ISRAEL SUPPORTERS: STOP USING THESE 13 PHRASES!

ISRAEL SUPPORTERS: STOP USING THESE 13 PHRASES!

-----------------------
Mainstream Western media coverage of Israel is laced with expressions intentionally crafted to delegitimize the Jewish State. The good news is that these terms weren’t written in stone 3,300 years ago, but are post-Israel independence creations.
By forfeiting this language, we forfeit our history. Here are 13 phrases we must stop repeating.
#1 – “West Bank:” Claims that “Judea and Samaria” is simply the “biblical name for the West Bank” stands history on its head. The Hebrew-origin terms “Judea” and “Samaria” were used through 1950, when invading [Trans] Jordan renamed them the “West Bank” in order to disassociate these areas of the Jewish homeland from Jews. The UN’s own 1947 partition resolution referred not to “West Bank,” but to “the hill country of Samaria and Judea.” This term is not shorthand for “Judea and Samaria.” Under this formulation, Jordan is the “East Bank” of the original Palestine Mandate, which was designated as the homeland for the Jewish People.
Jerusalem – the eternal, united capital of the Jewish nation.
#2 – “East” Jerusalem or “traditionally Arab East” Jerusalem: From the city’s second millennium BCE origins until 1947 CE, there was no such place as “East” Jerusalem. The 19 years between when invading Jordan captured part of the city in 1948 and was ousted by Israel in 1967 was the only time in history, except between 638 and 1099, when Arabs ruled any part of Jerusalem. Palestinian Arabs have not ruled an inch of it for one day in history.  In the past three millennia, Jerusalem has been the capital of three native states – Judah, Judaea, and modern Israel – and has had a renewed Jewish majority since 19thcentury Turkish rule. Eastern Jerusalem is a neighborhood of the city that Israel reunified in 1967.
#3 – “The UN sought to create Jewish and Palestinian States:” It did not. Partitioning Palestine between “Palestinians” and Jews is like partitioning Pennsylvania between Pennsylvanians and Jews. Over and over in its 1947 partition resolution, the UN referenced “the Jewish State” and “the Arab” [not “Palestinian”] State.
#4 – 1948 was the “Creation” and “Founding” of  Israel: Israel wasn’t “created” and “founded” in 1948 artificially and out-of-the-blue. Israel attained independence that year as the natural fruition into renewed statehood of a people that had twice before been independent in that land, and after centuries of hard work to re-establish a Jewish State in this historic homeland.
#5 – “The War that Followed Israel’s Creation:” Israeli did not choose this war; it was hoisted on Israel by almost every Arab state, which rejected the UN partition and tried to push the Jews of Israel into the sea. And it was a homeland Jewish army, Haganah, which became the IDF, that threw back that multi-nation foreign invasion.
#6– “Palestinian Refugees of the War that Followed Israel’s Creation,” or the “Palestinian Refugee Issue:” It was the invading Arab nations bent on Israel’s destruction that both encouraged and caused the bulk of the Arabs to flee Israel. And a greater number of media constantly ignore the indigenous Middle Eastern Jews who were expelled from vast Arab and other Muslim lands in the wake of the Arab-Israeli War. Their number is greater than the amount of Arabs that fled tiny Israel. That Israel absorbed the bulk of these Jews, while Arab “hosts, “including in Palestine itself, isolate the Arab refugees’ descendants in Western-supported “refugee camps” does not convert the Arab-Israeli conflict’s two-sided refugee issue into a “Palestinian” refugee issue. Had the Palestinian Arabs accepted the UN partition plan, they would also have been celebrating their 66th anniversary.
#7 – Israel “Seized” Arab Lands in 1967: It did not. The 1967 war, like its predecessors, was a defensive war forced upon Israel. Israel’s neighbors did not want to compromise; they simply wanted to destroy the Jewish State. The new Israeli territory was meant to provide a security barrier and ensure this could never happen. Moreover, these were not “Arab Lands.”
#8 – Israel’s “1967 Borders:” The 1949 Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement expressly declared the “green line” it drew between the two sides’ ceasefire positions as a military ceasefire line only, without prejudice to either side’s political border claims. The post-’67 war UN resolution 242 pointedly did not demand Israel retreat from these lines.
#9 – “Israeli-Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem:” That the media insistently calls Israeli presence in the heart of Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria “Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories” does not make it so.  “Occupation” is an international law term referencing foreign presence in the sovereign territory of another state.  The land of Israel’s last sovereign native state before modern Israel was Jewish Judaea. The land ratio of Arab lands to Israel is 625-1, 23 states to one.
#10 – “Jewish Settlers and Settlements” vs. “Palestinian Residents of Neighborhoods and Villages:” A favorite media news article contrast is referencing in the same sentence “Jewish settlers” in “settlements” and “Palestinian residents” of nearby “neighborhoods” and “villages.” Jews are not alien“settlers” in a Jerusalem that’s had a Jewish majority since 19th century times or in the Judea-Samaria Jewish historical heartland.
#11 – Israel’s “Jewish State” recognition is “a new stumbling block”: New since Moses’ time. The Jewish homeland of Israel, including continuous homeland-claiming Jewish presence, has always been central to Jewish people hood. In 1947, British Foreign Secretary Bevin told Parliament that the Jews’ “essential point of principle” was Jewish Palestine sovereignty.
Arabs vandalize Joseph’s Tomb, located in the biblical city of Shechem in Samaria.
#12 – “Palestinians accept and Israel rejects a Two-State Solution:” Wrong on both counts. Both the U.S. and Israel define ‘Two States’ as two states for two peoples – Jews and Arabs. Many on the Arab side insistently rejects two states for two peoples. Many Israelis, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, support that plan – conditioned on an end to Palestinian terror. The Arabs continuously and consistently deny Israel’s right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish People, no matter where its borders are drawn.
#13 – “The Palestinians:” The United Nations’ 1947 partition resolution called Palestine’s Arabs and Jews “the two Palestinian peoples.” Nothing is more self-delegitimizing and counter-productive to achieving peace based on Arab recognition of Jews’ right to be there, than that Jews should go around calling Palestinian Arabs “The Palestinians.” They have no distinguishing language, religion, or culture from neighboring Arabs, and have never been sovereign in Palestine, whereas the Jews, with a presence stretching back three millennia, have had three states there, all Jerusalem-based. Most Palestinian Arabs cannot trace their own lineage to the land back more than 4 generations.

Jewish Timeline

  TimeLine (Chronology) of Zionism and the History of Israel Zionism maps history definitions e-Zion Encyclopedia issues timeline photos books links contact Custom Search Search Latest Israel News  Timeline: Concise Chronology of Israel, Zionism and Jewish History   1800? BCE Abraham migrates to Canaan according to Jewish tradition. 1300? BCE Migration and conquest of Canaan by the Philistines and Israelite tribes. Map of Canaan. 1000? BCE Jewish conquest of Jerusalem; reign of David (maps); After the death of David's son, Solomon, the kingdom split into two: Israel in the north, Judea in Jerusalem and the south (maps).   Brief History of Early Palestine in maps. 721 BCE Fall of Israel (Northern Kingdom) to Assyria 586 BCE Fall of Judea (Southern Kingdom) to Babylon and destruction of the first temple About 539 BCE Fall of Babylon. Jews allowed to return to Judea. Tradition has it that Ezra and Nehemia led this return, and later rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, but the walls were apparently not built until 100 years later. About 519 BCE Rebuilding of the Second Temple under Persian rule. 331 BCE Alexander the Great conquers Persia. The land was subject to Egyptian rule after his death, followed by Seleucid Syrian rule. 166 BCE Revolt of Judah Maccabee against Syrian Hellenic dynasty; Simon. 164 - Liberation of Jerusalem. Judah is named Friend of the Roman Senate and People; Rule of the Maccabees: 166 - Judah 160 -Jonathan 143  66-73 AD First Jewish revolt. Fall of the Jewish Second Temple to Romans in 70 AD. 133-135 Second Jewish revolt under Bar Kochba  crushed. Judea renamed Palestina. Jews are banned from Jerusalem by Hadrianus Caesar. 614 Persians conquer Judea and Jerusalem.. 628 Emperor Heraclius defeats Sassanid Persians, reconquers Jerusalem.. About 638 Arab conquest of Jerusalem (slightly earlier or later according to different sources). Caliph Omar provides the Christians of Jerusalem with a Covenant guaranteeing their protection. Land  divided into the Jund of filastin, in the south (capital in Al-Lod and later in Ramlah), and the Jund of Urdunn in the north, with capital in Tiberias (Tabariyeh). 1099 Crusaders conquer Jerusalem, slaughter most Jewish and Moslem inhabitants, expel Jews. 1187 Saladin (Salah-al-din) reconquers Jerusalem 1291 Crusaders defeated at Acre and evicted from Palestine. 1517 Ottoman Turkish conquest of Palestine. 1740 Ottoman Sultan invites Rabbi Haim Abulafia (1660-1744),  Kabbalist and Rabbi of Izmir, to come to rebuild the city of Tiberias; thousands of Jews immigrate to the land in a wave of Messianic fervor, including  Rabbi Moses Haim Luzzatto (1707-1746).   1799 Napoleon conquers Jaffa but retreats before Acco (Acre); 1799 - Napoleon's Proclamation of a Jewish State was stillborn, and his declaration of equal rights for Jews was repealed in part in 1806. 1831 Egyptian Conquest of Palestine area by Mehmed Ali of Egypt, who rebelled against the Ottomans. He was forced to withdraw in 1840 under pressure by European allies. 1843 First Zionist writings of Rabbi Alcalay and of Rabbi Kalischer, Emuna Yeshara. 1844 First census in Jerusalem shows 7120 Jews, 5760 Muslims, 3390 Christians. 1856 Ottoman reforms (Tanzimat) - including requirement to register ownership of land in Palestine and pay taxes on it. 1860 First Jewish settlement (Mishkenot Sha'ananim) outside Jerusalem walls. 1878 First Zionist Settlement - Petah Tikwa. 1870s Formation of Hovevei Tzion in Russia 1881-1885 Wave of Russian pogroms catalyzes First Aliya (wave of immigration to Israel).. 1882 Russian May Laws; Leon Pinsker writes Auto-Emancipation in 1882; formation of BILU; beginning of the First Aliya (wave of immigration). 1897 First Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland. 1903 Kishinev Pogrom and Russian Pogroms of 1905 catalyze Second Aliya Nov 2, 1917 British issued the Balfour Declaration,  promising a “National Home” for the Jews in Palestine. August, 1929 Arab Riots and Massacres in Hebron, Jerusalem, Safed, Haifa, Motza and elsewhere. The Jews had set up a dividing screen at the Wailing Wall in Yom Kippur of 1928 to separate men and women worshippers, prompting rumors that the Jews wanted to build a synagogue at wall, which were spread deliberately by Hajj Amin El Husseini. 1936-1939 Arab Revolt led by Haj Amin Al-Husseini. Over 5,000 Arabs were killed according to some sources, mostly by British. Several hundred Jews were killed by Arabs. Husseini fled to Iraq and then to Nazi Germany. British White Paper (1939) severely restricts Jewish immigration. May 9, 1942 Biltmore Program - Zionist leaders, headed by Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion, convene at the Biltmore Hotel in New York and declare their postwar program (known as the Biltmore Program).  The program recommended an end to the British Mandate and demand Jewish control over immigration to Palestine with the aim of founding a Jewish "Commonwealth." wish history, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Timeline, Zionist movement, Israel history, Middle East history May 15, 1948 Israel War of Independence  (1948 War). Declaration of Israel as the Jewish State; British leave Palestine; Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia declared war on Israel. Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian invasion began. April 3, 1949 Armistice - Israel and Arab states agree to armistice. Israel gained about 50% more territory than was originally allotted to it by the UN Partition Plan. Oct. 29, 1956 Suez Campaign. In retaliation for a series of escalating border raids as well as the closure of the straits of Tiran and Suez canal to Israeli shipping, and to prevent Egyptian use of newly acquired Soviet arms in a war, Israel invades the Sinai peninsula and occupies it for several months, with French and British collaboration. May, 1964 PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) founded with the aim of destroying Israel. The Palestinian National Charter (1968) officially called for liquidation of Israel. May, 1967 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser closes the straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and dismisses UN peacekeeping force. Negotiations with US to reopen the Straits of Tiran fail. June 5-10,1967 Six day war - Israel destroys the Egyptian air force on the ground, conquers and occupies Sinai and Gaza, then conquers the West Bank from Jordan, and Golan Heights from Syria. UN resolution 242 called for  Israeli withdrawal, establishment of peace. June 19, 1967 Israeli Cabinet decides on secret offer, to be delivered to Syrians and Egyptians though American diplomats, calling for return of territories conquered in the Six day war  in return for peace. Oct. 6, 1973 Yom Kippur War (October War). In a surprise attack on the Jewish day of atonement, Egypt retook the Suez canal and a narrow zone on the other side. Syria reconquered the Golan Heights. Following massive US and Soviet resupplying of the sides, Israel succeeded in pushing back the Syrians and threatening Damascus. Ariel Sharon was instrumental in the successful crossing of the Suez Canal, which cut off the Egyptian Third Army. Israeli casualties were unacceptably high however, and both Syria and Egypt celebrate the anniversary of the war as a victory. March 26, 1979 Peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel. June 7, 1981 Israel destroys Iraqi nuclear reactor in daring raid. Oct. 6, 1981 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated while on the reviewing stand of a victory parade. June 6, 1982 Massive Israeli invasion of Lebanon to fight PLO. Sept. 13, 1993 Oslo Declaration of Principles - Israel and PLO agree to mutual recognition. Sept 28, 1995 Oslo Interim Agreement signed. Palestinian Authority to be established. Nov. 4, 1995 Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin assassinated by right-wing Israeli fanatic Yigal Amir. Rabin is replaced by Shimon Peres June, 1996 Right-Wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu elected Prime Minister in Israel, replacing Shimon Peres. Sept, 1996 Al-Aqsa tunnel riots - Arab sources spread the false rumor that a gate opened in an underground tunnel tourist attraction by the Israeli government, endangered the foundations of the Al-Aqsa mosque. This caused several days of rioting and numerous casualties. Jan 18, 1997 Israel and Palestinians reach agreement on Israeli redeployment in the West-Bank city of Hebron Oct. 1998 Wye River Plantation talks result in an agreement for Israeli redeployment and release of political prisoners and renewed Palestinian commitment to correct its violations of the Oslo accords including excess police force, illegal arms and incitement in public media and education. May 17, 1999 Israel elects Labor party leader and Former General Ehud Barak as Prime Minister in a landslide. Barak promises rapid progress toward peace. March, 2000 Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations fail when Hafez Assad rejects an Israeli offer relayed by US President Clinton in Geneva. Sept. 28, 2000 Palestinians initiated riots after Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon  visited the Temple Mount, which is also the location of the Haram as Sharif holy to Muslims. Feb 6, 2001 Right-wing Likud leader Ariel Sharon elected Prime Minister in Israel replacing Ehud Barak and promising "peace and security." Mar.-Apr. 2002 Israel conducts operation Defensive Wall in the West Bank, following a large number of Palestinian suicide attacks on civilian targets. Saudi peace initiative adopted at Beirut summit. Jan 28, 2003 Elections in Israel give wide margin (40 seats) to right wing Likud party, returning PM Ariel Sharon for another term. July 9, 2004 International court of Justice (ICJ) rules that the Israeli security barrier violates international law and must be torn down. Nov 11, 2004 Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat dies. Jan 9, 2005 Mahmoud Abbas elected President of the Palestinian National Authority. Jan 2006 On January 4, Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke, leaving the leadership of Israel and the new Kadima party in the hands of Ehud Olmert   Jan 26, 2006 On January 26, the radical Islamist Hamas movement won an upset victory in Palestinian Legislative Council elections, threatening to end about 40 years of Fateh-PLO leadership of the Palestinians and to completely ruin hopes for peace with Israel. Hamas spokesmen sent mixed signals, but vowed never to recognize Israel and never to give up their claim to all of Palestine. March 28 Ehud Olmert elected PM of Israel, heading Kadima party coalition July 12 Second Lebanon War - Hezbollah terrorists cross the blue line border with Lebanon, attack an Israeli patrol, killing 3 and capturing 2 soldiers. Additional soldier dies the following day and several are killed when a tank hits a mine, pursuing the captors. At the same time, Hezbollah began a series of rocket attacks on northern Israel. In subsequent days, Israel carried out massive but selective bombing and artillery shelling of Lebanon, hitting rocket stores, Hezbollah headquarters in Dahya quarter of Beirut (see Beirut Map and al-Manara television in Beirut, and killing over two hundred persons, many civilians. Hezbollah responds with several hundred rocket attacks on Haifa, Tiberias, Safed and other towns deep in northern Israel, killing 13 civilians to July 18 (See Map of Hezbollah Rocket Attacks) , and a Hezbollah Iranian supplied C-802 missile hits an Israeli missile cruiser off the cost of Beirut, killing 4. Hezbollah rocket also sinks at least one foreign neutral ship and damages an Egyptian one. G-8 meeting calls for cessation of violence, return of Israeli soldier and disarmament of Hezbolla in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1559 and UN Security Council Resolution 1680.  Aug 14, 2006 Cease fire, based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701 Feb. 2007 Israeli renovations near the Mughrabi gate of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem spark widespread unrest in the Arab world, over false charges that Israel is destroying the mosque. Feb. 8, 2007 Palestinian Unity Agreement in Mecca. Hamas and Fatah agree to share power, based on vaguely worded agreement. Hamas officials reiterate that they will never recognize Israel. US and Israel insist that the new government must recognize right of Israel to exist, disarm terrorist groups and agree to end violence. Feb. 19, 2007 Trilateral Israeli-Palestinian-American summit with Secretary of State Rice, PM Ehud Olmert and President Abbas ended with no visible result. March 17, 2007 Palestinian unity government sworn in. June 2007 Hamas ousts Fatah from Gaza in bloody coup. Nov. 26-28 US convenes peace summit at Annapolis, Md. with participation of Arab nations, Quartet, EU members, GCC and others including South Africa. Israelis and Palestinians are forced to agree on a joint statement that vows to implement the quartet roadmap in parallel, with US monitoring performance and the sides negotiating continuously with the aim of concluding an agreement by the end of 2008. See: Joint Israeli-Palestinian Declaration, and its meaning   Jan. 2008 President Bush visit to Middle East; Hamas "breakout" into Egypt at Rafah Crossing. Feb. 12, 2008 Hezbollah "militant" Imad Moughniyeh killed by car bomb in Damascus. Moughniyeh was a "militancy" mastermind, responsible for attacks on U.S. embassy and US marines in Lebanon in the 80s, for kidnapping of American nationals, for explosions in Israel Embassy and Jewish Center in Argentina and apparently for planning the kidnappings that triggered the second Lebanon War. FBI had a $5 million dollar reward out for Moughniyeh. Israel denies any involvement in the killing of Moughniyeh. Dec 27, 2008-Jan 18, 2009 Operation Cast Lead - Israeli operation in Gaza to stop Hamas rocket attacks. Over 1,000 Palestinian casualties. April 1, 2009 Following elections,  Likud party head Benjamin Netanyahu becomes Prme Minister. June 4, 2009 Address by President Obama in Cairo, June 4, 2009 - Historic speech of rapprochement with the Arab and Muslim world also has direct implications for Israeli-Palestinian conflict, since the President calls for an end to Israeli construction of settlements in the occupied territories, as well as Arab recognition of Israel and a two state solution. Zionism and Israel Timeline Sections: Israel & Zionism History Timeline (summary) Detailed Timelines Israel, Palestine and Jews - Ancient times to 1897 Zionism and Palestine Timeline - 1897 to 1947 Israel & Zionism - 1948-1966 Israel & Zionism- 1967-1992 Israel & Zionism - 1993 present Other Zionism and Israel Timelines: A detailed timeline of the Six Dar War: 1967 Six Day War Timeline (chronology)   A detailed timeline of the Israel war of Independence: 1948 Israel War of Independence (Arab-Israeli war) Timeline (Chronology) Time-Line: Anti-Semitism External: Second Intifada Timeline Timeline: Second Intifada 2005 to Present   Intelligence: Israel Pre-State Intelligence Timeline | Israel Intelligence Timeline - 1948-1956 | Israel Intelligence Timeline 1956-1960 | Israel Intelligence Timeline 1961-1967 | Israel Intelligence Timeline 1968-1973 | Israel Intelligence Timeline 1974-1982 | Israel Intelligence Timeline 1983-1991 | Israel Intelligence Timeline 1992-present  This timeline is intended to give you an overview and reference points for major events in the history of Israel. Links to Zionism and Israel - historical sources, Photo Gallery of Zionist History  and the history of Zionism and Modern Israel  and  Zionism & its Impact will help round out the picture.  Additional information (off site): Brief History of Israel and Palestine and Labor Zionism    Palestinian Terror Chronologies and Statistics - Main Page  Original materials copyright 2005-2007 by Zionism and Israel Information Center and copyright 2001 -2007, by MidEastWeb for Coexistence All original materials at MidEastWeb are copyright. Please do not copy materials from this Web site to your Web site without permission.  Please tell your friends about MidEastWeb and Zionism-Israel. Please forward these materials in e-mails to friends and link to these URLs - http://www.mideastweb.org. and http://www.zionism-israel.com.   You can print out materials for your own use or classroom use, giving the URL of  MidEastWeb, without asking our explicit permission. Printed material should bear this notice: External Zionism Links This site provides resources about Zionism and Israeli history, including links to source documents. We are not responsible for the information content of these sites. Please do copy these links, and tell your friends about  http://www.zionism-israel.com Zionism Website  Thank you. Sister sites:  Zionism and Israel Pages Zionism and Israel on the Web  Brave Zionism Friends and informative sites: MidEastWeb: Middle East - Proactive for peace and democracy in the Middle East. Zionism - Definition and Brief History - A balanced article that covers the definitions and history of Zionism as well as opposition to Zionism and criticisms by Arabs,  Jewish anti-Zionists. Labor Zionism - Early History and Critique - Contribution of Labor Zionism to the creation of the Jewish state, and problems of Labor Zionism in a changing reality. Israel Advocacy handbook La Bibliothèque Proche Orientale- Le Grand Mufti Husseini The Grand Mufti Haj Amin El Husseini Israel-Palestina - (Dutch) Middle East Conflict, Israel, Palestine,Zionism... Israël-Palestina Informatie -gids Israël, Zionisme, Palestijnen en Midden-Oosten conflict... Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a European perspective - Dutch and English. Zionisme - israelinformatie- Zionisme Israel/Jodendom Israelisch-Palestijns Conflict Anti-Semitisme Shoa - a Dutch Web site with many useful Jewish, Zionism and Israel links (in English too). ZioNation - Zionism-Israel Web Log    Israel News  Israel: like this, as if Albert Einstein Bible Palestine Nakba 1948 Israel Independence - Birth of a Nation Six Day War War of Independence  History of Zionism Zionism FAQ Zionism Israel CenterMaps of Israel Zionism and its Impact Israel Israel News  Israel: like this, as if Christian Zionism Albert Einstein Bible Palestine Nakba 1948 Israel Independence - Birth of a Nation Six Day War War of Independence   Timeline: History of Zionism; History of Israel

Eliezer ben Yehuda

Zionism and Israel - Biographies Biography of Eliezer Ben Yehuda Zionism maps history e-Zion Encyclopedia about FAQ timeline photos books links contact Custom Search Search Eliezer Ben-Yehuda - Biography Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858- December 16, 1922) is known as the father of modern Hebrew. He was one of the earliest supporters of Zionism, and it due primarily to his initiative that Hebrew was revived as a modern spoken language. Ben-Yehuda was born in Luzki, Lithuania, in 1858 as Eliezer Perelman. His father, a 'Habad orthodox Jew, died when he was 5. At age 13 his uncle sent him to a Yeshiva in Polotsk. The head of the Yeshiva was a secret follower of the Haskala (enlightenment) movement and turned Ben Yehuda into a  free thinker.His uncle tried to save him from heresy by sending him to study in Glubokoye. There, Ben-Yehuda met Samuel Naftaili Herz Jonas, and was taught Russian by his eldest daughter, Deborah, who later became his wife. His Russian studies enabled Ben-Yehuda to enter the gymnasia (high school) which he graduated in 1877. He soon became a convinced Zionist. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 and the struggle of Balkan nations for liberation inspired Ben-Yehuda to form the idea of revival of the Jewish people in its ancestral soil. He held that the Jews, like all other peoples, had a historic land and language. He wrote in the preface to his dictionary: "it was as if the heavens had suddenly opened, and a clear incandescent light flashed before my eyes, and a mighty inner voice sounded in my ears: the renascence of Israel on its ancestral soil.... the more the nationalist concept grew in me, the more I realized what a common language is to a nation..." He decided to settle in the land of Israel and in 1878 went to study medicine in Paris so as to have a means of support. Ben-Yehuda's plan for a national home did not interest Hebrew writers for the most part. His  first essay, "The burning question" (She'elat Hasha'ah)   was published by the Hebrew periodical, "The Dawn," (Hasha'har) in 1879, edited by Peretz Smolenskin, after it was rejected by others. It called for emigration to the land of Israel and creation of a national spiritual center of the Jews there. Thus, Ben Yehuda was also the real father of Cultural Zionism, later popularized by  Achad Haam. In Paris, Ben Yehuda contracted tuberculosis. He discontinued his medical studies and decided that the climate of Jerusalem would be better for his illness. While in Paris, he learned from travelers that Hebrew was not a dead language among Asian Jews. He also enrolled in the teachers' seminary of the Alliance Israelite Universelle where he was to be trained as an instructor in the Miqveh Yisrael agricultural school. He attended lectures of Joseph Halevy, who had been an early advocate of coining new Hebrew words. Ben Yehuda moved to Jerusalem in 1881,  with his new wife, Deborah Jonas. Eliezer and Deborah established the first Hebrew-speaking home in Eretz Yisrael, and their son, Ben-Zion (who became known by his pen-name, Itamar Ben-Avi) was the first child in modern times to be nurtured with Hebrew as his native language. He attempted to disguise himself as an orthodox Jew in order to maintain contact with them and learn Hebrew and propagate it. However, the latter soon rejected him, and Ben-Yehuda became actively anti-religious. Ben Yehuda gathered friends and allies in Jerusalem. In 1881, together with Y.M. Pines, D. Yellin, Y. Meyu'has and A. Mazie, he founded the  "Te'hiyat Yisrael" -- the Rebirth of Israel society based on five principles: work on the land, expansion of the productive population, creation of modern Hebrew literature and science reflecting both a national and universalistic spirit, and opposition to the halukah (charity) system that maintained the Yeshiva students of Jerusalem. ' Soon after his arrival in Jerusalem, Ben-Yehuda became a teacher at the Alliance School, on condition that his courses would be taught in Hebrew. Thus, this became the first school where some courses were taught in Hebrew. Ben-Yehuda wrote for "Ha'havatzelet" (The Lily), a Hebrew literary periodical, and launched "Hatzvi" -- The Deer -- a weekly newspaper. "Hatzvi" was the first Hebrew paper to report on news and issues in Turkish Palestine. This was a considerable achievement, given the limitations of Hebrew, the Turkish censorship and draconic financial limitations.  Ben Yehuda had to coin new Hebrew nouns and verbs for modern concepts. Debora Ben-Yehuda, his first wife, died of tuberculosis in 1891. Her younger sister soon offered to marry Ben-Yehuda and care for his two small children. An emancipated woman of great drive and conviction, she made it her life's work to support Eliezer and his enterprise. She took the Hebrew name Hemdah, quickly learned Hebrew, became a reporter for his paper, and later became its editor,  allowing her husband to focus on his research of the lost Hebrew words that the reborn tongue required and coinage of new ones. Orthodox fanatics were angered the exposes in Hatzvi of corruption in the distribution of Halukah -- their charily dole. They deliberately mistranslated a line in a Hanukkah story in Hatzvi, "Let us gather strength and go forward" to mean: "Let us gather an army and proceed against the East." They informed the Ottoman government that Ben-Yehuda was calling on his followers to revolt. He was arrested, charged with conspiracy to revolt and sentenced to a year's imprisonment. Jews throughout the world were outraged; his sentence was appealed and he was eventually released. In 1904, Ben-Yehuda together with Yellin, Mazie and others,  founded and presided over "Va'ad HaLashon", the forerunner of the Hebrew Language Academy which he later advocated in 1920. He worked 18 hours a day on his "Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew."  In 1910 he published the first of six volumes to appear  before his death in 1922. After his death his widow Hemdah and son Ehud continued publishing his manuscript until all 17 volumes had been published by 1959. The dictionary lists all the words used in Hebrew literature from the time of Abraham to modern times, scrupulously avoiding Aramaic words and other foreign influences that had entered biblical and mishnaic Hebrew. Ben Yehuda was forced to leave Palestine during World War I, when the Turks deported "enemy nationals." Along with other Zionist leaders he spent the war in the United States, returning to Palestine in 1919. In November of 1920 he succeeded in prevailing on Herbert Samuel, British High Commissioner of Palestine, to make Hebrew one of the three official languages of the Palestine Mandate. It is difficult to exaggerate the contribution and achievement of Ben Yehuda. His lexicographical achievement itself- to innovate a modern language on the remains of an ancient and fossilized one, was monumental in itself, but it was only an instrument in a successful one man campaign, to make Hebrew the spoken language of the Jewish people. Thanks to his almost single-handed initiative, this was accomplished in the space of less than 40 years. Ami Isseroff See also: More Israeli and Zionist Biographies The Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Zionism and Israel   External Zionism Links This site provides resources about Zionism and Israeli history, including links to source documents. We are not responsible for the information content of these sites. Please do copy these links, and tell your friends about  http://www.zionism-israel.com Zionism and Israel Information Center  Thank you. Sister site http://zionism.netfirms.com Zionism Pages  Friends and informative sites: >Zionism - Definition and Brief History - A balanced article that covers the definitions and history of Zionism as well as opposition to Zionism and criticisms by Arabs,  Jewish anti-Zionists. Labor Zionism - Early History and Critique- Contribution of Labor Zionism to the creation of the Jewish state, and problems of Labor Zionism in a changing reality. Dvar Dea - Israel advocacy HSJE-Historical Society of Jews from Egypt Preserves the history and culture of the Jews of Egypt La Bibliothèque Proche Orientale- Le Grand Mufti Husseini The Grand Mufti Hajj Amin El Husseini Zionisme/A> - israelinformatie- Zionisme Israel/JodendomIsraelisch-Palestijns Conflict Anti-Semitisme Shoa - a Dutch Web site with many useful Jewish, Zionism and Israel links (in English too). Israel-Palestina - (Dutch) Middle East Conflict, Israel, Palestine,Zionism... Israël-Palestina Informatie -gids Israël, Zionisme, Palestijnen en Midden-Oosten conflict... Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a European perspective - Dutch and English. If you like what you see here, please tell your friends about http://www.zionism-Israel.com Zionism and Israel Information Center   ZioNation - Zionism-Israel Web Log    Zionism & Israel News  Israel: like this, as if Albert Einstein Bible History of Zionism Zionism FAQ Zionism Israel Center Maps of Israel Jew Israel Advocacy Zionism and its Impact Israel Christian Zionism Site Map