for re-election, so it was anyone’s game.

In the end, social democrat Alexander Aaronsohn won the presidency, while his party (known as the Alliance of Jaffa) won over 45% of the seats in the new Knesset (unicameral Israeli legislature). Other parties, such as the democratic socialist Labor Party won 20%, the national populist Levantine Party won 10%, the syndicalist Union Alliance won 15% while other minor parties won a few seats in the Knesset. After a decision in the Knesset, Israel moved their capital from Jaffa to Jerusalem despite many of the world’s nations not recognizing Israeli control over the city.

Controversially within the Years of Aliyah was an unofficial population exchange in the region of Palestine. After Israel was established, various paramilitary and milita units, radicalized from the independence war envisioned an ethno-state, not a multi-cultural country as some Israelis wanted. Massacres ensued and countrywide pressure resulted in over 100,000 Palestinians fleeing to the north and south in Syrian lands. Subsequently all of Syria’s Jewish population was forced to flee for similar reasons, and so about 30,000 Syrians fled to Israel as a result. Syria seized Jewish assets and as a result Israel seized all Arab assets and deprived any Arabs who were deported the right to return back to their lands. All of this occurred from the end of the Israeli War of Independence to about 1921.

After Israel suffered the depopulation of the Arabs in their country, they passed the Right of Return, granting people of Jewish ancestry up to at least one Jewish grandparent, and spouses of Jews the right to obtain citizenship and settle in Israel to bring their population back up. From 1921-1927 about 150,000 Jews migrated across the world to Israel from various countries, with 45,000 of them being from Russia fleeing the Russian Civil War. At first Israel suffered from poverty, being unable to deal with the sudden influx of refugees, and on the coast refugee camps were created to house the migrants. Hygiene was lacking and disease spread and Israel became desperate to put an end to these camps. After negotiations with Italy in 1924, much needed Italian investment poured into the country, allowing for Israel to use the new money gained to put families in depopulated Arab villages and new neighborhoods were built as were small towns where the residents could permanently settle. During this time the sea ports of Jaffa, Acre and Haifa became boom towns with Italian investment.

Israel also before the Italians came along were heavily in debt and out of money due to a naval arms race with Syria. Syria hoped to blockade Israeli ports which would decimate the Israeli economy and the chance of Jewish migrants to settle in Israel and hastily began setting up their own navy. After Italy began aiding Israel, they also supplied them with various ships. 1922 was the worst year for the Israelis as the Syrian navy managed to partially blockade Israel, but in 1924 Italy provided Israel with its first few ships, and the idea of fully blockading Israel ended, but the Syrian navy wouldn’t budge until 1927.

Israeli culture flourished during this time as well. Literature was mass printed while magazines and newspapers were printed. Hebrew became the official language of Israel followed by various other languages like Yiddish, and because so much of the pre-war Israeli population spoke Arabic, Arabic also became an official language. With liberalization reforms coming in from the center-left parliament, Israel was established as a secular country in 1926, just as new elections were taking place.

In these new elections, Alexander was outvoted, and instead Moshe Sharett, leader of the Labor Party won the most votes, ushering in a new era of the left in Israeli politics. The Alliance of Jaffa lost 5 seats, the Labor Party won 10 seats, the Union Alliance won 6 seats and the Levantine Party won 4 seats, giving way for the labor party to triumph both in the president and the Knesset.

### The Lebanese War of Independence

In 1927, after Lebanese activists and Syrian diplomats failed to negotiate about Lebanon’s status as an autonomous state, and when the Syrian head of state announced that Lebanon would not be receiving anymore autonomy from Damascus, the population revolted and in Beirut proclaimed the Republic of Lebanon and the Lebanese War of Independence began. Israel, in the hopes of Lebanon winning the war to weaken their Syrian rival, reached out to give supplies to the Lebanese. Despite the Lebanese fighters not wanting Israeli help they eventually folded as they were willing to do anything to win the independence war. Shortly after, and about 1 month into the war Israeli convoys arrived in the Beirut port with material aid, ammunition and guns leftover from the Israeli Independence War. With this boost the Lebanese army took Tripoli and began an assault into Syrian held territory, even managing to cut off 4 Syrian divisions in the province of Tyre. Despite Tyre being cut off from a land border with Syria, they held off further Lebanese infiltration with help from the Syrian navy. Israel worried that the armies in Tyre might be able to outflank the Lebanese army and cause the war to be lost. In a controversial move, Israel invaded the Syrian army from the south. Before further Syrian reinforcements could come the city of Tyre was captured by Israeli forces, and with Lebanese help the Syrian forces stuck within the Tyre province surrendered.

The Lebanese government, outraged, asked Israel to give the territory back to Lebanon, but Israel refused, and under the guise of “national security” they held the territory and shortly thereafter Lebanon cut off its relations with Israel. The Arab world prepared for war with Israel but after Italy backed Israel the Arab states of Egypt, Araqa and Syria backed down.

In the end, Lebanon won the war and took various provinces and cities but always reiterated their claims to Tyre. Tyre after the war became a ghost town as the Arab population there fled into Lebanon, but as more Jews arrived into Israeli territory those same Jews were sent to permanently settle in Tyre, now a sprawling Israeli city with heavy Arab influence.

The war also warmed relations between Italy and Israel, as they became more than just trading partners but Italy after the conflict guaranteed Israeli sovereignty and forced the Syrian navy to back down in their attempts to blockade Israeli ports.

### Post-conflict

While the warming of Israeli-Italian relations seemed good at first, Israel realized, far too late that they’re being trapped. Italy put Israel in debt with them and made them economically dependent on Italian support. Ever since the early 1920s Italy planned to economically dominate the Mediterranean as a neo-Roman empire of sorts, with Israel being a spring board for Italy to enter into Southwest Asia and hopefully dominate the nations present in the region. De-facto, Israel is a puppet of Italy and has been since the 1931 elections.

During the elections and in the aftermath, Moshe won re-election, the Labor Party gained 3 seats, the Alliance of Jaffa gained back 6 seats, Union Alliance won 9 seats and the Levantine Party won 10 seats, the biggest increase for the Union Alliance and the Levantine Party thus far which correlated in a rise of Israeli radicalism that emerged after the Lebanese War of Independence.

About 5 years later the third elections are approaching and so is the 20th anniversary of Israeli independence. While the republicans still remain triumphant in Syria they’re violently nationalistic calling for the destruction of Lebanon and Israel to finally recreate Greater Syria which would spell repression and at worst death to hundreds of thousands of Jews, many of whom have only spent 1 decade in Israel while a new generation is born, having seen no other home other than Israel.

## Culture

Israeli culture is seen as a mix of various Jewish ethnicities and minority Arabs. Israel is seen as a mixing pot for all Jews, as Sephardic, Ashkenazi, Mizrahi Jews and many more converge with one and another. Hebrew has also seen a worldwide revival as with Yiddish as it is taught in school and is an official language of the government. Quite controversially however is Israel’s stance on Arabs and the decision in 1923 to not allow Arabs the right to return to the lands they were deported from.