Our Former 2 State Solution in 920 BCE

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                          

Israelites entering Egypt

In the days of Pharoahs and kings, there was an oppressed people who had been living in Egypt for 400 years as slaves after leaving their home in Canaan because of a drought.  They were freed by an Egyptian prince named Moses who had found out his birth parents had been Israelites, Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi.  He led them back to Canaan and took it over under the guidance of the one and only G-d, and there they built their kingdom with kings Saul, David and Solomon (961-920 BCE), son of King David and the beautiful Bathsheba.
                                                                         

King Solomon and a wife

King Solomon was wise, known throughout the land for his wisdom. He is also the author of much of our Jewish thinking.   His reputation was far and wide, even reaching the ears in Africa of Queen Sheba who came and visited him.  He built the Temple to glorify G-d.  This was finished in the 11th year of Solomon's reign and ensured the central position of Jerusalem in his kingdom.  Solomon divided his land into 12 districts  for the 12 tribes of Jacob and constructed a series of fortresses, store-cities and chariot-cities such as Megiddo  and Hazor.  He then developed trade and commerce by building a harbor at Elat on the Red Sea and together with Hiram of Lebanon, sent a  great fleet of ships to the land of Opohir.

He received wealth from gifts from foreign monarchs such as Sheba.  Trade prospered with neighboring states.  They were producers of copper and iron with their large smelting furnaces in the southern areas. Of course, Solomon's royal house and court were built up with oriental magnificence and sumptuous building which housed the royal family and his harem, said to consist of 1,000 wives and concubines which he married to keep the peace between countries.

The one thing he did wrong that brought about a split in the country was demanding forced labor from his people.  This was so he could have his extensive building program, and he did this in order to save face and continue to be a strong country.  All the nations did it.  Egypt had its particular building programs going on of pryamids.  Others had gigantic temples to their gods.  Solomon's building projects were so vast that they impoverished the country, and there was no China to borrow money from.

People other than Israelites lived under his rule.  The Edomites and Arameans began to revolt.Even Israelites were malcontents.  In 933 BCE, Solomon died.  The tribe of Judah lived in the south and was the largest of the 12.  They decided to pull away from Israel and be their own state. It was Jeroboam, king of Israel (933-912 BCE)  who led the revolt against Rehoboam (933-917BCE) , King Solomon's son and successor who then became Judah's king . So Solomon's line stayed with the tribe of Judah.  Most of Benjamin joined Judah and they presumably absorbed the tribe of Simeon, which was isolated in the extreme South.  Judah had no access to the sea and had no great trade-route.  Their land was only no more than 1/3 of the area of what remained of Israel now.  Israel remained an important state, and Judah was a poor one.  However, it held Jerusalem, the center of their Jewish religion.

After they had divided, they fought each other.  It was not a peaceful divide, more like the American Civil War.  Israel existed for 210 years.  During that time they had 19 kings from 9 dynasties.  10 died from violence and 7 ruled for less than 2 years.  Before Israel was taken over by the Assyrians, they had reached their greatest power by conducting successful campaigns against neighboring states, had much luxury and at one time extended its presence as far as the gulf of Akaba.  On the other hand, Judah lasted from 933 BCE to 586 BCE, a total of 347 years.  By comparison, the USA, created in 1776, is now only 240 years old.
                                                                           

You can see that Judah was on the right and Israel went way over to the left, being less religious and more involved in international affairs.  Israel's strength had become sapped with being in a perpetual state of warfare with Damascus, Syria and both ultimately fell before the advancing power of Assyria.  Samaria had become Israel's capital and Sargon captured it in 721 BCE which was the end of Israel.

Seeing their chance, the Assyrians attacked in 721 BCE and led away the best of the men into captivity, never to be heard from again until lately when we find that it's most likely they were taken as far as today's Afghanistan and Pakistan and are the Pashtos, Muslims since at least 632 CE when Mohammad died and had his followers force people into their new religion.  Judah was not taken at this time.  Their last king was Hoshea (730-721 BCE)
                                                                     

King of Babylonia, Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BCE) Conquered all lands from Euphrates to the Egyptian frontier, including Judah, captured Jerusalem and replaced king with his own pick-Zedekiah and exiled 8,000 of the local aristocracy to Babylon.  

Finally, the Babylonians, who had taken over the Assyrians' holdings, came along in 597 BCE and again in 586 BCE with Nebuchadnezzar at the helm and take most of the population to their capital of Babylon as captives.

Divided, neither Israel nor Judah had been strong enough to hold off the strongest of empires of the period.
                                                                         

Benjamin Netanyahu, twice Israel's Prime Minister

Netanyahu, today's Prime Minister of Israel, knows our history.  His decisions are so that he keeps Israel together, never to be divided again.  Israel remains a free democracy, with opinions running from the left to the right, and today the right is in the power seat because they offer the most security, and they need it badly.  The whole world has turned against Israel for wanting to be back in its native land after 2,000 years of being homeless and the objects of persecutions.  This, surprisingly, had all been foretold by our ancient prophets.  So it's something Israelis are living with, knowing they are doing their best to be a good people and to help the world that is against them.

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

Proven by DNA, We Are Original Jews

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

722 BCE  Assyrian Empire
Notice that Jerusalem is on this map.  It's been there since King David 1010 BCE.
Part of Western Asia with Semitic people
Kings David and Solomon had success against the Aramean states in Mesopotamia and Syria that helped Assyria recover from lost battles.  

Egypt,  Israel , Arabia. Lebanon and Syria ,called Aram originally, now turning into IS, are the oldest countries in the Middle East.  Egypt has been there forever.  The Egyptians  probably have changed very little. The Egyptians started off in about 3200 to 2686 BCE in the Early Dynastic Period.  By the time Abraham came along with descendant, Jacob, it was already the period for Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom from 2055 to 1650 BCE which was the 11th and 12th dynasties. Probably the first Hebrew immigration into Egypt was when the Semitic Hyksos Dynasty of 18th to 16th centuries BCE.

 It's then that Egypt was closely involved in Palestinian affairs, proven by the Tel-el-Amarna letters which   tell of the first Israelite incursions into Egypt.  Moses was born during the Egyptian's New Kingdom period of 1550 to 1069 BCE which was their 18th to 20th Dynasty period.  If anything, a few Jews may bear  segments of Egyptian chromosomes due to rapes, etc while living under slavery.  If an Egyptian man begat a male child, it would have had a new haplotype.  King Solomon married an Egyptian princess.  Before that, Abraham had relations with the Egyptian Princess Hagar, handmaiden of wife Sarah, and had a child.
                                                                       

12 Tribes of Judah-Israel 

 Israel is right behind them in age.  Abraham lived in Canaan around 1800 BCE.  That's how far back the original band of 70 go led by Jacob, his grandson.  Then 400 years were spent in Egypt as slaves and returning 40 years later to live there permanently transpired.  They returned with not only the descendants of the original family of Abraham, but also with other slaves who had been captured by the Egyptians.  All were freed and followed Moses.  By DNA, we find that the family of Jacob probably carried the J1 haplotype, and the other haplotypes of E, G, etc found in the Jewish men could have had this reason for haplotypes other than J1.  Even after 400 years of living in Egypt and becoming slaves, the 12 tribes did a good job of living among their tribal members while under forced labor.  .

Joshua entered the land for Moses, who died just outside at the age of 120.  From then on, they had to fight Canaanites and Phoenicians for the land.  These people were killed in the fight, and if not, were assimilated into the family of Israelites, for that is what the people of Moses and Joshua were called, Israelites and the land was Israel.  Jacob, the ancestor of Abraham, had been so named as Israel, and it was he who led the band of 70 originally.                                    

King David, son of Jesse-grandson of Boaz and Ruth
of tribe of Judah
1010-970 BCE

                                                                                       

King Solomon, David's son
961-920 BCE

                                                                       

King Saul of tribe of  Benjamin
-c1040-1010 BCE
1st king of Israel

The Israelites had 3 kings of importance; Saul, David and his son, Solomon.  When King Solomon died in 920 BCE, the Israelite kingdom split with the southern part which belonged to the tribe of Judah, parted from the north and became Judah.  They fought for a while over political differences.  Jerusalem stayed with Judah.

These Israelites, once called Hebrews as they had entered from the East into Ur and birthed Abraham, stayed together until 722 BCE when the Assyrians attacked and took away 10 of the 12 tribes of Jacob (Israel).  Today we know they were pretty well scattered throughout Assyria.  Many Pashtuns of Afghanistan and Pakistan have claimed descendency from this group.
                                                                               

Babylonian Empire 586 BCE
It was known as the land of Shinar or of the Kasdim (Chaldees).
Part of Western Asia 

By 597 and 586 BCE, The Babylonians attacked and also carried away slaves.  The Israelites and Judeans were not killed, but used as slaves.  In the olden days, people were killed in battle, but others were taken for slaves, just like the Greeks and Romans did.   At this point in time, the Israelites  were becoming a mixture of people who had been taken into the fold of their family as husbands and wives.  The southern part of Judah  underwent whole conversion.  That's another source of a different haplotype.
                                                                           

Chaim Weizmann, Jew, on left and Emir Feisal on right.
 Feisal Ibn Hussein 1885-1933 was the eldest son of Hussein, sherif of Mecca. He was from Saudi Arabia.   Feisal became King of Iraq from 1921 CE.
Chaim Weizmann 1874-1952 was born at Motel, near Pinsk, Belarus. A chemist, became the 1st president of Israel.  Belarus was one of states Jews were allowed to live in by the Russians.  We were not allowed to "mix in" with other people of Russia.  

The accusation by Muslims today is that Jews living in Israel today are not the same as the original Jews.  I beg to differ.  If anyone is the same in this world from 4,000 years ago, it most likely is the Egyptians and the Jews.  Take me, for instance.  DNA can find how much Neanderthal genes I carry in my cells, which is 2.9%.  If they can go back that far, don't you realize they can do a pretty good job in finding my Jewish genes?  Realize that I was born Jewish.  That's the ticket.  We are born Jewish.  If our mother is Jewish, we are born Jewish.  It's an inherited religion that goes back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Once we are born, we are labeled as a Jew.  In the world since the days of the Greeks and Roman Empires, that has been a stigma.  Nobody has wanted to cavort with a Jew.  In turn, most of us prefer to marry within our own religion anyway..

It's like being born purple.  We are marked.  We have also been marked so much that we have been locked up in ghettos and have not been allowed to mix in a general population to find mates.  So we have become an endogamous society.  That means we've been forced to keep on intermarrying with each other throughout the centuries and when not forced, a preference.  It's been a rather closed society.  The only division has been after 70 CE when some in escaping a burning Jerusalem and death stayed within the state of Judah and their descendants are today's Mizrachim.  Others traveled to what was to become Spain and are today's Sefardim. They, because of the Spanish Inquisition, have had more incidences of intermarriage leading to less distinctive DNA than the Ashkenazis who were the  other Jews  who most likely were already taken to Rome or lived there as traders before 70 CE were forced to leave and go to what became France and Germany and became the European branch or Ashkenazim Jews.  The Ashkenazim have been relatively homogeneous despite the fact that they are spread throughout Europe and have since immigrated to the Americas and a few back to Israel.
                                                                               

"About 80% of today's Jewish males and 50% of Jewish females trace their ancestry back to the Middle East.  The rest entered the "Jewish gene pool  through conversion or intermarriage.  Those who did intermarry often left the faith in a generation or 2, in effect pruning the Jewish genetic tree.  Many converts became interwoven into the Jewish genealogical line.  Remember Ruth, of Moab who married Boaz and became the great-grandmother of King David.  She began as an outsider, but you don't get much more Jewish than the bloodline of King David!"

Some misguided people are so devoid of our history that they think Jews just popped up in Europe.  I know this because I've been assailed by this accusation on some of my articles.   They think that the creation of Israel was done by Europeans, and have no business there.  Not so at all.

Many Jews are unaware of their own history.  Because of WWII and 6 million Jews being slaughtered, many lost records of their family lines, records that were quite well kept as of 1040 when RASHI, the great biblical commentator was born in Troyes, France.  Take me, for instance.  I knew that my paternal grandfather, carrier of the DNA haplotype of Q1b1a, was born and raised in Telsiai, Lithuania and managed to get himself to Council, Idaho and then Portland, Oregon.  That's what I knew.  What DNA has supplied me with along with a method called triangulation, was that I discovered our connection to Austrian and German Jews.  Our surname was German as well, being Goldfus in the original form.  So I  found out  that our migration pattern went from Rome (where I have DNA segments) to RASHI through a Rabbi Wertheimer who lived in Worms, Germany born in 1658.  From then to 1870, my ancestors made it to Lithuania.

Looking at history, the reason Jews left Germany and Austria way back then over 1,000 years ago was political and anti-Semitic.  As they kept on traveling north, they would be invited to live in a country, and then expelled for these same reasons.  Finally, terrible anti-Semitism in Russian lands caused many to take the fairly dangerous trip to the United States or "Palestine.' before the USA was available.  Our grandparents found anti-Semitism here as well, but usually didn't lead to pogroms and death.  Europe was another story.  Anti-Semitism was gaining power, causing many European Jews to emigrate to their homeland, now called Palestine.  They started the creation of the original homeland, Israel.

The Jordanians are not native of the land of Israel.  They came from Arabia, losing out on being king, Abdullah  I wanted to have a kingdom in another part of the Middle East.  Palestinian Arabs originally called themselves Palestinian Syrians.   They were from those northern tribes originally and many surrounding neighbors according to the research done by Joan Peters, who went to original sources in her book about their history.   Only a very few owned land in Palestine at the time of the 1880 Russian Jewish aliyah.  More came to the land seeking jobs with the newly arriving Jews.

Lebanon is mentioned in the Bible in relation to the Cedars of Lebanon when they were used by Solomon in building the Temple.  The Jewish population living there goes back to ancient times.  Jews lived in Beirut, Tripoli, Tyre and Sidon and were traders.

 Syria (Aram)  never did have a homogeneous state.  The coast was settled by Phoenicians.  Syria was overrun by the Assyrians in the 8th century BCE.  Jews lived here in Antioch  as well, most likely traders.  During the Seleucid era from 323 BCE to 64 BCE, Jews suffered from the hostility of the Greeks.  The most important Aramean kingdom in Syria in the 10th to 8th centuries BCE was Aram-Dammesek, called after its capital, Damascus/Hebrew is Dammesek.   In 920 BCE, when Israel was divided into Israel and Judah it became the great danger to Israel.
                                                                         

Abram-Abraham-1948 BCE

Abraham came from Aram-Naharaim or Aram of the 2 Rivers.  This was the biblical description for the NE area of Mesopotamia.  It's the land of origin of the patriarchs, and nearly all the names of the ancestors of Abraham, that is Serug, Nahor, and Terah,  all correspond to place-names in this region.  Abraham was the father of Ishmael through Hagar, the Egyptian  and the father of Isaac through his wife, Sarah, who was his niece-family.  Abraham's father was Terah.  Abraham's brother was Haran, who was the father of Sarah.  Nahor was Terah's father.  Serug was Nahor's father.  They keep going back till they reach Shem, one of the 3 sons of Noah.  There was Ham, Japheth, and Shem.  Abraham must have brought the story of the Flood with him and passed it onto his children.

As Noah passed on his story of his flood to his children, so we Jews have passed on our story of our purpose and existence through our Torah.  No, we didn't pop up in Europe.  Our ancestors, of who we carry with us in our DNA, knew Jacob-Israel and the 12 tribes very well.  Jews have claimed back their land.

Jews have been afraid of the concept that Judaism might be a race, but medical geneticist, Harry Ostrer insists the "biological basis of Jewishness" cannot be ignored.


 The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/dna-links-prove-jews-are-a-race-says-genetics-expert-1.428664?...by Jon Entine
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2015/06/what-are-jewish-origins.html
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2010/01/jewish-genes-what-haplogroup-could-they.html

Ancient politics in Israel: Rehoboam, Son of Solomon and War

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                  

Pharaoh at the time of Solomon's son, King Rehoboam, 933 BCE

King Solomon, son of King David, was a king of peace and reigned for 40 years. The main way he kept peace was by marrying the daughters of heads of state of surrounding nations.  It is said he had 1,000 wives and concubines.  He ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, up to the border of Egypt. The land was made up of about 9,400 square miles.  Texas, one of the 50 USA states, is made of 268,820 square miles for comparison to what is considered "large."  That's why George Bush said that Israel today could fit onto his ranch.   Solomon  had horses exported to him from Egypt and other lands.   He didn't have to defend his empire as his father had.  As he aged, he expected more out of his people for his grandiose projects.

However,  his son Rehoboam by his wife, Naamah, an Ammonite, (people who worshiped fertility gods, mainly Milkom,  from Transjordan, Semitic, related to Israelites) was met with war early on in his reign. He wasn't able to defend his property.

Solomon (961-920 BCE) took the reins of kingship before King David (1010-970 BCE) , his father had died.
                                                                           

Rehoboam didn't keep Israel united, wound up with the southern half of Israel

  Rehoboam (933 -917 BCE) must have done the same thing.   When Solomon died, the kingdom of Israel split apart and Rehoboam became king of the southern half, named Judah since the tribe of Judah lived there.  At the age of 41, he reigned for 17 years in Jerusalem. He was made king in Shechem (today's Nablus under Muslim control).   He had refused to accede to a popular demand for relief from taxation because he listened to his peers that he grew up with instead of his father's advisors.  .  The kingdom had split in two shortly after his acceptance of the kingship because of that refusal. The southern half, Judah, was comprised of about only 3,400 square miles.   Three out of the 12 tribes had remained loyal to him;  Judah, Simeon and most of Benjamin.  They kept Jerusalem as their capital.  The rest of Israel, the northern part, was taken over and ruled by Jeroboam (933-912 BCE).
                                                                           

Joseph

Jeroboam was from the tribe of Ephriam, and Ephraim had been the younger son of Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel. "Asenath or Asenith or Osnat was an Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph to be his wife.  She was the Egyptian Priest of On's daughter,  Poti-Phera.  " Pharaoh was so impressed by Joseph's shrewd intelligence that he employs him to re-organize grain supplies for Egypt.   Joseph was so successful that, among other favours, Pharaoh arranges that Joseph marry a high-born Egyptian woman called Asenath.  Her father was the priest of the sun god, Ra, it is thought.   
                                                                     

  During King Solomon's rule he was a superintendent of forced labor, but later was the leader of their revolt against the burden on the people by the king.  He had to take refuge in Egypt for a while because of his revolutionary movement.  The northern tribes declared their independence when the request for lower taxes and forced labor was refused.    The forced labor was for building projects that Solomon had wanted done, and the higher taxes helped to pay for them.  Since Jeroboam was the leader of the revolution, he became their king.  He may have brought a better life for his people, but they had no reins on them, and they returned to ancient ways of Canaanites since rules were lax.

                                                                           

Solomon's Temple

Too bad King David wasn't around at the time, because in the 5th year of  Rehoboam as king, about in 929 BCE, Egypt's King Shishak AKA Pharoah Sheshonq took advantage of the situation.  Shishak of Egypt marched against Jerusalem, now in the hands of the tribe of Judah. He attacked with 1200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen and countless people who came with him from Egypt; Lubim, Sukkeim and Ethiopians.   He took away the treasures of the Temple and the treasures of the king's palace.  He took everything.  He also took all the golden shields that Solomon had made.  But he didn't take over the land.  That he didn't want, only the riches.  He was nothing but a thief.
                                                                         

Egyptians recorded the Pharoah's attack on the walls of the Temple of Karnak, but he didn't mention Jerusalem among the places he conquered.  Yet the Bible, our Tankkh, recorded the event in I Kings 14:25. Egypt did bother to record Sheshonq's rule and wrote that it was between 945 and 925 BCE.

Egyptian pharaohs were not modest about their accomplishments and always wrote about it.  Sheshonq had built a great colonaded forecourt to the temple of Amun in Karnak and included the famous Bubastite Portal.  On it stands Sheshonq who is supported by Amun and other gods as he smites his enemies in Asia, who are tied up in the depiction below him.  Each prisoner features a name-ring with a toponym, identifying a place that Sheshonq conquered or destroyed.   Jerusalem didn't make the cut.  Evidently he felt he wasn't that proud of his attack on Jerusalem, then.  Evidently he didn't take prisoners, so there was nothing to brag about.  He didn't conquer Jerusalem, but was a thief in the night only.
                                                                           

King Rehoboam had to have copper shields made to take the place of the golden ones. They were given to the captains of the runners who guarded the entrance to the king's palace.  When the king came to the Temple, the runners would carry them and later return them to the chamber of the runners.

Rehoboam couldn't control the people very well and they did things against the laws of Moses.  They were more sinful than their ancestors had been.  They built high places and pillars and Asherah-trees on every lofty hill and under every leafy tree.  This was a slip going along with Canaanite ritual that was pagan, showing they were around and still an influence on the Hebrews.   They were into prostitution, and were doing things that people did of people previously inhabiting the land.
                                                                     

Jeroboam's northern Israelites weren't any better.  The north and the south fought against each other. Five years after he took office as king, , 60 towns in his protection were ravaged by an Egyptian invasion.  He tried to combat the popularity of the Temple in Jerusalem so he committed the gravest of sins.
                                                                         

Bronze bull found, possibly covered with gold leaf originally

He set up new shrines at Bethel and Dan with a similar cult that centered around the symbols of golden calves.  What he had done was revert back to the customs at the time when Moses climbed Mt. Sinai to receive the 10 commandments and the people left on the ground became antsy and started worshipping the Golden Calf they had made.  "The story about the Golden Calf is no longer in its original simple form. It is notable, however, that Aaron proclaimed a 'festival to the Lord' to be held in front of the Golden Calf. This seems to have some connection with the story in I Kings 12:26-30 about Jeroboam making the Golden Calves, for he uses exactly the same phrase that is given to Aaron in Exodus: “Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”   "Jeroboam became the prime example of someone who “sinned and caused the masses to sin (I Kings 14:16)”[4]. Everyone’s sin was “accredited” to him. As a result he lost his share in the World to Come, the Talmud says."  

 Rehoboam died and was buried in Jerusalem.    Abijah, his son, reigned in his place. (917-915). His mother was Micaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gilbeah.

Several hundred years later, the Assyrians will attack Israel and capture the best men as slaves for their lands.

G-d had given Moses (1391-1271 BCE) rules to follow that were so advanced for the culture, even though the family had started off with Abraham in the 2nd millennium of about 1948 BCE with monotheism. Put the population in a polytheistic culture and it drew them in.  It was hard to fight against.  Aaron had a moment of weakness and so did the kings after Solomon.
                                                                           

White House, USA

Knesset in Israel

 When you have a great leader, be appreciative of it.  They are scarcer than hen's teeth.    Being it is us, the people of the United States who elects a president, or Israelis in Israel who elect their prime minister, be wise about it.  Research each man.  What should a list of skills be to satisfy the job?  What should they know?  Look at the total picture; home and abroad responsibilities.  It just happens to be the highest and hardest position in the country.  Kings David and Solomon were wise beyond their years, and remembered to this day.

Resource:  http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/hebrew-bible/did-pharaoh-sheshonq-attack-jerusalem/
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.womeninthebible.net/Asenath.htm
http://www.differentspirit.org/articles/boundaries.php
Tanakh (Bible)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Israel_(united_monarchy)
http://www.jewishhistory.org/the-divided-kingdom/
http://www.jewishmag.com/157mag/israel_returns_to_promised_land/israel_returns_to_promised_land.htm