Terms & Concepts

The Zionist Regime

Written by: Masoumeh Abedini Translated by: Hadi Qorbanyar
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The term Israel is a Hebrew word used in the Torah and the Bible in two distinct senses. First, it refers to Prophet Jacob (pbuh), whose descendants were known as the Children of Israel. Second, it denotes the Kingdom of Israel, which existed on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean between 702 and 962 BCE. After the fall of this kingdom in 702 BCE, the Israelites were dispersed and did not reconstitute themselves as a unified nation for many centuries. Despite living in the eastern Mediterranean region from around 1200 BCE until 70 CE, Jews—except for the brief period mentioned—never established a state in that region. In 70 CE, Titus, the Roman emperor, gained control over the eastern Mediterranean and renamed the region Palestine.

With the spread of nationalism and democratic movements in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries, small religious communities—especially ancient religions such as Judaism, which had become increasingly associated with superstition—were marginalized in society. European Jews, fearful of the disintegration and disappearance of their fragile religious communities, developed a new idea in the late 19th century—one that had no prior political precedent in Judaism—later known as Zionism.

Through the efforts of Theodor Herzl (1862–1904), a Hungarian Jew, the first Zionist Congress was convened in August 1897 in Basel, Switzerland. At the conclusion of the congress, Jewish representatives called for the establishment of the World Zionist Organization and the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.

With the outbreak of World War I and Britain’s growing difficulty in financing the war, British officials turned their attention to the wealth of Jewish bankers. On November 2, 1917, Lord Balfour, the British foreign secretary, sent a letter to Lord Rothschild, a prominent Jewish banker and head of the British Zionist Federation. This letter—later known as the Balfour Declaration—stated that “His Majesty’s Government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object”. Wealthy Jews, using their financial and human resources, supported Britain in return. Through Zionist lobbying and influence, the League of Nations granted Britain the mandate over Palestine in 1923.

With the onset of World War II and the intensification of Nazi persecution of Jews—particularly in Germany and Eastern Europe—Jewish migration to Palestine increased dramatically. By the end of the war, the number of Jewish immigrants to Palestine had exceeded 700,000.

With the emergence of the United States as the dominant global power after World War II, Zionists shifted the center of their activities from Britain to the United States. The U.S. Congress expressed support for the creation of a Jewish state. In 1947, following Britain’s declaration of its inability to continue governing Palestine, the United Nations appointed a committee of eleven countries, including Iran, to examine the situation. On November 29, 1947, the committee’s proposed plan was approved by the UN General Assembly. Despite Palestinians constituting the majority of the population, 57 percent of Palestinian territory was allocated to Jews and 43 percent to Palestinians. Jerusalem was designated an international zone, and Britain was to withdraw its forces by August 1, 1948.

On May 14, 1948, coinciding with the departure of the last British troops, David Ben-Gurion—one of the leading Zionist figures in Palestine—announced the official establishment of the State of Israel and became its first prime minister. The official emblem of the new state, also featured on its flag, was the blue six-pointed Star of David, a well-known symbol among European Jews.

Arab states, dissatisfied with the UN partition plan, went to war with Israel following its declaration of statehood. However, with UN mediation, hostilities ceased in January 1949. By the end of the war, Israel had occupied approximately 50 percent more territory than allocated to it under the UN plan. The remaining lands stayed under Arab control, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state was effectively abandoned.

On May 11, 1949, after being recognized by the major powers of the time, Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations.

In 1967, following Egypt’s closure of the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping by order of Gamal Abdel Nasser, war broke out once again. In the conflict known as the Six-Day War, Israel occupied not only the remaining Palestinian territories but also the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights in southwestern Syria, the West Bank of the Jordan River, and East Jerusalem. In October 1973, during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, Egypt again went to war with Israel. Although Egyptian forces initially reclaimed parts of their territory, the war ultimately ended in Israel’s favor with full U.S. support.

In November 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visited Israel, opening the door to reconciliation. On September 17, 1978, at Camp David—the U.S. president’s residence near Washington—Egypt officially recognized Israel in an agreement bearing the same name, while Israel committed to a gradual withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula.

The victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in February 1979 significantly undermined Israel. Iran had been Israel’s largest oil supplier, without which Israel would not have been able to prevail in its four major wars with Arab states. Following Iraq’s invasion of Iran on September 22, 1980, Israel unofficially aligned itself with Iraq.

In 1982, after withdrawing from the Sinai, Israel invaded Lebanon under the pretext of suppressing Palestinian resistance groups and occupied nearly half of the country, including Beirut. Following the expansion of anti-Israeli resistance and the bombing of U.S. military headquarters in Beirut in 1985, Israel was forced to withdraw from most of Lebanon, retaining only a narrow strip along the southern border.

In 1987, the Intifada erupted in the occupied territories. As a result, in 1993, Israel was compelled—through a largely one-sided agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)—to hand over the Gaza Strip and major West Bank cities to the Palestinian Authority. This marked the first time in Israel’s history that Israeli authorities politically acknowledged a distinct Palestinian identity.

Despite ongoing U.S.-mediated peace negotiations, these efforts have failed to contain the Intifada or restore security to Israel.

In May 2000, after two decades of intense armed struggle, Hezbollah fighters succeeded in expelling the remaining Israeli troops from southern Lebanon and replaced them as the controlling force in the border region.^[1]

 

^[1] Talkhis az Daerat al-Maaref-e Enqelab-e Eslami (A Summery of the Encyclopedia of the Islamic Revolution), Vol. 1, Tehran: Daftar-e Adabiat-e Enqelab-e Eslami, Sureh Mehr, 1384, Pp. 52-54.