Loki Loc: Georgia

Welcome back. I should probably start with a brief synopsis of Part I, which very briefly touched on the history of Palestine from Neolithic and Bronze Age times, until the Roman occupation. My purpose in going back so far in time is to demonstrate the antiquity of the region, and to shed some light on the original inhabitants and how they relate to current times. In a nutshell, there has been a Hebrew presence in this area since about 6000-8000 B.C., in the form of an ancient tribe known as the Hebari, who along with the Ammonites, Moabites and Canaanites were the original inhabitants of the region. I tried to follow this thread through the time of the Hebari (now the Hebrews), in Egypt, during the late Old Kingdom, and on through the Babylonian and Assyrian captivity, to the return, and the Roman rule. I will begin again shortly after the time of Christ's crucifixion, with the Great Revolt (the first of three) of the Jews against Roman rule.
(It may seem that I have a fascination with recording all of the myriad battles that have occurred through the ages in this ancient region, rather than relating the history, but you have to realize that these military actions ARE the history of the region, and have determined it's social, religious, political and economic development, or in some cases, it's lack of same. There are two phrases that come to mind; the first being "Follow the Money," and the second being "Location, Location, Location." Long before anyone knew anything about oil, this area's location, with it's many seaports and proximity to land trade routes to the north and east, made it a prize worth fighting for, which is one of the main reasons for it's blood soaked history. Even in Neolithic times, the fertile soil and moderate climate made it a prize).

In 66 A.D., in response to excessive taxation and what was reported as Roman defacement of Holy sites, the Jews of Palestine revolted. Surprising themselves as much as anyone else, they overran the Roman garrison in Jerusalem quickly and easily. The pro-Roman ruler, King Agrippa, fled to Syria, and returned with an army based largely on the XII Fulminata, the Roman Twelfth Legion. This army was ambushed and destroyed, prompting an overwhelming Roman response. A large army was sent to Judea, under the command of Vespasian and his son Titus. The Jews were unprepared to face a lengthy campaign against a far better trained and numerically superior foe, and the end result was they were decisively defeated, Jerusalem was sacked, and depending on which history you refer to, between 250,000 and one million Jewa were massacred. Most of those left alive fled to other countries, although a very few remained. The Temple, rebuilt with Roman permission, was destroyed.

Forty-five years later, the Second Jewish Revolt, also known as Kito's War, began, not in Judea, but in Cyrennaica, (now Libya). It spread eastward, and was crushed in 117 A.D., two years after it's inception, with the predictable result of the Jews being massacred again, although this time a large number of Christians also were killed.

In 132 A.D., the Third and final Jewish Revolt began, led by Bar Kochba. Despite some initial successes, (The Roman 9th Legion was destroyed, and the 22nd was disbanded because of being rendered combat inneffective due to casualties), the predictable happened once more, and the Jews were beaten, Bar Kochba killed, and some 580,000 The Emperor Hadrian, in an effort to stamp out Judaism, renamed the Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina, and forbade the practice of the Jewish faith. Fifty fortified towns had been destroyed, and almost a thousand villages were razed. Once again, there was a diaspora of the surviving Jews, although a few remained.

In the period of 306-324 A.D., with the ascendence of the Byzantines, Judea, now Palestine, was incorporated into the Eastern Roman Empire, and enjoyed a time of relative calm. Thee was a great deal of trade with parts of Europe, particularly Italy, and at last a respite of peace and prosperity occurred.

It was during this time that the first meaningful Arab presence began. During the Second and Third Centuries, Ghassanid (Christian) Arabs began settling in the region. It was also during this time that Isaac of Diocesarea began resettling Jews around the area of Safed. (Historical note: in 324 A.D., the original name of Jerusalem was restored). This population was incresed dramatically just after 410 A.D., with the inclusion of many Jews who fled from the first sack of Rome. (The Visigoths under Alaric).

It was along about this time that there was a series of revolts, mostly religious in nature, by the Samaritans, in 484, 495 and 529 A.D., and a final one in 556-572 A.D. They fared no better than the Jews, and were, to all intents and purposes, exterminated, with more than a quarter million deaths.
Shortly after this began the Byzantine/Sassanid War, from 602 to 628 A.D. The Jews allied themselves with the Persian Sassanids, and were initially successful, obtaining temporary autonomy over Jerusalem from 614 through 629. After the Persians withdrew their army, the Jews were again defeated, with the predictable massacre.
Only seven years later, the Arabs invaded, and defeated the Byzantines at the battle of Yarmouk, conquering Palestine, and beginning an Arab ascendency that would last until the Seljuks, who conquered the region in part, just in time for the first Crusade. It is worth noting that the Jews fought alongside the Arabs against both the Seljuks and the Crusaders from 1073 until the triumph of the First Crusade in 1099.

The history of Palestine under the Crusaders is one of serfdom, plain and simple. The feudalistic norm of medieval Europe was transplanted to the Holy Land until the Battle of Hattin, in 1187, when the Crusaders were thoroughly defeated by Saladin, thereby returning control of the area to the Seljuks, who, interestingly enough, had mostly gravitated to Egypt, Saladin himself reputedly from Cairo.
We have a tumultous time until about 1260, with one Crusade after another, mostly unsuccessful, and never reconquering Jerusalem, or the Holy Land. The year of 1260 was indeed a turning point, as it saw the invasion of the Mongols under Hulagu Khan. Almost as soon as the conquest was completed, Hulagu was forced to return to the East, because of the death of the Great Khan, Mongke, and the resultant power struggle. Hulagu committed a serious error, in taking most of his army with him, save about 20,000 warriors. This meant that the Seljuks, who could also field about that many, could fight on a far more level playing field. Under their commander, Baibars, on September 3, 1260, one of history's pivotal battles occurred; Ain Jalat. Baibars used one of the Mongols favorite tactics successfully against them, feigning retreat, and leading the Mongols into an ambush, where they were decisively beaten. Indeed, eh defeated them again barely three months later at the first battle of Homs, in Syria. This effectively ended the Mongol and all other threats to Seljuk rule, with the exception of the Crusader castle at Acre, which was reduced in 1291.

Shortly after this, in order to prevent more Crusader invasions, the Seljuks destroyed or made worthless most of the ports for which this area was so valued. This, along with the first occurrence of the Bubonic Plague, reduced the population of the area to almost nothing. By most accounts, barely 200,000 souls were aliveby the mid 1300s.

In 1486, the Ottoman Empire began it's series of conquests. and by 1516, after the battle of Marj Dabiq, (near present day Aleppo), became the dominant force in the region, although they did not actually occupy Palestine until later.

I hope I have not bored anyone too badly, and this history overview will come together in the last installment. Many of the current problems in the Israeli Palestinian conflict can trace their roots back hundreds, and thousands of years. The history of Palestine is one of conflict, battle and bloodshed, and current events are no more than a continuance of what has been the norm for more than 4000 years.

Loki Loc: Georgia

correction: paragraph 4 should read "580,000 Jews massacred."