The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah emerged during the Iron Age. The Neo-Assyrian Empire destoyed Israel around 720 BCE.

Judah was later conquered by the Babylonian, Persian and Hellenistic empires and had existed as Jewish autonomous provinces.

The Maccabean revolt led to an independent Jewish kingdom in 110 BCE, which came to an end in 63 BCE when Judea became a client state of the Roman Republic.

Judea lasted as a Roman province until the failed Jewish revolts resulted in widespread destruction and expulsion of Jewish population. Jewish presence in the land of Israel has persisted over the centuries.

In the 7th century Palestine  was taken from the Byzantine Empire by the Arabs and remained in Muslim control until the First Crusade of 1099, followed by the Ayyubid conquest of 1187.

The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt extended its control over the Levant in the 13th century until its defeat by the Ottoman Empire in 1517.

During the 19th century, national awakening among Jews led to the establishment of the Zionist movement followed by waves of immigration to Ottoman and later British Palestine.

In 1947, the UN adopted a Partition Plan for Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem.

The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, and rejected by Arab leaders. The following year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.

Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is the world’s longest military occupation in modern times.

This land is mine
God gave this land to me
This brave and ancient land
To me

And when the morning sun
Reveals her hills and plains
Then I see a land
Where children can run free

So take my hand
And walk this land with me
And walk this lovely land
With me

Though I am just a man
When you are by my side
With the help of God
I know I can be strong

Though I am just a man
When you are by my side
With the help of God
I know I can be strong

To make this land our home
If I must fight, I will fight
To make this land our own
Until I die, this land is mine